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Home » Wholesale Games Industry and Market News » Red Dead Redemption 2 coming to PC and Google Stadia
Red Dead Redemption 2 coming to PC and Google Stadia
Rockstar Games has officially confirmed that their latest open world western title, Red Dead Redemption 2, is coming to PC and Google Stadia. The game will launch for PC on November 5, 2019, and a Google Stadia version will follow after.
Rumors of a PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 have been around for some time, spurred on by the fact that Grand Theft Auto 5 saw a PC release after some years on consoles. While both Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive have dodged the question most of the time, the PC version, and one for Google Stadia, have finally been confirmed.
The PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 will have several enhancements over the console versions, given the better hardware available to it. These enhancements improve immersion with upgrades to graphics, and the technical systems of the game.
The PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2 will also feature new story content, including new gang hideouts, bounty missions, weapons, and much more. Red Dead Online, the game’s online element, will also be included as part of the PC version, bringing a range of new players into the fold.
Initially Red Dead Redemption 2 will go on sale through several PC retailers, but not Steam, which will follow in December. Pre-orders are already open on the Rockstar Games Launcher, with special bonuses for those who pre-order before October 22, 2019. These bonuses range from in-game content, to full free Rockstar Games titles such as Grand Theft Auto 3, San Andreas, or Bully Scholarship Edition.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a sequel to the original Red Dead Redemption, although the game takes place before the events of the first game. Players take on the role of Arthur Morgan in the same gang that players hunted down members of in the original story.
While the story focuses on the events that led up to Red Dead Redemption, a lot of the game is about the world it’s set in. Players can roam the frontier for hours, taking on sidequests, completing smaller objectives such as hunting animals, or just take in the scenery as they ride by on horseback.
Related Topics: Google Stadia, Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Games, Take 2
By Admin in: Wholesale Games Industry and Market News on October 10, 2019 at 6:22 pm
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No, I Do Not Gotta Watch “Dell” Blasio — or Any Other Video
RUSH: I haven't heard this. Grab sound bite number 10. I've had emails, "Have you heard the Dell Blasio video?" I said, "Dell Blasio? Who's 'Dell Blasio'?" "Oh, de Blasio. Have you heard the video?" I said, "No, I haven't seen it. I don't watch videos." You know, this is... I hate to do this, folks, because I know many of you people want me to be in the cultural avant-garde. But I just... I have never gotten into it. They take too long. I have people saying, "You've gotta watch this video!" I don't know what it is. I don't like net videos. I don't watch YouTube.
I just don't do it. Some of it is hearing related. But there's captioning on a lot of these things now so that's not an excuse. It's I'd just rather read it. I guess I don't believe this whole concept of YouTube "stars" anyway. But, at any rate, I don't listen. If somebody on the staff here produces an audio sound bite of a YouTube video or any other video, then I'll see it/hear it that way. So somebody said (sputtering), "You've got... you've got ... you've got to hear this 'Dell' Blasio video!" I said, "Why? Why do I have to watch the 'Dell' Blasio video?
"I don't want to read what this guy says! I don't want to watch this guy say anything. Why should I watch?" "Because it's funny." I said, "Okay." So it's on the sound bite roster here. It was yesterday in Altoona, Iowa, at the AFL-CIO of Iowa labor conference. New York City mayor Bill Dell Blasio (which is what the email I arrived describing this said), spoke via a live-streamed video feed and during his remarks there was an audio glitch. A-ha! So here it is...
DELL BLASIO: We're gonna do something that should have been done a long time ago in this country. We're passing legislation this year to guarantee working people, like every other industrialized country in the world, to guarantee working people, by law, two weeks' paid vacation every year. I apologize that you ever got to know Donald Trump --
RUSH: That's not a glitch.
DELL BLASIO: -- but this New Yorker volunteers to get rid of him for you.
RUSH: That's not a glitch, and it's not even chipmunk. Somebody just hit the 1.5 or 2-time speed X thing so it wouldn't take as much time to listen to it, which I totally support. Anything to speed this guy up and limit the amount of time you're exposed to him, I'm in favor of. (big sigh) Look, I realize that sometimes people think that I'm mad when I'm just merely expressive. I don't really hate YouTube videos.
You know what I hate is I've told you countless people, "I don't want them," and they still send them. That's really what I'm reacting to here. Is there some law says I have to like videos? Is there some rule says, as a media guy, I have to watch videos? Especially if they're Twitter or Facebook, I'm never gonna see 'em. "Rush, how can you do your show prep without it?" Do you think I'm having any trouble with show prep, folks? Does anybody really want to claim this show is behind the scoop?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: No and I got another email. "Rush, you're really making yourself sound really odd with this energy you're putting behind the fact you don't like video." Okay, let me explain it. I'll try another time. Another way. Can you understand that I can read faster and comprehend faster than most people can talk? It slows me down watching videos. Somebody sends me a seven-minute video and 30 seconds of it is the meat. But I don't know which 30 seconds. So I've got to sit there listening and watching seven minutes of stuff to find the gem in there, 'cause nobody's gonna take the time to edit it for me.
"Rush, you gotta see this video!" "What's in it?" Oh, wow! Wait tell you hear what Dell Blasio said." "Okay." The video comes in. It's three minutes. "What am I looking for here?" "Just watch it!" "I don't have time!" Unless the whole thing is the gem, which it never is. Try this. You wouldn't believe this. Talk about YouTube stars? I have people send me links to videos. "Rush, you gotta see a video of the new iPhone." "Really, there's a video of the new?" "Yeah!" You know what it is? It's some locoweed unboxing it.
It's a three-minute video of a guy taking an iPhone out of the box, examining the box, examining the labeling, expecting the strip that you pull to undo the box -- and then taking the protective cellophane off the front of the iPhone off the back and then rotating the phone.
Three minutes of this to unbox... (interruption) Well, one time I did. I got sucked in. "Rush, you gotta see! It's a new iPhone." It wasn't a new iPhone. It was, but it was a ceremonial unboxing. What happens to the box? It goes to the trash. Look, I understand the thrill of opening a box 'cause what you want's inside the thing. But three minutes, with editorial comments thrown in? I'm sorry. It's a time thing, I guess. The bottom line is that I think I can read and comprehend faster than most people can talk.
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Ed Sprinkle
Guard / Defensive end / Tight end
(1923-09-03)September 3, 1923
Bradshaw, Texas
July 28, 2014(2014-07-28) (aged 90)
Palos Heights, Illinois
Tuscola (TX) Jim Ned
Undrafted:
As player:
Chicago Bears (1944–1955)
As coach:
New York Jets (DC, 1962)
NFL Champion (1946)
4× Pro Bowl (1950, 1951, 1952, 1954)
2x First Team All-Pro
3x Second Team All-Pro
NFL 1940s All-Decade Team
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame
Edward Alexander Sprinkle (September 3, 1923 – July 28, 2014) was an American football player. He was known to many as "The Meanest Man in Pro Football" and was nicknamed "The Claw." He played for 12 seasons with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League and is credited with calling attention to the NFL's defensive players.
✪ NFL Films: Ed Sprinkle-Legendary Linemen
✪ Ed Sprinkle
✪ NFL Films: Bucky Kilroy-The Dirtiest Bird
1 College career
2 Playing career
3 Post-playing career
5 External sources
Prior to his NFL career, Sprinkle won three letters in football and two in basketball and earned All-Border Conference while at Hardin–Simmons University in the early 1940s. He earned all-Eastern honors in 1943 while attending the United States Naval Academy.
After leaving college, Sprinkle was signed by George Halas' Chicago Bears in 1944. At first, he played on both defense and offense; he caught 32 passes for 451 yards and seven touchdowns during his career. His ability to rush opposing quarterbacks, however, soon made him a defensive specialist.
Sprinkle quickly developed a reputation for his aggressive playing style; in the 1946 NFL Championship Game, New York Giants George Franck, Frank Reagan, and Frank Filchock left with injuries sustained in hits from Sprinkle. One of Sprinkle's tackling strategies, a clothesline tackle with his forearm, led to him receiving the nickname "The Claw" from Collier's Weekly.[1]
While accused of "dirty play" and unsportsmanlike conduct during his career, leading to calls in 1949 from coaches Greasy Neale and Buddy Parker for the NFL to discipline him,[2][3] he defended his play as not being any different from other players of the era. According to Sprinkle, "We were meaner in the 1950s because there were fewer positions and we fought harder for them. It was a different era."[4] He was praised by Halas "the greatest pass-rusher I've ever seen,"[1][5] while Giants quarterback Y. A. Tittle remarked in 1969 that "quarterbacks would look with only one eye for receivers. They kept the other eye on Sprinkle."[6]
Post-playing career
Following his pro career, Sprinkle entered business in the Chicago area. He died on July 28, 2014.[7][8]
The Professional Football Researchers Association named Sprinkle to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2007.[9] Sprinkle was also inducted in the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.
On January 15, 2020, Sprinkle was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.[10]
^ a b Biggs, Brad (January 15, 2020). "Jimbo Covert and Ed Sprinkle selected to Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Bears now have 30 members — the most of any team". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
^ "Neale protests Bears' playing of Ed Sprinkle". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. AP. October 21, 1949. Retrieved January 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Dell, John (August 4, 1955). "Star End Awaits 12th NFL Season". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved January 16, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Former Bear Ed Sprinkle, 1923-2014, was standout defensive player".
^ Mayer, Larry (January 15, 2020). "Ex-Bears great Sprinkle elected to Hall of Fame". Chicago Bears. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
^ "It's a Whale of a Meal, But a Bum Steer". The Times. December 31, 1969. Retrieved January 16, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Goldstein, Richard (August 1, 2014). "Ed Sprinkle, Defensive End Known for Violent Play, Dies at 90". nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
^ "Ed Sprinkle, football's 'meanest man', dies at 90".
^ "Hall of Very Good Class of 2007". Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
^ Grant Gordon (January 15, 2020). "Pro Football Hall of Fame Centennial Class revealed". NFL.com. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
External sources
"Ed Sprinkle" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 12 (1): 1–3. 1990. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-10-07.
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Expedition of al-Muraysi'
The Campaign against Banū al-Muṣṭaliq
December 627AD in 8th month, 6AH
Al-Muraysī', a well in Qadid valley between Mecca and Yathrib
Successful operation.[1]
Commanders and leaders
Muḥammad, Abū Bakr, Sa'd ibn 'Ubādah Haritha b. Abi Dirar
Unknown (Large number of Muḥammad's fighters) Unknown
Casualties and losses
1 killed
10 killed
200 families taken captive [1][2]
Campaigns of Muhammad
Abwa
Buwat
Safwan
Dul
1st Badr
Kudr
Sawiq
Qaynuqa
Bahran
Najd
2nd Badr
Jandal
Qurayza
Lahyan
Mustaliq
Fadak
Mu'tah
Baqra
Autas
Balqa
The Expedition of al-Muraysiʿ (Arabic: غزوة المريسيع) was an early Muslim campaign against the tribe of Banu Mustaliq which took place in January 627 CE.[3][4]
✪ 2013-04-03 Seerah pt.54 - Return from Al-Muraysi' to Medina and Slander of Aisha pt1. - Yasir Qadhi
✪ 14 - Muhammad [SAW] : Expedition Of Banu Al-Mustaliq
✪ #0135 Seerah Muhammad pbuh: Battle of Banu Mustaliq and Revelation of Al-Munafiqun - Abdul Nasir
1 Surprise attack
2 Altercation between the fighters on return to Medina
3 Islamic primary sources
3.1 Hadith literature
3.2 Biographical literature
5 Notes
On hearing the advent of the Muslims, the tribe was terrified, and the Arabs that accompanied them defected and fled for their lives. Abu Bakr was entrusted as the commander of the Muhajir's (Emigrants), and Sa‘d bin ‘Ubādah was the commander of the Anṣar (Helpers). The two armies were stationed at a well called Al-Muraysī', near the sea, a short distance from Mecca. They fought with bows and arrows for an hour, and then the Muslims advanced so rapidly, they surrounded the al-Muṣṭaliq and took the entire tribe as prisoners, with their families, herds and flock. The battle ended in full victory for the Muslims.[2][5]
'Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib killed a few wounded Banū al-Muṣṭaliq; among whom were Mālik and his son.[6]
Two hundred families were taken as captives, two hundred camels, five thousand sheep, goats, as well as a huge quantity of household goods which were captured as booty. The household goods were sold in an auction to the highest bidder.[2]
Only one Muslim was killed by mistake by a Helper. Juwayrīyah bint al-Ḥārith, daughter of the Banū al-Muṣṭaliq chief was one of the captives, and agreed to marry Muḥammad in exchange for releasing 100 prisoners who converted to Islam, as compensation (according to the Muslim scholar Safiur Rahman al Mubarakpuri).[7]
Altercation between the fighters on return to Medina
The army remained at the well of Al-Muraysī' for several days, during which an altercation ensued between the Muhājir and Anṣār. One of the Muhājirs, named Jahja, attacked an Ansārī, and the two groups immediately clashed, but the quarrel was broken up by Muḥammad.[1]
'Abdullāh ibn ‘Ubayy, who was referred to as the head of the Hypocrites (al-Munāfiqūn) by Muslim historians, was furious for the challenge which the Muslims showed towards the hostile plans and vicious intrigues woven behind closed doors, and swore "the most honourable will expel the meanest out of Madinah", and added: "They (the Muslims) have outnumbered and shared us our land. If you fatten your dog, it will eat you." When that talk was reported to the Muḥammad, 'Umar asked for permission to have Ibn ‘Ubayy killed. Muhammad turned down his proposal on the grounds that it was not becoming for a prophet to be accused of killing his people.[1]
'Abdullāh ibn Ubayy's son, who was also called 'Abdullāh, was angry at his father for the disrespect he showed. When the army reached Madinah, he drew his sword against his father and barred his father's entry into the town until he had confessed and declared that he himself was the meanest of the citizens of Madinah and that Muḥammad was the most honourable of them. The son was ready to cut off his father's head and bring it to Muḥammad, if he so wished.[1]
He said, according to the Muslim Historian al-Ṭabarī:
“Messenger of God, I have been told that you want to kill ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubayy because of what has been reported to you concerning him. If you are going to do it, command me to do it and I will bring you his head. By God, al-Khazraj know that there has never been among them a man more dutiful to his father than I. I am afraid that you may order someone else to do it and he may kill him; and then my soul will not allow me to look on the slayer of 'Abdullāh ibn Ubayy walking among the people: I would kill him, killing a believer to avenge an unbeliever, and thereby enter the Fire [of hell].”
[Tabari, Volume 8, Victory of Islam , p. 55][8] [9]
According to the Sealed Nectar, Muḥammad did not punish Abdullāh ibn Ubayy in the public interest. 'Umar ibn Al-Khattāb asked Muḥammad why he did not accept his offer to kill him, to which he replied:[1]
"Don’t you see ‘Umar if I had had him ('Abdullāh ibn Ubayy) killed, a large number of dignitaries would have furiously hastened to fight for him. Now, on the contrary, if I ask them to kill him, they will do so out of their own free will." ‘Umar replied "I swear by Allah that the Prophet’s judgement is much more sound than mine."
[Ibn Hishām 2/293, referenced in The Sealed Nectar]'[1]
Islamic primary sources
Hadith literature
The event if mentioned in many collections of ḥadīth.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī mentions the event as follows:
I wrote a letter to Nāfi' and Nāfi' wrote in reply to my letter that the Prophet had suddenly attacked Banū al-Muṣṭaliq without warning while they were heedless and their cattle were being watered at the places of water. Their fighting men were killed and their women and children were taken as captives; the Prophet got Juwayrīyah on that day. Nāfi' said that Ibn 'Umar had told him the above narration and that Ibn 'Umar was in that army.Sahih al-Bukhari, 76:1:422
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ḥadith collection incident is mentioned as follows:
Ibn 'Awn reported: I wrote to Nāfi' inquiring from him whether it was necessary to extend (to the disbelievers) an invitation to accept (Islam) before fighting them. He wrote (in reply) to me that it was necessary in the early days of Islam. The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) made a raid upon Banū al-Muṣṭaliq while they were unaware and their cattle were having a drink at the water. He killed those who fought and imprisoned others. On that very day, he captured Juwayrīyah bint al-Ḥārith. Nāfi' said that this tradition was related to him by 'Abdullāh ibn 'Umar who (himself) was among the raiding troops. Sahih Muslim, 19:4292
Many other ḥadīths mention a surprise attack, according to the historian Sir William Muir.[2]
Biographical literature
The event is mentioned in Ibn Hishām's biography of Muḥammad;, the Muslim jurist Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīyah also mentioned the event in his biography of Muḥammad called Zād al-Ma'ād.[10]
Muhammad as a general
^ a b c d e f g Mubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman Al (2005), The Sealed Nectar: biography of the Noble Prophet, Darussalam Publications, pp. 386–387 (online)
^ a b c d William Muir (2003), The life of Mahomet, Kessinger Publishing, p. 310, ISBN 978-0-7661-7741-3 (original)
^ Watt, W. Montgomery (1956). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford At The Claredon Press. p. 341.
^ J. M. B. Jones (1957). "The Chronology of the "Mag̱ẖāzī"-- A Textual Survey". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 19 (2): 251. doi:10.1017/S0041977X0013304X. JSTOR 610242.
^ Watt, W. Montgomery (1956). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-19-577307-1. (free online)
^ Al Tabari (1997), Volume 8, Victory of Islam, translated by Michael Fishbein, State University of New York Press, p. 56, ISBN 978-0-7914-3150-4
^ Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 29, Number 3920
^ Al Tabari (1997), Volume 8, Victory of Islam, translated by Michael Fishbein, p. 55
^ Sir William Muir (1861), The life of Mahomet and history of Islam (to the era of the Hegira: with introductory chapters on the original sources for the biography of Mahomet and on the pre-Islamite history of Arabia), Volume 3, Smith, Elder & Co, p. 240 (see also, abridged version republished in 2009)
^ Mubarakpuri, Saifur Rahman Al (2005), The Sealed Nectar, pp. 386–387 , Footnote 1.
This page was last edited on 21 May 2019, at 22:38
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How to beat Germany? Stop Mesut Özil.
England have a very tough task ahead of them this afternoon, with Germany (6th in the FIFA rankings) to get past if they want to make it to the quarter finals. How do we beat the Germans? “Score more goals than them” is the obvious answer, and I’d like to think that today is the day that Rooney and/or Lampard will find some kind of form and answer their critics, but it might not be that simple. The key to the game in my opinion lies in England’s defensive midfield.
Werder Bremen’s Mesut Özil has undoubtedly been the star of the show for Germany so far, playing a vital role in both of their wins. He plays as the Trequartista in a 4-2-3-1 (the formation that I would love to see England adopt), and has so far been effective in two out of three games – the Serbia game being a bit different, as he was forced to play as a striker after Klose’s sending off.
Both Ghana and Australia made the mistake of pressing the deep-lying midfield players (Schweinsteiger and Khedira), leaving Özil plenty of room to operate, and were made to pay. According to optajean, in the Australia game, “Mezut Ozil attempted (21) and completed (15) the most passes in the Australian half.” He was outstanding, and Germany scored four.
Note his average position against Australia (he’s number 8), just off the striker (Klose, 11) and pulling to the right slightly.
Australia played with Valeri and Grella in defensive midfield, with Culina just ahead of them. Presumably they were worried about being overrun by the Germans in the middle of the pitch but seemed to become so obsessed with stopping Shweinsteiger from dictating play, that they often left Özil totally unattended.
Ghana too made the mistake of affording him far too much time and space too, with Annan and Boateng both frequently pressing the ball, and it eventually came back to bite them when Özil unleashed this unstoppable strike. Just look at how little pressure on the ball there was:
England are unchanged for this game and, therefore, Gareth Barry has an enormous game ahead of him. He does like to sit and hold, but more than ever his positional awareness will be tested. This is an area where I feel he can still improve as a player (and one reason why I’d personally rather see Carrick in the side). However, as I mentioned, Özil also tends to drift to Germany’s right, and Barry should be comfortable following him there, having often played on the left in the past.
There will be a defensive responsibility for Cole and Gerrard too, two players who prefer to get forward. I have been very impressed by Cole’s all-round game over the past year, and he’s probably been our best player in the World Cup so far, but this is by far his biggest test.
Also worth mentioning that Bastian Schweinsteiger being fit to play is a blow, as he is another key player for the Germans. I would expect Rooney to drop deep to make up the numbers in midfield, and hopefully stop him from getting on the ball.
Stop these two, and we will be in with a great chance. Come on England!
Anonymous27th June 2010 at 16:09
Well you got that smack on then!
Alboy27th June 2010 at 19:32
Windy - you know I love your work... will there be a dissection of today's shambles, tomorrow, please? I'm afraid you've got plenty of work to do, my friend... ;)
Windy27th June 2010 at 19:36
Alboy - just posted it :)
Wow! Now, THAT'S what I call service... (something we palpably failed to give Defoe, today...)
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Star-studded Venice opens under cloud of controversy
Culture > United States > Italy > Star-studded Venice opens under cloud of controversy
By Kelly MACNAMARA with Fiachra GIBBONS in Paris, published 28 August 2019 at 5h52 BST.
French actors Catherine Deneuve (l) and French Juliette Binoche were among those at the opening ceremony© AFP Alberto PIZZOLI
The glitzy Venice film festival opens Wednesday with fury over the inclusion of controversial directors Roman Polanski and Nate Parker adding to criticism about a lack of women directors in the running for its top prize.
The rows threaten to take some of the sheen off a selection featuring a bumper crop of major stars including Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Kristen Stewart, Meryl Streep and Scarlett Johansson at the festival — a launchpad for the Oscars.
Having been pilloried for including only one woman director in 2018, the festival has two women out of 21 in the running for this year’s Golden Lion top prize.
Festival director Alberto Barbera said last year that he would rather quit the 11-day event — where three of the last five Oscar best picture winners were premiered — than give in to pressure for quotas.
This year the row over gender disparity has been compounded by a selection that has sparked particular fury — that of Polanski, who was convicted for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old in 1978.
The inclusion in a sidebar event of US director Parker, who was embroiled in a rape trial while still at university, has also sparked criticism.
Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, has accused the festival organisers of being “completely tone-deaf”.
“We all know that the world has changed post #metoo,” she told AFP.
“Programming decisions are deliberate and very thought through. None of this information is hidden. The question I ask is, ‘Is this a lack of awareness or deliberate indifference?'”
‘New sensitivity’
Barbera has defended the line-up, saying that “numerous films this year deal with the theme of the feminine condition in the world which, even when directed by men, reveal a new sensitivity.”
He added this was proof that high-profile scandals had “left their mark”.
The 76th Venice festival opens with Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Truth”, starring French heavyweights Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, about a French cinema star whose decision to publish her memoirs prompts a mother-daughter reunion which turns fiery.
Saudi Arabia’s Haifaa al-Mansour, the maker of the acclaimed “Wadjda”, is one of the two women directors vying for the top prize.
Her film “The Perfect Candidate” tells the story of a doctor trying to become her town’s first female candidate in elections in the conservative kingdom.
Newcomer Shannon Murphy is the other female contender, with her Australian comedy-drama “Babyteeth”.
Stars Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz and Robert De Niro are due on the red carpet at the Lido, where the curtain will also come up on the new DC Comics blockbuster, “The Joker”.
Trailers for the film starring Joaquin Phoenix, which traces the origins of Batman’s nemesis, have already been viewed more than 80 million times.
Steven Soderbergh’s take on the Panama Papers investigation, “The Laundromat”, will also been premiered, while Pitt plays an astronaut in James Gray’s highly anticipated sci-fi drama “Ad Astra.”
Fury over Polanski, Parker
Parker’s 2016 debut film about a slave revolt, “The Birth of a Nation”, was derailed after it emerged that he was accused of raping a fellow student, who later killed herself.
Parker was acquitted, but he later said when “I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom.”
Fellow black American director Spike Lee has vowed to travel to Venice to support Parker, whose film “American Skin” tells the story of a Marine veteran whose son is killed by police.
But it is the premiere of 85-year-old Polanski’s historical thriller about the persecution of the French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus, “An Officer and a Spy”, which is likely to make most headlines.
With Polanski suing the Academy of Motion Pictures for stripping him of his membership, Screen Daily’s chief critic Fionnuala Halligan was withering about his selection.
She imagined festival director “Barbera, wandering the Lido hopelessly, singing the same mournful refrain… he can’t find a female film director.
“So this year he’s going to programme the new film by (a) convicted child rapist.”
The festival opens as the accusations that sparked America’s #MeToo movement are back in the spotlight.
Harvey Weinstein, once one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, pleaded not guilty to two new charges of sexual predatory assault Monday, as a judge postponed his trial to 2020.
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Oscar nominees emerge as awards row rages over female snubs
Global box office has biggest ever year thanks to Disney mega-hits
Weinstein lawyers ask judge to recuse himself over ‘biased’ rebuke
Justin Bieber reveals he has Lyme disease
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Legal Passing - Navigating Undocumented Life and Local Immigration Law
Angela S. García
Publisher: University of California Press
Legal Passing offers a nuanced look at how the lives of undocumented Mexicans in the US are constantly shaped by federal, state, and local immigration laws. Angela S. García compares restrictive and accommodating immigration measures in various cities and states to show that place-based inclusion and exclusion unfold in seemingly contradictory ways. Instead of fleeing restrictive localities, undocumented Mexicans react by presenting themselves as “legal,” masking the stigma of illegality to avoid local police and federal immigration enforcement. Restrictive laws coerce assimilation, because as legal passing becomes habitual and embodied, immigrants distance themselves from their ethnic and cultural identities. In accommodating destinations, undocumented Mexicans experience a localized sense of stability and membership that is simultaneously undercut by the threat of federal immigration enforcement and complex street-level tensions with local police. Combining social theory on immigration and race as well as place and law, Legal Passing uncovers the everyday failures and long-term human consequences of contemporary immigration laws in the US.
Angela S. García is a sociologist and Assistant Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.
The Clown Egg Register
Luke Stephenson, Helen Champion
Step right up for the Greatest Book on Earth! For more than 70 years, Clowns International—the oldest established clowning organization—has been painting the faces of its members on eggs. Each one is a record of a clown's unique identity, preserving the unwritten rule that no clown should copy another's look. This mesmerizing volume collects more than 150 of these portraits, from 1946 to the modern day, accompanied by short personal histories of many of the clowns. Here are Tricky Nicky, Taffy, Bobo, Sammy Sunshine, the legendary Emmett Kelly, and Jolly Jack, clowning since 1977 and still performing today with a penguin puppet named Biscuit. A treasure just like the eggs it enshrines, The Clown Egg Register is an extraordinary archive of images and lives of the men and women behind the make-up.
Speaking like a Spanish Cow:...
Clíona Ní Ríordáin, Stephanie...
What is a cultural error? What causes it? What are the consequences of such an error?
This volume enables the reader to identify cultural errors and to understand how they are produced. Sometimes they come about because of the gap between the source culture and the target culture, on other occasions they are the result of the cultural inadequacies of the translator, or perhaps the ambiguity arises because of errors in the reception of the translated text. The meta-translational problem of the cultural error is explored in great detail in this book. The authors address the fundamental theoretical issues that underpin the term. The essays examine a variety of topics ranging from the deliberate political manipulation of cultural sources in Russia to the colonial translations at the heart of Edward FitzGerald’s famous translation The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Adopting a resolutely transdisciplinary approach, the seventeen contributors to this volume come from a variety of academic backgrounds in music, art, literature, and linguistics. They provide an innovative reading of a key term in translation studies today.
Just One Page - A New and Easy...
Lydia Lake, Jim Lake
JUST ONE PAGE !!! !!! !!!
The key idea of this handbook is to introduce an innovative, practical and visual presentation of the English Language Tense system on one page only. This unique and distinctive grammar presentation on a vector line demonstrates all the major tense systems on the basis of a step-by-step approach, depending on the study level. Starting from the Elementary level, continued by the Pre-Intermediate level and finally, the Intermediate level – JUST ONE PAGE is divided into three levels and for each specific section, practical tips, instructions and guidelines are provided. No necessity to sit and read for several hours hundreds of pages of academic grammar theory.
The JUST ONE PAGE grammar system presents the most significant features of each tense, thus, 22 tenses in English Language grammar are depicted on a single page. It enables a learner to obtain the key knowledge quickly, based on understanding a tense practical application using “signal words” (which are called “time adverbs” in grammar books), rather than pure academic theory memorising and, finally, learn correct application of the Tense system in language practice. This systematic approach has proved to be effective and attractive for over 25 years and has helped numerous students to learn English grammar quickly, effectively and easily.
Summary of Thug Kitchen - Eat...
Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a F*ck by Thug Kitchen | Conversation Starters
Vegan dishes don't have to be bland and boring and should in fact be outrageously delicious and appealing. But even more important, one has to be a badass in the kitchen. Thug Kitchen teaches aspiring chefs how to prepare inexpensive, flavorful and nutritious foods like Pumpkin Chili, Roasted Beer, Tortilla Soup, and Grilled Peach Salsa. Foul-mouthed and funny thug chefs Matt Holloway and Michelle Davis challenge readers to cook the healthy recipes made engaging with full details on ingredients, measurements and cooking techniques. Thug Kitchen is a #1 New York Times best seller that sold over half a million print copies. It remains in the 100 top-selling list of Amazon.
A Brief Look Inside:
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than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive,
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Disclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent companion resource of the original book, enhancing your experience. If you have not yet purchased a copy of the original book, please do before purchasing these unofficial Conversation Starters.
© Copyright 2019 Download your copy now on sale
Read it on your PC, Mac, iOS or Android smartphone, tablet devices.
Sexual Abuse: The Journey of a...
Sandraline Tobin Gareth
WARNING: This book is strictly for Adults 18+
Some of the clear memories are from when I was three years old and the fuzzy ones are from when I was a teenager or later.
Bear with me as I tell you about my life.
Who Shall Live? - Health...
Victor R Fuchs
Since the first edition of Who Shall Live? (1974) over 100,000 students, teachers, physicians, and general readers from more than a dozen fields have found this book to be a reader-friendly, authoritative introduction to economic concepts applied to health and medical care. Fuchs provides clear explanations and memorable examples of the importance of the non-medical determinants of health, the dominant role of physicians in health care expenditures, the necessity of choices about health at the individual and societal levels, and many other compelling themes.Now, in a new introduction of some 8,000 words including new tables and figures, Fuchs, often called the “Dean of health economists”, concisely summarizes the major changes of the past 37 years in health, medical care, and health policy. He focuses primarily on the United States but includes remarks about health policy in other countries, and addresses the question of whether national health care systems are becoming more alike. In addition to reviewing changes, the introduction explains why health expenditures grow so rapidly, why health spending in the United States is so much greater than in other countries, and what physicians need in order to practice cost-effective medicine.This second expanded edition also includes recent papers by Fuchs on the economics of aging, the socio-economic correlates of health, the future of health economics, and his policy recommendations for the United States to secure universal coverage, control of costs, and improvement in the quality of care. As was true of the first expanded edition (1998), this book will be welcomed by current students and life-long learners in economics, other social and behavioral sciences, medicine, public health, law, business, public policy, and other fields who want to understand the relation between health, economics, and social choice.Contents:Health and EconomicsProblems and Choices:The Problems We FaceThe Choices We Must MakeWho Shall Live?:The First Year of LifeThree Score and TenThe “Weaker” SexA Tale of Two StatesSummaryThe Physician: The Captain of the Team:Caring and Curing“I Can't Get a Doctor”The “Surgeon Surplus”Meeting the ChallengeThe Hospital: The House of Hope:The Central Problem — High CostHospitals TodayWhy Are Hospital Costs So High?How to Keep Hospital Costs from Going HigherDrugs: The Key to Modern Medicine:Drug ManufacturingDrug RetailingNew DrugsDrugs and Ill HealthDrug CostsEthical ProblemsPaying for Medical Care:The Present SystemWho?What?How?HMOsConcluding CommentsHealth and Social Choice:ReviewThe Limits of EconomicsRecommendationsHealth, Economics, and Social Choice:What Every Philosopher Should Know About Health EconomicsPoverty and Health; Asking the Right QuestionsFrom Bismarck to Woodcock: The “Irrational” Pursuit of National Health InsuranceEconomics, Values, and Health Care ReformFurther Thoughts on Health Economics and Health Policy:The Future of Health Economics“Provide, Provide”: The Economics of AgingReflections on the Socio-Economic Correlates of HealthA Comprehensive Cure: Universal Health Care VouchersThe Dedicated VAT SolutionReadership: Undergraduates in economics, sociology and public policy; graduates in medicine, public health and public policy; physicians and other health professionals.
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Home » Blog » Case studies » How Karim Aziz saves weeks’ worth of work by using a translation service
How Karim Aziz saves weeks’ worth of work by using a translation service
Joe Lobo Case studies
August 3rd, 2018 0
Karim Aziz’s company Globe Car & Truck Rentals is launching a new website and needed to translate its content. It could have relied on its employees to translate it but instead, they hired a professional service.
Why did you decide to hire a translation service?
We wanted our new website to be in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. As we’re in Montreal, our employees are bilingual [English and French] so we could have asked someone to do a lot of the work. But we didn’t want to waste weeks doing it ourselves.
We knew that relying on Google is a big no no so we decided to hire a professional. That’s why we use ICanLocalize.
What is the best thing about using a translation service?
Oh, it’s the speed definitely. Our translator Daniel Chenier is very quick and always meets deadlines.
“There’s no way we could have produced all those translations in such a short period of time.”
We usually send him our content in batches of 6,000 words and it’s done in three days. It would have taken weeks if we did it in-house. We’d have had to juggle between our daily tasks and so on and it would have been hard to do it on the side.
I think we’ve translated over 100 pages so far so it’s been a huge help.
How accurate are the translations?
They’re very accurate and in fact, the quality of the translation is a big help. To be honest it’s one less thing we need to worry about. When you outsource something and know you have someone reliable I never need to follow up.
It is also important to get the jargon correct. Our translator has worked with other car rental companies and his knowledge really helped. There are no discrepancies.
The importance of multilingual websites in 2018 and beyond
What were the costs like?
It was very affordable and didn’t put a strain on the company at all.
The fact that it was delivered and integrated quickly using WPML without having to manually copy and paste everything was a great help as well.
What would you say to anyone who is considering using a translation service?
I’d say it’s a great resource which gives you one less thing to worry about. You don’t need to bang your head against the wall doing it yourself. Also, it’s cheap enough that it makes sense to outsource it to a professional.
Ready to Find the Perfect Translation Service?
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And learn more about multilingual websites.
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ADA News Archive
ADA council tasked with fostering prioritization of safety in dentistry
House of Delegates passes resolution advocating more attention to protecting dentists, staff, patients
By David Burger
Dr. Meeske
Hastings, Neb. — Dr. Jessica Meeske, a pediatric dentist in Nebraska, believes that the dental community may have fallen behind the medical community in addressing the issue of safety for providers, their dental staff and, importantly, patients.
The private-practice owner has said she has first-hand experience seeing the gap, for one day a week she treats and operates on patients at her local hospital. She is also married to a physician.
Dr. Meeske has seen physicians use evidence-based, safety-related checklists, protocols and reporting systems that she said aren’t readily available or routinely used by dentists.
It’s not as if she is practicing unsafe dentistry, but it’s a subject not many dentists seem to be talking about.
It concerns her.
Dr. Meeske, as vice chair of the ADA Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention, will have a hand in helping member dentists enhance the culture of safety in a new initiative that will bring the issue into the limelight.
The movement stems from the passage of Resolution 78H-2019, approved by the House of Delegates in September in San Francisco. It calls for a three-year framework for action for CAAP that wants to move forward in a “measured and methodical” manner on these efforts:
• The development of a curriculum in patient safety and encourage its adoption into training.
• The dissemination of information on patient safety through a variety of in-person, print, web and social media information vehicles on a regular basis.
• The inclusion of patient safety considerations in practice guidelines and in standards.
• The development of community-based initiatives for error reporting and analysis.
• The collaboration with other dental and health care professional associations and disciplines in a national summit on dentistry’s role in patient safety.
The resolution also called that an annual report be submitted to the House of Delegates detailing progress “nurturing this culture of safety in order to raise awareness, while alleviating fear and anxiety associated with making the dental environment safe for patients, providers and the dental team.”
Symposium raises awareness
A national symposium was convened, with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Safety Symposium: Hidden Threats and Safe Practices: Steps to Creating a Safe Dental Home that took place Nov. 8-9 in Chicago. The symposium was what organizers called a first-of-its-kind national look at safety in pediatric dental care, which served to provide practical tools and pertinent clinical advice on how to improve safety for patients, team members and pediatric dentists. The symposium featured experts from major areas of dental and medical practice that aimed to mitigate potential harm related to providing care. A highlight was a former astronaut who detailed the repeated and unreported safety lapses that doomed the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger, which truly could have been avoided.
Dr. Casamassimo
One of the organizers of the symposium was Dr. Paul Casamassimo, CAAP member, chief policy officer of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and a past AAPD president. He is also a past president of the Ohio Dental Association and is on the medical staff at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Dr. Casamassimo said the symposium was meant to serve as a wake-up call for the profession. The landmark Institute of Medicine report “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” was an eye-opening look at safety in the medical field when it was published two decades ago, but nothing of that magnitude has yet addressed safety in the dental world.
“Attendees were awakened and many said we now have some homework to do,” Dr. Casamassimo said after the symposium. “Our speakers talked about medicine and industry and how both have integrated safety and made it a proactive — rather than reactive — consideration in everything they do. The symposium brought to light for many in the audience a false sense of comfort and personal naiveté about the safety of care, as well as assumptions made about the institutions and organizations many believed were watching out for patients and the profession. There was probably a lot of thoughtfulness on the trip home.”
Ideas for improvement
Dr. Casamassimo agreed with Dr. Meeske that the dental profession could learn things from the medical community, including a confidential and anonymous registry meant not to be punitive, but educational for others to avoid repeating preventable harms and risks. One should not have to personally experience an adverse event to be able to avoid it in the future. There is wisdom in learning collectively from the experience of others, he said.
Accountability, transparency and proactiveness are key, Dr. Casamassimo said, rather than sweeping things under the rug, which only invites further preventable harm to creep in.
He pointed out that oral surgeons have begun to create a national registry so that others can learn from and avoid making errors. In addition, pediatric dentists, radiologists, dental anesthesiologists and particularly those in public health settings are actively moving towards embracing routine safety measures.
“Medicine saw itself as very safe until it looked deeper,” Dr. Casamassimo said. “While we don’t believe that morbidity or mortality associated with dental care is large, we really do not know, and that is the problem. Medicine’s awakening to its darker side has led to an even better understanding of preventable errors, reporting of events and a system of prevention and monitoring is built into medical care. Everyone has benefited. Dentistry needs a system to identify problems and translate that knowledge to effective prevention.”
Resolution 78H-2019 was a good start, but there is much more to be done, Dr. Casamassimo said, including instruction at the earliest levels.
“A culture of safety begins with the education of our members,” he said. “The dental education system has its hands full just trying to teach all that is dentistry in the 21st century, but it is really where a safety culture should begin. We don’t do a great job in safety education or in teaching continuous quality improvement, which go hand in hand in practice. Once in practice, a dentist needs to address safety as integral to every aspect of his or her care. It is no longer enough to provide quality, evidence-based care. Quality care means we must integrate consideration of short- and long-term consequences of care for patients and what it took to get there. The process of providing care must also consider its effects on ourselves and our staff, both short- and long-term. For example, we do a very good job with radiation hygiene and infection control, but we don’t know the effects of dozens of exposures to strong sterilization agents for years on our staff.”
Systems, not dentists
Dr. Charles Czerepak, an Illinois-based pediatric dentist, is an attending at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and a member of CAAP’s Medicaid Provider Advisory Committee. He wasn’t quick to criticize his colleagues, though he argued that things have to change. Like Dr. Meeske, he attended the safety symposium that Dr. Casamassimo chaired.
Dr. Czerepak
“I get a little squeamish saying that dentistry has fallen behind the medical community in terms of patient safety,” said Dr. Czerepak, a former trustee on the board of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. “Our profession has always held safety as the highest priority. What happened is that the medical community began to look at safety from a different perspective and developed a new paradigm of thinking.”
Systems, not practitioners, are largely to blame, Dr. Czerepak said.
“The thought process is that even good physicians and dentists make mistakes,” he said. “To lower the incidence of errors, one should examine the systems that envelop the practitioner. Making the protocol safer requires examination and inquiry. After reviewing the adverse outcome and suspected causes, adjustments to existing protocols are made and the care delivery team learns about the new processes. Simply stated, feedback loops are established so that the providers can learn from their peers and prevent committing the same error. This is prevention at its best.”
Dr. Czerepak said that dentists may choose not to publicize errors or mistakes they’ve made, but he argued that paradoxically, being transparent doesn’t erode trust between the patient and dentists; it actually enhances it, as shown by experiences in the medical field, he said.
“I’m not saying that dentistry isn’t safe, but this is something we can bring into the way we practice,” Dr. Czerepak said, who added that safety and quality improvement are almost synonymous in medicine.
Dr. Casamassimo summed up why be believes dentistry must ultimately prioritize safety and talk about it openly.
“Pull your heads out of the sand and be honest about the things you can do better,” he said. “In medicine, just good handwashing on a consistent basis has reduced transmitted infections dramatically within hospitals. Look at your complication rates — in medicine, complication rates are not accepted but are seen as opportunities for improvement. Consider looking at what you do in a systematic way. With 80 percent of us in solo practice, we have a long way to go to collect, analyze and use patient care data like medicine does. Finally, if you haven’t established a practice culture in which your staff can tell you about problems without fear of retribution or ridicule, you are at risk. Practices in which the dentist and staff are aligned in protecting patients and themselves are far more likely to avoid minor and even catastrophic events.”
He concluded: “Organized dentistry has nothing to fear from looking at itself with a critical eye because ultimately patients and dentists benefit.”
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Home Drugs Quaaludes – Sedative & Hypnotic Drug – People Getting “High” on Them
Quaaludes – Sedative & Hypnotic Drug – People Getting “High” on Them
Quaalude is a brand name for Methaqualone. It is a sedative-hypnotic medication known in the U.S. It is known in the UK as Mandrax. Patented in the ’60s, They hit peak medical use a decade later as a muscle relaxant and for the treatment of insomnia.
Some physicians believed the medication was a proven daytime sedative and sleep-aid. However, though a string of overdose deaths on the party-scene brought a wave of negative attention to them.
This drug escalates the activity of GABA receptors in the brain. These leads to a drop in blood pressure, a slowing of the pulse rate and breathing that results in a deep state of relaxation.
The standard adult dose of Quaaludes is 300mg. A dose of 8,000mg is lethal and as much 2,000mg can result in a coma, especially if consumed with alcohol
Recreational use of “sopers”, “ludes” or “disco biscuits”, as they’re sometimes referred to on the street, spiked in the ’70s and early ’80s.
Users would often mix the drug with alcohol to achieve a hypnotic-like state that eased inhibitions.
Generally, recreational users take the pill orally, but others like to crush the medication, mix it with marijuana and smoke it. In the case of heavy users, cooking Methaqualone powder down to liquefied form and injecting it is not uncommon. The “high” usually kicks 20-45 minutes after ingestion and, depending on the amount taken, can last from four to eight hours.
This drug have a half-life between 20–60 hours.
Commercial Legal Status
In the United States, commercial production was banned in 1984. According to the FDA website, the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration has permanently moved the medication to it’s most severe classification – Schedule I. These are drugs the government classifies as having no accepted medical use and a high likely hood for abuse and addiction. There is, however, some discrepancy as to their actual legal classification.
More recently, this drug have entered the mainstream discussion because of their prominence in Martin Scorsese’s film “The Wolf of Wall Street”, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the starring role, as well as the drug’s role in the Bill Cosby sexual assault cases.
The medication, however, comes with serious risks. Some of the dangers of this drug include the following:
Addiction: regular users develop a tolerance to the drug very quickly and have to take higher amounts to feel the similar effects
Overdose: taking too much of the drug can also cause delirium, convulsions, damage to the central nervous system, vomiting, kidney failure and death
Withdrawal: coming off of this drug can bring painful symptoms like seizures, muscle spasms, confusion, restlessness, insomnia, loss of appetite and tremors among others
There are very few cases of overdoses since the medication was banned by the government. It is considered the “war on drugs” only real success. Gene Haislip, head of the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control, spearheaded the campaign, pressuring countries like Germany, Austria and China that manufactured the Methaqualone powder to stop selling it to countries like Columbia.
“America in the 1950s and 1960s was having a sedative boom. So there was this wonderful market for them,” David Herzberg, a professor of history at the University of Buffalo, told BBC News. “Quaaludes got the reputation of relaxing people so that they could have freer sex,” which ultimately led to the drug’s reputation as a type of date-rape drug.
“Well, it took some time, but in the end, the Colombians could no longer get their drug powder. We eliminated the problem. They didn’t know what to do. We beat them,” Haislip said on the PBS show “Frontline.”
Methaqualone is no longer manufactured, but there are rogue or underground laboratories that purport to sell Quaaludes. In fact, these are generally other chemicals synthesized to produce a similar effect and are even more dangerous because it’s generally unclear what these drugs contain.
Since 2015, U.S. Customs and Border Protection report very few seizures from this drug. In 2014 and 2015, CBP made two airport arrests for Quaaludes, but the amounts were so small, authorities believed the drugs were only for personal use.
There’s no indication that Quaaludes will make a comeback either in the medical community or for recreational use because there’s simply little to no supply of Methaqualone any more. Still, users should be cautious if presented with an old supply of the drug – some 33 years old at this point – or of anyone suggesting that what they’re selling them.
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Vous êtes ici : Accueil » Afrique australe » Afrique du sud » Will South Africa finally make progress towards a universal health system (...)
Will South Africa finally make progress towards a universal health system ?
D 7 octobre 2011 H 04:32 A Di McIntyre C 0 messages
South Africa has long faced considerable health system equity challenges. In particular, 43% of total health care expenditure is attributable to private health insurance schemes, which only cover 16% of the population. General tax funding allocated to the health sector also accounts for about 43% of expenditure, and is used to provide services for most of the rest of the population. Out-of-pocket payments account for the remainder of expenditure, most of which relates to co-payments by private insurance scheme members but also includes direct payments to private primary care providers by some of those not covered by private insurance.
The Minister of Health recently released a Green Paper on introducing a National Health Insurance (NHI). It indicates that the NHI will be guided by the principles of the right to health service access, social solidarity, equity, affordability and the provision of appropriate and effective health services. It also states that the objective is to achieve universal coverage, where everyone has financial protection from the potentially impoverishing costs of health care and access to needed health care. Core elements of the proposed NHI include :
Substantially increasing the pool of public funds (previous statements indicate that this will take the form of tax funding including : increased allocations to the health sector from general tax revenue ; a surcharge on personal income ; a payroll tax on employers ; and/or increased VAT) ;
The creation of an independent public entity to pool these public funds and use them “to purchase health services on behalf of the entire population from contracted public and private health care providers” on a single payer basis ;
All South Africans, legal permanent residents and registered refugees and asylum seekers will be entitled to benefit from these services ;
A relatively comprehensive package of out- and in-patient services will be funded ; and
There would be no fees charged at the point of service.
The Green Paper recommends that the NHI be phased in over a period of about 15 years, divided into three five-year phases. The first phase will be devoted to rebuilding the public health system. The capacity and quality of public health services declined dramatically during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when a neo-liberal fiscal policy restricted government spending at precisely the time that the HIV epidemic was exploding, increasing the burden on public sector services. Specific interventions planned are : ‘re-engineering’ primary care services, including the deployment of teams of community health workers in every ward ; an audit of all public sector facilities and improvements in physical infrastructure and ensuring all facilities have a full complement of functioning equipment ; increased training of the full range of health care workers ; service quality improvement measures ; and measures to improve management in hospitals and health districts. Other preparatory activities such as establishing the NHI fund/independent public purchasing entity will also occur during this phase.
The second phase will focus on changing the way of paying health care providers. It is proposed that primary care services will be paid for on a capitation basis while diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) will be used to pay hospital services. Strategic purchasing of services from both public and private health sectors will also be initiated during this phase. The final phase will be devoted to further expanding health service capacity to achieve universal access.
While there has been a relatively muted response to the release of the Green Paper, with many stakeholders adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach, there has been sufficient public commentary to identify key areas of support and concern.
The proposals have been praised for :
Being based on universal coverage principles ;
Adopting a carefully phased approach ;
Focussing firmly on addressing the problems in the public health sector first ; and
Building a strong foundation of improved primary care services.
The major concerns expressed include :
Although there appears to be a commitment to a single public pooling and purchasing entity, the Green Paper makes mention of also considering a multi-payer option whereby private insurance schemes would act on behalf of the NHI, raising concerns about high administration costs, limiting income and risk cross-subsidies and less ability to cost-containment benefits of a
single-purchaser ;
Purchasing of services from the private sector may retain a two-tier system as wealthier groups live closer to private providers than the less well-off and given the rapid increase in fee levels among private for-profit providers, may threaten the sustainability of the NHI ; and
Although it is proposed that there will be no fees at the point of service, the Green Paper also mentions having to consider co-payments, which would limit the financial protection afforded to beneficiaries.
There are clearly some contradictions within this policy document that need to be resolved. It is also apparent that key stakeholders will use the period before the finalisation of the policy to influence the NHI design to best meet their personal objectives. While the release of the Green Paper is a positive development in efforts to move towards universal coverage in South Africa,
unwavering commitment to the core principles outlined in this policy document is required if the final NHI design is to be compatible with achieving these principles.
Di McIntyre
Di McIntyre is the South African Research Chair in ‘Health and Wealth’ and a Professor in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town
Source from http://www.amandlapublishers.co.za
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Solution to Customs’ Pocket Knife Grab Passes The House & Senate
Ammoland Inc. Posted on October 21, 2009 by Ammoland
U. S. Senate's Solution to Customs' Pocket Knife Grab Passes The House and Senate
The U. S. Senate's Solution to Customs' proposal to ban assisted-opening, one-hand-opening and other folding knives has passed in both the House and the Senate.
Next step – the President's desk!
American Knife & Tool Institute
Washington, DC –-(AmmoLand.com)-You can keep and use your folding knives permitted in your state! With today's vote in the U.S. Senate (and the President's expected signature of H.R. 2892), the American Knife & Tool Institute has accomplished the seemingly impossible.
Thanks to the help of many AKTI members, supporters, lawmakers and supporting organizations, we have turned the proposed U. S. Custom's proposed re-definition of switchblades into an effective and sweeping clarification of the Federal Switchblade Act of 1958.
As of today (October 20, 2009), the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, with Senate Amendment 1447 language still intact, has passed both the Senate and the House. This bi-partisan amendment was co-sponsored by 20 U.S. Senators, led by John Cornyn of Texas, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Orrin Hatch of Utah.
The Senate amendment essentially adopted the switchblade exception language which AKTI sponsored in Texas and that was signed by Texas Governor Perry on June 18, 2009. U.S. Customs, thanks to an outpouring of grassroots support and the intervention of more than 20 U.S. Senators concerned about the potential financial devastation to the entire sporting knife industry, became active supporters of the amendment.
AKTI thanks the following co-sponsors for the bi-partisan statesmanship that clearly saved all folding knives which we estimate are 80 percent of current sales in the nearly $1 billion sporting knife industry.
John Cornyn (R-TX) Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Ron Wyden (D-OR)
John Barrasso (R-WY) Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Susan Collins (R-ME)
Bob Corker (R-TN) Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY) Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
James Inhofe (R-OK) Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Ben Nelson (D-NE) Jim Risch (R-ID)
Pat Roberts (R-KS) Jon Tester (D-MT)
John Thune (R-SD) David Vitter (R-LA)
Prior to the Senate adopting the amendment, U.S. Customs also participated in negotiations on language, which they then supported. AKTI thanks both the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs for their ultimate support.
House support has been strong and broad-based during this effort, going back to more than 80 members of the bi-partisan Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus sending a letter on June 22nd for the industry position to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
Representative Robert Latta (R-OH) and Walt Minnick (D-ID) were staunch, active supporters of the sporting knife industry throughout the entire process in the Senate and the House.
Finally, as H.R. 2892 came back to the House for work in conference, AKTI wants to recognize the support given by various House committee chairs and their staffers.
David Obey (D-WI) – Chair House Appropriations
David Price (D-NC) – Chair House Appropriations (Homeland Security Subcommittee)
Henry Waxman (D-CA) – Chair House Energy and Commerce Committee
Bobby Rush (D-IL) – Chair House Energy and Commerce Committee (Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee)
Charles Rangel (D-NY) – Chair House Ways & Means Committee
Sander Levin (D-MI) – Chair House Ways & Means Committee (Trade Subcommittee)
As provided in Amendment 1447, U.S. Customs agreed to add a fifth clause to section 1244 of the Federal Switchblade Act that exempts “a knife that contains a spring, detent, or other mechanism designed to create a bias toward closure of the blade and that requires exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist or arm to overcome the bias toward closure to assist in opening the knife.”
AKTI expects that the President will sign this bill.
Thank you to all those lawmakers, AKTI members, AKTI Grassroots Supporters, the NRA, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, and Knife Rights for their support of a campaign that began with an AKTI call to action at the Blade Show on May 29.
Goldie Russell
AKTI President
President, A.G. Russell Knives
Jan Billeb
AKTI Executive Director
AKTI – The American Knife & Tool Institute represents the entire knife community and all knife owners as we have since 1997. We have successfully won every legislative effort so far. AKTI continues its mission to “Keep Knives in American Lives”
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Extreme Views Are Becoming The Mainstream In Britain And Europe, New Poll Shows
Alberto Nardelli, Buzzfeed, October 7, 2016
Almost half of the adults in 12 European countries now hold anti-immigrant, nationalist views, according to major new research that reveals the spread of fringe political views into the mainstream.
BuzzFeed News has been given exclusive access to new data from YouGov, which polled more than 12,000 people across the continent to measure the extent of what it termed “authoritarian populist” opinions – a combination of anti-immigration sentiments, strong foreign policy views, and opposition to human rights laws, EU institutions, and European integration policies.
The YouGov findings are the first to capture the political attitudes that are both fuelling, and being fuelled by, upheaval across Europe and beyond – from the continent’s refugee crisis and the Brexit vote in Britain, to the burkini ban in France, to the rise of Donald Trump and the radical “alternative right” in the US.
In Britain, the poll found authoritarian populist attitudes were shared by 48% of adults, despite less than 20% of the population identifying itself as right-wing. Three months on from the EU referendum, prime minister Theresa May has responded this week by appealing directly to disaffected working-class voters with a promise to crackdown on immigration and reassert British sovereignty.
In France, a clear majority of people surveyed – 63% – held authoritarian populist views, while in Italy the figure was 47%. In Germany, it was 18%, which appears low by comparison but, given the country’s history and the extreme nature of its far-right groups, is regarded by analysts as surprisingly high.
The highest levels of authoritarian populist views were recorded in Romania and Poland, where they were held by 82% and 78% of adults respectively. In Lithuania, by contrast, the poll did not did not detect any evidence of the authoritarian populist phenomenon at all.
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage told BuzzFeed News that despite his scepticism towards pollsters, the new research “supports what has been obvious to anyone with the eyes to see and the ears to hear”.
“What is happening across Europe is not some sudden revelation,” Farage said, “but a slow build-up of disillusion amongst the peoples of Europe let down by an anti-democratic political class who are attempting to build a United States of Europe without the consent of the citizens.
“This is not a matter of the old labels of left or right. In the past both left and right were rooted in place, but no longer. The governing political class across this continent doesn’t like the Europe in which it lives, holds its people in contempt, and would prefer to sit in executive lounges than engage with those whose work pays their wages. That is why you are seeing increasing disillusion with a failed EU project that is now doomed. Brexit was just the beginning.”
In Germany, for example, the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party now holds seats in 10 of Germany’s 16 states. Nationally, with a general election due next year, the party is polling above 15%. Three years ago, the AfD failed to win enough votes to enter parliament.
The YouGov data shows that most people in the country are centrists, internationalists, liberals and pro-EU. Authoritarian populism is still restricted to more extremist positions.
But certain subjects that have been off-limits since the end of the second world war – such as debates about German nationalism and identity and people’s ethnicity – are now making a comeback.
Hans Blomeier of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation told BuzzFeed News that “what is dangerous is not always the words themselves, but their history and what is behind them”.
“A nation that is outward-looking is suddenly inward-looking again – and the AfD is driving this,” he said.
Like Germany, Denmark has also seen a shift in the tone of political debates. According to the YouGov data, a quarter of Danes who identify themselves as centrists nevertheless hold authoritarian populist beliefs – a similar proportion to those on the right-wing of the country’s political spectrum.
“There is a move towards more authoritarianism, discrimination based on ethnicity,” said Karen Melchior, a diplomat and candidate with the liberal Radikale party. “It is not a left-versus-right issue. It is like a cold war with competing visions of Europe.”
In recent policy discussions about introducing a tougher citizenship test and the appropriateness of segregating classrooms on the basis of ethnicity, even parts of the Social Democratic party held “discriminatory” views, Melchior claims.
Voters in France will soon have the chance to vote on the ideas that drive authoritarian populism. Polls suggest Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant Front National, will easily make it through to the final round of two candidates in the country’s presidential elections in 2017.
The rise of nationalist, anti-immigrant views has been strongest in central Europe, with Polish adults scoring the highest in the YouGov survey, taking into account all the measures polled.
In nearby Hungary, the “cultural counter-revolution” that central European leaders pledged in the wake of Brexit is even more stark.
The refugee crisis is one of the most powerful drivers of authoritarian, anti-immigrant views. A senior government official close to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban told BuzzFeed News “it is not just about the numbers. There is an issue with provenance, cultural, demographic and religious issues. Some Muslims do not respect the European way of life.
“Many North African migrants have not integrated, they live isolated in polarised communities. There are now districts in cities such as Paris and Copenhagen that are dangerous.”
The official predicts that there will be eventually be walls all around the EU. “Countries colonise others by war, or by flooding them with their people,” they added.
To the right of the ruling Fidesz party is Jobbik. In the space of a decade, the party, grown out of a right-wing youth association, has gone from polling less than 2% to 20%.
One trend that links Donald Trump’s run through the Republican primaries, the Brexit vote in the UK and the AfD’s success in recent German state elections is an increase in previous non-voters casting a ballot.
The YouGov data shows that authoritarian populist groups tend to be more likely to be male, older, with fewer educational qualifications, but the degree for which that holds varies from group to group and from country to country. This makes defining and responding to the demographic mix of populist parties difficult.
“In the past, these voters thought that all the parties were the same, now they see the AfD and Trump as different – protesting makes sense,” said Hans Blomeier, of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. “They see them as a way to give the establishment a slap in the face. They deliver their anger in an election, it hurts everybody.”
He warned that governments and parties that respond to populism with more populism are “playing with fire”.
Topics: African Immigrants, Europe, New York City, Race and Politics
< Free Speech Crackdown: Europe Tells British Press Not to Reveal if Terrorists Are Muslims
UW Students Sell Anti-police, Anti-white Hoodies >
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18 March, 2015 - 14:05 aprilholloway
Giant Human Skeleton unearthed in Varna, Bulgaria
Archaeologists in Bulgaria have discovered the remains of what they have described as a “huge skeleton” in downtown Varna, a city on the shores of the Black Sea whose rich culture and civilizations spans some 7,000 years.
Sofia News Agency, Novinite, reports that the skeleton was found in what was once the ancient city of Odessos, a trading post established by the Greeks towards the end of the 7th century BC. Odessos was a mixed community made up of Ionian Greeks and the Thracian tribes (Getae, Krobyzoi, Terizi). Later it was controlled by the Thracians, Macedonians, and then Romans. The Roman city, Odessus, covered 47 hectares in present-day central Varna and had prominent public baths, Thermae, erected in the late 2nd century AD, now the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria.
Remains of ancient Odessus in Varna, Bulgaria ( Wikimedia Commons )
Researchers have said that initial analyses suggest the skeleton belongs to a man who lived in the late 4 th or early 5 th century AD, a time when Odessus was an early Christian center.
Valeri Yotov, who is part of the team carrying out excavations there, is reported as telling local news websites that the size of the bones is “impressive” and that they belonged to “a very tall man”. However, Yotov would not reveal the exact height of the skeleton.
The remains were found near the remains of the ancient city wall and Yotov has suggested that the man may have died while working or during a ceremony held near the city walls.
“His posture, with hands laid on his waist and his body pointing to the east (head) and west (feet) is a clear indication for archaeologists he was buried,” reports Novinite.
An Exploration into the Existence of Giants in the Georgian Caucusus
The Life and Legend of the Aldworth Giants
Have explorers in Ecuador found ‘Lost City of Giants'?
It is not the first time that an over-sized skeleton has been found in Eastern Europe. In 2013, the skeleton of a giant warrior dating back to 1600 BC was found in Santa Mare, Romania . Nicknamed ‘Goliath’, the warrior measured more than 2 meters in height, highly unusually for the time and place, when people were of small stature (approximately 1.5 meters on average). The warrior was buried with an impressive dagger that indicated his high stature.
Giant skeleton nicknamed ‘Goliath’ found in Santa Mare, Romania ( Satmareanul.net)
Featured image: The newly-discovered giant skeleton in Bulgaria. Photo by BGNES
By April Holloway
Odessus
April Holloway is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. For privacy reasons, she has previously written on Ancient Origins under the pen name April Holloway, but is now choosing to use her real name, Joanna Gillan.
Joanna... Read More
IJ wrote on 8 February, 2019 - 06:59 Permalink
Where's the context. It an archaeological site yet not a single measuring rod? If it was real there'd be visual context - there isn't!
tangatawhenua16 wrote on 3 August, 2016 - 06:00 Permalink
This isn't even a clever hoax, it's appallingly stupid. Not a single measuring tape, let alone a rod. But there are many suckers around the world who will believe it regardless. At least ours will show corresponding measures and articles for proof.
gaia.facts wrote on 10 April, 2016 - 10:14 Permalink
I'm always fascinated by articles about " tall people " 6-8 ft. There appears to have been several settlements throughout history across the globe. Stories with accompanying photos would be welcomed. Does anyone know of any sites I can go to in order to research the subject more?
meadg wrote on 3 April, 2015 - 00:24 Permalink
Ummm Like I said he was 5ft 4” my granny was taller than that I think the authors auto correct has changed blindingly average to Giant!!! He doesn’t need a pituitary tumour to attain such a lofty height
Cam wrote on 1 April, 2015 - 17:18 Permalink
This may be the earliest known example of pituitary tumor. Did the cranial vault show any abnormalities?
10 August, 2019 - 16:43 Alicia McDermott
Golden Varna Plate Linked To Daring Sea Voyage Between Black Sea and Egypt 7,000 Years Ago
There’s an odd-looking design on an ancient ceramic vessel that was found in Varna, Bulgaria that one expert believes is linked to another kind of vessel – a woven, seafaring kind. Many years ago,...
Read more about Golden Varna Plate Linked To Daring Sea Voyage Between Black Sea and Egypt 7,000 Years Ago
13 August, 2016 - 00:48 Mark Miller
Tiny Bead Found in Bulgaria May Be Oldest Known Gold Artifact in the World
A tiny bead found in Bulgaria is believed to be the oldest worked piece of gold in the world, an archaeologist says. Researchers discovered the precious bauble in a settlement dating back 6,600 years...
Read more about Tiny Bead Found in Bulgaria May Be Oldest Known Gold Artifact in the World
22 November, 2015 - 21:53 Mark Miller
Oldest known Gold Jewelry in Europe Discovered at Bronze Age Bulgarian site
The first gold jewelry known to have been fashioned in Europe, about 6,600 years ago in Bulgaria, has been discovered in what the lead archaeologist calls the oldest prehistoric town in Europe. The...
Read more about Oldest known Gold Jewelry in Europe Discovered at Bronze Age Bulgarian site
27 March, 2015 - 21:08 lizleafloor
Temple in ancient city of Odessus reveals Greek Goddess Aphrodite was worshipped by Thracians
A new look into a Thracian temple buried beneath Roman baths is challenging what researchers once thought about the worship of deities in the ancient city of Odessus, now the Bulgarian Black Sea city...
Read more about Temple in ancient city of Odessus reveals Greek Goddess Aphrodite was worshipped by Thracians
Varna Man and the Wealthiest Grave of the 5th Millennium BC
In the 1970s, archaeologists in Bulgaria stumbled upon a vast Copper Age necropolis from the 5 th millennium BC containing the oldest golden artifacts ever discovered near the modern-day city of...
Read more about Varna Man and the Wealthiest Grave of the 5th Millennium BC
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Android News / All News / Invasion Of The Box People Brings Twin-Stick Action To Android
Invasion Of The Box People Brings Twin-Stick Action To Android
By Daniel Fuller
Invasion of the Box People is an extremely simple twin-stick shooter that can be most easily described as satisfying. The game starts out very easy, and gets chaotic and visceral very quickly on higher difficulties. The formula is dead-simple at its core, with a few different modes and power-ups peppered on to keep things interesting. The fluid animations and lightweight aesthetics pair very nicely with the feeling of power that the gameplay provides. Unless you stopped paying attention mid-round or lost intentionally, you can't help feeling like you did a great job. The waves keep coming and coming forever, so the truly skilled can rack up some insane scores, while beginners can feel good about mowing down a few waves of aliens.
The gameplay comes in three modes. In Bunker Defense, you play as a turret stuck in the middle of the arena. Point at enemies as they come in from the outer border of the stage to shoot them, and you'll get power-ups automatically. Defend Yourself gives you the ability to move and makes you walk to power-ups to get them, but is otherwise the same. Panic mode shakes that up by having enemies fall from the sky instead of walking in from outside. When killed, enemies fall apart, and their pieces can knock over other enemies, allowing skilled players to set up complex multi-kill combos. As far as power-ups go, there's a fire rate increase, spread shot, knockback increase, and an exploding shot, which all stack, along with a single-use nuke that clears the stage of enemies when picked up. There are three different stages to choose from, or you can go for the random option and let the game shuffle stages each time you die.
This game has no in-app purchases or ads and is extremely easy to pick up and play. Since you can restart right from the game over screen and jump right back in, it's also very easy to dump hours into the curious mobile game. More and more games these days have been crafting mobile-focused experiences from the ground up based on genres that used to be adapted for mobile or dominated by consoles or PC gaming, with twin-stick shooters being a great example, and this game is definitely part of that movement. The game's creator, Blake Petersen, said that he wanted a game that was quick to get into, and since he couldn't find one, he decided to make it himself. If you'd like to try it out, it's on sale for $.99 during its debut week on the Google Play Store and will be $1.99 after that. The game is also out on Steam, if you'd rather play it on PC.
Invasion Of The Box People 5
Daniel Fuller
Daniel has been writing for Android Headlines since 2015, and is one of the site's Senior Staff Writers. He's been living the Android life since 2010, and has been interested in technology of all sorts since childhood. His personal, educational and professional backgrounds in computer science, gaming, literature, and music leave him uniquely equipped to handle a wide range of news topics for the site. These include the likes of machine learning, Voice assistants, AI technology development news in the Android world. Contact him at [email protected]
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Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner. The park was the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851, for which the Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton.
Angela Walker
Hyde Park is central London’s largest green space. The 1851 Great Exhibition was held here and during World War II, the park became an enormous potato field. Today, the park is a place to stroll and have a lovely picnic, or a nice boat trip on the Serpentine Lake or catch a summer concert or outdoor…
Biking through here is a delight
Lovely in the summer if you are walking and lovely all year round if you are driving.
I lived near the park when I arrived and was still finding new parts years later.
Beautiful for walking and exercising
For cycling and strolling
One of the most beautiful parks in London.
A huge and beautiful green space in the heart of London
The best park in London. Has everything form an awesome children’s playground with a pirate ship to the Serpentine boating lake.
In the Christmas period they host a winter wonderland.
10 min walk - gorgeous park for walking and relaxing
A large park to visit take a tour on a rented bike, visit the Princess Diana lake
Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Central London. It is the largest of four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance of Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Park past the main entrance to Buckingham Palace.
Hyde Park by Airbnb Experiences
See Notting Hill Walking Tour
Royal High Tea at Kensington Palace
Victorian Time Travel Experience
Death & Despair in London’s Royal Parks
scenic run
Hyde Park Run, Dinner, and Coaching
London Wildlife Photography Tour
A promenade through Victorian London
Unique Bike Tours of London
London for kids: family friendly tour ⭐
“The Natural History Museum in London is a natural history museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.”
“The famous store in Kensington has everything. A shopping experience for the rich and famous, but you can go there to”
“The Victoria and Albert Museum is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design with a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. The Museum stands as a testament to the work of its namesakes, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their commitment to bring 19th century London into the modern age.”
“Because it’s there. It also gives you a chance to wander through the stunning Parks the surround the palace ”
“London museum and library of science. Exhibitions cover all areas of science and technology. Includes online exhibits and a learning area.”
Phone+44 300 061 2000
Websiteroyalparks.org.uk
Hours of Operation statusOpen · Closes 11:30 PM
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Alliance Memory Appoints Ramesh Varadharajan as India Country Manager
SAN CARLOS, Calif. — Oct. 22, 2019 — Alliance Memory today announced the appointment of Ramesh Varadharajan as the country head of the company’s India sales. In his new role, Mr. Varadharajan will focus on expanding Alliance Memory’s sales coverage in the dynamic Indian market and lead the company’s global engineering and quality teams.
Mr. Varadharajan brings over 20 years of experience across a number of semiconductor markets to Alliance Memory, specializing in product and test engineering; silicon validation across memory; and mixed signal, RF, and IoT products. Prior to joining the company, he served in engineering management roles at Silicon Laboratories Singapore and SpectraLinear India. He also served as lead product and test engineer at Alliance Semiconductor from 2000 to 2005. He holds a Master of Science degree in microelectronics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India.
“With his wealth of experience in the semiconductor industry, deep knowledge of the Indian market, and background in engineering management, Ram will be instrumental in expanding our presence in India and driving our engineering efforts worldwide,” said David Bagby, President and CEO of Alliance Memory. “Furthermore, his experience at Alliance Semiconductor gives him exceptional insight into our product line, making him an invaluable asset. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to the Alliance Memory team.”
“Alliance Memory is rapidly expanding its market share and product portfolio, and it has established a solid reputation throughout the industry for being the company you can rely on for the memory chips you need,” said Mr. Varadharajan. “I’m excited to join the company and look forward to the challenges of expanding its customer base in India while driving global engineering teams that will enable Alliance Memory to further expand its product offering for customers worldwide.”
Mr. Varadharajan is based in Bangalore, India, and reports to David Bagby. He can be reached at Ram@alliancememory.com.
Sales Headquarters
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Chicago Clinic Recognized for Improving Patient Care
Photo courtesy of CommunityHealth.
A patient receives care at CommunityHealth of Chicago, which recently achieved recognition as a patient-centered medical home. Photo courtesy of CommunityHealth.
Stamford, Conn. – Aug. 15, 2019 – CommunityHealth of Chicago is the first health facility to achieve patient-centered medical home recognition through the Americares/BD Advancing Community Health Program.
Americares, the health-focused relief and development organization, launched the program in 2018 with support from global medical technology company, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), to help improve the quality of patient care at free and charitable clinics.
“We are incredibly proud of CommunityHealth for achieving this important milestone and putting patients at the forefront of care,” said Americares Director of Quality Improvement & Behavioral Health Christina Newport. “As a designated patient-centered medical home, CommunityHealth is now better positioned to provide low-income patients with a higher level of care.”
The program awards $100,000 grants, funded by BD, to support the patient-centered medical home recognition process through the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Clinic staff is trained to build strong relationships with patients, while also receiving technical support from the Americares in-house quality improvement team and industry experts.
“We partnered with Americares to develop a program that recognizes the hard work of health care workers in underserved communities and further their ability to improve the quality of care to this vulnerable population,” said Jennifer Farrington, senior director of BD Social Investing and vice president of the BD Foundation. “We proudly extend our congratulations to CommunityHealth of Chicago on this important milestone, and rally behind them as they continue to improve access to care to more patients in their community.”
To qualify as a patient-centered medical home, clinics must actively engage patients in their care plans by connecting them with medical and social resources in their communities, offering easy access to care according to patient preferences and providing a comprehensive approach that addresses primary care and mental health needs. Becoming a patient-centered medical home also increases communication at the clinic level and allows providers to offer coordinated care to patients including prevention, wellness, acute and chronic care.
As a result of the accreditation process, CommunityHealth recently implemented a 24/7 phone consultation service for patients to speak with a clinician outside of business hours and instituted daily urgent care appointments.
“We are honored to be recognized for our commitment to continually improving the health of low-income, uninsured patients,” said CommunityHealth Director of Clinical Services Emily Hendel. “This recognition elevates the level of care our staff and volunteers provide to patients.”
Founded in 1993, CommunityHealth is the largest volunteer-based free medical facility in the nation dedicated to serving the uninsured and underserved in Chicago and surrounding communities. CommunityHealth and Americares have worked together to improve health outcomes for patients and communities since 2006. To date, Americares has supported the clinic with more than $1 million in donated medicine and supplies. More than 8,000 patients rely on the clinic annually for primary care services.
Americares saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster worldwide so they can reach their full potential. In the U.S., Americares is the largest nonprofit provider of medical aid to organizations serving low-income and uninsured patients. Americares provides medicine, supplies education and training to a network of more than 1,000 partner health clinics nationwide. Americares U.S. Program helps partner clinics increase capacity, provide comprehensive care, improve health outcomes and reduce costs for patients.
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Mon 22 Apr 2019 10:04 AM
UAE adopts new national AI strategy aimed at becoming global leader
The UAE's strategy's eight objectives include the establishment of an incubator for AI innovations and AI training programmes
“We have launched a national strategy for artificial intelligence to make it an integral part of our business, our lives and our government services,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The UAE’s Cabinet has adopted a new ‘National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031’ aimed at positioning the UAE as a global leader in AI, it was announced on Sunday.
The strategy will also seek to develop an “integrated system that employs artificial intelligence in vital areas in the UAE.”
The strategy includes eight objectives, including establishing an incubator for AI innovations, the employment of AI in customer service, attracting and training AI talent and research capabilities and providing a data-driven infrastructure to support AI experiments.
The UAE’s strategy also includes a plan to “build a well-established UAE brand of artificial intelligence” through activities that make the UAE a test platform for AI technology, provide enhanced services, training and qualification programmes.
UAE news agency said the first phase of the AI strategy’s implementation will focus on resources and energy, logistics and transportation, tourism and hospitality, healthcare and cyber security.
UAE cabinet
UAE’s AI Strategy
National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031
artificial intelligence in uae
Robots and automation to help reporters do their jobs, says Google
Revealed: how ready is Dubai for new digital era
Etisalat launches the UAE's first cloud gaming service
Revealed: the most influential brands in Saudi Arabia
UAE expert says cybercrime is $8trn threat to global economy
Amazon launches Arabic version of text-to-speech service at Dubai summit
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Home > Press/Journalists > Press Releases > Press Briefing: CIA Declassifies Operational Materials As a Result of New Disclosure Policy under Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act
Press Briefing: CIA Declassifies Operational Materials As a Result of New Disclosure Policy under Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act
Press Release · Wednesday, Mar 5, 2014
What: The interagency group (IWG) responsible for locating, declassifying, and releasing U.S. records related to Nazi and Japanese war crimes and criminals will hold a briefing to discuss the recent release of CIA operational records. The IWG will describe how this record declassification differs from previous CIA record releases, and historians will explore the implications for future research. The records have been declassified under the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998 and the Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Act of 2000 and are now open to the public at the National Archives, College Park, Maryland.
Who: Press will be briefed by Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein and a CIA representative, with additional comments by:
Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio
Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York
IWG Public Members Elizabeth Holtzman, Thomas Baer, and Richard Ben-Veniste.
Historical perspectives will be presented by IWG historians: Norman J.W. Goda, Richard Breitman, Timothy Naftali, and Robert Wolfe. Following the briefing, the historians will be available for comment.
When: Tuesday, June 6, 9:00 A.M.
Pre-set time for television/radio is 8:30 A.M.
Where: Room 105, National Archives Building
Since 1999, the IWG has overseen the identification, declassification, and release of roughly 8 million pages of U.S. Government records related to war criminals and crimes committed by the Nazi and Japanese Imperial Governments during World War II. The IWG is composed of representatives from eight federal agencies and three public members. In April 2004 the group published U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis, a collection of studies based on newly released documentation. Two additional volumes, Researching Japanese War Crimes: Introductory Essays and an accompanying electronic Guide to Japanese War Crimes Records are forthcoming. The IWG web site is: http://www.archives.gov/iwg/.
Giuliana Bullard, IWG, 703-532-1477
Susan Cooper, National Archives, 202-357-5300
Working Group Members
Steven Garfinkel
Chair, National Archives and Records Administration
Thomas H. Baer
Public Member
Richard Ben-Veniste
Elizabeth Holtzman
Christina Bromwell
William Hooton
Mary Walsh
William H. Leary
Eli M. Rosenbaum
Paul A. Shapiro
Mark J. Susser
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PROGRAMS > APSA Awards > CQ Press Award for Teaching Recognition
The CQ Press Award for Teaching Innovation honors a wide range of new directions in teaching.
The award carries a cash prize of $500 and financial support for travel costs. APSA alternates the presentation of the award between the Annual Meeting and Teaching and Learning Conference.
Nominations and self-nominations close at 12:00am EST on Friday, November 15, 2019.
Examples of eligible nominations include a professor that used an innovative course syllabus or a new multimedia approach to reaching students. All submissions should include:
Personal statement (written by the nominee) detailing the teaching innovation, its impact, and why this innovation deserves this honor.
Letter of nomination from nominating faculty (if relevant), briefly summarizing the teaching innovation and its impact, and explaining why it deserves this honor.
Other supporting documents of nominee and/or nominator’s choosing.
CQ Press Award Committee
Chair: Desiree S. Pedescleaux, Spelman College
Michael Munger, Duke University
Rachel VanSickle-Ward, Pitzer College
2018 Recipient: Eric Loepp, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater
Dr. Loepp is being recognized for his work creating what he calls a “data-driven classroom.” In his data-driven classroom Dr. Loepp uses students as a subject pool to generate a large bank of data via surveys at the beginning of the course and integrates the results into class throughout the term to illustrate how data is generated and analyzed. As a colleague noted in his nomination letter, this approach allows the instructor to “generate greater student interest in political science as well as to give students firsthand experience in the conduct of social scientific research.”
2017 Recipient: Brooke Thomas Allen, Macomb Community College, "Gerrymandering as Art: A New Method for Teaching Redistricting"
This hands-on, creative technique maximizes critical thinking while teaching the complicated concept of redistricting to students from various diverse backgrounds at a community college in Metro Detroit. The assignment combines traditional lectures and classroom discussions with small group interactive actives designed to analyze congressional districts for a team-based in-class presentation and public "Art" poster exhibit competition displayed on campus.
2016 Recipient: Professor Amanda Rosen, Webster University
Dr. Rosen is recognized by her colleagues for being a true classroom innovator, at the forefront in the academic literature on the use of games and simulations in the classroom to teach a wide range of subjects, as well as the classroom itself. It is clear that she has a knack for creating games, exercises, and simulations that engage students and help them learn challenging material. Dr. Rosen has also found an innovative way of teaching research methods that excites and engages students. Her “Best Breakfast in Town Project” incorporates both group and individual components and takes students from the first stage of reviewing the existing literature on the subject through the research design process. She has presented on this project at the APSA Annual Meeting, has blogged about it on the Active Learning in Political Science (ALPS) blog, and will be discussing it in a co-authored paper at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference in 2016.
2015 Recipient: Victor Asal, SUNY, University at Albany
Dr. Asal is recognized widely by his colleagues for his innovative teaching practices, most particularly for his development of classroom simulations. Both his scholarship on teaching and learning and its practice in his classroom qualified him for top consideration for this prize. He is a long-time member of APSA, a frequent participant and former track moderator of the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, a widely published author advocating the innovative use of games in teaching, and an engaged mentor and collaborator in political science. He is the founder and contributing editor of the Active Learning in Political Science blog, an open resource for ideas on pedagogy in the field. He is well known for his innovative simulations and games such as “Classical Realism” simulation or “Hobbes Game,” which are widely used in the classroom; his frequent peer-to-peer outreach efforts; and his service to the political science community. Dr. Asal’s simulations challenge students to think critically and have made him one of the leading scholars on this topic. According to his nominator, he does not simply gift his innovations to his own students, nor does he simply share them with the wider academic world: he also encourages and supports innovation in others.
2014 Recipient: Mika LaVaque-Manty, University of Michigan
Professor LaVaque-Manty's submission entitled, "Gamifying Large Courses to Promote Initiative, Problem Solving, Collaboration, and Reflection," details his systematic approach to gamifying his course-using a point system-in order to promote student engagement and autonomy through collaboration. Through gamification, students are given a variety of paths to meet requirements and are encouraged to use a variety of platforms - from videos to blogs - to interact with each other and the material and to take on new learning challenges. At least one of these platforms, a public blog written by mostly first-year students, was named one of the "100 Best Blogs for the Literati" in 2009. Of particular interest is Professor LaVaque-Manty's work to create a space for students to become innovative participants in their own learning and to engage in what he calls "safe failures." His course design-which is informed by political theory, and strategies such as metacognition and self-regulated learning-demonstrates how professors can use robust pedagogical principles to engineer their courses in ways that inspire strong student commitment and creativity. Moreover, the fact that other faculty have modeled their courses on his designs signals his leadership in and impact upon the area of pedagogical innovation.
2013 Recipient: Professor Brian M. Harward, Allegheny College
Professor Brian M. Harward received the award for his careful implementation of a campus partnership, with an external archives and research center for service learning, which focuses on the law, the courts and the judicial process. Professor Brian M. Harward is the director of a campus partnership with the Robert H. Jackson Center. This partnership is based upon a model of service-learning and student research and is embedded into specific courses, the departmental curriculum and the campus mission. His innovative approach demonstrates how political science faculty, their departments, and their campuses can expose students to experiential learning, reinforce curricular priorities and desired proficiencies, and provide essential skill experience, while meeting the needs of external organizations.
2011 Recipient: Professor Marjorie Randon Hershey, Indiana University
Professor Hershey received the award for teaching innovation in the field of graduate education and teacher training for her three module graduate seminar designed to prepare students for the demands of teaching. This three part Preparing Future Faculty module represents an innovation, not only in the form of the pedagogical tools and collegial teaching community that has been made available to young aspiring political science professors, but it also serves to enhance the learning experience of current and future political science students, and ultimately teaching and learning in the discipline of political science.
2010 Recipient: Professor Jerry Goldman, Northwestern University
Professor Goldman Dr. Goldman created Pocket Justice, a free technological tool that allows faculty and students broadened access to Supreme Court cases using the iPhone and eventually other smart phones. Goldman is also the founder and director of the OYEZ project, a multimedia archive focused on the US Supreme Court. These resources provide students and faculty studying civil liberties or constitutional law with searchable access to transcripts of the public arguments, opinions and audio of key Supreme Court decisions. These innovative pedagogical tools invite students to witness and access the Supreme Court decisions which have influenced American politics and public policy.
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Sexual Predator Jeffrey Epstein and the Power of Privilege
Right Here, Right Now: Human Traffickers Exploit Women, Men, and Children in Our Own Backyards
Florida, with its warm climate and beautiful beaches, is the second-most visited state in the U.S., according to worldatlas.com. But the Sunshine State has a darker side: the National Human Trafficking Hotline reports that Florida is among the top three states for reported trafficking cases. In 2018, the anti-trafficking organization received information pertaining to 767 trafficking incidents in Florida, the majority of which involved female victims. And if recent events are any indication, trafficking cases in Florida are not declining: just days ago, federal and state law enforcement agencies raided massage parlors in Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Gainesville and charged the businesses’ operator, David Clayton Williams, with crimes related to sex trafficking.
Traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to trap their victims into labor and/or sexual servitude. Federal law also defines anyone under 18 who engages in a commercial sex act as a trafficking victim. Williams allegedly trafficked women from Asia, some of whom may be under 18, bringing them to his massage parlors in Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania – not to offer massages, but to perform sex acts on customers in exchange for money that the business operator then pocketed.
The federal investigation of Williams began in 2017, after the National Human Trafficking Hotline received anonymous reports about illicit activities in his Florida massage parlors. The arc of Williams’s alleged activities follows the pattern of many human traffickers. Investigators discovered that Williams spent almost $65,000.00 placing over 6,800 ads for his businesses on Backpage.com, the now-defunct website that was notorious for promoting prostitution and sex trafficking. Traffickers tend to move their victims around to avoid detection and indeed, some of the women in Williams’s massage parlors had travelled extensively across the U.S. Evidence also suggests that some of the women lived in the massage parlors; it is not uncommon for trafficking victims to be housed at the site of their exploitation. A status conference on the case is currently scheduled for August 28th.
Human trafficking is the second-largest criminal industry in the world – and by all accounts, it appears to be a growing epidemic. If you think trafficking is something that happens “over there” – in other countries, other states, other cities or towns – think again. Just look at the data on humantraffickinghotline.org/states: in 2018, there were reports of human trafficking in every single state in America.Children are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked; the organization, In Our Backyard, reports that according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, over 100,000 youth are trafficked annually in the U.S. While traffickers tend to target marginalized populations, such as runaway youth, they are skilled at recognizing and exploiting the vulnerabilities of individuals from both resourced and disadvantaged circumstances.
If we want to combat human trafficking, we must notice when – not if – it is happening in our own communities. To do this, we must educate ourselves about the signs of trafficking. In her post for Psychology Today, Wendy L. Patrick, Ph.D., notes that most human trafficking victims are trapped by the “invisible chains” of physical, emotional, and psychological harm. She writes, “We all want to believe we live in a nice, safe neighborhood… But too often, human trafficking victims are hiding in plain sight.” In the bustling beach town of Pensacola and in the quiet community of Gulf Breeze, David Williams set up businesses built on the sexual exploitation of women and girls. How many people passed by his massage parlors or encountered his victims, oblivious to the signs that something was amiss? How many people made David Williams a richer man by purchasing sex from his victims? Our attorneys are committed to holding traffickers like Williams, as well as the people and systems that enable them, accountable for their abuses. If you or someone you know is a survivor of human trafficking and would like to learn how the civil law can help you obtain justice, contact us today for a free consultation.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-bad-looks-good/201401/human-trafficking-yes-in-your-backyard
https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/08/19/pensacola-human-trafficking-prostitution-asian-women-sex-florida/2055197001/
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article234092257.html
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190820/human-trafficking-case-tied-to-tokyo-massage-in-gainesville
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/pr/federal-charges-pensacola-man-related-allegations-human-trafficking-multiple-states
https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/fbi-reports-of-underaged-massage-parlor-workers-led-to-probe-linked-to-western-pa/
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/florida
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/states
https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking-myths-and-facts
https://fortune.com/2019/04/14/human-sex-trafficking-us-slavery/
http://inourbackyard.org/what-is-human-trafficking/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-visited-states-in-the-us.html
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info@axisinnovation.com
© 2020 by Axis Innovation
STARTUPS APPLY
Jillian Manus
Managing Partner @Structure Capital
Jillian Manus is an experienced banking and media executive, a technology investor and entrepreneur. She is the Managing Partner of Structure Capital, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. In her role with Structure Capital, Jillian provides strategic support to founding teams focused on creating value in underutilized assets and excess capacity. She also serves on the boards of several of her portfolio companies.
Prior to Structure Capital, Jillian was Founder of Broad Strategy, Manus Media and Global Goal Sports Management.
Earlier in her career, Jillian worked in banking and media, serving as M&A co-director of TMT for Credit Suisse Zurich, and later as Director of Development for Universal and Warner Bros. Studios.
Jillian has chaired the Board of The Women's Conference, where she helped to create the world’s largest conference addressing issues important to women. Jillian is an active philanthropist and sits on the boards of Stanford University Digital Health, Stanford University School of Medicine Board of Fellows, DukeEngage, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and Communities in Schools.
Jillian attended The University of Oxford and NYU, where she served on the Board of Trustees. She was named one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business 2016 by the San Francisco Business Times.
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Markey Ford: Twelve Steps to One Great Comeback
Photography by Brandon Markin / shot on location at Little Rock Violin Shop
[dropcap]Markey[/dropcap] Ford’s toolbox is a big, three-tiered red metal box from Sears, and one of her tools is a wooden-handled hammer inscribed with the words “This too shall pass.” It’s not a real toolbox — it’s more of a visual representation of the kit of spiritual tools she has used to stay sober for 28 years.
As executive director of the Wolfe Street Foundation, Ford spent the past decade devoted to a cause near and dear to her heart: providing hope and encouragement to recovering alcoholics and their families.
Wolfe Street Center in downtown Little Rock, at the corner of 10th and Louisiana streets, provides facilities to support groups faithful to the original 12 steps of recovery. The center also offers education and prevention programs. The doors are open every day of the year, and more than 100,000 people annually come to the center. Ford walked in the doors of the old Wolfe Street Center at 12th and Wolfe Streets many years ago.
“I grew up in an alcoholic home,” she said. “If someone was happy, you drank; if something sad happened, you drank. Drinking was the tool offered to handle whatever was going on. I remember everything about my first drink at age 13. It was magical, and I quickly discovered the power of alcohol.”
As a young adult, Ford had an “uptown crowd” — the professional colleagues she had a drink or two with after work — and a “downtown crowd” — those she met at a bar later to get drunk. For a while, Ford seemed to have it all: a husband and two children, a career she loved, and she was active in church and civic organizations.
“I’m an overachiever. I had all the things that I thought should have made me OK,” she said. “I always felt if I could be or accomplish enough on the outside, my insides would follow. I didn’t understand it was the other way around. I was drinking alcohol to knock the edge off the constant miserable state I was in, but I didn’t know where the misery came from.”
Gradually, Ford needed more and more alcohol to take the edge off, though she was careful not to drink to excess around her family. Instead, she drank after everyone went to bed, crashing around 2 a.m. and waking at 6 a.m. with the alarm, and a hangover. She became a blackout drinker — unable to remember the next day what had happened the night before. She hit her bottom one night at an after-hours get-together with work colleagues.
“I said horrible, vulgar, unforgivable things to wonderful people who had done nothing to deserve it,” Ford said. “A friend told me the next day what had happened, and I didn’t remember any of it.”
Ford’s family and friends urged her to get professional help, but she refused to see a psychologist. Instead, she went to a 12-step meeting because it was free. As people talked during the meeting, she found herself nodding in agreement and even laughing at stories most people wouldn’t admit to. She had done similar things.
“I found out I was not alone,” she said. “I had never felt such relief. I was 35 years old. At the end of my first meeting, I went up to a lady and asked, ‘What do I do now?’”
“Can you not take a drink today?” the lady asked.
“I’ll try,” Ford replied.
“OK, don’t take a drink today, come back tomorrow, and I’ll tell you what to do,” the lady said.
Ford went back the next day and asked the lady about her next step, and the lady said: “Well, can you not drink just for today and come back tomorrow?”
The coming back part is important.
“There’s this gaping hole within us that alcohol filled for so long,” Ford explained. “When we come into recovery, that gaping hole is filled first with the fellowship, then working the 12 steps, and soon absolute miracles start happening that are unexplainable by anything other than God working in our lives.”
Wolfe Street Center is where Ford found people who offered her the hope and encouragement she needed to live one day at a time. She watched others walk the walk and followed them as she found her survival tools and put them to use. Ford got sober when her children were 2 and 6.
In 2005, Ford was hired as executive director of Wolfe Street Foundation where she not only oversaw fundraising efforts and planned educational programs and special events but she also was often the one to greet new arrivals at the center. When Ford first took the job, she thought she’d stay five years. Those five years came and went. The center, in 2011, moved to its current location at 1015 Louisiana St., which Ford fondly calls the “Louisiana Purchase.” Most recently they completed the Serenity Garden, and Ford stepped away from the job after this year’s Oscar Gala, the foundation’s largest fundraiser and the state’s only Academy Award-sanctioned event. That evening the new executive director Caroline Ford was introduced with open arms.
“I feel I’d done all that I could,” Markey Ford said. “It was time to pass the torch to someone with compassion and a vision for the future.”
Her current philanthropic efforts are with NLP, a film company producing the recovery education documentary film project, “One Day At A Time, The History, Hope and Healing of 12 Step Recovery,” which is set to air on PBS and BBC. She’s also developing a summer concert in Central Arkansas to help fund the project.
In addition, Ford plans to continue going to meetings at Wolfe Street Center. “In case someone drops a tool, I’ll be there to pick it up and put it in my toolbox.”
By Tracy Courage May 1, 2016
Author: Tracy Courage
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First Friday: Kristine Blocker Sees More in Each Masterpiece
Tap into your artistic side on the first Friday of every month. We showcase Arizona art educators committed to making a difference. When students at Colonel Smith Middle School in Fort Huachuca, Arizona make their way to art class, they’re not forced to swing open a heavy, closed door. Instead, the
Tap into your artistic side on the first Friday of every month. We showcase Arizona art educators committed to making a difference.
When students at Colonel Smith Middle School in Fort Huachuca, Arizona make their way to art class, they’re not forced to swing open a heavy, closed door. Instead, the Art Integration Specialist, Kristine Blocker, welcomes the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders with a warm, genuine smile.
While the gesture may seem small, the Ohio-born teacher says there’s no better way to start the hour.
“I greet my students at the door with a smile to make sure they’re going to get off to a great start. They typically have a bell work assignment that gets them thinking about art immediately, but I think it makes a huge difference if you start your class by welcoming them. This way, they’re self-directed from the minute they walk in the door,” Blocker says.
Although she’s been living in Southern Arizona for more than a decade, the Miami University alumna has moved around the country. As an army wife, Blocker admits she’s grateful to have remained a middle school art educator throughout her career in the field.
“I knew since seventh grade that I wanted to be an art teacher,” she admits. “I had such a tough time in middle school, as do many students, because it’s such a time of transition.”
Despite her challenges, Blocker attributes her career choice to the wonderful teachers she had growing up. She works to inspire her students, providing them with new outlets of self-expression to combat the teenage woes. To do so, she incorporates more writing into what students are learning because, “when they can write about what they’re drawing, you can learn so much more about them.”
Before coming to Colonel Smith Middle School, the National Board candidate worked in Sierra Vista for nine years. During that time, Blocker says she watched education change before her own eyes.
“They started taking away the arts and even recess. This removed opportunities for students to work together on the playground. It was unbelievably discouraging, but it seems to be coming back,” she says. “We appear to go through cycles in the United States and people realize these things, like art, are important. Fortunately, there are tons of ways art can transfer into the core classroom.”
For schools where formal art is no longer an option, Blocker reminds teachers that art integration can be simple. In fact, she believes most educators are already doing it. Better yet, she stresses that when teachers work together, they can do amazing things, even without an art specialist in the school.
But when times get tough and circumstances get overwhelming, Blocker says it’s important to cling to the small victories and meaningful moments.
“When I was teaching in Sierra Vista, I had a kindergartner walk up and say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be an art teacher and a music teacher.’ I thought it was so precious. There are so many things that happen with the kids that make me feel proud of what I do.”
She acknowledges that this time of year, when burnout hits, many educators are left doubting themselves. Again, she urges colleagues to focus on the students for inspiration.
“Recently, one of my eighth-graders left a sticky note with a piece of chocolate on my desk that said, ‘You’re my favorite teacher.’ It’s the little things that make your practice worthwhile,” she says.
It looks like Blocker’s determination to help students find self-expression is working after all.
Looking for a professional learning opportunity that will tap into your artistic side of the brain? Register now for the Art of Making: CREATE, Play, and Engineer in the World of STEAM on July 10-13 in Phoenix.
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‘Moonlight’ Star Naomie Harris Has the Answers Actors Need
By Benjamin Lindsay | Nov. 16, 2016, 04:00 PM | Last Updated: Nov. 16, 2016, 04:39 PM
Photo Source: Matt Doyle
“I feel like you’re always trying to escape yourself on some level—otherwise, why would you choose acting? Why would you choose to spend your days inhabiting other souls?” muses Naomie Harris over a mid-Manhattan lunch. “There must be something about yourself that you’re not quite comfortable with.”
With Harris, conversation quickly turns reflective when discussing Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed coming-of-age indie “Moonlight,” in which she gives an awards-worthy turn as Paula, a crack-addicted mother. While the character appears at face value the antithesis of Harris—a charismatic British beauty and prodigious on-camera talent—she admits that the idea of escaping herself allowed her to connect with the troubled woman in the first place.
“I realized first and foremost that we are all one step away from an addiction of some kind,” Harris says, citing addiction to drugs and alcohol, to sex, or to work. “We all battle with our own demons and we all use our own form of whatever it is to numb the pain in some way. Paula is the same as all of us; she just chooses crack.”
It was a hard-won epiphany of character. When first approached with Jenkins’ screenplay, based on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s autobiographical play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,” Harris feared Paula may be too far gone to save on the screen. She was afraid of drawing her, a drug-addicted black woman living in Miami’s inner city, as a stereotype.
“I always said that I wanted to show positive images of women—black women in particular—and so I’d always drawn the line at playing a crack addict,” Harris explains. She changed her mind after several long Skype calls with Jenkins, who had a particularly personal investment in Paula’s arc.
“The character was based on my experience with my mom and Tarell’s experience with his mom,” Jenkins tells Backstage. “When I explained to Naomie what that was like and how it affected my life, she saw a way into the character that did not revolve around addiction but revolved around the relationship between this woman and her son, and the role that addiction plays in creating a wedge in that relationship.”
READ: “1 Secret to Casting First-Time Actors in ‘Moonlight’ ”
“I thought, Here’s an opportunity to play an addict in a completely different way—to show the many layers and complexities of her, and her deep humanity as well,” Harris says. “I like projects that scare me like that.”
We’re lucky Harris was up for the challenge. Despite having co-starred in major blockbuster franchises like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “James Bond,” it’s “Moonlight” for which she will likely be remembered. Alongside the three incarnations of its main character, Chiron—a young boy (Alex Hibbert), a closeted teen (Ashton Sanders), and a hardened drug dealer (Trevante Rhodes)—Harris shines as the three-act film’s constant. Her bone-deep portrayal of a woman descending into a crippling drug dependency, then finding sobriety and trying to reconnect with the son she lost along the way, is broken yet sympathetic, brutal yet warm. It’s a balancing act, fleshing out a repentant mother who is, in Harris’ words, “the same as all of us.”
“All of these expectations people have, I think Naomie in particular brings something else to it,” Jenkins says. “There’s a life beneath the haze of all this addiction. It was definitely the most terrifying aspect of making this film, because it’s really easy to see the character of a drug dealer or the character of a drug addict and already get to the end—what happens is the audience telling me who these characters are rather than allowing myself and the actors to show them who these characters are. The thing that I’m proudest of in the film is how much [the actors] show about these characters that is unexpected.”
Such depth was forged in Paula, Harris says, after tremendous amounts of research on crack addiction—largely through interview clips and documentaries found on YouTube—and a self-created backstory for her character. “Moonlight” is ultimately Chiron’s story, so it was up to Harris to hypothesize and internalize the characteristics and circumstances that make Paula who she is. What prompted this dramatic deterioration? What happened with Chiron’s father? Where are her parents? Who are her friends?
READ: “How to Build a Film Performance”
“How I do it is I imagine I am in an interview situation—I imagine someone is asking me all of these questions, and I answer them in the voice of the character,” Harris explains. “As I’m speaking, I’m creating the narrative and also somehow connecting with the character, developing and playing with their mannerisms, their voice, their physicality. Over time, they emerge.”
Self-interviewing is a practice Harris undertakes for all of her roles, whether she’s playing an unlikely survivor in Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” (what she cites as her breakout role), the real-life Winnie Mandela in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” the witchy soothsayer Tia Dalma in two “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, or the iconic Eve Moneypenny in “Skyfall” and “Spectre.”
“I think to play the character, you have to fall in love with them,” Harris adds. “You have to deeply connect and sympathize and have compassion for their story.”
It is a lesson in acting that has only proven truer with time. Harris, now 40, began working at age 9 in her native U.K. on kids’ programs including “Simon and the Witch,” “Runaway Bay,” and “The Tomorrow People.”
“I always knew that I wanted to be an actress,” Harris says. “I used to stand in front of the mirror trying to make myself cry and all this stuff, imagining I was other people.” Raised by a single mother, she was enrolled in a local kids’ acting class. “I’m incredibly fortunate that I had a family who supported me in that.” She went on to graduate with a degree in social and political sciences from Pembroke College, Cambridge, and pursued postgraduate acting training at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Harris now recalls that interim period, shifting from being a teen actor to focusing on her studies, and experiencing a lull in work. There were times when she was “totally broke,” living at home, and “thinking I’m never, ever going to make it in this profession,” she says. But training and preparedness are what got her to where she is today: in demand with Hollywood’s top filmmakers.
“I’ve had it happen in my career now where I get a call and they’re like, ‘OK, we need you to get on a plane tomorrow and meet a director and they want you to have this accent,’ ” she says. Working actors, she adds, should always be ready for such opportunities. “Until recently, I still went to acting classes at the Actors Centre in London. Just stay as prepared as you possibly can.”
After her year of taking classes and living at home, Harris got the call for “28 Days Later,” and the rest of her filmography continues to speak for itself. With the right training and mindset, your call could be next.
Three Acts in Three Days
As if the content of “Moonlight” wasn’t challenging enough, Harris was given only three days to film the whole thing.
After flying in to Miami from a press tour for “Spectre,” time was of the essence in bringing Paula to life. That meant inhabiting the single mother in her early stages of drug addiction, as a full-blown addict comatose on the couch, and as an aged, rehabilitated mother—sometimes all in the same day.
“It was crazily short.... I really didn’t have time to think about it and be scared,” Harris says. “It’s one of those situations where you’re just in it, you’re in the thick of it, and you just keep going, really. So often people say this and it’s very rarely true, but with ‘Moonlight’ it really is true: Every single person on this is a beautiful soul and very generous. I think it really helps that the budget for the movie was really small, so nobody was in it for the money. Everyone was there for the right reasons, and they were in a place to be generous and giving and supportive. It was such a supportive environment. I was really lucky.”
Ready to star in the next big indie? Check out our film audition listings!
Jumpsuit by Wai Ming, shoes by Christian Louboutin, coat by Burberry, hair by Peter Lux, makeup by Alex Babsky, nails by Mo Qin
Benjamin Lindsay
Benjamin Lindsay is a senior editor at Backstage, where if you’re reading it in our weekly magazine, he’s written or edited it first. He’s also producer and host of our inaugural on-camera interview series, Backstage Live, taking informative deep-dives with actors across mediums to discuss their craft, their work, and their advice for others getting started in the field.
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British Agricultural History Society BAHS forums Discussions Announcements
A place for announcing calls for papers, conference programmes, new publications, book launches, and so on, related to agricultural and rural history
JohnMorgan
Post by JohnMorgan » 10 Oct 2019, 08:37
Every so often, the Agricultural History Review is sent books for review that I find difficult to place with reviewers. This is usually because the books cover subjects I am unfamiliar with, rather than because they are uninteresting. Below is a list of books I have received and would like to find reviewers for.
If you would like to nominate yourself or somebody else as a reviewer for one of the below, please contact me using the details here: https://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHRvolumes.html I would be grateful for a couple of lines of introduction, outlining the nature of your interest in the subject of the book you would like to review. I will use my discretion in responding to requests, and will always prioritise placing books with reviewers who have an active research interest in their subject.
J.L. Anderson, Capitalist Pigs: Pigs, Pork, and Power in America (West Virginia University Press, 2018). 300 pp. illus. $34.99.
Rhiannon Comeau and Andy Seaman (eds), Living off the Land: Agriculture in Wales c. 400–1600 AD (Windgather Press, 2019). 264 pp. illus. £34.99.
Rosamond Faith, The Moral Economy of the Countryside: Anglo-Saxon to Anglo-Norman England (Cambridge University Press, 2019). 248 pp. £17.99.
Honor Lewington (ed.), Stoke Mandeville Wills and Inventories 1552–1853 (Buckinghamshire Record Society, 2019). 281 pp. £30.
Vijaya Ramadas Mandala, Shooting a Tiger: Big-Game Hunting and Conservation in Colonial India (Oxford University Press, 2018). 452 pp. 21 illus. £55.
Stuart McCook, Coffee is Not Forever: A Global History of the Coffee Leaf Rust (Ohio University Press, 2019). 306 pp. 28 illus. $34.95.
J. Escalona Monge, O. Vésteinsson, and S. Brookes (eds), Polity and Neighbourhood in Early Medieval Europe (Brepols, 2019). 448 pp. 71 illus. €110.
Robyn Metcalfe, Food Routes: Growing Bananas in Iceland and Other Tales from the Logistics of Eating (The MIT Press, 2019). 208 pp. £20.
Partick Roberts, Tropical Forests in Prehistory, History, and Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2019). 368 pp. £85.
Corey Ross, Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire: Europe and the Transformation of the Tropical World (Oxford University Press, 2019). 496 pp. 21 illus. £19.99.
Douglas Sheflin, Legacies of Dust: Land Use and Labor on the Colorado Plains (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). 426 pp. 22 illus. $55.
Helen Tangiers, Movable Markets: Food Wholesaling in the Twentieth-Century City (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019). 312 pp. 30 illus. $59.95.
Reviews are to be 800-1,000 words long, and are due within three months of receiving the book.
I will keep the list above updated by editing this post so do check back periodically if this is something that might interest you.
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InterventionSpeeches
Central bank digital currency and innovative payments
Published on 12/04/2019 14:30 Speeches - François VILLEROY DE GALHAU, Paris
Download the PDF version
One of the great things about the conferences organised by the ACPR is their sense of timing: they always come in the middle of heated debates. Today is no exception with the issue of the challenges faced by life insurance in a low interest rate environment. By way of introduction, let me agree with and sum up Bernard Delas’s message of this morning: French insurers are resilient and thus have the capacity to make the necessary dual adaptation. First, the rates paid on life insurance policies need to be lowered this year from last year’s average of 1.8%. Next, insurers must actively restructure and diversify their offering for savers, while at the same time paying very close attention to the quality of advice they offer. If, as a complement – and only as a complement – regulatory adjustments are needed to facilitate this change in life insurance, then we are ready to support them.
I would like to turn now to the topic for this afternoon which is dedicated to innovation. Allow me to both restrict and extend the scope of the subject: restrict it to the field of payments which has seen a proliferation of innovations over recent years. And extend it beyond the scope of the ACPR and the supervisory authority: I shall also speak as a central banker, and of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Driven by new market entrants, the digital revolution has brought with it a wealth of advancements that we profit from every day: but it also raises major questions about bank intermediation, and even about our monetary sovereignty. I would like to propose today that we take a stark look at these questions (I), and that we answer them by reiterating the two main pillars of our strategy: safeguarding confidence and supporting innovation (II).
I/ The advances and challenges associated with the proliferation of private initiatives in the payment industry
Let us first recall the main trends that currently characterise the European payments market. The increasing digitalisation of cashless payments – which is leading to a sharp fall in cash usage in certain countries, from Sweden to China – has been driven by the rise of non-bank players. There is no denying that, today, the “centre of gravity” for payments is shifting towards these new players, especially the BigTechs. This displacement poses a challenge for banks’ economic model, but could also be a threat to European sovereignty insofar that the infrastructures, knowledge and technologies underlying it are largely owned by non-European corporations.
The emergence, in parallel, of a new generation of crypto-assets is amplifying this disruption. The first wave of speculative crypto-assets such as bitcoin – which are very volatile, with no real underlying economic basis and perhaps no real future – has been succeeded by a second generation of assets – stablecoins – based on the same promising blockchain technology, but now backed by mechanisms designed to stabilise their value. Thanks to network effects, these stablecoins could offer a concrete solution for cross-border payments which are still – undeniably – far too costly and slow. But – and this is the downside – these crypto-asset projects, which are global in reach, also generate considerable compliance, financial and political risks. I'm thinking notably of money-laundering and terrorism, for which they could provide new channels of financing, and of the more systemic risks to financial stability.
II/ Our response: Step up the pace on payment solutions and consider the possibility of a CBDC
Of course, as central bankers and supervisors, there is no question of us standing by and letting this change happen unchecked. We have to remain fully committed to our dual objective – safeguarding confidence/supporting innovation – which is written into the very DNA of our institution.
We are determined, first and foremost, to safeguard confidence – at the global level – through strong and coordinated action. Under France’s presidency, the G7 reacted swiftly and strongly last June: alongside Bruno Le Maire, we entrusted Benoît Cœuré with a mandate immediately after the announcement of the Libra project. Cœuré’s report – compiled over four months and published in October – provides a full assessment of the risks posed by stablecoins from a microeconomic viewpoint, in terms of anti-money laundering and consumer protection, but also from a macroeconomic one, in terms of financial stability. Within the framework of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), we are now preparing a coordinated regulatory response to these challenges, due to be published by next summer.
I shall turn now to the second pillar of our response: supporting innovation to enhance our payment systems and meet the growing expectations of consumers. We first have to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital revolution to develop a genuine pan-European payment solution. As Steve Jobs said, “innovation is saying no to a thousand things”. This observation sheds light on the challenge that European banks are about to face with the PEPS-I project (Pan European Payment Solution Initiative). I have every hope that they will be able to forces – and go beyond “national” practices – and rapidly propose a single, pan-European payment solution, thus avoiding market fragmentation and the dominance of non-European solutions. The Eurosystem will be ready to provide support as and when needed, in line with what we are doing to promote the use of TIPS (Target Instant Payment Settlement). As a market infrastructure capable of processing pan-European instant payments, TIPS could be used for the interbank settlement of transactions initiated via PEPS-I. This pan-European solution would be a major step forward that would help European banks withstand the challenges posed by the BigTechs.
There is also another important area where we need to make headway: reducing the cost and speeding up the execution of cross-border payments by identifying concrete and useful solutions. Our aim should notably be to harmonise the technical standards used for transfers of funds, and to enhance the interoperability of payment systems and solutions. Between now and the autumn, the FSB, under the aegis of the G20, will propose concrete measures to make cross-border, extra-European payments significantly cheaper and faster.
I shall turn now to a topic that is a major challenge for the future of the international monetary and financial system: the possible creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The creation of a new form of currency by central banks goes beyond the challenges I have just mentioned: it is neither a precondition for nor a guarantee of more efficient payments. However, we as central banks must and want to take up this call for innovation at a time when private initiatives – especially payments between financial players – and technologies are accelerating, and public and political demand is increasing. Other countries have paved the way; it is now up to us to play our part, both ambitiously and methodically.
To this end, the Banque de France is to be reorganised. The current Direction de la surveillance des paiements et des infrastructures de marché (DSPM – Payments and Market Infrastructures Oversight Directorate) will become the Direction des infrastructures, de l’innovation et des paiements (DIIP – Infrastructure, Innovation and Payments Directorate), and its scope will be extended to cover all payment innovations, infrastructures and central bank digital currency. Additional skills will be recruited to strengthen its expertise, and, with the help of our Lab, the DIIP will work with industry innovators from the private sector: we want to start running experiments rapidly and will launch a call for projects before the end of the first quarter of 2020. We are particularly keen to take part in experiments to integrate a “wholesale” CBDC into innovative procedures for exchanging and settling tokenised financial assets. Nathalie Aufauvre, Director General of Financial Stability and Operations, will coordinate the Banque de France’s acceleration process. Our actions will naturally contribute to the work of the Eurosystem, which should make looking into the possibility of an “e-euro” one of its next focuses: Christine Lagarde referred to it on Monday in front of the European Parliament. Beyond this, we intend to take part in the work of the “innovation hub” recently created by the BIS.
On a substantive level, I would like to share with you some first thoughts – which are still open to discussion, of course – on three aspects: the objectives, externalities and possible modalities of a central bank digital currency.
1/ At this stage, I can see three different – but not mutually exclusive – objectives for digitalising central bank currency. The first relates to the desire, in countries such as Sweden where cash use is declining rapidly, to guarantee all citizens access to central bank money. A CBDC would help to preserve the trust in the financial system that stems in part from being able to exchange assets for legal tender. The second argument relates to the efficiency gains, reduced intermediation costs and resilience that would potentially result from the “tokenisation” of a central bank currency, especially in settlement and post-trade activities (which is also one of the objectives of JP Morgan’s JPM Coin project). The third and final reason – and the most important one for political authorities, including in France and Europe – is that creating a CBDC would give us a powerful lever with which to assert our sovereignty in the face of private-sector initiatives such as Libra. This is also one of the concerns highlighted by the People’s Bank of China with its Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) project.
In this context, what form should our CBDC take? Public expectations on this differ significantly from those of financial institutions. As a result, in the long term, two different uses of the CBDC could exist side by side: one for payments between financial sector players (a so-called “wholesale” currency) that uses blockchain technology and all its possibilities, notably smart contracts; and another for the general public (a so-called “retail” currency) that is simpler and better suited to retail transactions. In this respect, financial institutions are much more digitally mature than private individuals as they already access central bank currency digitally via the bank accounts they hold with the central bank. In addition, following on from the questions raised by the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, on the idea of creating an international digital currency in response to the dominance of the US dollar, I think there would be some advantage in moving rapidly to issue at least a wholesale CBDC, as we would be the first such issuer in the world and would thus reap the benefits of having a benchmark CBDC.
2/ The issuance of a CBDC can generate significant positive externalities by increasing the productivity of the financial sector and by extension the economy, and by shoring up confidence in the currency and in the financial system. But, in parallel, it is vital that we examine the potentially negative externalities that a CBDC could generate for liquidity, profitability and bank intermediation. In particular, we need to look very closely at the risks linked to large-scale and/or sudden conversions of bank deposits into central bank money.
3/ The third aspect is the modalities that could be used to circulate the CBDC, especially the “retail” version, about which we need to be particularly vigilant. I'm thinking about the issue of its legal tender status – which is not indispensable but probable; the conditions under which it can be held – in the form of accounts rather than tokens; and last, whether non-residents will have access to it, which would certainly help to raise its international status. Moreover, thanks to their proven expertise in payment instruments, know-your customer requirements and transaction monitoring, financial intermediaries will be able to play a front-line surveillance role in the distribution of the CBDC. In parallel, we will also need to launch a reflection to define the conditions under which the CBDC could circulate anonymously “from person to person”. Limits could be set for the size of anonymous transactions, such as those already applicable in France for e-money and cash payments.
Today, probably more than at any other time in our history, innovation has the potential to profoundly alter banking activities. It is no longer just about transforming our payment systems, it is our very currency that is at stake. The Banque de France fully intends to guide these developments, as it has done for more than two hundred years, and will adapt the way it operates to this change in paradigm. But in doing so it will also make sure that confidence, the cornerstone of innovation, is maintained on two levels. Confidence first and foremost in the currency: everyone will be free to use the payment instrument of their choice, and that still includes cash. Confidence, as well, in the ability of financial institutions to finance the economy. And the ACPR will continue and step up its efforts – notably through its FINTECH Innovation unit – to monitor all innovations that impact these methods of financing. Thank you for your attention.
Download the PDF version of this document
SpeechFrançois VILLEROY DE GALHAU, Gouverneur de la Banque de France
Download (EN)
Previous Speeches Speeches 2019 Paris Europlace international forum – Tokyo 11/28/2019 Next Speeches Speeches Low rates: what are the causes and what are the effects for France? 01/09/2020
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Africa is jumping into the space race
Not known for its space program, the African continent nations of South Africa and Nigeria are making waves in the heavens.
Both nations have fledgling programs that are now starting to make significant strides.
Nigeria’s space agency, the National Space Research and Development Agency, operates several satellites. South Africa launched its first satellite, SUNSAT, in 1999 and its second, SumbandilSat, in 2009.
South Africa’s national space agency, SANSA, was formed in 2010. In 2013, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology launched South Africa’s first CubeSat, ZACUBE-1.
Earlier this year, South Africa launched the weather satellite Kondor-E into orbit. Built in Russia for South Africa, Kondor-E provides all weather, day-and-night radar imagery for the South African military.
Nigeria has used its satellites to monitor the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Its satellites have also been used in election monitoring, providing crucial information about voters who may otherwise have been overlooked by poll workers.
Satellites have also proved useful in the fight against extremist groups such as Boko Haram. In 2014, Nigeria used its SatX and Sat 2 satellites to monitor the group’s movements and to help find the 273 girls it had abducted.
Amnesty International pioneered the use of satellite images for human rights research and advocacy over the past six years using imagery from GeoEye and DigitalGlobe. It has also used satellite imagery to collect information about Boko Haram’s activities. Satellite photos taken in January showed the scale of the group’s atrocities after they attacked the towns of Baga and Doron Baga.
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UK Championship Snooker: Betting Tips, Stats & History
The UK Championships are widely regarded as one of the biggest snooker events in the world. It makes up one leg of the Triple Crown and with it offers a prize pool that is beaten by very few, such is the stature of the event.
It takes place in November and December and is the last of the major tournaments of the Calendar year. It actually comes at the mid-point of the snooker season and is one that many targets as a top ranking event to gain entry into that of the World Championships.
UK Championship Snooker Betting Tips for 2019
26th November to 8th December, Barbcian Centre, York
The UK Championship is upon us once again and snooker fans could be in store for a really thrilling tournament. Many of the game’s best players are in superb form and this looks like a very open edition of the sport’s second most prestigious tournament. There is almost £1m up for grabs in total as Ronnie O’Sullivan looks to defend his crown and add to the record seven titles he has won at this event.
He certainly won’t have things all his own way at the Barbican Centre in York, with that venue having hosted the tournament for most of the last 20 years. Indeed, the Rocket isn’t the favourite, the first time in a long time he has turned up to one of snooker’s biggest tournaments in the position of being, in theory at least, the underdog. Remarkably given the domination of the biggest players, there will be a total of 12 former champions taking to the baize. Will we see a new name on the famous trophy or will one of those glorious dozen claim glory again? 1992 champion Jimmy White at monster odds of 1500/1 anyone?
Judd Trump (11/4)
The man who has, for now at least, knocked O’Sullivan from the head of the betting market is the 2011 UK Championship winner and clear world number one, Judd Trump. After beating the Rocket in the final of the Northern Ireland Open recently, the man from Bristol moved well clear of his opponent at the top of the standings. With three wins already in the 2019-20 season there is a feeling that the current World Championship winner may be ready to dominate the game for the years ahead and fulfil the promise he demonstrated when winning this tournament as a 22 year old.
He has now won five ranking events this calendar year, as well as the non-ranking Triple Crown event The Masters. If he does the business in York he will hold all three of the game’s biggest prizes, a truly remarkable achievement. Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams are the only players to win all three in the same season, with John Higgins also having held the three trophies simultaneously across two campaigns. With those four legends holding 20 World Championships between them, that would put Trump in rather illustrious company.
He’s 11/4 here and all in all we have to say that seems like very good value. That suggests he has around a 27% chance of winning and given his form, record against his major rivals and performances of late in the biggest events, we have to feel he has a better chance of success than that. There is unquestionably a lot of serious talent priced at longer odds but it is equally beyond doubt that Trump is in the form of his life and a very worthy favourite.
Ronnie O’Sullivan (3/1)
Ronnie may just relish not being the favourite in this tournament, although of course he will remain the biggest draw and attract huge amounts of media attention. At odds of 3/1 he isn’t all that far behind Trump in the betting, with some bookies actually having the current world number one and world number two as joint-favourites.
The Essex man obviously loves this tournament, announcing his arrival as a once in a generation talent by beating Stephen Hendry in the final in 1993 at the age of just 17 (okay, 17 and 358 days). He has won the UK Championship at regular intervals since then but having enjoyed a golden period towards the end of his career he will arrive at the Barbican hoping to claim a third consecutive crown and take his tally to total of eight, which would be a figure that is unlikely to be bettered any time soon, perhaps ever.
His form is obviously decent enough, having made the final in Belfast just a few weeks ago. He gave Trump a good game in the decider too but lost 9-7, the same score by which Trump beat him in that tournament’s final 12 months earlier. 2017-18 and 2018-19 were remarkable seasons for the man who will turn 44 years old just days after this year’s final; but there are some signs that his game isn’t quite what it was.
At his best, Ronnie rarely lost a final and was almost impossible to peg back when he got his nose in front. In more recent years he hasn’t been able to keep those standards up. In his last 15 ranking finals he has lost five times. Good by most standards but not by his own. In non-ranking events he has dropped off even more, losing six of his last 11 matches.
Moreover, Trump has got the better of him in seven finals and so given there isn’t much between them in the betting it is hard to be too excited by the Rocket from a betting point of view, despite his unparalleled record at this tournament.
Neil Robertson (9/2)
Aussie Neil Robertson is the only other player at single digits in terms of odds, the former world champion priced at 9/2 (Mark Selby is next at 10/1 with the field 14/1 bar). Robertson’s gaming addiction is very much in the past and over the last few months he has started to get back to his very best. He is currently ranked fourth in the world and looks to have a decent draw in section four that should, in theory, see him make it through to the last 16 relatively easily.
He has made four ranking finals in 2019, losing twice to Ronnie but winning both the Welsh Open and the China Open. However, it was his far more recent performance in the non-ranking Champion of Champions that really caught the eye. At the start of November Coventry witnessed one of the greatest ever games of snooker as Robertson beat Trump 10-9 in the final.
The UK Championship third favourite notched five of the eight centuries in that astonishing game, including a 137 in the decider. That came after he made a snooker in the previous game before winning on a re-spotted black.
When on song few can roll in big breaks like the 2013 and 2015 UK Championship winner and another Trump versus Robertson final could be on the cards here. This tournament is going to be a cracker so where will your bets be going?
Photo © Dave Pickersgill (cc-by-sa/2.0)
The tournament is one of the biggest in terms of player numbers with 128 being present over the course of the 2-week format. The qualification process is pretty simple in that the players are based on their World Ranking, so the top 128 players are entered. If a player is unavailable to play or withdraws prior to the start of the tournament, the next ranked player will step in and so on, until the field is full to capacity.
The draw is made up into 8 sections, which includes 16 players in each section. Players are distributed in terms of ranking. So, seed 1 would play seed 128, seed 2 would play seed 127, seed 3 would play seed 126 and so on, working down. The top seeds are kept a part as best they can. Again, Seed 1 plays in the top half and seed 2 plays in the bottom. The earliest the 1stseed would be able to play a top 32 ranked player would be the last 32 round.
UK Championships First Round Matches by Ranking
1 1 v 128 64 v 65 32 v 97 33 v 96 16 v 113 49 v 80 17 v 112 48 v 81
2 41 v 88 24 v 105 56 v 73 9 v 120 40 v 89 25 v 104 57 v 72 8 v 121
3 5 v 124 60 v 69 28 v 101 37 v 92 12 v 117 53 v 76 21 v 108 44 v 85
4 45 v 84 20 v 109 52 v 77 13 v 116 36 v 93 29 v 100 61 v 68 4 v 125
8 47 v 82 18 v 111 50 v 79 15 v 114 34 v 95 31 v 98 63 v 66 2 v 127
Match Format
All rounds in the tournament are played as best of 11 legs. This is until the final where the players will play best of 19. The format is relatively short considering it’s one of the majors, but with the huge number of games that need to be played, it’s one of the traits of the UK Championships.
The short format is often more interesting as well and upsets are often very common throughout. In 2017, 2nd seed Ding Junhui was knocked out in the first round by Leo Fernandez, ranked 127th.
Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons
Unlike a number of the bigger tournaments in world snooker, the UK Championships haven’t had a particularly long-term venue to host. It’s been hosted at the likes of the Preston Guild Hall, Bournemouth International Centre and the Tellford International Centre. It currently resides in the Barbican Centre in York, where it’s been played since 2011 and previously from 2001 to 2007.
The Barbican Centre is one of the biggest arenas in York and holds a capacity crowd of 1,500 for snooker games. It’s had several refurbishments over the years, with the most recent seeing the grand opening happen in 2011 after a £1.5million refurbishment job.
The prize money on offer is the second largest on tour at the minute, with over £1 million on offer from the 2019 tournament. The winner will pick up a cheque worth £200,000 which is the third largest cheque, behind only the World Championships and the Masters.
The prize money is distributed as the following based on performances:
Sponsorship, as with all sports, plays a huge role in the makeup of the UK Championships. It has actually had periods where there have been no sponsors at all, mainly in 2001, 1996 and 1991. The majority of their longer-standing sponsors have come in the form of bookmakers.
The current sponsors is that of Betway, who have been main sponsors since 2015. Other bookies that have held deals at some point have included the likes of Coral, William Hill and 12Bet.com. Outside of the bookmaker sponsors, they have also been able to utilise money coming from Pukka Pies, Travis Perkins, PowerHouse, Liverpool Victoria, Royal Liver Assurance, StromSeal and Tenants.
The most successful player in the tournaments history is Ronnie Sullivan, who has managed to win 7 career UK Championship titles. What’s most impressive about Sullivan’s record is that he’s made 8 finals in total losing just one to Mark Selby in 2016. Second on the list of all-time winners is Steve Davis. He’s won the event on 6 different occasions throughout the 1980’s in a period where he dominated the game. Davis is also tied for the most final appearances with Stephen Hendry on 10.
Other players who have enjoyed success at the tournament include the likes of John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Mark Williams and Mark Selby, all multiple winners in their own right.
Stephen Hendry holds the record for the most century breaks in a final with 7. His 10-5 win against Ken Doherty saw the Scotsman rack up the points in a record that has remained intact since 1994.
UK Championship Snooker Finals: 2009 - 2019
2019 Ding Junhui Stephen Maguire 10-6
2018 Ronnie O’Sullivan Mark Allen 10-6
2017 Ronnie O’Sullivan Shaun Murphy 10-5
2016 Mark Selby Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-7
2015 Neil Robertson Liang Wenbo 10-5
2014 Ronnie O’Sullivan Judd Trump 10-9
2013 Neil Robertson Mark Selby 10-7
2012 Mark Selby Shaun Murphy 10-6
2011 Judd Trump Mark Allen 10-8
2010 John Higgins Mark Williams 10-9
The first UK Championship was held in 1977 at Tower Circus, Blackpool. It was then known as the United Kingdom Professional Snooker Championship. Originally the event was only open to British players, but this was later amended in 1994 when it was open to all professional snooker players, regardless of nationality.
Preston Guild Hall by Dr Greg, Wikimedia Commons
The first tournament was won by that of Patsy Fagan, who beat Doug Mountjoy, 12-9, with a first prize of £2,000. Just a year later the tournament made its first move to that of the Preston Guild Hall, where it remained up until 1997. The tournament now carries more ranking points than any other on tour, apart from the World Championships, making it a popular tournament for the players.
Over the years the UK Championships has been centre stage for many quality finals. Whilst there are many to choose from, including the likes of John Virgo and Patsy Fagan winning, winning their only major titles, it was in 1989 that was probably as standout a final as there has been.
The 1989 final included that of Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry. Davis had dominated the sport throughout the 80’s and with it was one of the best players of all time. But, he subsequently lost that final to a young Stephen Hendry 16-12, before losing the 1990 final to same player a year later, this time 16-15. It was the start of Hendry’s dominance of the sport throughout the 90’s and the end of Davis’ reign as the world’s best.
In 1993 the structure of the tournament changed, moving from a best of 31 to a best of 19 frame final. In that same year Ronnie Sullivan was to win his first ranking event and became the youngest player to do so at the time aged just 17. 8 years later he inflicted the biggest final defeat, playing against Ken Doherty winning 10-1 with some of the best snooker of his career.
Whilst Davis hadn’t retired from the game altogether, in 2005 he reached his first ranking event final for two years aged 45 and he was up against an 18-year old Ding Junhui. He subsequently lost to Junhui 6-10, but the final was the biggest age gap between two players in any ranking event final.
The Barbican Centre in York had been hosting the event from 2001 through to 2006 and then again from 2011 onwards. The structure of the event changed in to best of 11 frames for all games apart from the final.
Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-sa 4.0
Steve Davis is easily one of the most successful players in the tournaments history. He has the second most tournament wins with six, surpassed by Ronnie O’Sullivan only in 2018.
Davis was able to dominate for much of the 1980’s, with all six of his victories between 1980 and 1987 where he had final victories over fellow greats such as Alex Higgins and Jimmy White amongst others. He was also runner up on three occasions during the 80's where he lost out to Higgins once and twice to the new sensation that was Stephen Hendry.
At the turn of the 20th century Davis struggled to recapture the form and consistency that made him one of the best players of all time but he did reach his last final in 2005 where he was beaten by China's Ding Junhui.
He’s the only player to have won 4 UK Championship titles in a row and after officially retiring in 2016, some 38 years after first competing, he ended with 28 ranking event wins and 55 non-ranking event wins as part of an illustrious career.
Ding Junhui
Ding Junhui burst onto the scene in 2003, turning professional aged just 16 and he’s gone to win 3 UK Championship events. The first was in 2005 against Steve Davis, the second was in 2009 against John Higgins, both of which are classed as two of the legends of the sport. His latest title came in 2019, defeating Scotsman Stephen Maguire in the final, knocking out the previous champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan, in the last sixteen.
He’s now the most successful Asian player of all time and has 14 ranking event wins to his name, including the World Open, Shanghai Masters (x2) and the Players Championship.
He’s made over £3.5 million in prize money, made 6 maximum breaks and over 500 century breaks, whilst also being ranked as high as world number 1 in 2014.
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Legendary Big Gerry
Authentic Celtic Music, Artistry
& A Wildly Good Time
Big Gerry Bio
Big Gerry's Recordings
Dulcimer Lessons
Before he was Legendary, "Big Gerry" Feher multi tasked at many different jobs. He worked as a maintenance man, he rented out cars at the airport, he cleaned windows and carpets, he drove buses and owned taxi cabs, but his first love was always music. In 1989 Gerry was living in Mammoth lakes Ca, a small town of a couple thousand residents on the eastern slope of California's Sierra Nevada mountains, playing guitar at old time country dances with the "Empty Pockets String Band ". Never for a moment considering the far-fetched possibility that he might one day make a living playing traditional music.
So was born the wild dream that eventually grew into Legendary Big Gerry and Mile and a Half High Music. Big Gerry bought his first dulcimer that year and with dedication bordering on obsession began his self taught odyssey to learn the dulcimer.
In April of 1995 Gerry went from his home in Mammoth Lakes to the place with the busiest sidewalks in the Eastern Sierra: Virginia City, Nevada. He went directly to the county commissioners to ask permission to play his dulcimer for passers-by, but there was one problem: no one in the office had ever heard of a hammered dulcimer. He was told he would probably need a business license. Unaware that he was about to invent for himself a new profession, Gerry carried his dulcimer into the public meeting and gave a demonstration. The perplexed county commissioners looked at one another and finally said, "Well, I don't have a problem with it," and Gerry got his license.
Immediately Gerry began work on his first album. Just before Memorial Day weekend of 1995, in the living room of a friend and with borrowed equipment, Gerry recorded eleven of his favorite tunes. Three days later, after a quick mix-down and mastering, "Short for His Weight", Gerry's first recording was complete in time for a Fourth of July shipment.
The summer of 1995 was an experiment to see if Gerry could actually make a living playing music. Gerry continued to play, and at the end of the summer was astonished to discover he'd earned $10,000 in ten weeks, ten dollars at a time!! He then realized he could, in fact, make a living at music.
In October of 1995, after a week of intense recording involving members of what is now the "Wild Mountain Tyme" band, Big Gerry released his second album entitled " Sierra Christmas." It was a collection of traditional Christmas tunes with a Celtic flavor Public reaction was enthusiastic enough that Gerry, now with his own recording equipment, immediately went to work on his third recording: "Large Furry Man with a Wee Cap." Released in early 1996, the album of Celtic, Old Tyme, and Civil War tunes became an instant success with traditional music fans from Reno to Los Angeles.
Soon he was making the rounds on the craft show circuit, performing and selling his music all over California, Nevada and Arizona. Before he knew what was happening, Big Gerry's dream had grown into an independent music label. He released "Big Celtic Buckskinner" his fourth recording in September of 1998, and public response was overwhelming!
In January of 1999, Big Gerry met Nicolas Buckmelter, a young flute and tin whistle player with a love of traditional music, and invited him to play on a new album. Buckmelter accepted the invitation, and his flute, whistle and piano work played a prominent role on "Mellow Big Fellow", Big Gerry's fifth album. Released in May of 1999, it featured the compositions of the legendary blind Irish harpist "Turlough O'Carolan". Currently, " Mellow Big Fellow" is Big Gerry's most popular recording!
In September of 2000, Big Gerry has finished his SIXTH ALBUM , "Pleasantly Plump Pirate", Music and Song of a Nautical Nature, a long-overdue album of great Celtic instrumentals and Sea Shanty songs.
A much requested CD of pub songs was next. "Drinks are on the House" is the 6th Cd and it is a hoot ! 70 minutes of traditional Irish, Scottish pub songs and even a couple from Australia round out this 'live recording' with laughs and jokes as well.
Big Gerry's newest labor of love, "Large and Laid Back" was released in summer of 2013, with great tunes like Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Scarborough Faire, Summertime, Auld Lang Syne and Simple Gifts to name a few plus 5 Big Gerry original tunes This CD is destined for greatness !
the "Art of Music"!
Legendary Big Gerry
Authentic Music, Artistry & Wildly Good Times
www.biggerry.com
biggerry@att.net
© 2023 by The Funky Folks.. Proudly created with Wix.com
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Art and Illumination (2)
Christian Religion and Belief (2)
Clauses and content (2)
Devotional texts (1)
History and learning (3)
Making manuscripts (1)
Medieval manuscript collections today (1)
Medieval origins (6)
Sacred texts (1)
The Greek World (1)
Town and city (1)
Aristotle (author) (1)
Avicenna (author) (1)
Gerald of Wales (1)
Gerard of Cremona (translator) (1)
Matthew Paris (1)
Nicholas of Damascus (author) (1)
Ralph Coggeshall (1)
Ranulf de Glanvill (1)
William of Malmesbury (1)
13th-century English Book of Hours
An early Book of Hours from England. Popular in the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, Books of Hours were pra...
Aristotle in Latin
This 13th-century manuscript contains Gerard of Cremona's (c. 1114-87) translations of Aristotelian works on natural phi...
Chronicon Anglicanum
After Archbishop Hubert Walter’s death in 1205 and the rejection of other nominees to the see of Canterbury, the monks o...
Collection of medieval historical works
This volume contains a variety of historical and legendary material, including the Trojan War, Alexander the Great and t...
Dialogue of the Exchequer
Richard fitz Nigel (1130-98), Bishop of Ely and author of The Dialogue of the Exchequer, has been described as a model c...
English copy of William of Malmesbury’s Deeds of t...
William of Malmesbury’s (b. c. 1095, d. c. 1143) Deeds of the Kings of the English focuses on political events and ruler...
Gerald of Wales's The Conquest of Ireland
John first experienced warfare in 1185 when, aged just 17, he was sent by his father, King Henry II (r. 1154–89) on an u...
Images of the life of Christ
The book of Psalms was at the heart of medieval spirituality. From a relatively early date, very grand copies included a...
Laws of the Londoners
By the end of the 12th century, French was commonly used as an administrative and legal language in England alongside La...
Portrait of King John from Matthew Paris's Histori...
Manuscript, Illustration
One of the most significant works by Matthew Paris (1200–59), author, illuminator and monk of St Albans Abbey, is the Hi...
Psalter with the Hours of the Virgin Mary
The 20 full-page illuminations at the beginning of this Psalter form one of the most outstanding prefatory cycles to sur...
Rochester Bestiary
Bestiaries, or ‘Books of beasts’, provide an account of the characteristics and habits of a variety of animals, both rea...
The poisoning of King John and coronation of King...
King John was taken ill in October 1216, having suffered an attack of dysentery, and he died at Newark, Nottinghamshire,...
Verse account of Magna Carta in the Chronicle of M...
One of the earliest accounts of the settlement reached at Runnymede is found in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey. Melrose...
Winchester Psalter
The calendar in this elaborate copy of the Book of Psalms suggests that it was made at Winchester’s Old Minster during t...
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Bondi Memorial Project
Report Into Historic Gay-Hate Murders Calls For Justice And Healing
Posted by Acon 11sc on May 28, 2018
A new report into historical crimes against gay men and trans women in NSW seeks to deliver justice for victims and survivors, and aid the ongoing healing process for loved ones and members of the LGBTI community who continue to be impacted today.
Produced by NSW’s leading LGBTI health organisation ACON, the report – In Pursuit of Truth and Justice: Documenting Gay and Transgender Prejudice Killings in NSW in the Late 20th Century – shines a light on the suspected anti-gay homicides that occurred in NSW from the 1970s and 1990s.
In delving into these cases, the report presents key themes surrounding the deaths and explores the factors that enabled a culture of anti-gay violence to thrive in NSW during this period. The report brings to the fore the failures in the criminal justice system in NSW at the time and highlights the lasting effects these shortcomings have had on members of the LGBT community.
Importantly, the report presents a series of recommendations aimed at achieving justice and healing for victims and survivors, enhancing current responses to hate crimes and strengthening ongoing efforts in violence prevention.
ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill said the report brings a cultural and community lens to a tragic and dark period in Sydney’s and surrounding area’s LGBT history.
“We know that a wave of violence swept through Sydney between the late 1970s and early 1990s, which claimed the lives of some gay men. We also know that many more, including transgender women, were brutally assaulted and terrorised and some of these cases remain unsolved.
“ACON, along with a range of community partners, have long been working to address the painful legacy left behind by this epidemic of violence. Hate crimes hurt both physically and emotionally, and affects individuals as well as the entire community. This independent and community-led report is an important step in the long road to justice and healing.
“By exploring the past, we hope to deepen our understanding of these events, which will help us improve current responses to LGBT hate crimes, enhance the criminal justice system and further develop violence prevention strategies.”
Among the report’s 18 recommendations is an inquiry that explores the extent of historical violence experienced by the LGBT community. It also calls for a formal apology by NSW Parliament and NSW Police for the inadequate and slow responses to some homophobic and transphobic hate motivated violence during this period.
“There has not been sufficient acknowledgement or recognition of the severity of these past hate crimes,” Parkhill said. “An inquiry into the extent of the historical violence experienced by people in our communities and an apology for what they endured will go a long way in healing the residual trauma and intergenerational grief still shouldered today.”
Parkhill acknowledged that while the report highlights inadequacies of the response of some justice agencies to these crimes at the time, it is not meant to disproportionately cast blame upon any singular agency.
“It is important to note these events occurred in a time when homophobic and transphobic prejudice and hate permeated our society, thriving in many environments including government agencies, public institutions, courthouses, workplaces, communities, schools and homes.
“The relationship between LGBT communities and NSW Police has moved forward in the last 40 years. We are in a very different place now compared to what it was and that needs to be further developed. Progress has been made, but there’s still more to do. It is important we continue to foster and maintain dialogue to encourage ongoing cultural change.”
In Pursuit of Truth and Justice: Documenting Gay and Transgender Prejudice Killings in NSW in the Late 20th Century has been reviewed by a range of stakeholders and builds on the tireless efforts of many LGBT community members, groups, organisations and allies. Its release comes amid ongoing work to develop public artwork in Bondi to remember survivors and people lost to historical prejudice-related violence.
“The work ACON has undertaken with the community not only champions the call for justice, but is also raising awareness about safety and the importance of celebrating diversity and inclusion,” Parkhill said.
“With this report, we remember the loved ones and community members lost during this time. By shining a light on our history, we hope that healing and justice will follow, as well as further cultural change in our criminal justice institutions and broader community attitudes.
“Together, we can build a strong and inclusive society where LGBTI people can feel safe, be protected and be able to access justice,” Parkhill said.
Download the report online here
For more information about the Bondi Memorial Project, visit the website here
David Alexander, ACON Media and Communications
E: dalexander@acon.org.au T: +61 (02) 9206 2044 M: +61 (0)428 477 042
Honour the past, celebrate the present, create an inclusive future!
ACON acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we operate on across NSW and remind people that we are on Aboriginal land. ACON also acknowledges the Elders and in particular those visiting this website.
ACON Health Limited trading as ACON
Authority to Fundraise: CFN/21473
This site is part of ACON Health
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The Importance of Accreditation
Presented by: Association of Independent Schools in New England
Going Beyond One-Size-Fits-All While Keeping Standards High
An independent school is just that: Because it is privately funded (primarily by tuition, typically), it isn’t beholden to one-size-fits-all teaching methodologies or learning benchmarks to which public schools must adhere. While many parents are relieved to find a learning environment that is driven by the school’s unique mission and responsive to their child’s needs and interests, it’s important to ensure their chosen school rigorously adheres to high standards and best practices for school operations. An independent accrediting organization provides that quality assurance by making sure a school is living up to its ideals, meeting established standards
and best practices, and is held accountable through periodic evaluation and setting goals for ongoing improvement.
The AISNE Advantage
The Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE) is a regional accrediting body that accepts as members a wide variety of schools, ranging from boarding and day schools, single sex and co-ed schools, schools that are religiously affiliated and those that are not, schools with alternative pedagogies such as Montessori or Waldorf, and those with more traditional educational practices. AISNE is a member of the International Council Advancing Independent School Accreditation, which articulates and advocates for independent school best practices in partnership with regional school accreditors across the United States and internationally.
AISNE’s evaluation process respects a school’s individuality while also holding it accountable for achieving its own stated mission and educational goals. Through the AISNE accreditation process, a school must document how it aligns with AISNE’s 50 Standards for Accreditation, which address all aspects of the school—from governance and leadership to financial management, facilities, health and safety, staffing, and the educational experience for students. “We ask all schools to explain their curriculum, methods of delivery, methods of assessing student progress, etc. through the self-study process,” says Sara Wilson, director of accreditation at AISNE, “but we respect the individuality of our schools to deliver the curriculum that best meets their unique mission—and we ask them to be reflective about how they are doing in this regard and how they are seeking to continually improve the education they deliver to their students.”
It’s no accident the AISNE member schools discussed in this guide have such a strong focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion: It’s one of the Association’s most important priorities, and an aspect of each school that is evaluated during the accreditation process.
Rest assured that AISNE accredited schools have demonstrated their willingness to be held professionally accountable and have been found by a credible outside evaluator to be meeting a wide range of rigorous standards of good practice.
For more information about independent schools in New England, visit aisne.org or search our Find It Private Schools directory.
This is a paid partnership between Association of Independent Schools in New England and Boston Magazine's City/Studio
SPONSOR CONTENT Independent Schools: The Importance of Accreditation
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On the Market: An Eye-Catching Chateau in Southbridge
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Boston's First Blind Beer Fest Will Make You a Smarter Drinker
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Narragansett Beer Will Open a Providence Brewery in 2020
The Billion-Dollar Blight Changing Harvard Square
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Generation UK-India: Digital India
As part of the Generation UK-India Programme, Digital India is a two-week immersion into India’s technology and startup ecosystem, seeking to highlight collaboration opportunities in which young people from the UK and India can work together.
Digital India (30 September – 13 October) has been created for young people from the UK keenly interested in exploring the relationship between technology entrepreneurship, India, and their own career. It has featured visits and workshops at IIT Bombay, IIIT Bangalore and IIM Bangalore; visits to Indian tech companies like Myntra and Infosys; multi-nationals including Microsoft Ventures, Twitter and IBM as well as social enterprises like the mid-day meal provider Akshay Patra
Digital India is part of the Cultural Immersion Strand of the British Council Generation UK-India Programme which is delivered by IndoGenius. Generation UK-India is a new student mobility programme launched by the British Council in November 2014. Working with partners in the UK and India, the British Council aims to encourage up to 25,000 young people from the UK to gain professional and academic skills and experience in India over the next 5 years.
This programme will build on the successful Generation UK initiative in China and the UKIERI Study India programme and will align with the strategies of UK Government and universities to increase outward mobility among young people in the UK.
40 budding entrepreneurs from the UK have taken part in the Generation UK-India Digital India Programme. The participants spent time in Mumbai where they also visited Dharavi, the Bombay Stock Exchange and a village in rural Maharashtra. The group then moved on to Bangalore - the heart of India’s tech ecosystem.
Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India says, “Our Generation UK-India Programme has supported 500 participants in the first year, building on the success of the UKIERI Study India Programme, which over the past 4 years has supported over 1000 students undertake a placement in India, but this is just the beginning. We have the ambition to work with partners to support up to 25,000 students to come to India over the next 5 years to 2020 in order to future proof this most important UK-India bilateral relationship. India’s technology and innovation ecosystem is the ideal place for young entrepreneurs. In Bangalore, the participants have connected with many of the leading entrepreneurs driving India’s digital revolution and developed the knowledge and connections needed to learn from and collaborate within this growing environment.”
The keynote address was delivered by T V Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education who spoke about the innovations and importance of disruptive technologies and how it is changing the future of India.
One of the participants, Marianne Caroline Hughes, Founder of a digital clothes label - The Button, says, "I can't believe how quickly I've been able to develop my business in just two short weeks. Whilst in Mumbai I was able to get my prototype 3D printed and in Bangalore the software coded! Thanks to the British Council and IndoGenius I’m meeting potential partners, suppliers and even clients."
Additional Information on the Digital India Programme
Over 7000 young people from across the UK applied for the Cultural Immersion Strand and more than 200 specifically for Digital India. The 40 entrepreneurs come from over 30 different UK universities and range in age from 19 to 42. More than 50% of the participants are 21-22 years old and about 90% aged 26 or below. 50% of participants have just completed their undergraduate degrees, while more than one third already has a startup they are seeking to scale.
Participant Aims
These 40 entrepreneurs have helped collect insight on their specific objectives. It is most common for participants to be at the early ideation phase with their start-up, but there is representation across the start-up development life cycle with about five participants focused on scaling an existing start-up.
These start-ups hope to disrupt a wide variety of industries and sectors, the most common being education, e-commerce, healthcare, social media and data analytics. However there is truly a wide variety of ideas touching everything from heritage tourism to wearable technology. Of course networking is a key aim of all participants, but these participants also bring specific aims and objectives with them.
Validation: The UK entrepreneurs are looking to test key assumptions behind their start-up ideas including applicability to the Indian context.
Hiring: Many are keen to collaborate with India’s technical talent - particularly outsourcing development and other key services to teams in India.
Investing: Many view India as a key market for their business and hope to enter the Indian market to gain users for their product or service.
When asked whom they were most hoping to meet, the most common answers were start-up mentors, young entrepreneurs, outsourcing contacts, market entry experts and potential investors.
In fact, 30 of 40 participants indicated they would be in a position to pitch their startup to investors and other mentors by the end of the programme. Half a dozen will be picked to do just that to Indian tech-industry leaders like Mohandas Pai at an event held in the offices of Microsoft Ventures.
Notes to Editor
Videos: Generation UK-India: Gain experience and skills in India http://youtu.be/UXOF8CDy1xE
Generation UK-India FAQs
What will be the opportunities through Generation UK-India?
Generation UK-India aims to provide more opportunities for young people from the UK to gain experience and skills and connect with India. In 2015 we have created the following opportunities:
Cultural Immersion placements (400 placements)
Two week placements offering participants the chance to experience institutions work in India and engage with peers to build an understanding of and connection with India. Activities include workshops, lectures and panel discussions hosted by academic and industry experts, as well as group challenges.
Funded by UKIERI and delivered by IndoGenius we are offering 400 cultural immersion placements across 3 different programmes in 2015:
Study India (300 places) – introduction to contemporary India studying economy, history, culture and current affairs
Make in India (60 places) – a focus on India’s manufacturing industry from high end technology to rural artisans
Digital India (40 places) – exploration of India’s technology and innovation ecosystem whilst developing entrepreneurship.
Teaching Assistantships (100 places)
Role: Teaching placements in Indian private schools teaching a range of subjects including English and offering participants the chance to develop their teaching skills and share knowledge about UK culture.
Duration: Placements start in July, August or October for a period of 2 or 6 months.
Host schools: 55 Indian private schools will host 100 Teaching Assistants from the UK.
They are from 18 states across India:
Puducherry, Punjab, Delhi, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharastra, Adra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telengana, Jammu, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu
We are also working with KPMG to place assistants in 5 schools they support.
435 candidates applied from 88 different UK institutions.
Over the coming years we hope to develop a wider range of placements including internships in Indian organisations and study placements in Indian universities.
We also hope to support a large number of opportunities for engagement through our Think India strand. This will include:
Increased information and guidance through face to face briefings and online support and training
Institutional partnership support and guidance
What will be the benefits of Generation UK-India?
Greater number of UK young people undertaking study and work experience abroad supporting the strategies of the UK and devolved governments, as outlined in the July 2013 Government policy paper ‘International education strategy: global growth and prosperity’
Stronger links and partnerships built between the UK and India with increased understanding, engagement and trust
The creation of lasting connections, networks and partnerships between programme participants and their counterparts in India that will be the basis for future collaboration
Increased awareness of India as a destination for UK young people to visit to study and work
The creation of a network of talented and ambitious young people from the UK who will form a future workforce ready to work with India and Indian companies.
Increased probability that people from the UK will enter into business relationships with India, study in India and visit India again as a result of having spent a significant amount of time in the country.
Further internationalisation of Indian companies and academic institutions through hosting a participant from the UK.
Improved career prospects for young people in the UK and India by offering international opportunities that will develop the skills and experience recognised by employers as vital to the success of businesses in a competitive global market.
About the British Council
The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Our 7,000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes. The British Council was established in India in 1948. The British Council is recognised across India for its network of 9 libraries and cultural centres. We offer a range of specialised projects in arts, education, exams, English language and society to audiences across India and more than 100,000 members. We also provide access to English language training and learning for both students and teachers, offer UK qualifications in India and enable opportunities to study in the UK.
Our English language teaching centres in Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata provide a range of general and business English classes, specialised skills based programmes and young learner courses. We work with a wide range of Indian partners in cities all over India enabling British and Indian experts to meet and collaborate and to nurture mutually beneficial relationships.
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#15- January - March 1944: The Greater War
While my dad, with the 10th Armored Division and 80th Medical Battalion continued training, there was a great deal of activity elsewhere. In the first 3 months of 1944, 75 years ago, some actions in the greater war:
◦ 16: General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in London, returning from a week of rest and planning in Washington, D. C., and assumed command of the European Theater by General Orders No. 4. His new title was Commanding General, U.S. Forces, European Theater of Operations.
◦ 20: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin,
and The U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Gari River but suffers heavy losses.
◦ 22: Allies begin Operation Shingle, the landing at Anzio, Italy, commanded by American Major General John P. Lucas. The Allies hope to break the stalemate in south Italy, but they are unable to break out of the beachhead and the line holds until late May. The minesweeper USS Portent commanded by Lt. H.C. Plummer, hit a mine and sank southeast of Anzio, Italy.
◦ 27: The Siege of Leningrad ended after 872 days, as Soviet forces finally forced the Germans to withdraw. Some 2 million died, mostly of starvation and disease.
◦ 1: U.S. Marines mop up on Roi and Namur in the northern part of the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.
◦ 2: The Narva front near the east border of Estonia is formed between the Soviet and German forces.
◦ 3: American planes bomb Eniwetok in the Marshalls, later to be a major B-29 base.
◦ 4: Kwajalein, the world's largest atoll and a major Japanese naval base, is secured.
◦ 5: The American Navy bombards the Kuril Islands, northernmost in the Japanese homelands.
◦ 8: The plan for the invasion of France, Operation Overlord, is confirmed.
◦ 17: American Marines land on Eniwetok.
◦ 18: The light cruiser HMS Penelope is torpedoed and sunk off the coast of Anzio with a loss of 415 crew,
and American naval air raid takes place on the Truk islands, a major Japanese naval base, but they will be one of the bypassed fortresses of the Japanese outer defense ring.
◦ 19: Leipzig, Germany is bombed for two straight nights. This marks the beginning of a "Big Week" bombing campaign against German industrial cities by Allied bombers.
◦ 26: The "Big Week" bombing campaign comes to a successful conclusion; the American P-51 Mustang fighter with its long range proves invaluable in protecting American bombers over Germany.
◦ 3: German forces around Anzio, having failed to drive the Allies from the beachhead, go over to a defensive posture.
◦ 6: The Allies receive intelligence that the Japanese may be about to attack Western Australia, causing them to greatly bolster defenses there. When no attack comes, forces return to their regular stations on the 20th.
◦ 16: United States XI Corps arrives in Pacific Theater.
◦ 17: Heavy bombing of Vienna, Austria.
◆ March 20, 1944
◆ 75 Years Ago Today
The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
The U.S. Army 36th Infantry Division, in Italy, attempts to cross the Gari River but suffers heavy losses.
◦ 24: Heavy bombings of German cities at various strategic locations last for 24 hours.
-- Wikipedia
Labels: 10th Armored, 1944, 80th Armored Medical Battalion, Buddy's War, Jersey Shore PA, medics, Nazis, World War 2, WW2
# 14- A Year of Change Begins
• January 6 , 1944
Had a letter from Buddy and a picture of the meds in his division. Gee it is good.
- Diary entry, Beula Keller Lehman
Note: Picture is cropped. Buddy is in center front.
We are now in the middle of March. Not much of consequence has happened with the 10th Armored so far this year. They are still in Georgia training and training and then more training. My grandmother’s diary is very brief and understated, as always. There’s not much about what my dad has been up to. Beula mentioned letters about every third day. Usually all she says is that she got a letter or that she sent one.
What was Buddy doing? What was the role of a medic in training? He has been with the 80th Armored Medical Battalion of the 10th Armored Division virtually since the beginning. He was also not a “new” recruit or trainee, having had his original training following the draft in 1941 prior to Pearl Harbor. I am continuing to research medic training, but I would think that by this point he was well-trained and as ready as it was possible to be after over 18 months on active duty. (If anyone has any stories or information from family or friends about this, please let me know!)
Two other diary entries give a brief and tantalizing glimpse at what might have been happening. The first:
Buddy may get a furlough. wants to go to NY. Sent him $100.
Why is Dad going to New York instead of home on furlough? There is no hint in the diaries so far that he has been dating anyone or that he was interested in anything except the military. It is a more than educated guess that this diary entry hints at something that will make a huge difference in coming months.
The second entry, 75 years ago last week gives a slight glimpse at what might have also been taking up his time.
• March 10, 1944
Letter from Buddy. He said he is working in a big hospital in Augusta
Was this common? Remembering that he was not a new recruit, was he as trained in the duties of a medic as he needed to be and could go off-base? Or, and perhaps more likely, this was part of the training. From later information I have found that in Europe he was a surgical tech. His own profession in civilian life was as a pharmacist. It is very possible that they had him working in a civilian hospital to learn that aspect of the medic’s role. It even appears that he may not have been living on base. In the back of Beula’s diary is a listing of his general’s name (Wm. H.H. Morris- commander of the 10th at the time), a phone number, and “the name of the people he rents from.”
This whole section highlights what for me has been my biggest regret in doing these posts- that I have come to this interest too late for many things to be found. It is only after I began this that I learned of 10th Armored reunions, now ended as even the youngest surviving veterans would be in his early 90s today. It is exciting to do the research I have been working on, but the many missing links are tantalizing and make me sad.
As far as the 10th:
Checking in on the Tiger’s Tale monthly newspaper for the Division at “Camp Gordon”:
The February headline was that the division’s “Bond Drive Goes Over Quota.” The original goal was to sell $50,000 worth of US savings bonds. As of the middle of February they had raised $55,500. That is almost $800,000 in 2019 dollars! The top unit was the 11th Tank Battalion which bought over 10% of that at just over $7,000. Dad’s 80th Armored Medical Battalion was 11th on the list with just over $2,000 purchased. At that time an enlisted man’s pay started at $50/month and went as high as $138/month (between $700 and $1900 in current dollars.)
US Savings bonds were the government’s way of borrowing from civilians with the promise to pay them back. On February 1, 1935 legislation was signed that allowed the Department of the Treasury to issue savings bonds. In April 1941 they became known as Defensive Bonds to finance World War II.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Defensive Bonds were informally known as War Savings Bonds. US Savings Stamps in denominations of 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1 and $5 featuring a Minuteman statue design were also sold to be accumulated over time in collection booklets which when filled could be exchanged to purchase interest bearing Series E bonds. All the revenue coming in from the bonds went directly to support the war. -- Wikipedia
(When i was an elementary school student in the 1950s, Savings Bonds were still popular. There was still the feeling of a patriotic and civil responsibility to bring in your dimes, quarters, or even dollars to purchase the stamps. They are still available, sold only online and have different restrictions.)
An interesting story on page 2 in March told of two underage soldiers being discharged. The older of the two was just six months shy of his enrollment-eligible age of 18. He couldn’t “see why age has anything to do with the qualifications for being a soldier.” He had faked his mother’s name on his application- and she is the one who turned him in. He hoped to convince her to sign permission now. The younger one was only 15 years old and turned himself in since he was afraid of the consequences of falsifying his age.
Also in March we hear of two members of the Division who had previously fought in the Spanish Civil War- both on the Republican side, also known as the Loyalists, against Franco and his Nationalists.
There’s “gossip” of events in different battalions and companies and lots of news about sports and activities. There was
• Basketball championships,
• Ping-pong, volleyball, wrestling,
• Boxing, polo, bowling,
• Rifle team and plans for the summer.
When you think about the task of keeping 10 - 15,000 troops occupied, especially in off-duty hours, this all makes a lot of sense.
And one little piece of trivia I saw:
The fresh milk for the division comes all the way from St. Paul, Minnesota.”
In a front page column in February, the General reviewed the high standards for the Division, his own take for the troops on the standards set by the Army. These were called “Preparation for Oversea Movement of Individual Replacements"("POR"). As the General wrote:
If you are POR qualified you are fit to fight and rarin’ to go; you are physically hard and tough; you can drive a tank all day and take the bumps; you can run, jump, hit the dirt and you can take advantage of cover to get up on your German or Jap enemy, surprise him with blade or bullet.
But the reality of war was also included in being POR Qualified. The General continued:
…your identification tags are correct and your wear them, your clothing and equipment are properly marked, well cared for and you are proud of them; you are protected from disease by inoculations against small-pox, typhoid and tetanus, taken within the past six months. You have provided your dependents with insurance and allotments; you don’t know where you’re going but you do know what you’re going to do when you get there; you are confident and ready.
D-Day was less than 90 days away, though no one yet knew the timing. The 10th Armored was less that six-months from leaving. For the 10th, a lot was still ahead. For Buddy and family, changes were on the way.
Labels: 10th Armored, 1944, 80th Armored Medical Battalion, Buddy's War, Jersey Shore PA, medics, Nazis, World War II, WW II
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New rules for industry don't require switch to safer chemicals
(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Beverley Lumpkin on April 24.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — New federal regulations for chemical facilities neither require nor encourage companies to switch from potentially dangerous chemicals to less hazardous substitutes, and that has some lawmakers and activists worried.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and three Democratic colleagues expressed “deep concern” Monday about the reported thefts and attempted thefts of chlorine gas from California water treatment plants.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff they said the incidents underscored the need to switch to safer liquid chlorine or other methods for water treatment.
Chlorine gas can be fatal, and it has been used as a weapon in a series of chemical bomb attacks in recent months in Iraq.
The new rules released earlier this month for the first time give the government the authority to regulate high-risk plants to ensure they are secured from either accident or attack. Regulators are empowered to impose civil penalties up to $25,000 a day, and even to shut down chemical facilities that fail to comply with the rules.
Chertoff has said he doesn’t want to micromanage industry from Washington. “We want to set down standards and requirements but we do not want to necessarily prescribe the exact way in which a plant is going to meet those standards,” he said. “We want to unleash the ingenuity of the private sector to figure out what is the best way to skin this cat, just as long as the cat gets skinned.”
That view was echoed by the American Chemistry Council’s spokesman, Scott Jensen, who said industry objects to having the government the tell plants when and where they should convert. He added that forcing alternatives could be cumbersome, expensive, and lead to unintended consequences.
Activists offer the story of the Blue Plains sewage treatment plant in Washington, D.C., as an example of a change to a safer alternative that was accomplished quickly and without excessive additional cost.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, plant manager Mike Marcotte could not sleep at night because of the potential hazard posed by several rail cars loaded with chlorine gas sitting at his facility. “They were extremely attractive targets,” he said in an interview. An attack on the tanks could have released a toxic cloud endangering nearly 2 million people.
Marcotte decided he needed to move quickly. Having already made plans to replace chlorine gas with liquid bleach within the next few years, he rapidly accelerated those plans. Within 90 days, the conversion was complete.
Construction costs were about $500,000 and subsequent upgrades cost about $15 million. The safer liquid bleach added about 25 cents to the average customer’s monthly bill. But it was no longer necessary to have police cars patrolling around the clock, so security costs dropped substantially.
It’s not just plants that make chemicals that are potentially hazardous; there are also facilities that use chemicals to produce other products — for example, petroleum refineries may use hydrogen fluoride; power plants may use anhydrous ammonia, and water treatment plants use chlorine and sulfur dioxide gas. All are toxic if inhaled, and they are used in 55 percent of the industrial processes that threaten communities nationwide, according to the environmental group Greenpeace.
There are widely available safer alternatives for those gases.
The liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, in a 2006 study, said more than 284 facilities in 47 states have converted to safer alternatives since 1999. As a result, the Center said, at least 30 million people no longer live under the threat of a major toxic gas cloud. Some examples:
• Nottingham Water Treatment Plant, Cleveland, Ohio, now treats drinking water with bleach instead of chlorine gas.
• Wyandotte Wastewater Treatment Facility, near Detroit, switched from chlorine gas to ultraviolet light.
• DuPont Soy Polymers, Louisville, Ky., changed from using anhydrous sulfur dioxide to the safer sodium bisulfite.
Since 1999, the Center says, 25 water utilities that formerly received shipments of chlorine gas by rail have switched to safer and more secure options, such as liquid bleach or ultraviolet light. But 37 drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities still receive chlorine gas by rail, leaving 25 million Americans living in harm’s way either nearby or in towns along the rail route.
Cleveland and Indianapolis both converted their water utilities from chlorine gas, but they are still at risk from railcars headed to other cities such as Minneapolis and Nashville that have not converted.
• Kansas City Southern net profit slips in fourth quarter
• KCS reports Q4 and full-year 2019 results
• KCS optimistic about 2020
• CSX eyes flat to lower revenue in 2020
• Civil rights attorney alleges Amtrak conductor tried to make her move to back of the train
• Two wheelchair users faced a $25,000 fee to travel on Amtrak
• United States Senator asks for meeting with Amtrak chief over alleged disability discrimination
• Boulder hits Amtrak train in central Missouri, causing delays
• DeFazio questions Class Is’ commitment to fighting climate change
• Sheriff honors those involved in BNSF Kootenai River derailment rescue
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King Kirby – Back The Project, See The Play, Celebrate The Man Behind The Art
Posted on June 17, 2014 | by Hannah Means Shannon
It really seems to me that no name in comics evokes as much emotion and passion as the name Jack Kirby. The reverence and devotion he inspires in fans has a different flavor than other figures in comics—and I put that down to the quiet, persistent commitment to his craft that he displayed during his lifetime as well as the sublime effect his linework has on readers. I’ve often heard people comment that there should have been more done already to celebrate his life and work.
Multi-faceted writer and comics creator Fred Van Lente (Brain Boy, Project Black Sky, Archer and Armstrong, Comic Book History of Comics, Cowboys & Aliens, Action Philosophers) and award-winning playwright Crystal Skillman have thrown down the gauntlet in doing what they do best to pay tribute to this master of comics by Kickstarting and bringing the play King Kirby to life.
And they have plenty of great material to work with in bringing the story of Kirby’s life to the stage from the struggles of his Lower East Side upbringing in New York to his wartime service in France, to the vicissitudes of the comics industry in granting him the recognition he deserved (and still deserves) for his creation and co-creation of characters who have had a massive impact on culture well beyond comics from The Fantastic Four to The Avengers, X-Men, Iron Man, and a plethora of other properties.
The production of the play, currently underway at the Brick theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as part of the Comic Book Theater Festival, has been successfully funded through Kickstarter, but the campaign still has a few days to go, and tickets are still available for the performances. Rewards for backing King Kirby range from a digital PDF of comics telling Kirby’s life story from the Comic Book History of Comics to audio recordings of the play in performance, signed playbills and prints by Ryan Dunlavey (Action Philosophers), and at the highest levels scripts and production notes.
Even if you can’t make a performance of the play between June 20th and June 29th, what better way to say that Kirby is indeed the King of comics than to make a gesture in his honor like this? It’s rare there’s a purely Kirby-dedicated project like this one, and given Van Lente and Skillman breaking new ground like this, I’m optimistic enough to hope for more to help secure Kirby’s legacy in comics culture and beyond.
Here’s the trailer for the King Kirby Kickstarter project:
King Kirby is being performed on June 20th at 7PM, 21st at 3PM, 25th at 7PM, and the 28th and 29th at 5PM as part of the Comic Book Theater Festival at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn. You can get tickets here. You can also back the Kickstarter for Kirby loving rewards here.
About Hannah Means Shannon
Editor-in-Chief at Bleeding Cool. Independent comics scholar and former English Professor. Writing books on magic in the works of Alan Moore and the early works of Neil Gaiman.
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Posted in Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged Crystal Skillman, fred van lente, jack kirby, kickstarter, King Kirby
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Rest in peace, Berkley Bedell
Saturday, Dec 7 2019
Thousands of Iowans are mourning Berkley Bedell, who passed away of a stroke this weekend at the age of 98.
Bedell was best known as a member of Congress representing northwest Iowa from 1975 through 1986, when he retired while battling what was later diagnosed as Lyme disease. He served on the Spirit Lake school board early in his career but was unsuccessful in his first U.S. House campaign in 1972. Like his friend and colleague Tom Harkin, Bedell ran against the Republican incumbent again in 1974 and won the seat, aided by the post-Watergate Democratic landslide.
Tim Hynds reported for the Sioux City Journal, “At age 15 in 1937, using money earned from a newspaper delivery route, Bedell founded Berkley & Co., a Spirit Lake business that manufactured fishing tackle.” The company became a major employer in the area. President Lyndon Johnson recognized Bedell as Small Businessman of the Year in 1964.
Tom Bedell remembered his father in a public Facebook post.
Dad was born in 1921. He pioneered a life that impacted others for 98 years. His duality of concern for how others thought of him and how graciously he thought of others molded a personality that was uniquely special and full of influence. He embraced responsibility for the challenges to humanity from nuclear annihilation to climate change to disparity in affluence to the economic greed in medicine over the natural pathic solutions to human health. He transitioned a sleepy town in NW Iowa with his fishing business; he set an example of principle as a Congressman; and he lived wisdom and passion in his senior years – never giving up on the desire and belief that he could change the world for the better.
Berkley Warren Bedell lived a full life of passion, action and cause until Wednesday morning, December 4, 2019 when a severe stroke attacked his very alive and productive brain. He loved life and wanted it to last forever, but he feared being disabled and being unable to live life to the fullest. He was granted his wish. It took several days for his body to let go…but he did not suffer. He did not spend months or years living in a hospital bed. He celebrated his causes and friends right up to his last days. Like the rest of his extraordinary life, he lived as he wished right up until the end.
Indeed, Bedell wrote an op-ed column two months ago about excessive CEO pay. Excerpts:
Top executives today can pocket more for a morning’s labor than their employees earn in an entire year. Last year, the Institute for Policy Studies reports, 50 major U.S. corporations paid their chief executives more than 1,000 times what they paid their typical workers.
I never paid myself more than four or five times what my employees were making. I lived like my friends in my hometown of Spirit Lake, Iowa. I drove an older car, served as a scoutmaster and resided in a modest home. I had a good life. […]
My company’s business practices went beyond making my family as wealthy as we could be. We let workers do four nine-hour days for 40-hours pay, and had a profit-sharing plan that would eventually distribute 20% of all company earnings.
We also set aside 10% of those earnings in an employee recreation fund, money we used for everything from ballgames to fishing trips. Once we closed our factory completely and all of us went to Yellowstone for a week.
Bedell was well enough to travel to Iowa this summer to speak at an event in Sioux City with Elizabeth Warren, whom he supported for president. Warren shared this picture on her Facebook page in July.
As news of Bedell’s passing spread, Warren remembered him this way.
Congressman Berkley Bedell always fought hard for the people of Iowa. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and loved ones—and with every person his transformational leadership touched or inspired. https://t.co/hyUT5Jtyvj
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 8, 2019
J.D. Scholten has often described Bedell as one of his political heroes. On his Twitter feed, he shared this picture from the same Sioux City visit.
One of my brothers was a summer intern in Bedell’s Congressional office, and I was fortunate to be able to interview Bedell by phone this summer while researching the first U.S. House votes on the Hyde amendment in 1976. Despite representing a largely conservative area, Bedell voted against the ban on federal funding for abortion, without hesitation. He told me the choice was “not difficult,” because “I won by enough that I could vote whatever I believed in.”
When I asked whether he was ever concerned about going against the prevailing sentiment of his constituents, he said voting against President Ronald Reagan’s tax cut in 1981 “was about the worst vote I could have possibly made for northwest Iowa,” adding with a laugh, “But they still re-elected me just the same.”
Speaking of which, Scholten shared this image, which he said was one of Bedell’s re-election posters from the early 1980s.
The Iowa Democratic Party released this statement from state chair Troy Price and fourth Congressional district chair Penny Rosfjord.
“Berkley Bedell was the embodiment of a dedicated public servant. As a stalwart of progressive politics in Northwest Iowa, his work to uphold farm families during the Farm Crisis, boost the middle class, and provide a fair shot for all has impacted countless Iowans. A true prairie populist, his value-driven policies united Iowans and inspired generations of future Democrats. Our state is a better place because of his leadership, and his dedication to community will be missed. Our thoughts are with the Bedell family.”
I hope to publish reflections on Bedell’s life by Iowans who knew him well. Please get in touch if you would like to share your memories with Bleeding Heartland readers.
UPDATE: Former Senator Tom Harkin released this statement on December 8.
Berkley was a true friend for 44 years. Berkley embodied in every way, both public and private, the essence of a good and decent and caring person. We sat side by side for 10 years on the House Agriculture Committee, and no one fought harder or cared more for the wellbeing of farm and rural families. He raised the specter of global warming long before it became widely acknowledged. In his 80’s and 90’s Berkley encouraged young people to get involved politically. He was a remarkable person who left a good example of a committed and caring citizen.
The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement at Drake University made these two photographs available for publication. Bedell (left) with Harkin:
Then U.S. Representatives Neal Smith (left), Harkin, and Bedell:
Many others have shared memories on social media. From former State Representative Greg Stevens:
He was a great guy. When I ran [in 1998], he was behind me all the way. He made himself available for pictures, and he pushed me to his friends.
What I remember most about him though happened when I was in high school. In August of 1974 at the Sioux City Rivercade Parade, he came over to say hello. I was in the Estherville High School band, and he chatted with our trumpet section a few minutes. I knew he was running against Wiley Maine who was a Nixon apologist. I had watched the Watergate Hearings, and I really didn’t like Rep. Maine. When I mentioned that to Berkley, he asked my name. I told him, and I asked him if he knew my grandfather. He did! He also knew of my mom because of her work on different campaigns.
Years later, I told him of this encounter, and he laughed. He could have lied and said he remembered it, but he didn’t. He was always genuine. I remember at one event he was hosting for Senator Tom Harkin. He introduced everyone, but he missed a county supervisor. I knew he would feel awful, so I passed him a quick note. He interrupted Senator Harkin, and humbly introduced the County Supervisor. He really felt awful, and he made sure to have an extended conversation with her.
He was genuine, and he was talking against money in politics before Citizens United. I’m excited to see what other people will write.
Finally, my son worked in Senator Harkin’s office for a few years in DC. Berkley would always remember him, ask about me, and treat him with respect. He just had that quality that he was really into life.
Mary Holland remembered,
My father told me that when he first opened his fishing tackle business, he specifically would seek out individuals that really needed a job to feed their families. Allowing mothers to work from home so they could also raise their children. He cared about the people in his community.
Peggy Huppert commented,
Every progressive issue campaign I ever ran or was a part of, Berkley Bedell supported through a donation, letter of support or personal appearance. This goes back to the nuclear freeze and Beyond War movements of the 1980s. I don’t believe I was ever turned down. He was a great progressive who will long be remembered.
Top image: On the left, Berkley Bedell in Sioux City in July 2019. On the right, one of Bedell’s official Congressional photos from the 1970s.
Tags: Berkley Bedell, Elizabeth Warren, Greg Stevens, History, J.D. Scholten, Neal Smith, Obituary, Peggy Huppert, Tom Harkin
One small memory
I went to a national volunteer conservation lobbying workshop in Washington back in the Eighties, sponsored by a national conservation group. There were attendees from about twenty states. I remember how happy I felt when Congressman Bedell was pointed out and discussed by a workshop leader as one of the best Congressional conservation advocates in the states represented at the workshop.
RIP Berkley Bedell. Thank you for making me proud to be from Iowa.
By PrairieFan @ Sun 8 Dec 11:07 AM
Influential Democrat
Berkley Bedell was a great Congressman who lead with values and dignity. He wrote a 170-page book, “Revenue Matters: Tax the Rich to Save the Nation” in 2011, that can be found on Amazon for $5.59. As a Billionaire, he takes the stand that wealthy people do not pay their share. He lays out the history of taxation and makes a compelling statement about taxes and our nation. I love that he was calling out the 1% wealthy in the 1980s.
By martianderson @ Sun 8 Dec 2:21 PM
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In 1740 the death of the Habsburg emperor Charles VI without a male heir unleashed the most embittered conflict in Germany since the wars of Louis XIV. The question of the succession to the Austrian throne had occupied statesmen for decades. Rival claimants disputed the right—by the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction (1713)—of Charles’s daughter Maria Theresa to succeed; France supported them, its aim being, as before, the fragmentation of the Habsburg state. But it was the new Prussian king, Frederick II (1740–86), who began the conflict. To understand what follows, the modern reader should remember that few observers, even in the enlightened 18th century, disputed a ruler’s right to do what he wished with his state. Dynastic aggrandizement, territorial expansion, prestige, honour, power, and princely glory were legitimate grounds for war and sound reasons for demanding the sacrifices necessary to wage it. The only position from which to oppose this arrogation was the Christian ethic, but to do so had proved futile when last tried by Erasmus and Sir Thomas More in the 16th century. No checks—philosophical, moral, or political—therefore restrained kings from indulging their taste for conquests.
Soon after assuming power, Frederick reversed his father’s cautious policy of building and hoarding, rather than deploying, Brandenburg-Prussia’s military potential. He attacked Silesia, a province in the kingdom of Bohemia and thus part of the Habsburg monarchy, which Prussia had long desired for its populousness, mineral resources, and advanced economy. In exchange for an Austrian cession of Silesia, he offered to accept the Pragmatic Sanction (formally recognized by his predecessor in the 1728 Treaty of Berlin) and support the candidacy of Maria Theresa’s husband, Francis Stephen, as emperor. But the resolute woman who now headed the Austrian Habsburgs (1740–80) decided to defend the integrity of her realm, and the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48; including the Silesian Wars between Prussia and Austria) began in 1740. Austria was helped only by a Hungarian army, though initial financial support came from England. Prussia was joined by Bavaria and Saxony in the empire as well as by France and Spain. The Prussian armies, though greatly outnumbered by Austria’s forces, revealed themselves as by far the best as well as the best-led. The Treaties of Dresden (1745) and Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) confirmed the Prussian conquest of Silesia. During the succeeding Seven Years’ War (1756–63), Prussian forces occupied Saxony, which had allied itself with Austria. In the Treaty of Hubertusburg of 1763, Prussia kept Silesia but could not hold on to Saxony.
In a sense, the War of the Austrian Succession was another of the many internal struggles over the constitutional balance in the empire in which territorial states opposed imperial authority. But it was also part of an international struggle, with France and England fighting out their rivalry in western and southern Europe, North America, and India. In this way it prefigured the worldwide Seven Years’ War, except that the latter followed the “diplomatic revolution” in which England switched its support from Austria to Prussia and France allied itself with its traditional foe, Austria. (A part of this agreement was the marriage, in 1770, of the Austrian princess Marie-Antoinette to the future Louis XVI.) The real significance of the Seven Years’ War lay in the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which concluded for a time the maritime and colonial conflict between France and England.
After these wars Prussia—which had increased in size and immeasurably in prestige—and Austria dominated German affairs in a condition of tension usually called “the German dualism,” meaning that each had become so powerful that only the other could keep it in some sort of check. The monarchs of both realms carried out important internal reforms. Guided by her interior minister, Count Friedrich Wilhelm Haugwitz, Maria Theresa streamlined the Austrian administrative structure on the Prussian model, thus drawing together, to the extent possible, the multiethnic and polyglot regions of the vast Habsburg empire. The remaining powers of the estates were curtailed everywhere and centralization institutionalized in absolutist fashion but without attaining the full integration of the Prussian system. Maria Theresa’s son, Joseph II (1765–90), completed this program of modernization.
In Prussia, Frederick II further tightened his control of all aspects of public life in his far-flung kingdom. However, in accordance with his personal commitment to rational tolerance and free-thinking skepticism, he also undertook extensive legal reforms. He virtually abolished judicial torture, lifted some of the tax burden from the poorest of his subjects, established religious tolerance as a policy of his state, and encouraged scientific and scholarly activity in the Prussian Academy of the Sciences. Like his father, he was a vigorous promoter of economic development. His taste for French Enlightenment thought and his own prolific creativity in letters and music lent his reign the flavour of an era shaped by a philosopher-king, albeit one with the instincts of a ruthless power politician. His successes in war and peace earned him a place as national hero as well as the title “the Great.”
Gerald Strauss
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14 brilliant venture capitalists you need to be listening to right now
Nathan McAlone
Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
To succeed in venture capital, you can’t just throw your money at companies and wait.
The best venture capitalists provide insight and support that can make the difference between a startup failing or succeeding. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, many VCs don't leave that advice-giving at the office, and choose to dispense their thoughts to the masses — on Twitter or on personal blogs.
But not all of them are created equal. It's boring to listen to a VC brag about all the big wins, or pretend like they’ve never had an off day. The ones you should be listening to are the ones that share everything: their hits, their misses, when they think the market is great, and when they're scared or worried.
The following 14 venture capitalists are those type of writers, and have all thrown an extensive amount of their thoughts onto the internet. They also have the credentials to back up their assertions. Here are the venture capitalists you should be keeping up with.
Travis P Ball / Getty
Ben Horowitz is the co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the buzziest firm in Silicon Valley. Before that, he co-founded Opsware, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. Horowitz, whose firm invested in startup Genius (formerly Rap Genius), is an avid rap aficionado, and starts posts on his blog (titled Ben’s Blog) with rap lyrics. Here’s a recent one from Rick Ross: “I’m into distribution, I’m like Atlantic. I got them mutherf**ers flying across the Atlantic.” Follow him on Twitter.
Flickr/pragdave
Paul Graham was the co-founder of Viaweb, which he sold to Yahoo! in the late 90s, but he’s most famous for co-founding seed capital firm Y Combinator. YC normally gives $120,000 in seed money to startups in return for advice, connections, and 7% equity. Graham is active on Twitter, but his real wisdom comes out in his essays, which are catalogued on his blog. His latest is about changing your startup’s name.
Helen H. Richardson / Contributor
Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since well before the dot-com crash. Feld has been part of big successes and big failures in his career, the latter of which he speaks about very candidly on his blog, Feld Thoughts. As a co-founder of Foundry Group, Mobius Venture Capital, and Intensity Ventures, he has invested in companies like Zynga, MakerBot, and Fitbit. Feld is also a co-founder of Techstars, one of the most prominent startup accelerators in the country. Follow him on Twitter.
Mark Suster
Mark Suster joined Upfront Ventures as a partner in 2007 after selling his second company, Koral, to Salesforce. As a two-time entrepreneur and now a venture capitalist, Suster says he knows “both sides of the table,” which is the name of his prominent blog. Suster focuses on early-stage companies, usually Series A, but his blog offers advice from ideas to exits. Follow him on Twitter.
Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Sam Altman might be only 30, but the president of Y Combinator has a wealth of experience in how to help coach a successful startup. Companies that Y Combinator has invested in as a seed stage accelerator have now topped $30 billion and includes Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, and Reddit. Altman have even taught a class at Stanford called “How to Start a Startup” — which you can access online. Altman writes many of his public thoughts on Twitter, but also keeps a blog. A recent post looked back on every life advice he’d have for others on his thirtieth birthday.
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
As co-founder of Union Square Ventures, a NYC venture capital firm, Fred Wilson has invested in companies like Twitter, Etsy, and Kickstarter. But perhaps more impressive than his investing record is that Wilson has fastidiously kept his blog, A VC, going on a daily basis since September, 2003. “This is my diary, my sandbox, my therapist, and more than anything it is my bar where I get to be the bartender,” he writes. “A VC is a place where everyone is welcome and the conversation is civil and lively.” Check out his daily musings here or on Twitter.
Chris Dixon is not only a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, but also an immensely successful personal investor. Dixon co-founded web security startup SiteAdvisor, which was acquired by McAfee in 2006, and Hunch, which was bought by eBay for a reported $80 million. He’s personally invested in success stories like Kickstarter, Warby Parker, Pinterest, Codeacademy, and Stripe. Dixon doesn’t post as frequently as some other VC bloggers, but his post are always a good mix of technical and easy to understand. Follow him on Twitter.
Bill Gurley
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bill Gurley, a general partner at Benchmark, has experience on in both Silicon Valley and Wall Street. He currently sits on the board of behemoths like Uber, Zillow, OpenTable, and GrubHub. He made waves earlier this year by warning that the tech industry could see the death of a few high-profile billion-dollar “unicorns” before the year is out. Read his thoughts on his blog, Above the Crowd, or follow him on Twitter.
Jalak Jobanputra
In a venture capital world that has traditionally been dominated by white men, Jalak Jobanputra stands out. This founding partner of FuturePerfect Ventures in NYC grew up in Nairobi, Kenya to parents of Indian descent. She’s been a venture capitalist since 1999 and keeps a popular blog on investing called The Barefoot VC. Follow her on Twitter.
Fred Destin
Flickr/Robin Wauters
Destin has been a partner at Accel Partners in London since late last year, but before that he spent 10 years as a partner at Atlas. He also has years of experience in finance (structured derivatives in particular) at Goldman Sachs and other places. Destin’s blog is called Open Source Venture Capital, and as a bonus, all his posts are illustrated with beautiful fractals. He says it represents “how unpredictable success is and by how truly chaotic conditions under which startups grow can be.” Follow him on Twitter.
REUTERS/Phil McCarten
Before Marc Andreessen was the co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, he changed the tech landscape as the co-founder of Netscape. As a venture capitalist, he was a seed investor in both Twitter and Facebook. Andreessen is a prolific tweeter, re-tweeter, and tweet-stormer. Though he doesn’t write his blog anymore, you can peruse the archives as an ebook.You can also check out his current offerings on his firm’s blog, or follow him on Twitter.
Fortune Live Media
Hunter Walk is a partner at Homebrew, a seed stage venture capital fund. But before that he led consumer product management at YouTube, and worked in product for Google and virtual world, Second Life. The tagline of his blog is 99% humble, 1% brag, and Walk brings this relaxed honesty to his writings. Follow him on Twitter.
Flickr/randy stewart
Andrew Chen is an investor and advisor for startups like ZenPayroll, Dropbox, and Product Hunt, and his writings are some of the most insightful in the business. He’s earned big fans like Marc Andreessen and 500 Startup’s Dave McClure, and PayPal’s Max Levchin. He covers a large assortment of topics, but is especially adept at speaking to web marketing. Sign up for his newsletter here, or follow him on Twitter.
YouTube/Kevin Rose
Chris Sacca heads up Lowercase Capital, and is famous for early investments in tech companies like Twitter, Uber, and Instagram. He is one of the most vocal venture capitalists on many issues, most recently what direction Twitter should take. Before Lowercase, Sacca was the head of special initiatives at Google. He can usually be spotted in his signature cowboy shirt. Follow him on Twitter.
SEE ALSO: The 19 Best Enterprise Tech Venture Capitalists
More: Features Venture Capital
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Butzel Long attorney Jennifer Dukarski to co-present session during MINASF – Michigan Chapter’s Midwest seminar on August 11
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Butzel Long attorney Jennifer Dukarski will co-present a session during the National Association for Surface Finishing – Michigan chapter’s Midwest meeting on August 11, 2017 in Rothbury, Mich. The program is titled, “Cybersecurity – Looking Beyond the Hype and Intro Your Business.” Dukarski’s co-presenter is Laurie Riegle, president, Armstrong/Robitaille/Riegle.
Dukarski focuses her practice at the intersection of technology and communications with an emphasis on emerging and disruptive issues: digital media, cybersecurity, infotainment, vehicle safety and connected and autonomous cars.
In her practice, she has negotiated contracts for autonomous vehicle components, reviewed contracts involving wireless updates to in-vehicle technology, assisted companies in achieving successful Petitions for Inconsequential Noncompliance with NHTSA and has addressed multiple vehicle component recalls. Dukarski has become a national leader in legal issues facing emerging automotive technology and is the leader of Butzel Long’s connected car working group. She also has spearheaded the reporting efforts for two national data breaches and focuses on the threat vectors facing automotive component design.
A self-titled “recovering engineer,” Dukarski serves as Counsel to the OESA’s Product Development Council and has spoken on First Amendment issues ranging from newsgathering in the digital age to the impact of the FBI iPhone strategy. She has been a panelist at the North American International Auto Show for the last two years, covering a broad variety of legal concerns focused on the autonomous and connected car. She has appeared on several television programs, including Autoline and AutoBeat, and in many print interviews (including CIO Magazine, PC World, Bridge Magazine, Computer World and Automotive News) discussing automotive technology and its related legal issues.
Prior to joining Butzel, she gained automotive manufacturing and design experience as a result of high-level quality management and engineering positions. She has worked extensively on successful automotive product launches, managing vendors and Tier One manufacturing facilities. A Six Sigma Master Black Belt, she applies her experience to create innovative approaches to the protection of IP assets and disruptive technology.
Dukarski has experience with field recalls and was a representative to the University of Michigan’s CIREN (Crash Injury Research & Engineering Network) and UMPIRE (University of Michigan Program for Injury Research and Education). Working as a design engineer, she received multiple Record of Invention Awards for contributions to patents and trade secrets.
Last year, she was named a “2016 Honoree for Michigan Women in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She also is among Michigan Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” and DBusiness “Top Lawyers.” She is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She serves as a Working Group member with IEEE PAR 1912 (Privacy and Security Architecture for Consumer Wireless Devices) which is focused on setting standards for privacy and security protocols. She also coaches and mentors’ women engineers.
At the same time, she is the liaison to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Young Lawyers Committee on the Forum on Communications Law Governing Committee. Moreover, Dukarski is an adjunct professor in the Paralegal Program, Intellectual Property, at Baker College.
She is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2010). She’s also a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy College of Engineering and Science, (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, summa cum laude, 1996).
Jennifer Dukarski
Automotive Industry Team
Automotive Law
Connected Car and Autonomous Vehicles
Cybersecurity and Privacy Specialty Team
Emerging Technology Specialty Team
Media Law Specialty Team
Privacy, Data Breach & Data Security
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Bolton Wanderers badge - Link to home
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Countdown to 2016/17 - 15 days to go
@OfficialBWFC
The club's series of countdown articles continues with a current England international featuring in bwfc.co.uk's latest offering
With just 15 days to go until the start of the 2016/17 Sky Bet League One campaign, bwfc.co.uk's special series of articles profiling former occupants of a certain shirt number continues.
John Sheridan
November 1996 – October 1998
A man who made his name with Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday during the first 15 years of his career, Sheridan initially linked up with Bolton on loan in 1996 before turning that move permanent shortly afterwards for a fee of £180.
Bringing a wealth of experience to firstly Burnden Park and then the Reebok Stadium, it was during the club’s first season at their new home that the midfielder sported the number 15 shirt for the Whites.
Going on to make a total of 43 appearances for the Trotters, scoring three goals, he moved on to Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 1998 although his spell with the Vikings was short-lived as he linked up with Oldham Athletic shortly after.
Making over 150 appearances for the Latics, he started his permanent managerial career with them in 2006 before taking the reins at Chesterfield, Plymouth Argyle and Newport County.
Where is he now?
Sheridan was appointed as manager of Notts County back in May on a three-year deal.
Radhi Jaidi
July 2004 – August 2006
Sporting the No.15 shirt for the entire duration of his stay with the club, Jaidi arrived in England having won the Tunisian league title with Espérance Sportive de Tunis a matter of months earlier.
During his two seasons with the Trotters, the centre-half went on to form a thriving defensive partnership with Bruno N’Gotty, while Jaidi went on to endear himself to the Bolton faithful with a number of hearty performances in the white shirt.
Also proving himself a source of goals for Wanderers with him chipping in with eight goals including efforts against Arsenal and Chelsea, Jaidi moved onto pastures new following the expiration of his contract at the club in July 2006 when he linked up with Birmingham City.
Ending his career at Southampton with a three year stint between 2009 and 2012, he has since taken up a role with the club’s development squad where he has remained ever since.
January 2011 – May 2011
Sturridge arrived at BL6 on loan from Chelsea in January 2011 having impressed during the initial years of his career and certainly wasting no time in making his mark on Bolton Wanderers.
Having struggled to cement his place in the starting line up at Stamford Bridge however, the striker’s decision to join Wanderers on a temporary basis was one which reaped dividends both for the Whites and Chelsea, with him notching eight times in 12 appearances during his time at the club.
Scoring the winning goal on his debut against Wolves, he followed that effort up with strikes against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Newcastle United – a feat which ensured that he became only the sixth player to score in his first four games for a club in the Premier League.
And despite his game-time with the club coming to a premature end with a sending off against former club Manchester City on the final day of the 2010/11 campaign, his stay with Wanderers has led the forward onto success both in his club exploits and on the international scene for England.
Now plying his trade with Liverpool, Sturridge has made 90 appearances for the Anfield outfit since moving to the Reds in 2013, scoring 53 goals.
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Bush Campaign Speech
1992-09-15T19:58:00-04:00https://images.c-span.org/Files/d85/19920915195955001_hd.jpgPresident Bush spoke at the convention of the National Guard Association to laud the performance of the U.S. armed forces and to draw comparisons between himself and his opponent in the election, Democratic presidential nominee Gov. Bill Clinton. Standing in front of a blue curtain and surrounded by large American flags, President Bush said he would not attack Gov. Clinton’s record concerning the draft in 1969, and defended Vice President Quayle’s service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. He spoke on a letter he received from the mother of a soldier slain during the Persian Gulf War, and said presidents must be held “to the highest standard” since they may decide to send soldiers into battle.
President Bush spoke at the convention of the National Guard Association to laud the performance of the U.S. armed forces and to draw comparisons between himself… read more
President Bush spoke at the convention of the National Guard Association to laud the performance of the U.S. armed forces and to draw comparisons between himself and his opponent in the election, Democratic presidential nominee Gov. Bill Clinton. Standing in front of a blue curtain and surrounded by large American flags, President Bush said he would not attack Gov. Clinton’s record concerning the draft in 1969, and defended Vice President Quayle’s service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. He spoke on a letter he received from the mother of a soldier slain during the Persian Gulf War, and said presidents must be held “to the highest standard” since they may decide to send soldiers into battle. close
Transcript type Federal News Service Transcript Text People Graphical Timeline
Filter by Speaker All Speakers George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush U.S. President United States
White HouseWhite House
National GuardNational Guard
White House Event
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Sep 15, 1992 | 7:58pm EDT | C-SPAN 1
Sep 21, 1992 | 6:27am EDT | C-SPAN 2
Sep 16, 1992 | 12:11am EDT | C-SPAN 1
MP4 video - Standard
See all on Bush, George H. W.
In an address to workers at AT&T and a women’s service organization, President Bush elaborated on his objections to the…
President Bush spoke in Missouri during a stop in a campaign swing through six states bordering Arkansas, the home state of Democratic…
President Bush spoke to supporters at a Labor Day picnic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during a campaign swing through Michigan and Wisconsin.…
President Bush spoke to a group of small business leaders in the Joseph Koury Convention Center in Greensboro to propose $20…
User Clip: bush army
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Former Governor John Hickenlooper Presidential Campaign Announcement
2019-03-08T08:31:37-05:00https://images.c-span.org/Files/e88/20190308083656002_hd.jpgFormer Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) formally announced his run for presidency before a crowd of supporters in Denver. In his speech, he laid out the reasons he believes President Trump must be defeated and why he is the right person for the job.
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) formally announced his run for presidency before a crowd of supporters in Denver. In his… read more
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) formally announced his run for presidency before a crowd of supporters in Denver. In his speech, he laid out the reasons he believes President Trump must be defeated and why he is the right person for the job. close
Transcript type Text People Graphical Timeline
Filter by Speaker All Speakers John W Hickenlooper
John W Hickenlooper Governor (Former) [D] Colorado
Hickenlooper Presidential CampaignHickenlooper Presidential Campaign
Road to the White House 2020
Public Affairs Event
Mar 07, 2019 | 8:08pm EST | C-SPAN.org
Mar 14, 2019 | 7:17am EDT | C-SPAN 3
Mar 08, 2019 | 8:31am EST | C-SPAN 2
Mar 08, 2019 | 1:47pm EST | C-SPAN 1
Mar 08, 2019 | 4:38pm EST | C-SPAN RADIO
Mar 10, 2019 | 6:31pm EDT | C-SPAN RADIO
Featured Clips from This Video
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper: "I Am Running for President of the United States"
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) announces his presidential candidacy before a crowd in Denver. He says,…
John Hickenlooper Presidential Campaign Announcement
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) announced his candidacy for president in a Youtube video.
Senator Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign Announcement
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) formally announced his 2020 presidential campaign at a rally in Brooklyn, New York.
Governor Jay Inslee Presidential Campaign Announcement
Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA) announced his 2020 candidacy for president at A&R Solar in Seattle.
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper in New Hampshire
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (D) met with voters and spoke at a house party in Manchester, New Hampshire.…
Governor John Hickenlooper Campaign Announcement
User Clip: Hick vs Trump
User Clip: Announcement
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Where have Ely’s black swans gone?
Now both feathered friends have disappeared from the River Ouse and no-one knows why
Ely's last black swan has left the water - and there's been no sign of it returning (Image: Ian Elliott)
Bird-lovers are in a flap over the disappearance of Ely’s black swans.
A few years ago, two black swans were regularly seen gliding through the reeds of the Great Ouse in Ely.
One vanished a year ago, perhaps lured by greener pastures – or ponds – or fallen fowl of an opportunistic fox.
Its companion continued to be a regular feature on the waterway, but now seems to have taken flight and left the area.
Roadkill horror: 15 deer found dead on the M11
A survey by the British Trust for Ornithology published five years ago confirmed that 36 pairs of black swans were nesting wild in Britain, although the likelihood is that there are many more who haven’t been tagged. Ever-polluting waterways and diminishing natural reserves, however, mean that much river flora and fauna is under threat, including swans.
Black swans are native to Australia and were originally brought to the UK as ornamental birds. Those gracing our rivers in the wild have either escaped from captivity or are descended from formerly captive birds.
Festival of swans is birdwatchers' paradise
Although they can technically breed with white mute swans, this is rare. Perhaps Ely’s lone bird has gone looking for a mate or there may be a darker reason behind its disappearance.
You can keep up to date with all the latest news in and around Cambridge by downloading our free app. It is available for the iPhone and iPad from Apple's App Store, or the Android version can be downloaded from Google Play
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Battling superbugs: Cooperation and a special soap
Anna Gorman Kaiser Health News
Apr 25, 2019 at 12:47 PM Apr 25, 2019 at 12:47 PM
Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois are testing a surprisingly simple strategy against the dangerous, antibiotic-resistant superbugs that kill thousands of people each year: washing patients with a special soap.
The efforts — funded with roughly $8 million from the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are taking place at 50 facilities in those two states.
This novel approach recognizes that superbugs don’t remain isolated in one hospital or nursing home but move quickly through a community, said Dr. John Jernigan, who directs the CDC’s office on health care-acquired infection research.
“No health care facility is an island,” Jernigan said. “We all are in this complicated network.”
At least 2 million people in the U.S. become infected with an antibiotic-resistant bacterium each year, and about 23,000 die from those infections, according to the CDC.
People in hospitals are vulnerable to these bugs, and people in nursing homes are particularly vulnerable. Up to 15% of hospital patients and 65% of nursing home residents harbor drug-resistant organisms, though not all of them will develop an infection, said Dr. Susan Huang, who specializes in infectious diseases at the University of California-Irvine.
“Superbugs are scary and they are unabated,” Huang said. “They don’t go away.”
Some of the most common bacteria in health care facilities are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, often called “nightmare bacteria.” E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are two common germs that can fall into this category when they become resistant to last-resort antibiotics known as carbapenems. CRE bacteria cause an estimated 600 deaths each year, according to the CDC.
CREs have “basically spread widely” among health care facilities in the Chicago region, said Dr. Michael Lin, an infectious-diseases specialist at Rush University Medical Center, who is heading the CDC-funded effort there. “If MRSA is a superbug, this is the extreme — the super superbug.”
Containing the dangerous bacteria has been a challenge for hospitals and nursing homes. As part of the CDC effort, doctors and health care workers in Chicago and Southern California are using the antimicrobial soap chlorhexidine, which has been shown to reduce infections when patients bathe with it. Though chlorhexidine is frequently used for bathing in hospital intensive care units and as a mouthwash for dental infections, it is used less commonly for bathing in nursing homes.
In Chicago, researchers are working with 14 nursing homes and long-term acute care hospitals, where staff are screening people for the CRE bacteria at admission and bathing them daily with chlorhexidine.
The Chicago project, which started in 2017 and ends in September, includes a campaign to promote handwashing and increased communication among hospitals about which patients carry the drug-resistant organisms.
The infection-control work was new to many nursing homes, which don’t have the same resources as hospitals, Lin said.
In fact, three-quarters of nursing homes in the U.S. received citations for infection-control problems over a four-year period, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis, and the facilities with repeat citations almost never were fined. Nursing home residents often are sent back to hospitals because of infections.
In California, health officials are closely watching the CRE bacteria, which are less prevalent there than elsewhere in the country, and they are trying to prevent CRE from taking hold, said Dr. Matthew Zahn, medical director of epidemiology at the Orange County Health Care Agency. “We don’t have an infinite amount of time,” he said. “Taking a chance to try to make a difference in CRE’s trajectory now is really important.”
The CDC-funded project in California is based in Orange County, where 36 hospitals and nursing homes are using the antiseptic wash along with an iodine-based nose swab. The goal is to prevent new people from getting drug-resistant bacteria and keep the ones who already have the bacteria on their skin or elsewhere from developing infections, said Huang, who is leading the project.
Huang kicked off the project by studying how patients move among different hospitals and nursing homes in Orange County, and discovered they do so far more than imagined. That prompted a key question: “What can we do to not just protect our patients but to protect them when they start to move all over the place?” she recalled.
Her previous research showed that patients with the MRSA bacteria who used chlorhexidine for bathing and as a mouthwash, and swabbed their noses with a nasal antibiotic, could reduce their risk of developing a MRSA infection by 30%. But all the patients in that study, published in February in the New England Journal of Medicine, already had been discharged from hospitals.
Now the goal is to target patients still in hospitals or nursing homes and extend the work to CRE. The traditional hospitals participating in the new project are focusing on patients in intensive care units and those who already carried drug-resistant bacteria, while the nursing homes and the long-term acute care hospitals perform the cleaning — also called “decolonizing” — on every resident.
One recent morning at Coventry Court Health Center, a nursing home in Anaheim, Calif., 94-year-old Neva Shinkle sat patiently in her wheelchair. Licensed vocational nurse Joana Bartolome swabbed her nose and asked if she remembered what it did.
“It kills germs,” Shinkle responded.
“That’s right — it protects you from infection.”
In a nearby room, senior project coordinator Raveena Singh from UC-Irvine talked with Caridad Coca, 71, who had recently arrived at the facility. She explained that Coca would bathe with the chlorhexidine rather than regular soap. “If you have some kind of open wound or cut, it helps protect you from getting an infection,” Singh said. “And we are not just protecting you, one person. We protect everybody in the nursing home.”
Coca said she had a cousin who had spent months in the hospital after getting MRSA. “Luckily, I’ve never had it,” she said.
Coventry Court administrator Shaun Dahl said he was eager to participate because people were arriving at the nursing home carrying MRSA or other bugs. “They were sick there and they are sick here,” Dahl said.
Results from the Chicago project are pending. Preliminary results of the Orange County project, which ends in May, show that it seems to be working, Huang said. After 18 months, researchers saw a 25% decline in drug-resistant organisms in nursing home residents, 34% in patients of long-term acute care hospitals and 9% in traditional hospital patients. The most dramatic drops were in CRE, though the number of patients with that type of bacteria was smaller.
The preliminary data also shows a promising ripple effect in facilities that aren’t part of the effort, a sign that the project may be starting to make a difference in the county, said Zahn of the Orange County Health Care Agency.
“In our community, we have seen an increase in antimicrobial-resistant infections,” he said. “This offers an opportunity to intervene and bend the curve in the right direction.”
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Chevy Chase: How the ‘National Lampoon’s’ Star’s Violent Behavior Got Him Banned From ‘SNL’
Eric Robinette
By now, families across the country are enjoying their 52nd viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, guffawing at Chevy Chase getting thwacked in the head by the ladder from the attic, struggling with his gargantuan Christmas light display and finally losing his mind at the dinner table.
Those people may be wondering why they don’t see much of Chevy Chase these days, and the answer for that is rather sad. Although he still works fairly steadily, he has a reputation as being difficult — so much so that he was banned by Saturday Night Live, the show that made him famous, although he might have once argued he made it famous.
Chevy Chase was the original ‘SNL’ star
Chevy Chase | Tommaso Boddi/FilmMagic
Saturday Night Live debuted in 1975, with its cast known as the “Not Ready for Prime Time” players. The original cast featured, in addition to Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, George Coe, Jane Curtin, Garret Morris, Larraine Newman and Gilda Radner.
Although most of these players would go on to have great careers on their own, Chase was the first one to truly break out, particularly for the Weekend Update segments, which he opened by saying “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not.”
The problem was, as Chase endeared himself to viewers with his jokes and pratfalls, he wasn’t endearing himself to the cast. He had strained relationships with his co-workers and a rivalry with Belushi in particular that went back to their National Lampoon days.
Ultimately, Chevy Chase heard the siren song of Hollywood, and he went on to a successful movie career, with hits like Foul Play and Caddyshack.
Although Chase went away from SNL, the bad blood never did. Bill Murray, who came in after Chase left, was becoming a star in his own right, but when Chase came back to SNL to host in 1978, he and Murray got into a fistfight only moments before air time.
And that was barely the beginning of Chase’s fraught relationship with the SNL community.
Why was Chevy Chase banned from ‘SNL?’
Some who read this might say, “He can’t be banned from SNL. I saw him on the anniversary special only a few years ago! And yes, that’s true. He did appear on the 40th anniversary special in 2015.
He’s not banned from appearing on the show altogether, but he is banned from hosting ever again. And that stems from an incident in 1997.
According to an SNL wiki site, he slapped cast member Cheri Oteri on the back of the head, prompting an angry Will Ferrell to report the incident to producer Lorne Michaels, one of the founders of the show. Chase has not been allowed to host since.
Screen Rant has a list of a dozen celebrities who have been barred from the show. These include Milton Berle, Robert Blake, Adrien Brody, Elvis Costello, Charles Grodin, Andy Kaufman, Louise Lasser, Martin Lawrence, Sinead O’Connor, Steven Segal and Frank Zappa. Chase is the only former cast member to be banned.
What is Chevy Chase doing now?
Chase still works fairly steadily, although if he stands out in anything, it tends to be as a glorified guest star in the likes of the Hot Tub Time Machine movies. He did have a stint on the NBC show Community, which became a cult hit, but he butted heads with people there too, according to a 2018 profile in the Washington Post.
The London Telegraph wrote: “Bill Cosby is the most hated comedian in America. But if you were looking for a runner-up, Chevy Chase has to be in with a shout.”
Nowadays it seems as if he’s often on an apology tour for one reason or another. He has burned a lot of bridges, and as Michaels put it, “Chevy does shock stuff, which is maybe more forgivable in a 25-year-old or 30-year-old than in a 50-year-old or 60-year -old,” he says.
Chase, now 76, is seen by many as not aging gracefully. But in the Post article, he says, “I’ve already done what I’ve done. I can’t change anything. And I’m old. I don’t have to worry about what I did anymore. I know who I am. People know who I am who know me. And I’m proud to be who I am. Because I care about people, I care about feelings. I care about warmth, love. It’s everything.”
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Got overdue books? Chicago Public Library will waive all late fees starting today
By Nara Schoenberg
Feb 04, 2016 | 4:00 AM
For the first time in more than three years, the Chicago Public Library is offering amnesty to those who owe book fines.
Starting today, and lasting through Feb. 18, you can return your overdue library materials and all late fees will be waived.
"What we learned in the last fine amnesty was sort of astonishing," said library Commissioner Brian Bannon.
"We welcomed home so many library materials — it was pretty extraordinary. But the part we hadn't anticipated was the number of patrons we welcomed back. During the last fine amnesty, which was three weeks, 40,000 library patrons re-upped their library card, which is sort of unprecedented for us."
The library wants more of those unreturned items — and more opportunities to reconnect with patrons, Bannon said.
During the last amnesty program, in 2012, the library reported receiving 101,301 overdue items, valued at about $2 million, and waived $641,820 worth of fines. The late materials ranged from items only a few weeks overdue to one book that had been due since 1934.
That last item was a limited edition of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, which had been overdue for 78 years.
The library caps late fees at $10, but if a fine of 20 cents a day had been enforced, the "Dorian Gray" borrower would have accrued $5,694 in late fees.
The amnesty program, titled, "Welcome Home," will include humorous "Wanted" posters in libraries, and videos featuring local librarians making pleas for overdue materials.
"They've done these really funny videos in multiple languages: We have one in Spanish, one in Chinese," Bannon said.
The library will be releasing the videos one at a time on social media.
Racial injustice, Black Lives Matter inspire reading lists
Readers are flocking to what some call the Black Lives Matter reading list: current bestsellers such as "Between the World and Me," "The New Jim Crow," and books new and old that are attracting readers.
The amnesty program is the first part of a larger public awareness campaign called "Home of the Curious," created by the Chicago Public Library's pro-bono partner, advertising agency FCB Chicago and sponsored by the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
"Welcome Home" will include banners outside CPL locations as well as on public transportation, the city's digital billboard network, the Library's social media and various other places around the city.
Christopher Tolkien, son and editor of J.R.R. Tolkien, dies at 95
‘Troublemakers’ uses Art Shay’s lens to reframe civil rights in Chicago
Stephen King criticized for comments on diversity
Bookshop.org hopes to play Rebel Alliance to Amazon’s Empire
‘A lack of transparency, accountability, empathy, and sincerity’ created race and diversity ‘firestorm’ for Romance Writers of America
Library employees say one of the best parts of the last amnesty program was the great stories of long-overdue books that came out of it. Bannon doubts the libraries will receive a book that's been overdue for more than the current record of 78 years, but he's not ruling it out.
"You never know what you'll get back," he says.
For more information, call (312) 747-4050 or visit chipublib.org.
nschoenberg@tribpub.com
Chicago Public Library
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RulesCEPANI2019-12-16T10:41:23+01:00
Other ADR
Domain names .be
Download the CEPANI Arbitration Rules (2020)
Schedule I: Scale of costs for Arbitration
Schedule II: Rules of good conduct for proceedings organised by CEPANI
Schedule III: Internal rules of procedure for the President, the Appointments Committee, and the Challenge Committee
Schedule IV: Belgian Judicial Code Provisions relating to Arbitration
Download the previous CEPANI Arbitration Rules (2007)
Download the CEPANI Arbitration Rules in Turkish
Download the CEPANI Arbitration Rules in Spanish
Download the Mediation Rules
The Rules are in force as from the 1st of January 2018.
The numbers of the legal provisions referred to in these Rules, are the provisions in force when the Rules were approved.
STANDARD MEDIATION CLAUSE
“The Parties hereby undertake to apply the CEPANI Mediation Rules to all disputes arising out of or in connection with this agreement.”
The following provisions may be added to this clause:
“The place of the mediation shall be [ ]”.
The proceedings shall be conducted in the [ ] language”.
“Should the mediation fail, the dispute shall be finally settled under the CEPANI Rules of Arbitration by one or more Arbitrators appointed in accordance with the said Rules. The place of the arbitration shall be [ ], the arbitration shall be conducted in the [ ] language”.
These Rules shall apply if one or more Parties wish to settle their dispute through mediation organized by CEPANI. It is not required that the Parties have concluded a mediation agreement prior to the dispute nor that a mediation clause be inserted in an agreement between Parties concerning which the dispute has arisen.
These Rules shall also apply to disputes arising out of contracts referring to CEPANI’s Mediation Rules for Information and Communications Technology, which are abrogated and replaced by these Rules.
Mediation is an alternative dispute resolution method whereby Parties Request a Third Person (the Mediator) to assist them in their attempt to reach an amicable settlement of their dispute arising out of, or relating to, a contractual or other legal relationship of whatsoever nature.
When the nature of the dispute requires complementary specializations (e.g. legal and technical), several Mediators may be appointed. In this case, the word ”Mediator” shall be read as Mediators.
When more than two Parties are involved in the dispute, the word “Requesting Party”, or “other Party” shall be read and understood as involving several Parties.
Article 1. Unilateral or joint Request for mediation
1.1 A Party wishing to have recourse to mediation under the CEPANI Rules shall submit its Request for Mediation to the Secretariat, in person or via its authorized Representative or Counsel. The Request must be submitted in electronic form and in one hard copy and must be signed in both cases by the Party wishing to have recourse to mediation or by its authorized Representative or Counsel.
Upon receipt of the Request, CEPANI shall send a copy of the Request by e-mail to the other Party or Parties involved.
If no valid e-mail address is known for the other Party(ies) involved, the unilateral Request submitted shall be supplied in a number of original and signed copies sufficient to provide one copy for the other Party(ies) and one copy for the Secretariat.
1.2 The Request for Mediation may also be submitted jointly by all Parties involved in the dispute.
The Request and the documents annexed thereto must be submitted in electronic form and in one hard copy. In both cases, it must be signed by all Parties or by their authorized Representative or Counsel.
1.3 The Request shall contain, inter alia, the following information:
name, address, registered office, telephone and fax number, valid e-mail address, and company registration number, if any, of the Requesting Party and the identity of any Representative or Counsel having the capacity to act on behalf of the Requesting Party;
a unique electronic communication method chosen for the exchange of all communications during the proceedings (including the name of the contact person and a valid e-mail adress);
in case of a unilateral Request for Mediation in accordance with Article 1.1 : the name of the other Parties, along with all the information the Requesting Party has for contacting the other Parties or their authorized Representatives or Counsel, such as a postal or valid e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers, company registration number and any information obtained from previous contacts;
a brief recital of the dispute;
the proof of payment of the registration costs as fixed under Article 4 of Schedule I.A of these Rules.
1.4 In the case of a unilateral Request for Mediation, as mentioned in Article 1.1 of these Rules, and if the Request contains a claim to a right, the Requesting Party who introduced the Request shall comply with the formalities set out in Article 1730 of the Belgian Judicial Code in order for the Request to suspend the limitation period and to have the effect of a formal notice.
In the case of a joint Request as mentioned in Article 1.2 of these Rules, the Parties accept that, if their joint Request contains a claim to a right, it shall suspend the limitation period of the claim related to the said right during one month and shall have the effect of a formal notice.
Article 2. Answer to the Request for Mediation
Within two weeks after the Request has been sent as mentioned in Article 1.1, the other Party shall inform the CEPANI Secretariat whether or not it wishes to participate in the mediation. This deadline may be extended with Parties’ consent.
If no positive answer is given within the said time limit, the Request for Mediation shall be deemed to have been rejected by the said other Party.
A disagreement on the conditions set out by the Requesting Party is also considered as a refusal to take part in the mediation, unless the Requesting Party accepts in writing the conditions proposed by the other Party or if both Parties inform CEPANI of the conditions they have both agreed on.
Article 3. Effect of the mediation agreement
When the Parties agree to resort to CEPANI for mediation, they thereby submit to these Rules, including the Schedules, in effect on the date of the receipt by the CEPANI Secretariat of the Request for Mediation.
THE MEDIATIOR
Article 4. Appointment of the Mediator(s)
4.1 The CEPANI Appointments Committee or the President of CEPANI shall appoint a Mediator within two weeks following receipt of the positive response as mentioned in Article 2. In doing so, the Mediator(‘) s(‘) availability, qualifications and ability to carry out the mediation in accordance with these Rules shall be taken into account.
The Parties may also propose by mutual consent the name of a Mediator to the Appointments Committee or to the President of CEPANI
4.2 When it notifies the identity of the Mediator the CEPANI Secretariat shall also communicate simultaneously to the Parties:
the administrative expenses of CEPANI;
the amount of the advance for mediation costs;
the conditions for the payment of these costs;
the date and the place of the mediation.
4.3 Provided that the advance for mediation costs has been fully paid, the CEPANI Secretariat shall transmit the file to the Mediator as soon as the latter has been appointed.
4.4 When several Mediators are appointed, they will act as a body.
Article 5. Independence of the Mediator
The Mediator shall be independent. Prior to his/her appointment, the Mediator shall sign a statement of acceptance, availability and independence and shall undertake to comply with the Rules of Good Conduct set out in Schedule II.
The Mediator shall disclose in writing to the Secretariat any facts or circumstances which might be of such a nature so as to call into question his/her independence in the eyes of the Parties. The Secretariat shall provide such information to the Parties in writing and fix a time limit for the receipt of their comments.
The Mediator and/or the Parties shall immediately disclose to CEPANI any facts or circumstances which might be of such a nature as to call into question the Mediator’s independence and which may occur during the mediation. In such event, CEPANI may, if the Parties or one of them so Requests, replace the Mediator.
Article 6. Mediation Protocol
6.1 The Mediator is free to organize the mediation as he/she sees fit in accordance with these Rules.
Before starting the mediation, in accordance with Article 1731 of the Belgian Judicial Code, the Mediator shall sign a Mediation Protocol with the Parties which shall state inter alia:
the scale of fees or the method of determining the fees of the Mediator;
the way in which the mediation costs will be divided among the Parties and the amount of the advance foreseen to cover these costs, as determined in accordance with Article 12 of these Rules;
the method(s) of communication, if any, agreed by the Parties and the Mediator.
An original copy of the Mediation Protocol, duly signed by the Mediator and by the Parties or their authorized Representative or Counsel, shall be transmitted to the CEPANI Secretariat.
Article 7. Powers of the Mediator
7.1 The Mediator shall ensure that the proceedings are properly conducted. He/She shall create a favourable climate in which Parties themselves can find a solution to their dispute.
7.2 The Mediator shall ensure that the Parties are always treated on a balanced basis.
7.3 If Parties agree during a mediation that it would be useful for the Mediator to be made aware of the documentary evidence or of certain documents, or if the Mediator himself/herself finds it useful, they will be communicated accompanied with a list of the documents. This communication must not necessarily be made to the other Party(ies).
7.4 The Mediator shall not have the power to impose a solution on the Parties.
7.5 If nothing else is foreseen before or during the mediation, the Mediator’s approach will mainly consist in facilitating the search for a settlement between the Parties. On Parties’ Request the Mediator may however, insofar he/she judges it appropriate and being exclusively guided by the effectiveness of the procedure, give an opinion and express views regarding the Parties’ positions, both from a legal and a factual point of view. This opinion shall not bind the Parties or the Mediator. The opinion shall be construed as exclusively designed to give the Parties an informed analysis provided by a neutral and independent Third Party with the aim of helping them to find a solution to their dispute.
7.6 In the context of, and for the benefits of, his/her mission, the Mediator may, with the consent of the Parties, hear third Parties if they accept to be heard or, when it appears useful in the search for a solution, consult an Expert in one or more specific fields with a view to aiding the Parties.
7.7 After having consulted the Parties, the Mediator may decide to hold meetings at any location that he/she considers appropriate.
Article 8. Replacement of the Mediator
8.1 In the event of the Mediator’s death, resignation, if there is a cause preventing him/her from fulfilling his/her duties, or upon Request of all Parties, the Mediator shall be replaced.
8.2 The Mediator shall also be replaced when the Appointments Committee or the President decides that the Mediator is prevented de jure or de facto from fulfilling his/her duties in accordance with these Rules or within the allotted time limits.
Article 9. Secrecy obligation of the Mediator, the Parties, their authorized Representatives and Counsel.
The Mediator, the Parties, their authorized Representatives and Counsel, as well as the Experts or third Parties that have been involved in the proceedings, have a duty of secrecy in accordance with Article 1728 of the Belgian Judicial Code.
Save with the approval of the Mediator and the Parties, the meetings held within the context of mediation are not open to persons not involved in the mediation. However, if all Parties agree, other Parties may participate in the mediation.
Parties shall appear in person, as the case may be via one or more Representatives, with or without Counsel. Their Representatives must have a good knowledge of the dispute and the necessary decision-making power to settle it.
Article 10. Confidentiality of communications
All communications between the Parties and/or the Mediator as from his/ her appointment or by the latter for the purposes of the mediation, are confidential. The Parties undertake to refrain from making any reference whatsoever to the mediation outside the context of the mediation.
Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, this shall however not apply to the Mediation Protocol, or to the notification of the end of the mediation as mentioned in Article 11 herein, nor to any settlement reached by the Parties at the end of the mediation.
Pre-existing documents or documents obtained by a Party outside of the context of the mediation and which are communicated in the context and for the purposes of the mediation between the Parties, to the Mediator or by the Mediator to the Parties or to one of the Parties are not covered by this confidentiality rule. As the case may be, said documents may subsequently be used by the Parties for other purposes than the mediation, unless they were specifically communicated as confidential documents as part of the mediation.
However, unless otherwise agreed by all Parties to the mediation, the Parties undertake to refrain from in any way referring to the fact that the documents have been communicated as a part of the mediation.
Article 11. Settlement / Non-settlement and end of the mediation
Settlement / Non-settlement
11.1 Should the mediation lead to a settlement between the Parties, the agreement shall be set forth in writing, dated and signed by the Parties and, when Requested by the Parties, by the Mediator. This document shall set out the precise undertakings of each Party as well as the allocation of the mediation costs, if this differs from what was agreed in the Mediation Protocol.
The Mediator shall send an original copy of the settlement to CEPANI.
11.2 In the event that the mediation fails to produce a settlement, or if the Mediator considers that the mediation should not be pursued, he/she shall inform the CEPANI Secretariat and the Parties thereof.
End of the mediation
11.3 When an agreement is reached, the mediation shall end when a copy of the settlement, signed by the Parties and, if needed, by the Mediator, is sent to the CEPANI Secretariat. Parties may however agree, by so indicating in their settlement that the mediation will end only later, for example to allow the Mediator to remain in office until the settlement is carried out.
11.4 At any time, either Party may refuse to continue the mediation. If no agreement is reached, the Parties and the Mediator acknowledge the lack of agreement and the Mediator or one of the Parties notifies the CEPANI Secretariat that no settlement has been reached, with a copy of the said notification to the Parties.
11.5 In the event that the mediation fails, the Mediator shall not act as an arbitrator, Representative or Counsel of a Party in arbitral or judicial proceedings relating to the dispute which was the subject of mediation, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties.
Article 12. Mediation costs
12.1 The mediation costs shall include the fees and expenses of the Mediator, as well as the CEPANI administrative expenses and all costs related to the mediation as have been agreed by the Parties. The advance required to cover the mediation costs shall be paid to CEPANI prior to the appointment of the Mediator by the Appointments Committee or the President. The said advance shall be fixed by the Secretariat on the basis of the total value of the sum of the principal claims and counterclaims, in accordance with the scale of fees in force at the time of the commencement of the mediation.
12.2 Other costs and expenses relating to the mediation, such as the expenses incurred by a Party, are not included in the mediation costs and are borne by the said Party, unless otherwise agreed by Parties, such agreement to be in writing.
12.3 If CEPANI decides in the course of the mediation, after having consulted the Mediator, that the initial advance for mediation costs must be adjusted, the Parties shall be Requested to make a further advance payment.
Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the initial advance on mediation costs, as well as any additional advance(s) on mediation costs, shall be payable in equal shares by the Parties.
When a Request for an additional advance on mediation costs has not been complied with, and after consultation with the Mediator, the Secretariat may direct the Mediator to suspend his/her work until the advance is fully paid.
12.4 At the end of the mediation, the mediation costs are deducted from the advance on mediation costs received. The outstanding balance, if any, is reimbursed to the Parties, as may be agreed between them.
FINAL PROVISION
Article 13. Limitation of liability
For any act or omission in the course of a mediation, the Mediator, CEPANI and its members and personnel shall not incur any liability except in the case of fraud or gross negligence.
SCHEDULE I: Scale of Fees for Mediation
SCHEDULE II: Rules of Good Conduct
SCHEDULE III: Parties’ Costs
SCHEDULE IV: Bepalingen van het Belgisch gerechtelijk wetboek (zoals gewijzigd op 18 juni 2018) / Dispositions du Code judiciaire belge relatives à la médiation (Telles qu’amendées par la loi du 18 juin 2018)
Mini-Trial
Download the Mini-Trial Rules
The Rules are in force as from Januray 1st, 2018
STANDARD MINI-TRIAL CLAUSE
The Parties who wish to refer to the CEPANI mini-trial Rules are advised to insert the following clause in their contracts:
“The Parties hereby undertake to apply the CEPANI mini-trial Rules for all disputes arising out of or in relation with this agreement.”
“The seat of the mini-trial shall be [ ]”.
“Should the mini-trial fail, the dispute shall be finally settled under the CEPANI Rules of Arbitration by one or more Arbitrators appointed in accordance with those Rules”.
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Article 1. Belgian Centre for Mediation and Arbitration
The Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (“CEPANI”) is an independent body which administers mini-trial proceedings in accordance with its Rules. It does not itself resolve disputes and it does not act as President of the Mini-trial Committee.
Article 2. Scope
A mini-trial agreement may be set forth in a clause of the contract or entered into after the dispute has arisen.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE PROCEEDINGS
Article 3. Request for Mini-trial
A Party wishing to have recourse to Mini-trial under the CEPANI Rules shall submit its Request for Mini-trial to the Secretariat.
The Request for Mini-trial shall include, inter alia, the following information:
name, first name and the name in full, function, address, telephone and fax numbers, valid e-mail addresses and VAT-number, if any, of each of the Parties;
a succinct recital of the nature and circumstances of the dispute giving rise to the claim;
a statement to the relief sought, a summary of the grounds for the claim, and, if possible, a financial estimate of the amount of the claim;
name, first name and the name in full, function, address and valid e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers of the assessor appointed by Claimant to sit on the Mini-trial Committee;
any comments as to the place of the Mini-trial, the language of the Mini-trial and the applicable Rules of law.
Together with the Request, Claimant shall provide copies of all agreements, in particular the Mini-trial agreement, the correspondence between the Parties and other relevant documents.
The Request for Mini-trial and the documents annexed thereto must be submitted in electronic form and in one hard copy.
Claimant shall also attach to the Request for Mini-trial proof of the dispatch to Respondent of the Request and the documents annexed thereto.
The date on which the Secretariat receives the Request for Mini-trial and the annexes thereto and the payment of the registration costs such as determined under Article 4 of the annex I.B shall be deemed to be the date of commencement of the Mini-trial proceedings. The Secretariat shall confirm this date to the Parties.
Article 4. Answer to the Request for Mini-trial and filing of a counterclaim
Within twenty-one days from the date of the commencement of the mini-trial proceedings, Respondent shall send its Answer to the Request for Mini-trial to the Secretariat.
The Answer shall include, inter alia, the following information:
name, first name and the name in full, function, address, telephone and fax number, valid e-mail address and VAT-number, if any, of Respondent;
its comment on to the nature and circumstances of the dispute that gives rise to the claim;
its response to the relief sought;
name, first name, function, address and valid e-mail address, telephone and fax number of the assessor nominated by the Respondent to sit in the Mini-trial Committee;
Together with the Answer, a general or specific grant of authority of the assessor and any other relevant document must be filed.
The Answer and the documents annexed thereto must be submitted in electronic form and in one hard copy.
Respondent shall also attach to the Answer proof of the dispatch, within the same time limit of twenty-one days, to Claimant of the Answer and the documents annexed thereto.
Any counterclaim made by Respondent shall be filed with its Answer and shall include:
a recital of the nature and circumstances of the dispute that gives rise to the counterclaim;
an indication of the object of the counterclaim and, if possible, a financial estimate of the amount of the counterclaim;
This time limit may be extended pursuant to a reasoned Request of Respondent, or on its own motion, by the Secretariat.
Article 5. Lack of a prima facie Mini-trial agreement
In the event that there is no prima facie Mini-trial agreement, the Mini- trial may not proceed should Respondent not answer within the period of twenty-one days mentioned in Article 4, or should Respondent refuse Mini-trial in accordance with the CEPANI Rules.
Article 6. Effect of the Mini-trial agreement
When the Parties agree to resort to CEPANI for a Mini-trial, they thereby submit to the Rules, including the annexes which are in effect on the date of the commencement of the mini-trial proceedings, unless they have agreed to submit to the Rules in effect on the date of their Mini-trial agreement.
Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the Mini-trial shall proceed in accordance with the provisions of these Rules.
If necessary, and after having consulted with his/her Assessors, the President of the Mini-trial Committee may depart from the Rules set forth herein.
Article 7. Written notifications or communications and time limits
The Request for Mini-trial, the Answer to the Request for Mini-trial, all pleadings and the appointment of the Mini-trial Committee shall be valid if it the notification or communication is made in electronic form to a valid e-mail address, which allows proof of the sending. If no valid e-mail address is known for a Party, the notification or communication shall be validly made if it is remitted by courier service against receipt, sent by registered mail or by fax.
If a Party is represented by Counsel, all notifications or communications shall be made to the latter, unless that Party Requests otherwise.
All notifications or communications shall be valid if dispatched to the last address of the Party to whom they are addressed, as notified either by the Party in question or by the other Party.
A notification or communication, made in accordance with paragraph 1, shall be deemed to have been made when it is received or should have been received by the Party itself, by its Representative or its Counsel.
Periods of time fixed under the present Rules shall start to run on the day following the date a notification or communication is deemed to have been made in accordance with paragraph 1. If the last day of the relevant period of time granted is an official holiday or a non-business day in the country where the notification or communication has to be made, the period of time shall expire at the end of the first following business day.
A notice or communication shall be treated as having been sent timely if it is dispatched in accordance with paragraph 1 prior to, or on the date of, the expiry of the time limit.
Article 8. Judicial or arbitral proceedings
During the Mini-trial, the Parties undertake not to initiate or continue any judicial or arbitral proceedings relating to the same dispute or part of it, except as a conservatory measure.
Notwithstanding paragraph 1 hereinabove, the Parties may present to the Court or to the Arbitral Tribunal a Request for conservatory or provisional measures. Such a Request shall not entail a waiver of the right to continue with the Mini-trial.
THE MINI-TRIAL COMMITTEE
Article 9. General provisions
Only those persons who are independent of the Parties and of their Counsel and who comply with the Rules of good conduct for proceedings organized by CEPANI, may serve as President of the Mini-trial Committee in Mini-trials organized by CEPANI.
The Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall appoint the President of the Mini-trial Committee. The Parties may nominate the President of the Mini-trial Committee by mutual consent, subject to the approval of the Appointments Committee or the Chairman.
Prior to his/her appointment or confirmation, the President of the Mini-trial Committee whose appointment is being proposed shall sign a statement of availability, acceptance and independence. He/she shall disclose in writing to the Secretariat any facts or circumstances which might be of such a nature to call into question the President of the Mini- trial Committee’s independence in the eyes of the Parties. The Secretariat shall provide such information to the Parties in writing and fix a time limit for any comments from them.
The President of the Mini-trial Committee shall immediately disclose in writing to the Secretariat and to the Parties any facts or circumstances of a similar nature as those mentioned in paragraph 2 which may arise during the Mini-trial.
The decisions of the Appointments Committee or the President as to the appointment or replacement of the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall be final. The reasons for the decision shall not be communicated.
By accepting to serve, every President of the Mini-trial Committee undertakes to carry out his/her responsibilities until the end in accordance with these Rules.
Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall not act as an arbitrator, Representative or Counsel of a Party in arbitral or judicial proceedings relating to the dispute which was the subject of a Mini-trial.
Article 10. Composition and Task of the Mini-trial Committee
The Mini-trail Committee shall be composed of a President of the Mini- trial Committee and two Assessors appointed by and empowered to bind each Party on the basis of a general or specific grant of authority.
Should more than two Parties be involved in the mini-trial, then each Party shall appoint one assessor to sit on the Mini-trial Committee, unless otherwise agreed.
The Appointments Committee or the President appoints or confirms the President of the Mini-trial Committee after the payment by the Parties, or by one of them, of the advance on Mini-trial costs in accordance with the provisions of Article 21. It will thereby take into account more particularly the availability, the qualifications and the ability of the President of the Mini-trial Committee to conduct the Mini-trial in accordance with these Rules.
The President of the Mini-trial Committee is empowered to assist the Parties in their attempt to reach an amicable settlement of their dispute. He/she shall attempt to reach this agreement by consulting with his/her Assessors.
The Assessors are senior officials nominated by each Party and whose task is to attempt to reach an amicable settlement on the dispute in the name and on behalf of the Parties who nominated them and under the guidance of the President of the Mini-trial Committee. The assessor may be the chief executive of the company or a senior executive, or he/she may be a Third Party, such as a lawyer or any other person of trust authorized by the Party concerned to enter into commitments on its behalf.
Article 11. Replacement of the President of the Mini-trial Committee
In the event of the President of the Mini-trial Committee’s death, challenge, accepted withdrawal, or if there is a cause preventing him/her from fulfilling his/her duties, or upon Request of all Parties, the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall be replaced.
2.The President of the Mini-trial Committee shall also be replaced when the Appointments Committee or the President finds that the President of the Mini-trial Committee is prevented de jure or de facto from fulfilling his/her duties in accordance with these Rules or within the allotted time limits.
In such event, the Appointments Committee or the President shall decide on the matter after having invited the President of the Mini-trial Committee, the Assessors and the Parties to comment in writing to the Secretariat within the time limit allotted by the latter. Such comments shall be communicated to the Parties and to the Mini-trial Committee.
THE MINI-TRIAL PROCEEDINGS
Article 12. Transmission of the file to the Mini-trial Committee
Provided that the advance on Mini-trial costs set out in Article 21 has been fully paid, the Secretariat shall transmit the file to the Mini-trial Committee as soon as the latter has been appointed.
Article 13. Language of the Mini-trial
The language of the Mini-trial shall be determined by mutual agreement between the Parties. Failing such an agreement, the language or languages of the Mini-trial shall be determined by the President of the Mini-trial Committee, due regard being given to the circumstances of the case and, in particular, to the language of the contract.
The President of the Mini-trial Committee, having consulted with his/ her Assessors, shall have full authority to decide which of the Parties shall bear the translation costs, if any, and to what extent.
Article 14. Place of the Mini-trial
The Appointments Committee or the President shall determine the place of the Mini-trial, unless the Parties have agreed this.
Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties and after having consulted with them, the Mini-trial Committee may decide to hold its hearings and meetings at any other location that it considers appropriate.
The Mini-trial Committee may deliberate at any place that it considers appropriate.
Article 15. Examination of the case
1.The President of the Mini-trial Committee, having consulted with his/her Assessors, may ask the Parties to provide additional information and exhibits.
fter consultation with his/her Assessors, the President of the Mini- trial Committee shall determine the day, time and place of a meeting with the Parties.
The President of the Mini-trial Committee shall chair the meeting and offer the Parties an opportunity to put forth their views.
The hearings shall not be public. Save with the approval of the Mini-trial Committee and the Parties, persons not involved in the proceedings shall not be admitted.
The Parties shall appear in person or through duly authorized Representatives or Counsel.
After the meeting, the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall consult with his/her Assessors and attempt to reach a consensus. In this respect, the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall have the broadest powers to undertake whatever, in his/her opinion, may reasonably bring about a settlement. To this end, he/she may consult, inter alia, with each of his/her Assessors separately.
Article 16. Confidentiality of the Mini-trial Proceedings
Unless it has been agreed otherwise by the Parties or there is a legal obligation to disclose, the mini-trial proceedings shall be confidential.
All communications between the Parties and/or the President of the Mini-trial Committee as from his/her appointment or by the latter for the purposes of the Mini-trial, are confidential. The Parties undertake to refrain from making any reference whatsoever to the Mini-trial outside the context of the Mini-trial. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, this shall however not apply to the notification of the end of the Mini-trial as mentioned in Article 19 herein, nor to any settlement reached by the Parties at the end of the Mini-trial.
Pre-existing documents or documents obtained by a Party outside of the context of the Mini-trial and which are communicated in the context and for the purposes of the Mini-trial between the Parties, to the President of the Mini-trial Committee or by the President of the Mini- trial Committee to the Parties or to one of the Parties are not covered by this confidentiality rule. As the case may be, said documents may subsequently be used by the Parties for other purposes than the Mini-trial, unless they were specifically communicated as confidential documents as part of the Mini-trial.
SETTLEMENT AND END OF THE MINI-TRIAL
Article 18. Settlement
Should these consultations lead to a settlement, the agreement shall be set forth in writing and signed by the Assessors in the name and on behalf of the Parties. This document sets out the precise undertakings of each of the Parties.
Subsequently, the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall record in a set of minutes the fact that the Parties have reached an agreement. The said minutes shall be signed by the President of the Mini-trial Committee and the Assessors, in the name and on behalf of the Parties. A copy of the minutes is sent to the Secretariat.
In the event that the consultations fail to bring about a settlement, the President of the Mini-trial Committee shall record this fact in the minutes, which he/she shall sign and immediately notify to the Secretariat.
Article 19. End of the Mini-trial
When an agreement is reached, the Mini-trial shall end when the Assessors, in the name and on behalf of the Parties and the President of the Mini-trial Committee, the minutes stating that an agreement has been reached.
If no agreement is reached, the Mini-trial shall end as soon as the President of the Mini-trial Committee notifies to the Secretariat the minutes stating that no agreement has been reached.
Should one of the Parties fail to appear in the proceedings after having been duly summoned, the Mini-trial shall end as soon as the President of the Mini-trial Committee informs the Secretariat in writing of this fact.
At any time, either Party may refuse to continue the Mini-trial. In such event, the Mini-trial ends when written notification of that Party’s refusal is sent to the President of the Mini-trial Committee, if already constituted, and to the Secretariat.
The President of the Mini-trial Committee may also decide, after consultation with his/her Assessors, that there is no further justification for continuing with the Mini-trial. In such event, the Mini-trial ends as soon as the President of the Mini-trial Committee informs the Secretariat in writing of this fact.
COSTS OF MINI-TRIAL
Article 20. Nature and amount of the Mini-trial costs
The Mini-trial costs shall include the fees and expenses of the President of the Mini-trial Committee, as well as the administrative expenses of the Secretariat. They shall be fixed by the Secretariat on the basis of the amount of the claims, according to the Scale of Mini-trial costs in effect on the date of the commencement of the mini-trial proceedings.
2.The costs of the assessor nominated by a Party shall be borne by this Party. Other costs and expenses relating to the Mini-trial, such as the expenses incurred by a Party for their defence and the expenses relating to the presentation of evidence by Experts or witnesses, are not included in the Mini-trial costs and are borne by this Party.
The Secretariat may fix the Mini-trial costs at a higher or lower figure than that which would result from the application of the Scale of Mini- trial Costs, should this be deemed necessary due to the exceptional circumstances of the case.
If the amount in dispute is not specified, totally or partially, the Secretariat, may determine, taking into account all available information, the amount in dispute on the basis of which the Mini-trial costs will be calculated.
The Secretariat may adjust the amount of the Mini-trial costs at any time during the proceedings if the circumstances of the case or if new claims reveal that the scope of the dispute is greater than originally considered.
Article 21. Advance on Mini-trial costs
The advance required to cover the Mini-trial costs as determined in accordance with Article 20, paragraph 1 shall be paid to CEPANI prior to the appointment of the President of the Mini-trial Committee by the Appointments Committee or the President.
Further advance payments may be required if and when any adjust- ments are made to the Mini-trial costs in the course of the proceedings.
The advance on Mini-trial costs, as well as the additional advance on Mini-trial costs, shall be payable in equal shares by the Parties. However, any Party shall be free to pay the whole of the advance on Mini-trial costs should the other Party fail to pay its share.
When the advance on Mini-trial costs exceeds € 50.000,00 a bank guarantee may be posted to cover such payment.
When a Request for an additional advance on Mini-trial costs has not been complied with, and after consultation with the Mini-trial Committee, the Secretariat may direct the Mini-trial Committee to suspend its work and set a time limit, which must be not less than fifteen days, on the expiry of which the relevant claims or counterclaims on the basis of which the additional advance was calculated shall be considered as withdrawn. A Party shall not be prevented on the ground of such a withdrawal from reintroducing the same claim or counterclaim at a later date in another proceeding.
Article 22. Decision on Mini-trial costs
The Mini-trial costs shall be finally fixed by the Secretariat.
Unless otherwise agreed, the Parties shall each bear one half of the costs of the Mini-trial.
The minutes that state that the Parties have reached an agreement, set forth the Mini-trial costs, as determined by the Secretariat, and set out the agreement between the Parties, if any, on the allocation of the Mini-trial costs.
For any act or omission in the course of mini-trial proceedings, the President of the Mini-trial Committee, CEPANI and its members and personnel shall not incur any liability except in the case of fraud or gross negligence.
SCHEDULE I: Scale of Fees for Mini-Trial
Download the Rules for technical expertise
STANDARD CLAUSE FOR TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
The Parties who wish to refer to the CEPANI Rules for technical Expertise are advised to insert the following clause in their contracts:
“The Parties hereby undertake to apply the CEPANI Rules of Technical Expertise for all disputes arising out of or in relation with this Agreement”.
“The seat of the technical Expertise shall be [ ]”.
“The technical Expertise shall be carried out by [one] or [three] Experts”. “The findings andconclusions of the Expert(s) shall [not] be binding on the Parties”.
The Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (“CEPANI”) is an independent body which administers technical Expertise proceedings in accordance with its Rules. It does not itself resolve disputes and it does not act as technical Expert.
Article 2. Request for Technical Expertise
1. A Party wishing to have recourse to technical Expertise under the CEPANI Rules shall submit its Request for Technical Expertise to the Secretariat.
The Request for Technical Expertise shall include, inter alia, the following information:
the purpose and the nature of the technical Expertise;
any comments as to the place of the technical Expertise and the language of the technical Expertise.
Together with the Request, Claimant shall provide copies of all agreements, in particular the technical Expertise agreement and other relevant documents.
The Request for Technical Expertise and the documents annexed thereto must be submitted in electronic form and in one hard copy.
2. Claimant shall also attach to the Request for Technical Expertise proof of the dispatch to Respondent of the Request and the documents annexed thereto.
3. The date on which the Secretariat receives the Request for Technical Expertise and the annexes thereto and the payment of the registration costs shall be deemed to be the date of commencement of the technical Expertise. Each Request for technical Expertise must be accompanied by an advance payment of € 750,00 excl. VAT on administrative costs.
Such payment is non-refundable, and shall be credited to the Claimant’s portion of the advance on costs for technical Expertise. The Secretariat shall confirm this date to the Parties.
Article 3. Answer to the Request for Technical Expertise
1. Within fifteen days from the date of commencement of the for technical Expertise proceedings, Respondent shall send its Answer to the Request for Technical Expertise to the Secretariat.
name, first name and the name in full, function, address, telephone and fax numbers, valid e-mail address and VAT-number, if any, of Respondent;
its comments on the nature and circumstances of the dispute that gives rise to the claim;
its response to the Expert’s mission as defined by Claimant;
2. Respondent shall also attach to the Answer proof of the dispatch, within the same time limit of fifteen days, to Claimant of the Answer and the documents annexed thereto.
3. This time limit may be extended pursuant to a reasoned Request of Respondent, or on its own motion, by the Secretariat.
Article 4. Lack of a prima facie technical Expertise agreement
In the event that there is no prima facie technical Expertise agreement, the technical Expertise may not proceed should Respondent not answer within the period of fifteen days mentioned in Article 3, or should Respondent refuse technical Expertise in accordance with the CEPANI Rules.
Article 5. Effect of the technical Expertise agreement
1. When the Parties agree to resort to CEPANI for technical Expertise, they thereby submit to the Rules, including the annexes, in effect on the date of the commencement of the technical Expertise proceedings, unless they have agreed to submit to the Rules in effect on the date of their technical Expertise agreement.
2. If, notwithstanding a prima facie technical Expertise agreement, one of the Parties refuses to submit to technical Expertise, or fails to take part in the technical Expertise, the technical Expertise shall nevertheless proceed.
1. The Request for Technical Expertise, the Answer to the Request for Technical Expertise, all pleadings and, the appointment of the Experts, subject to Article 15, paragraph 2 shall be valid if the notification or communicated is made in electronic form to a valid e-mail address, which allows proof of the sending. If no valid e-mail address is known for a Party, the notification or communication shall be validly made if it is remitted by courier service against receipt, sent by registered mail, or by fax.
2. If a Party is represented by Counsel, all notifications or communications shall be made to the latter, unless that Party Requests otherwise.
3. A notification or communication, made in accordance with paragraph 1, shall be deemed to have been made when it was received or should has been received by the Party itself, by its Representative or its Counsel.
4. Periods of time specified in the present Rules, shall start to run on the day following the date a notification or communication is deemed to have been made in accordance with paragraph 2. If the last day of the relevant period of time granted is an official holiday or a non-business day in the country where the notification or communication has to be made, the period of time shall expire at the end of the first following business day.
THE EXPERT(S)
1. Only those persons who are independent of the Parties and of their Counsel and who comply with the Rules of good conduct for proceedings organized by CEPANI, may serve as Experts in technical Expertise proceedings organized by CEPANI.
2. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall appoint the Expert(s). The Parties may nominate the Expert(s) by mutual consent, subject to the Appointments Committee or the Chairman.
3. Prior to his appointment or confirmation, the Expert whose appointment is being proposed, shall sign a statement of availability, acceptance and independence. He shall disclose in writing to the Secretariat any facts or circumstances which might be of such a nature so as to call into question the Expert’s independence in the eyes of the Parties. The Secretariat shall provide such information to the Parties in writing and fix a time limit for any comments from them.
4. An Expert shall immediately disclose in writing to the Secretariat and to the Parties any facts or circumstances of a similar nature as those mentioned in paragraph 3 which may arise during the technical Expertise.
5. The decisions of the Appointments Committee or the Chairman as to the appointment, approval or replacement of an Expert shall be final. The reasons for the decision shall not be communicated.
6. By accepting to serve, every Expert undertakes to carry out his responsibilities until the end in accordance with these Rules.
7. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the Expert shall not act as an arbitrator, Representative or Counsel of a Party in arbitral or judicial proceedings relating to the dispute which was the subject of the technical Expertise proceedings.
Article 8. Appointment of the Expert
1. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall appoint, or confirms the nomination of, the Expert(s) in accordance with the Rules set out hereafter.
2. The Parties shall define the Expert’s mission. If the Expert is appointed in the course of an arbitration procedure, the Arbitral Tribunal shall define the mission of the Expert after having consulted the Parties. If the Expert is appointed in the course of a mediation, the Mediator shall define the mission of the Expert after having consulted the Parties.
3. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman appoints or approves the nomination of the Expert(s) after the payment by the Parties, or by one of them, of the advance on technical Expertise costs in accordance with the provisions of Article 17. It thereby takes into account more particularly the availability, the qualifications and the ability of the Expert(s) to conduct the technical Expertise in accordance with these Rules.
Article 9. Replacement of the Expert
1. In the event of an Expert’s death, challenge, accepted withdrawal, or if there is a cause preventing him from fulfilling his duties, or upon Request of all Parties, the Expert shall be replaced.
2. An Expert shall also be replaced when the Appointments Committee or the Chairman finds that the Expert is prevented de jure or de facto from fulfilling his duties in accordance with these Rules or within the allotted time limits.
In such event, the Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall decide on the matter after having invited the Expert concerned, the other Experts, if any, and the Parties to comment in writing to the Secretariat within the time limit allotted by the latter. Such comments shall be communicated to the Parties and to the Expert(s).
THE TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Article 10. Transmission of the file to the Expert
Provided that the advance on technical Expertise costs set out in Article 17 has been fully paid, the Secretariat shall transmit the file to the Expert(s) as soon as the latter has been appointed or his nomination approved.
Article 11. Language of the technical Expertise
1. The language of the technical Expertise shall be determined by mutual agreement between the Parties. Failing such an agreement, the language or languages of the technical Expertise shall be determined by the Expert(s), due regard being given to the circumstances of the case and, in particular, to the language of the contract.
2. The Expert(s) shall have full authority to decide which of the Parties shall bear the translation costs, if any, and to what extent.
Article 12. Place of the technical Expertise
1. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall determine the place of the technical Expertise, unless the Parties have agreed this.
2. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties and after having consulted with them, the Expert(s) may decide to hold his(their) hearings and meetings at any other location that he(they) consider(s) appropriate.
1. After having duly heard the Parties, the Expert(s) shall proceed with his(their) appraisal in accordance with his(their) mission.
2. The Parties shall appear in person or through duly authorized Representatives or Counsel.
3. The Parties shall assist the Expert(s) in every way in carrying out his(their) mission, namely by providing him(them) with the necessary documents and giving access to the sites where he(they) may require verifications and investigations to be carried out.
4. Unless otherwise agreed, the findings and conclusions of the Expert(s) shall be binding on the Parties in the same manner as the terms of their contract.
5. The hearings shall not be public. Save with the approval of the Expert(s) and the Parties, persons not involved in the proceedings shall not be admitted.
6. The Expertise proceedings shall be confidential only if Parties Request so.
THE TECHNICAL REPORT
Article 14. The Technical report
The mission of the Expert(s) shall end when he(they) render(s) his(their) final Technical report describing his(their) findings and conclusions.
Article 15. Notification of the Technical report
1. Once the Technical report has been drawn up, the Expert(s) shall transmit it to the Secretariat in as many original versions as there are Parties involved, plus one original version for the Secretariat.
2. The Secretariat shall notify an original of the signed Technical report to the Parties by registered mail or by courier service against receipt and a copy shall be sent by mail, provided that the technical Expertise costs have been fully paid to the CEPANI by the Parties or by one of them.
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE COSTS
Article 16. Nature and amount of the technical Expertise costs
1. The technical Expertise costs shall include the fees and expenses of the Expert(s), as well as the administrative expenses of the Secretariat. They shall be fixed by the Secretariat due regard being given to the nature and scope of his (their) mission.
2. The Parties’ costs include the expenses of the Parties such as the expenses incurred for their defence and the expenses relating to the presentation of evidence. They are not included in the technical Expertise costs and are borne by this Party.
3. The Secretariat may adjust the amount of the technical Expertise costs at any time during the proceedings if the circumstances of the case or if new missions reveal that the scope of the case is greater than originally considered.
Article 17. Advance on technical Expertise costs
1. The advance required to cover the technical Expertise costs, as determined in accordance with Article 16, paragraph 1 shall be paid to CEPANI prior to the appointment or the approval of the nomination of the Expert(s) by the Appointments Committee or the Chairman.
2. At the time of appointment of the Expert or the determination of his or her mission, the advance on cost of is established in consultation with the Expert.
3. Further advance payments may be required if and when any adjust- ments are made to the technical Expertise costs in the course of the proceedings.
4. The advance on technical Expertise costs, as well as the additional advance on technical Expertise costs, shall be payable in equal shares by Claimant and Respondent. However, any Party shall be free to pay the whole of the advance on technical Expertise costs should the other Party fail to pay its share.
5. When the advance on technical Expertise costs exceed € 50.000,00, an irrevocable first demand bank guarantee may be posted to cover such payment.
6. When a Request for an additional advance on technical Expertise costs has not been complied with, and after consultation with the Expert(s), the Secretariat may direct the Expert(s) to suspend his(their) work and set a time limit, which must be not less than fifteen days, on the expiry of which the extension of the mission on the basis of which the additional advance was calculated shall be considered as withdrawn. A Party shall not be prevented on the ground of such a withdrawal from reintroducing the same claim or counterclaim at a later date in another proceeding.
Article 18. Decisions on technical Expertise costs
1. The technical Expertise costs shall be finally fixed by the Secretariat.
2. Unless otherwise agreed, the Parties shall each bear one half of the costs of the technical Expertise.
3. The Technical report shall mention the technical Expertise costs, as determined by the Secretariat, and set out the agreement between the Parties, if any, on the allocation of the technical Expertise costs.
For any act or omission in the course of technical Expertise proceedings, the Expert, CEPANI and its members and personnel shall not incur any liability except in the case of fraud or gross negligence.
Adaptation of Contracts
Download the Rules for adaptation of contrats
STANDARD ADAPTATION OF CONTRACTS CLAUSE
The Parties who wish to refer to the CEPANI Rules of Adaptation of Contracts are advised to insert the following clause in their contracts:
“The Parties hereby undertake to apply the CEPANI Rules of Adaptation of Contracts, should either one of them so Request.
The opinion of the Third Person appointed in accordance with these Rules shall have the authority of a [recommendation] or [decision]”1.
“The seat of the proceedings shall be [ ]”.
“The adaptation of contracts proceedings shall be followed by arbitration proceedings under the Rules of CEPANI, if so Requested by one of the Parties”.
The Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (“CEPANI”) is an independent body which administers adaptation of contracts proceedings in accordance with its Rules. It does not itself resolve disputes and it does not act as a Third Person.
1. Section VI shall apply if one or more Parties wish to have recourse to a Third Person whose mission shall be to complete the contract on items unforeseen by them, or to adapt their common intent to new situations.
2. Only Parties who have so agreed with a specific clause may have recourse to Section VI. Depending on its scope as determined by the Parties, the mission shall lead to a recommendation or a decision.
Article 3. Request for Adaptation of Contracts
1. A Party wishing to have recourse to the adaptation of contracts proceedings under the CEPANI Rules shall submit its Request for Adaptation of Contracts to the Secretariat.
The Request for Adaptation of Contracts shall include, inter alia, the following information:
Claimant’s position;
any comments as to the place and the language of the adaptation of contracts proceedings and the applicable Rules of law.
Proof of payment of the registration costs.
Together with the Request, Claimant shall provide copies of all agreements, in particular the agreement for the adaptation of contracts, the correspondence between the Parties and other relevant documents.
2. Each Request for adaptation of contracts must be accompanied by an advance payment of € 750,00 excl. VAT on administrative costs.
Such payment is non-refundable, and shall be credited to the Claimant’s portion of the advance on costs for adaptation of contracts.
3. The Request for Adaptation of Contracts and the documents annexed thereto must be submitted in electronic form and in one hard copy.
Upon receipt of the unilateral Request, CEPANI shall send a copy of the Request and the documents annexed thereto by e-mail to the other Party or Parties involved.
If no valid e-mail address is known for the other part(ies), the Request submitted shall be supplied in a number of original and signed copies sufficient to provide one copy for the other Party(ies) and one for the Secretariat.
Article 4. Answer to the Request for Adaptation of Contracts
1. Within fifteen days after the Request for Adaptation of Contracts has been sent as mentioned in Article 3, the other Party shall submit to the CEPANI Secretariat its comments with respect to the Request.
If no answer is given within the said time limit, the Request for Adaptation of Contracts shall be deemed to have been rejected by the said other Party.
2. If the Request is submitted by one Party only, the date on which the Secretariat informs the other Party of the Request for Adaptation of Contracts and of the annexes thereto shall be deemed to be the date of commencement of the adaptation of contracts proceedings.
If the Request is submitted by all the Parties, the date on which the Secretariat receives the Request for Adaptation of Contracts and the annexes thereto and the payment for registration costs mentioned in Article 3.1 d) shall be deemed to be the date of commencement of the adaptation of contract proceedings.
The Secretariat shall confirm the date of commencement of the adaptation of contracts proceedings to the Parties.
3. The time limit mentioned in paragraph 1 may be extended pursuant to a reasoned Request of Respondent, or on its own motion, by the Secretariat.
Article 5. Lack of a prima facie adaptation of contracts agreement
In the event that there is no prima facie adaptation of contracts agreement, the adaptation of contracts proceedings may not proceed should the absent Party not answer within the period of fifteen days mentioned in Article 4, or should it refuse the adaptation of contracts proceedings in accordance with the CEPANI Rules.
Article 6. Effect of the adaptation of contracts agreement
When the Parties agree to resort to CEPANI for the adaptation of contracts proceedings, they thereby submit to the CEPANI Rules, including the annexes, in effect on the date of the commencement of the adaptation of contracts proceedings, unless they have agreed to submit to the Rules in effect on the date of their adaptation of contracts agreement.
1. The Request for Adaptation of Contracts, the Answer to the Request for Adaptation of Contracts, all pleadings, and the appointment of the Third Person, subject to Article 17, paragraph 2 shall be valid if it is notified or communicated in electronic form to a valid e-mail address, which allows proof of the sending. If no valid e-mail address is known for a Party, the notification or communication shall be validly made if remitted by courier service against receipt, sent by registered mail or by fax.
All notifications or communications shall be valid if dispatched to the last address of the Party to whom they are addressed or its Counsel who is the addressee, as notified.
3. A notification or communication, made in accordance with paragraph 1, shall be deemed to have been made when it was received or should have been received by the Party itself, by its Representative or its Counsel.
THE THIRD PERSON
1. Only those persons who are independent of the Parties and of their Counsel and who comply with the Rules of good conduct for proceedings organized by CEPANI, may serve as Third Persons in adaptation of contracts proceedings organized by CEPANI.
2. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall appoint the Third Person. The Parties may nominate the Third Person by mutual consent, subject to the approval of the Appointments Committee or the Chairman.
3. Prior to his appointment or confirmation, the Third Person who was appointment is being proposed shall sign a statement of availability, acceptance and independence. He shall disclose in writing to the Secretariat any facts or circumstances which might be of such a nature as to call into question the Third Person’s independence in the eyes of the Parties. The Secretariat shall provide such information to the Parties in writing and fix a time limit for any comments from them.
4. The Third Person shall immediately disclose in writing to the Secretariat and to the Parties any facts or circumstances of a similar nature as those mentioned in paragraph 3 which may arise during the adaptation of contracts proceedings.
5. The decisions of the Appointments Committee or the Chairman as to the appointment, approval of the nomination or replacement of the Third Person shall be final. The reasons for the decision shall not be communicated.
6. By accepting to serve, every Third Person undertakes to carry out his responsibilities until the end in accordance with these Rules.
7. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the Third Person shall not act as an arbitrator, Representative or Counsel of a Party in arbitral or judicial proceedings relating to the dispute which was the subject of the adaptation of contracts proceedings.
Article 9. Appointment of the Third Person
1. The Parties may nominate the Third Person by mutual consent, subject to the approval of the Appointments Committee or the Chairman. Should the Parties fail to agree on his nomination within fifteen days from the notification of the Request for Adaptation of Contracts to the other Party, or within such additional time as may be allowed by the Secretariat, the Third Person shall be automatically appointed by the Appointments Committee or the Chairman. Where the Appointments Committee or the Chairman refuses to approve the nomination of the Third Person, it or he shall proceed with the replacement within a period of fifteen days of the notification of this refusal to the Parties.
2. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman appoints or approves the nomination of the Third Person after the payment by the Parties, or by one of them, of the advance on Adaptation of Contracts costs in accordance with the provisions of Article 19. It thereby takes into account more particularly the availability, the qualifications and the ability of the Third Person to conduct the adaptation of contracts proceedings in accordance with these Rules.
Article 10. Replacement of the Third Person
1. In the event of a Third Person’s death, challenge, accepted withdrawal, or if there is a cause preventing him from fulfilling his duties, or upon Request of all Parties, the Third Person shall be replaced.
2. A Third Person shall also be replaced when the Appointments Committee or the Chairman finds that the Third Person is prevented de jure or de facto from fulfilling his duties in accordance with these Rules or within the allotted time limits.In such event, the Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall decide on the matter after having invited the Third Person and the Parties to comment in writing to the Secretariat within the time limit allotted by the latter. Such comments shall be communicated to the Parties and to the Third Person.
THE ADAPTATION OF CONTRACTS PROCEEDINGS
Article 11. Transmission of the file to the Third Person
Provided that the advance on adaptation of contracts costs set out in Article 19 has been fully paid, the Secretariat shall transmit the file to the Third Person as soon as the latter has been appointed or his nomination approved.
Article 12. Language of the adaptation of contracts proceedings
1. The language of the adaptation of contracts proceedings shall be determined by mutual agreement between the Parties. Failing such an agreement, the language or languages of the adaptation of contracts proceedings shall be determined by the Third Person, due regard being given to the circumstances of the case and, in particular, to the language of the contract.
2. The Third Person shall have full authority to decide which of the Parties shall bear the translation costs, if any, and to what extent.
Article 13. Place of the adaptation of contracts proceedings
1. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman shall determine the place of the adaptation of contracts proceedings, unless the Parties have agreed this.
2. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties and after having consulted with them, the Third Person may decide to hold his hearings and meetings at any other location that he considers appropriate.
The Third Person is free to organize the proceedings as he/she sees fit.
Article 15. Confidentiality of the Adaptation of Contracts Proceedings
Unless it has been agreed otherwise by the Parties or there is a legal obligation to disclose, the adaptation of contracts proceedings shall be confidential.
DECISION OR RECOMMENDATION AND END OF THE ADAPTATION OF CONTRACTS PROCEEDINGS
Article 16. Decision or recommendation of the Third Person
The mission of the Third Person shall end when he/she draws up his conclusions in a written decision or recommendation.
Article 17. Notification of the decision of recommendation
1. Once the decision or recommendation has been made, the Third Person shall transmit it to the Secretariat in as many original versions as there are Parties involved, plus one original version for the Secretariat
2. The Secretariat shall notify the original signed decision or recommendation to the Parties, by registered mail or by courier service against receipt and a copy shall be sent by mail, provided that the adaptations of contracts costs have been fully paid to the CEPANI by the Parties or by one of them.
ADAPTATION OF CONTRACTS COSTS
Article 18. Nature and amount of the costs of the adaptation of contracts proceedings
1. The costs of the adaptation of contracts proceedings shall include the fees and expenses of the Third Person, as well as the administrative expenses of CEPANI. They shall be fixed by the Secretariat in consultation with the appointed Third Person and due regard being given to the nature and scope of his mission.
2. The Parties’ costs include the expenses of the Parties such as the expenses incurred for their defence and the expenses relating to the presentation of evidence. They are not included in the costs relating to the adaptation of contracts proceedings and are borne by this Party.
Article 19. Advance on the costs of the Adaptation of Contracts proceedings
1. The advance required to cover the costs of the adaptation of contracts proceedings, as determined in accordance with Article 18, paragraph 1 shall be paid to the CEPANI prior to the appointment or the approval of the nomination of the Third Person by the Appointments Committee or the Chairman.
2. Further advance payments may be required if and when any adjustments are made to the costs of the adaptation of contracts proceedings in the course of the proceedings.
3. The advance on adaptation of contracts costs, as well as the additional advance on adaptation of contracts costs, shall be payable in equal shares by the Parties. However, any Party shall be free to pay the whole of the advance on adaptation of contracts costs should the other Party fail to pay its share.
4. When the advance on adaptation of contracts costs exceeds € 50.000,00 a bank guarantee may be posted to cover such payment.
5. When a Request for an additional advance on adaptation of contracts costs has not been complied with, and after consultation with the Third Person, the Secretariat may direct the Third Person to suspend his work and set a time limit, which must be not less than fifteen days, on the expiry of which the procedure shall be considered as withdrawn. This shall not prevent the Party in question from reintroducing the same procedure at a later date.
Article 20. Decision on the Adaptation of Contracts costs
1. The adaptation of contracts costs shall be finally fixed by the Secretariat.
2. Unless otherwise agreed, the Parties shall each bear one half of the costs of the adaptation of contracts proceedings.
3. The decision or the recommendation of the Third Person set forth the adaptation of contracts costs, as determined by the Secretariat, and set out the agreement between the Parties, if any, on the allocation of the adaptation of contracts costs.
For any act or omission in the course of the adaptation of contract proceedings, the Third Person, CEPANI and its members and personnel shall not incur any liability except in the case of fraud or gross negligence.
Download the Rules for domaine names disputes resolution
The Rules are in force as from January 1st, 2018
ARTICLE 1. – BELGIAN CENTRE FOR ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION
The Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (“CEPANI”) is an independent body which administers domain name proceedings in accordance with its Rules. It does not itself resolve disputes. It does not act as Third-Party Decider.
ARTICLE 2. – DEFINITIONS
In these Rules:
Complaint Manager: CEPANI, which is responsible for all administrative actions in connection with the dispute and communications between the Parties, on the one hand, and between CEPANI and/or the Third-Party Decider, on the other hand. The Complaint Manager’s contact details are given on the CEPANI website www.cepani.be.
Complainant: the Party initiating a Complaint in connection with the registration of a domain name registered by the Registrar.
Domain name holder: the person having obtained or having applied for the registration of a particular name in the .be domain.
Third-Party Decider: a person appointed by CEPANI to decide on the Complaint concerning a registered domain name .be.
Party: the Complainant or the Domain name holder.
Registrar: the entity which is responsible for registering domain names with the «.be» extension, i.e. the VZW/ASBL DNS Belgium (DNS.be), 3001 LEUVEN, Ubicenter, Philipssite 5, registered as an undertaking under number BE 0466.158.640.
Registration Agreement: the agreement between the Domain name holder and the Registrar or its authorized Representative.
Policy of DNS.be: the dispute resolution policy for domain names with the .be extension, as published by the Registrar on its website www.dns.be. The dispute resolution policy arises from an article of the general terms and conditions of .be domain names operated by DNS.be.
CEPANI: the non-profit organisation VZW/ASBL Belgian Centre for Mediation and Arbitration, the dispute resolution entity recognised by the Registrar, with offices at 1000 BRUSSELS, Rue des Sols/Stuiverstraat 8, registered as an undertaking under number BE 0413.975.115.
Complaint: a claim against a Domain name holder to be decided by a Third-Party Decider pursuant to terms of these Rules and the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be.
ARTICLE 3. – THE COMPLAINT
3.1. Complaints must be submitted by a natural person or corporate body to the Complaint Manager in accordance with these Rules.
3.2. The Complaint shall be considered complete only if it is submitted by e-mail (for heavy files either via www.wetransfer.com, or any equivalent transfer system, or by means of a USB stick) and in one original signed hard copy to the seat of the Complaint Manager (CEPANI, 1000 BRUSSELS, Rue des Sols/Stuiversstraat 8), if it is established as the model form found in schedule IV of these Rules, and if it contains at least:
3.2.1. a request that the Complaint be submitted for decision in accordance with these Rules for domain name dispute resolution and the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be;
3.2.2. the name, postal and valid e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers of the Complainant and of any Representative authorized to act for the Complainant. Representatives, including Attorneys at law, must have a special proxy.
3.2.3. the name of the Domain name holder, as mentioned in the WHOIS database of the Registrar available on the website www.dns.be, and all information (such as postal and valid e-mail addresses and telephone and fax numbers) known to the Complainant regarding how to contact the Domain name holder or any Representative of the Domain name holder, including contact information based on pre-complaint dealings, in sufficient detail to allow the Complaint Manager to send the Complaint to the Domain name holder as described in Article 5.1;
3.2.4. the .be domain name(s) that is/are the subject of the Complaint;
3.2.5. a description of the grounds on which, in accordance with the policy of DNS.be, the Complaint is made; The description must include all the particulars set out in the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be.
3.2.6. a specification, in accordance with the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be, of the relief sought, i.e. the transfer or cancellation of the .be domain name(s);
3.2.7. the identification of all other legal proceedings if any, commenced or terminated, which relate to any of the domain name(s) that are the subject of the Complaint and of which the Complainant is aware; and provide a copy of any decisions taken thereon;
3.2.8. the choice of the Complainant to do either of the following:
– offer the Domain name holder the possibility to voluntarily proceed with the execution of the relief sought. If the Complainant chooses to do this, the Complaint Manager will then notify this offer to the Domain name holder and will inform the Domain name holder that if the requested measure is not executed within a term of 7 calendar days, the proceedings will be continued and that, if the Third-Party Decider decides that the domain name(s) must be transferred or cancelled, the Domain name holder will be required to pay the costs of the proceedings, referring to the exact amount, to DNS.be, according to the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be.
– or not to offer the Domain name holder the possibility to proceed voluntarily with the execution of the requested measure, in which case the proceedings continue without the notification in this regard to the Domain name holder.
3.2.9. the proof of payment of the costs detailed in Article 21;
3.2.10. the following statement at the end of the Complaint followed by the valid signature of the Complainant or its Representative (which can, depending on the circumstances, be in electronic form or in hard copy).
“The Complainant agrees that its claims and remedies concerning the registration of the domain name, the dispute or the dispute’s resolution shall be directed solely against the Domain name holder and expressly waives all such claims against (a) CEPANI and its Directors or Employees and (b) the Third-Party Decider, except in the case of deliberate wrongdoing.
The Complainant certifies that the information contained in this Complaint is to the best of his knowledge complete and accurate.”
3.2.11. an electronic version and one hard copy of all documents and other evidence, together with a schedule indexing such documents and evidence, upon which the Complaint relies.
3.3. The Complaint may relate to more than one domain name, taking into account the schedule of costs.
ARTICLE 4. – SUBMISSION OF COMPLAINT
4.1. Within 7 calendar days following receipt of the Complaint, the Complaint Manager shall review the Complaint for completeness following Article 3.2 of these Rules. Once the Complaint Manager considers that the Complaint is complete, it shall forward the Complaint to the Domain name holder, in the manner prescribed by Article 5.1 and notify the Complainant thereof, providing as the case may be, the possibility to voluntarily execute the requested measure.
4.2. If the Complaint Manager finds the Complaint to be administratively deficient following Article 3.2 of these Rules, it shall notify the Complainant of the deficiencies identified, within 7 calendar days following receipt of the Complaint. The Complainant shall have 14 calendar days within which to correct any such deficiencies and return the Complaint to the Complaint Manager. Failure to correct such deficiencies within the aforementioned period shall lead to the proceedings being deemed withdrawn without prejudice to submission of a new Complaint by the Complainant. Any sums already paid shall be retained by CEPANI.
4.3. If the requested measure was voluntarily executed within the term of 7 calendar days, the proceedings end and CEPANI will refund to the Complainant the costs paid according to Article 21, with a deduction for the compensation of the CEPANI’s administrative costs.
4.4. The date of commencement of the proceeding shall be the date on which the Complaint Manager forwards the Complaint to the Domain name holder in accordance with Article 5.1.
4.5. The Complaint Manager shall immediately notify the Complainant, the Domain name holder and the Registrar of this date of commencement.
ARTICLE 5. – NOTIFICATIONS
5.1. The Complaint Manager shall inform the Domain name holder of the existence and contents of the Complaint by e-mail. Upon receipt of a notification that the communication was not successfully received, the Complaint Manager shall inform the Domain name holder of the existence and contents of the Complaint by registered letter at the address mentioned under Article 3.2.3. To this end the Complaint Manager shall use the data as mentioned in the WHOIS database of the Registrar and/or given by the Complainant available on the website www.dns.be.
5.2. All communications to the Complaint Manager shall be sent:
5.2.1. by e-mail to CEPANI’s e-mail address: info@cepani.be
5.2.2. by letter to CEPANI’s address: 1000 BRUSSELS, Rue des Sols/Stuiversstraat 8
5.3. All electronic documents are stored by CEPANI up until 10 years after the notification of the decision to the Parties. All original documents are stored by CEPANI up until 30 days after the notification of the decision to the Parties. Once these deadlines have expired, the documents will be destroyed, unless a Party asks within the deadline that the documents be sent back to her.
5.4. Except where stipulated otherwise in these Rules, all notifications in execution of these Rules shall be validly made by e-mail, by delivery in exchange for a receipt, by registered letter, by courier or by any other means of communication for which evidence of dispatch is provided.
5.5. Communications shall be effected in the language described in Article 12. Electronic communications shall be made in accordance with the provisions found in schedule VII.
5.6. Any Party may, during the dispute resolution proceeding, change its contact details by notifying the Complaint Manager. Such change shall only take effect 5 calendar days following the date on which the Complaint Manager was notified.
5.7. Unless otherwise decided by the Third-Party Decider, all communications provided for under these Rules shall be deemed received:
5.7.1. by e-mail: on the date on which the communication was received, provided this date can be verified;
5.7.2. by registered letter, by delivery or by courier, on the date mentioned on the receipt;
5.8. All time periods which begin as from the receipt of a given communication shall commence on the day following the day when such communication is deemed received pursuant to Article 5.7, the first day being the beginning of the time period.
5.9. As from the date of the beginning of the proceedings, all communications:
5.9.1. between the Third-Party Decider and a Party and vice versa shall be effected via the Complaint Manager in accordance with the provisions of Article 9;
5.9.2. by the Complaint Manager to one Party shall be sent to the other Party and to the Third-Party Decider if he/she has already been appointed;
5.9.3. by one Party to the Complaint Manager shall be sent to the other Party.
5.10 If the last day of the relevant period of time granted is an official holiday or a non-business day in the country where the notification or communication has to be made, the period of time shall expire at the end of the first following business day.
5.11. If a Party sending a communication receives a notification that the communication was not successfully received, it shall immediately inform the Complaint Manager. The Complaint Manager directly informs the Third-Party Decider thereof if he/she has already been appointed. Any further communications and responses thereto shall be effected in the manner determined by the Third-Party Decider or, in his absence, by the Complaint Manager.
ARTICLE 6. – THE RESPONSE
6.1. Within 21 calendar days of the date of commencement of the proceeding the Domain name holder shall submit a Response to the Complaint Manager.
6.2. The Response shall only be complete if it is submitted by e-mail (for heavy files either via www.wetransfer.com, or any equivalent transfer system, or by means of a USB stick), and if it conforms to the Response form found in schedule V of these Rules. The Response shall contain at least:
6.2.1. the statements and allegations contained in the Complaint and include any and all bases on which the Domain name holder may retain registration and use of the disputed domain name(s).
6.2.2. the name, postal and valid e-mail addresses, and the telephone and fax numbers of the Domain name holder, as well as the details of a Representative acting on behalf of the Domain name holder. Representatives, including Attorneys at law, must have a special proxy;
6.2.3. any other legal proceedings that have been commenced or terminated relating to any of the domain name(s) that is/are the subject of the Complaint of which the Domain name holder has been informed, together with a copy of any decisions in so far as these were not submitted with the Complaint;
6.2.4. the confirmation that a copy of the Response and the annexes thereto has been sent by e-mail to the Complainant at the e-mail address mentioned under Article 3.2.2;
6.2.5. the following statement followed by the valid signature of the Domain name holder or its authorized Representative:
“The Domain name holder agrees that its claims and remedies concerning the registration of the domain name, the dispute or the dispute’s resolution shall be directed solely against the Complainant and expressly waives all such claims against (a) CEPANI and its Directors or Employees, and (b) the Third-Party Decider, except in the case of deliberate wrongdoing.
The Domain name holder certifies that the information contained in this Response is to the best of his knowledge complete and accurate.”
6.2.6. an electronic version of all documents and other evidence, together with a schedule indexing such documents and evidence, upon which the Domain name holder relies.
6.3. At the request of the Domain name holder, the Complaint Manager may extend the period of time for the filing of the Response. The period may also be extended between the Parties, provided the stipulation is put in writing and approved by the Complaint Manager. The Complaint Manager may also extend the period of time ex officio if there are valid reasons for such an extension.
6.4. If the Domain name holder does not submit a Response, the proceeding shall nevertheless continue and the Third-Party Decider shall decide the dispute on the basis of the Complaint.
6.5. The Complaint Manager can notify the Domain name holder if an error has been made, within 7 calendar days following receipt of the Response.
ARTICLE 7. – APPOINTMENT OF THE THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
7.1. CEPANI shall maintain a publicly available list of registered Third-Party Deciders and their qualifications. This list is published on the CEPANI website and updated two times a year.
7.2. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman of CEPANI shall appoint, within 7 calendar days following receipt of the Response or the lapse of the time period for the submission thereof, a registered Third-Party Decider from the CEPANI list of Third-Party Deciders.
7.3. Once the Third-Party Decider has been appointed, the Complaint Manager shall notify the Parties of the Third-Party Decider appointed and the date by which the Third-Party Decider shall forward its decision on the Complaint to the Complaint Manager.
ARTICLE 8. – INDEPENDENCE OF THE THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
Only the persons independent of the Parties and their Counsel can be appointed as Third-Party Deciders.
Before accepting his/her appointment, the Third-Party Decider fills in and signs a statement of availability, acceptance and independence (schedule II) and discloses to the Complaint Manager of any circumstances giving rise to any doubt as to his independence.
The Third-Party Decider immediately notifies the Complaint Manager in writing if new circumstances arise during the procedure that could give rise to justifiable doubt as to the independence of the Third-Party Decider.
In such event, the Complaint Manager has the capacity to request from the Appointments’ Committee or from the Chairman that they replace the Third-Party Decider.
By accepting his/her mission, the Third-Party Decider commits himself/herself to accomplish his/her mission until the end of the procedure in the sense of the present Rules.
ARTICLE 9. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES AND THE THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
No Party or anyone acting on its behalf may have any direct or indirect communication whatsoever with the Third-Party Decider. All communications between a Party and the Third-Party Decider shall be made via the Complaint Manager.
ARTICLE 10. – COMPOSITION AND TRANSMISSION OF THE FILE TO THE THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
The Complaint Manager shall forward the file to the Third-Party Decider as soon as the Third-Party Decider is appointed.
A Third-Party Decider may at any time demand to consult the original documents. The Third-Party Decider shall consult these documents at the seat of CEPANI.
ARTICLE 11. – GENERAL POWERS OF THE THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
11.1. The Third-Party Decider shall, in accordance with these Rules and with the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be, conduct the proceeding in such a manner as it considers appropriate.
11.2. The Third-Party Decider shall ensure at all times that the Parties are treated equally and that each Party can exercise its rights.
11.3. The Third-Party Decider shall ensure that the proceeding takes place with due expedition. It may, at the request of a Party or on its own motion, extend, in exceptional cases, a deadline fixed by these Rules, or reopen the debates.
11.4. The Third-Party Decider shall determine the admissibility, relevance and weight of the evidence.
11.5. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman of CEPANI decides on own motion or at the request of a Party on the joinder of several Complaints, taking into account that the disputes are closely related or indivisible. Its decision is irrevocable.
ARTICLE 12. – LANGUAGE AND VENUE OF PROCEEDINGS
12.1. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the language of the proceeding for the domain name in dispute shall be the language mentioned in the WHOIS database available on the DNS website www.dns.be. The Third-Party Decider may select a different language in exceptional cases.
12.2. The Third-Party Decider may order that any documents submitted in languages other than the language of the proceeding be accompanied by a translation in whole or in part into the language of the proceeding. In the event that the requested translation is not submitted, the Third-Party Decider shall be entitled to exclude it from the debates.
12.3. The venue for the proceeding shall be the seat of CEPANI.
ARTICLE 13. – FURTHER STATEMENTS – CONCLUSION OF DEBATES
The debates shall be deemed to be closed 7 calendar days following the appointment of the Third-Party Decider. During this period, the Complainant may request permission from the Third-Party Decider for an additional extension of the deadline in order to submit retort. This request is, if the case arises accompanied by further documents, addressed to the Complaint Manager who following Article 9 directly transmits it to the Third-Party Decider. In such an event, the Third-Party Decider shall decide irrevocably whether or not to accede to this request and shall, if necessary, make arrangements to pursue the proceeding.
If the Third Party Decider considers the file incomplete, he/she can invite, within the deadline, the Parties or one of the Parties to give further information. By all times the principle of contradictory debate must be respected.
ARTICLE 14. – IN-PERSON HEARINGS
The Parties shall be heard only if the Third-Party Decider so orders.
ARTICLE 15. – DEFAULT BY ONE OF THE PARTIES
In the event that a Party does not comply with any of the time periods established by these Rules or the Third-Party Decider, the Third-Party Decider may proceed to a decision on the Complaint.
ARTICLE 16. – THIRD-PARTY DECIDER DECISIONS
16.1. The Third-Party Decider shall decide following the Parties views and in accordance with the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be, the registration agreement and following the provisions of the present Rules.
16.2. In the absence of exceptional circumstances, the Third-Party Decider shall forward its decision on the Complaint to the Complaint Manager within 14 calendar days of the conclusion of the debates pursuant to Article 13, in three original signed hard copies.
16.3. The Third-Party Decider’s decision shall be in writing and signed, provide the reasons on which it is based, indicate the date on which it was rendered and identify the name of the Third-Party Decider.
16.4. If after considering the submissions the Third-Party Decider finds that the Complaint was brought in bad faith, the Third-Party Decider shall declare in his decision that the Complaint constitutes an abuse of the proceeding.
ARTICLE 17. – COMMUNICATION OF THE DECISION TO THE PARTIES
17.1. Within 7 calendar days after receiving the decision from the Third-Party Decider, the Complaint Manager shall notify the full text of the decision to each Party and the Registrar. The Registrar shall immediately communicate to the Complaint Manager the date for the implementation of the decision in accordance with the dispute resolution policy of DNS.be. The Complaint Manager shall immediately notify the Parties of this.
17.2. If the Third Party Decider decides that the Complaint is well founded and if he/she orders the transfer or the cancellation of the domain name, the Registrar will execute this decision 15 calendar days after the notification of the decision to the Parties, unless the Domain name holder introduces an appeal following Article 18. In this case the domain name in dispute remains « on hold » until the final decision on appeal.
17.3. Except if the Third-Party Decider determines otherwise, CEPANI shall publish the full text of the decision and the date of its implementation on the CEPANI website accessible to the public.
ARTICLE 18. – APPEAL AGAINST THE DECISION OF A THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
18.1. Each Party has the right to lodge an appeal against the decision of a Third-Party Decider within 15 calendar days of the notification of the Third-Party Decider’s decision. The appeal is introduced by the filing of the Request for appeal and the payment of the costs related to the appeal (Article 21), failing which the appeal shall not be valid.
18.2. The Request for appeal shall be considered complete only if it is submitted by e-mail (for heavy files either via www.wetransfer.com, or any equivalent transfer system, or by means of a USB stick) and in one original signed hard copy to the seat of the Complaint Manager (CEPANI, 1000 BRUSSELS, Rue des Sols/Stuiversstraat 8), and if it is established as the model form found in schedule VI of these Rules.
18.3. The Request for appeal contains the identity of the Parties, the number of the decision against which the appeal is made, the identity of the Third-Party Decider and a description of the means invoked.
18.4. Within 7 calendar day after reception of the Request for appeal and the costs for appeal, the Complaint Manager notifies the Request for appeal by e-mail to the other Party. Upon receipt of a notification that the communication was not successfully received, the Complaint Manager shall inform the Domain name holder of the existence and contents of the Complaint by registered letter.
18.5. The Party against whom the appeal is lodged has 14 calendar days as from the reception of the notification of the Request for appeal to hand in its Response. This Response contains a description of the means invoked to reject the appeal.
18.6. The Appointments Committee or the Chairman of CEPANI, within 7 calendar days following the reception of the Response or the lapse of time period for the submission thereof, shall appoint a panel of three Third-Party Deciders (the Appeal Committee) from the list of Third-Party Deciders. Each Third-Party Decider must meet the conditions of independence as mentioned under Article 8.
18.7. The provisions of Articles 13, 14, 15 and 16 of these Rules are in use for the Appeal Committee, except that:
– the Appeal Committee must render its decision within 30 calendar days of the notification of the file;
– the decisions of the Appeal Committee are not subject to appeal
ARTICLE 19. – SETTLEMENT OR OTHER GROUNDS FOR TERMINATION – OBSTRUCTION OF THE THIRD-PARTY DECIDER
19.1. If the Parties agree on a settlement before the Third-Party Decider has rendered a decision, the Parties immediately inform the Complaint Manager. The Complaint Manager informs the Registrar and the Third-Party Decider. If the settlement is approved by the Registrar, the Third-Party Decider shall terminate the proceeding.
19.2. If, before the Third-Party Decider’s decision is made, it becomes unnecessary or impossible to continue the proceeding for any reason, the Third-Party Decider shall communicate his intention to terminate the proceeding and shall declare it terminated within a reasonable period of time, unless a Party raises justifiable grounds for objection within a period of time to be determined by the Third-Party Decider.
19.3. In the event of obstruction by the Third-Party Decider for any reason whatsoever, the Appointments Committee or the Chairman of CEPANI may replace him/her and shall notify the Parties of any such replacement. In this case the Complaint Manager adapts the deadlines granted.
19.4 In all the aforementioned cases the relevant costs, as set out in Article 21.1, shall be retained by CEPANI.
ARTICLE 20. – EFFECT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS
20.1. In the event of any legal proceedings initiated in court prior to or during a proceeding in respect of a domain name dispute that is the subject of the Complaint, the Third-Party Decider shall decide whether to suspend the proceeding in whole or in part.
20.2. In the event that a Party initiates legal proceedings in court during the proceeding, it shall promptly notify the Complaint Manager. It shall also forward a copy of the document initiating the legal proceedings.
ARTICLE 21. – COSTS
21.1. The costs for the proceedings are determined in accordance with the scale for domain name dispute resolution costs (schedule I) which is fully part of these Rules. The costs are entirely paid by the Complainant. They include the fees and costs of the Third-Party Decider as well as CEPANI’s administrative expenses. They must be paid to CEPANI simultaneously with the introduction of the Complaint or/and the appeal.
21.2. No action shall be taken by CEPANI on a Complaint or/and an appeal until it has received from the Complainant the full amount of the costs.
21.3. If CEPANI has not received the full amount of the costs, or has received only part of the costs, within 10 calendar days of receiving the Complaint, the Complaint shall be deemed withdrawn and the proceeding terminated.
21.4. If the pursuit of the proceeding requires exceptional services, the costs of which cannot be reasonably covered by the requested costs, such services shall only be performed upon payment by the instigating Party of the additional costs as determined by CEPANI.
21.5 In any case, any costs already paid shall be retained by CEPANI without prejudice to the provision of Article 4.3.
ARTICLE 22. – EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY
Except in the case of deliberate wrongdoing, neither CEPANI nor the Third-Party Decider shall be liable to a Party or the Registrar for any act or omission in connection with any proceeding under these Rules.
ARTICLE 23. – GENERAL PROVISIONS
CEPANI may amend these Rules. The Rules in effect at the time of the submission of the Complaint continue to apply to the proceeding commenced thereby.
The most recent version of these Rules is available on the Registrar’s website www.dns.be and on CEPANI’s website www.cepani.be.
SCHEDULE I: Schedule of costs
SCHEDULE II: Statement of availability, acceptance and independence
SCHEDULE III: List of recognized Third-Party Deciders
SCHEDULE IV: Complaint form
SCHEDULE V: Response form
SCHEDULE VI: Request for appeal
SCHEDULE VII: Technical specifications
Visitors: FEB, Rue Ravenstein 4 | B-1000 Brussels
Post: Rue des Sols 8 | B-1000 Brussels
© Copyright 2012 - | CEPANI asbl/vzw | All Rights Reserved
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Michael Dabrishus: Securing History for All to See
By Sharon S. Blake
Pitt History
Michael Dabrishus has always been a history buff, dating back to the days when his dad would pile the family into a 1957 Ford station wagon to make the half-hour trip to Gettysburg, Pa. Exploring with his siblings the sprawling battlefield sites is a vivid memory for Dabrishus, and it cemented his interest in not only the dramatic battle itself but also how important it was to our nation’s history.
Those interests took him to Western Michigan University where he majored in history, then to Wayne State University where he earned a master’s degree in library science, with a focus on archival management. He had successful careers at the Texas State Archives and as the head of Special Collections at the University of Arkansas. Now, as the University of Pittsburgh’s assistant university librarian for the past 12 years, he relishes his job of encouraging individuals and organizations to donate their historic papers to Pitt. Once a donation is made, Dabrishus helps the teams of Pitt archivists decide which materials should be digitized, making them accessible to researchers, students, and the global community.
For Dabrishus, one of his favorite tasks is reaching out to potential donors. “I help them to recognize the significance of what they have and the importance of passing it down to future generations,” he says. “Then we try to make the materials as ‘discoverable’ as possible—so that someone could find them when they’re not even trying to.”
The recent gift of papers belonging to the late Max Lauffer, founding chair of Pitt’s Department of Biophysics, is a case in point. Lauffer’s widow, Erica, donated her husband’s collection to Pitt, and amid the boxes of typewritten papers is a 1947 letter that Lauffer wrote to a medical researcher named Jonas Salk. Lauffer, who was chairing a search committee, invited Salk to apply for a position at Pitt as head of an area that was researching human viruses. Salk applied for the position, and the rest became history when Salk and his Pitt team developed a successful vaccine to defeat polio. The boxes of letters include pages of correspondence between Lauffer and Salk.
Some people are more than happy to pack up letters and papers for a donation, while others need time. Dabrishus recalls his conversations with Daisy Bates, who, along with her husband, founded and published the advocacy newspaper Arkansas State Press in Little Rock during the Civil Rights Movement. When Dabrishus, who was then at the University of Arkansas, visited Bates in her offices, she wasn’t sure she wanted to donate the materials. Six years later, she called Dabrishus and said, “Mike, I’m ready to turn over all of this stuff. Can you come down this week?”
Dabrishus was actively involved in Pitt’s ambitious efforts in 2006 to digitize a major portion of the Darlington Memorial Library, home to thousands of books, maps, images, and materials related to colonial American history. He also was instrumental in securing the donation from Consol Energy of its mine maps—hand-drawn maps of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s underground mines. The maps, some of them 30 feet long, are being flattened, dry-cleaned, mended, and scanned. They are used by property developers and sometimes private homeowners, and, in one case, were essential to resolving a problem due to water buildup in a mine.
As vice president and president-elect of The Manuscript Society, Dabrishus frequently works with collectors and dealers. He and his wife live in the North Hills, and his two grown daughters are also librarians—one at a public library in Georgia and the other at a small college in Ohio.
“They both made up their minds about pursuing graduate degrees in library science without consulting me,” he says with a smile. “I think it’s because they saw how I always enjoy my work so much.”
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Obama's Game
By:Srdja Trifkovic | February 13, 2012
I was away in Europe when President Obama delivered his third State of the Union Address, hence a belated commentary.
Obama’s carefully crafted speech sounded more like the opening shot in the reelection race than a set of serious policy proposals. His “blueprint for the future,” which supposedly will bring about a new era of social and economic revival, was vague and—significantly—contained no reference to the reduction of the $17 trillion debt. His insistence that an economic recovery is finally under way was misleading and predictably mendacious.
In view of his ideological and cultural preferences, it was irritating to hear Obama muse on “the American Dream” and call for “a return of American values of fair play and shared responsibility.” His demand that “Wall Street plays by the same rules as the rest of the country ... with no bailouts, no handouts, and no cop-outs” made it sound like he had nothing to do with the biggest bailout in the history of the world. He blamed the bankers, China’s unfair trading practices and his predecessor for the high unemployment rate, while taking credit for the modest improvement of recent months.
On the foreign front—according to Obama—“the United States is safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of all, Al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.”
The most significant foreign event of the past year has been the misnamed Arab Spring, heartily supported by the Obama Administration, which has changed the geopolitical equation in North Africa and the Middle East to America’s detriment. The United States is not “safer” with the predictable triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood and its various affiliates in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, and America will be even less safe if the relentless campaign against the Syrian regime is ultimately successful. Although clear to everyone but Obama, Muslim countries that oppose autocratic regimes stem not from secular reformers, but from true believers who accuse those regimes of betraying the “True Faith.”
As for the “respect,” Obama’s support of the regime changes in Cairo, Tripoli, Tunis and Damascus has not improved America’s standing in the Arab world. This is unlikely to change in view of his statement that “[o]ur ironclad commitment—and I mean ironclad—to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history.” In fact, an “ironclad commitment” of this kind is unhealthy for both parties.
“There are no Americans fighting in Iraq,” but Obama has failed to mention the sharp escalation of violence and all-pervasive instability in the country following the withdrawal of American troops. The manner of that withdrawal displayed an unsureness of touch, and a full-blown civil war remains a distinct possibility. Iraq has been a disaster for the United States, Iraqis, and the stability of the region. Obama’s undignified disengagement—too late to stop the deaths and suffering, too early to secure stability—has created a more volatile situation, which in the long run will be more detrimental to U.S. interests. Unspoken proxy wars by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have secured the greater degree of control over Iraq since the Persians ruled Mesopotamia. We saw a similar result in Lebanon.
Obama’s claim that “the Taliban’s momentum has been broken” is belied by the December 2011 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan, which warned that the “gains” have been undercut by “pervasive corruption” and that the war is still essentially a stalemate. The NIE also concluded that the Taliban remain undefeated and determined to re-impose their brand of Islamic rule on the country. It should be known that the NIE is the consensus view of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as 15 other agencies and is more trustworthy than Obama’s rosy assurances. Moreover the “State of the Taliban”—a classified NATO report based on interrogations of thousands of captured Taliban prisoners—seems equally more credible than Obama’s declaration. Once the coalition withdraws, “the Taliban considers victory inevitable,” according to a BBC excerpt of the report.
On Iran, Obama declared that “[t]hrough the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program now stands as one. The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions; and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent. Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.”
It is ironic that our Nobel Laureate President is seemingly unable to grasp the strategic logic of the Iranian bid for the bomb and prefers to parrot George W. Bush’s mantra that “all options” must remain open. Instead of threatening a military action against Iran with no clear exit strategy and at a prohibitive cost to our core interests, Obama would be well advised to engage Tehran in bilateral diplomacy based on an offer of U.S. security guarantees to Iran in return for a rigorous supervision regime and a formal pledge that Iran refrain from developing nuclear weapons. A reasonable agreement is possible, but Obama’s language offered no assurances that it will be sought or reached.
The most depressing part of Obama’s speech was his repetition of Madeleine Albrigtht’s mantra that “America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs” (“as long as I am President I intend to keep it that way”). Such millenarian hubris has cost America and the rest of the world dearly over the years. Another war is to be greatly feared by years end.
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The 10 Best Sandra Bullock Movies, Ranked
Jun. 12. 2019 8:54 PM
I think I could safely make a case that America’s sweetheart is Sandra Bullock. The actress has been doing a mighty fine job trying to prove that to us for nearly three decades.
Sandra Bullock has the versatility to thrill you in Gravity, keep you laughing in The Heat or Ocean’s Eight, make you fall in love with her in Love Potion No. 9, or do all three in Miss Congeniality.
She is also the kind of actress who will proudly accept a Razzie for her infamous performance in All About Steve literally the day before accepting the Oscar for her heartwarming performance in The Blind Side. Yes, that actually happened.
Maybe you know the actress, producer, and philanthropist best from Netflix's Bird Box (more on that one later), but Sandra Bullock’s endurable career deserves a little more attention than that, if you ask me. On that note, what choices among her eclectic filmography are the best? Here are some the best picks, ranked.
10. Bird Box (2018)
If you are reading this, congratulations on surviving the Bird Box Challenge! Honestly, anyone who would think of the bright idea of mimicking the actions of blindfolded horror movie characters as a “fun” game could use a slight bump to the head.
Anyway, Sandra Bullock, who also produces, stars in this Netflix original as a woman who must protect her children from an ominous, unseen presence that has driven most of the world to suicide. She must keep herself blindfolded at all times or bear witness to a sight that will surely be her last.
While it does share thematic similarities to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening or 2018’s other hit apocalyptic thriller A Quiet Place, Bird Box is a highly intense thriller, only made better by Sandra Bullock’s performance, not to mention the 45 million viewers it attracted in just its first week of release is pretty impressive. If only its internet legacy was as admirable.
9. The Proposal (2009)
I would like to divert the conversation from Sandra Bullock for a moment to another incomparable Hollywood treasure, Ms. Betty White. Have you ever seen a celebrity with status as endurable as she, with an active career starting in 1945 that is showing no signs of stopping?
If you ask me, I believe that we have this charming romantic comedy to thank for rejuvenating Betty White’s modern-day acting prowess.
In The Proposal, Sandra Bullock plays a ruthless Canadian publisher threatened with deportation who promises her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) a long-deserved promotion if he marries her to keep her U.S. citizenship. Bullock and Reynolds’ chemistry (and, of course, Betty White as Reynolds’ grandmother) make this fun box office smash worth a re-watch.
8. While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Sandra Bullock had already proven herself to be an actress of great versatility, starring in action thrillers and comedies alike before leading this romantic film from a director later known for action thrillers and comedies alike, Jon Turteltaub. Yes, the director of National Treasure and The Meg directed While You Were Sleeping.
Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a Chicago Transit Authority token collector, accidentally gives the family of a man in a coma (Peter Gallagher) the impression that she is engaged to him. Meanwhile, as she gets to know the family better, she becomes especially familiar with her “fiancée’s” brother (Bill Pullman). What is she going to tell the family?
This is the kind of romantic comedy that succeeds from a strong cast, snappy writing, and a clever concept. While You Were Sleeping is no snooze.
7. Demolition Man (1993)
Imagine a perfect future in which crime is virtually non-existent, curse words are illegal, Taco Bell is the only restaurant available for dining out, and toilet paper has been replaced with three metal seashells. All of these things are in this wacky B-movie co-starring Sandra Bullock.
The title of Demolition Man refers to the nickname of tough Los Angeles cop John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), cryogenically frozen as punishment for a crime he did not commit, along with his enemy whom he rightfully captured, Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes). When Phoenix is revived in 2032 for a parole hearing and escapes, wreaking havoc on the city now dubbed San Angeles, the police, clueless over how to handle violence, awaken Spartan to help stop him.
Demolition Man is like the love child of Die Hard and those 2015-set scenes from Back to the Future Part II. It has hilarious satire of the concept of utopian society, cartoonishly over-the-top action, and Sandra Bullock at her most adorably quirky.
6. A Time to Kill (1996)
In the 1990s, there were a wave of cinematic adaptations of John Grisham novels, much like Stephen King’s work is getting today. Many consider this Joel Schumacher-directed and Sandra Bullock-starring court drama to be that wave’s biggest splash.
After Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) takes the law into his own hands by shooting down the men who raped and beat his young daughter, southern lawyer Jake Tyler Bigance (Matthew McConaughey) and his assistant Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock) are hired to defend him in court. Jake must question where his moral compass points as the case attracts controversy and attacks by the Ku Klux Klan.
Sandra Bullock’s chemistry with Matthew McConaughey keeps things sizzling between them. However, what keeps A Time To Kill on fire is its high-tension courtroom sequences, fearless commentary on controversial morality themes, and Golden Globe-nominee Samuel L. Jackson’s immortal cry, “Yes, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!”
5. The Blind Side (2009)
Sandra Bullock is the kind of actress who can please a crowd as well as win over the critics. Her Academy Award-winning performance as an adoptive mother to a future NFL player is potent proof of that.
The Blind Side, based in part on a book by Michael Lewis, tells the true story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless Tennessee teen taken in by well-to-do white family, the Tuohys (Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Lily Collins, Jae Head). The family helps Michael rise up in the ranks academically and athletically, leading him on the path to NFL stardom.
Director John Lee Hancock’s eye for sentimentality and Sandra Bullock’s ferocious performance makes this rags-to-riches biopic a heartwarming, often funny charmer. Never is there a dry eye in the house when The Blind Side is on.
4. Miss Congeniality (2000)
As I said before, Sandra Bullock is an actress of great versatility, proving throughout the 1990s that she can master romance, action, and comedy. It only seemed natural to see her take on all three at once.
F.B.I. agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) is the type of woman who does not bother with makeup, would rather wear a pantsuit than a dress, and does not take any crap from her male subordinates. That is, until she figures out that a terrorist’s next target is the Miss USA pageant, forcing her to reluctantly assume the appearance of a beauty queen and blend in with other pageant contestants to prevent the attack.
Miss Congeniality is Sandra Bullock at her funniest. With the commitment she shows in every witty line, every laugh-snort, and watching her fall down ungracefully in high heels, it is no wonder how she became the leading lady she is now after this.
3. Crash (2005)
When Sandra Bullock was approach by Paul Haggis to star in this drama, she did not care what her contribution would be. She believed this was a story that needed to be told.
Crash is a Los Angeles-set compendium of loosely connected morality tales commenting on identity, class, and prejudice taking place over a 36-hour period. Featuring a diverse ensemble cast, including Sandra Bullock, Oscar-nominee Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Michael Pena and several more, the characters’ lives interweave in ways that bring them face-to-face with their own personal demons and the harsh realities of those affected by their choices.
Writer and director Paul Haggis crafts a brutally realistic portrait of racial tension in an urban setting elevated by cleverly written stories dealing with senseless violence, crippling fear, redemption, or descent. Crash’s powerful message and themes earned it widespread critical acclaim and three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
2. Gravity (2013)
In 1979, Alien convinced audiences that the scariest thing about space travel is the threat of the unknown. In 2013, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity made us realize that just being in space is scary enough.
After an accident leaves their shuttle destroyed, scientist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) find themselves stranded in the cold, lifeless environment of space with nothing but the oxygen suits on their backs. They must work together to figure out how to survive and how to get home before it is too late.
On top of Sandra Bullock’s Oscar-nominated high tension performance, Gravity is a breathtaking technical achievement. With seamless cinematography by Alfonso Cuaron’s go-to director of photography Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki and heart-racing sequences with unbelievable special effects, this is a space epic that dares you to hold your breath.
1. Speed (1994)
We’ve seen Die Hard on a boat (Under Siege), Die Hard on a plane (Passenger 57), and even Die Hard in a boarding school (Toy Soldiers). However, none of those compare to the summer blockbuster informally dubbed as Die Hard on a bus.
In Speed, crazy-not-stupid Dennis Hopper places a bomb on a bus rigged to detonate if the vehicle, filled with passengers, does not stay above 50 mph. Young but savvy cop Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) gets himself on board, enlisting young Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) to assume the driver’s position while he figures out how to defuse it.
Speed, from director Jan de Bont (the cinematographer for Die Hard, actually), is an adrenaline junkie’s cinematic dream come true. It is an ingeniously crafted thriller that constantly reinvents itself (starting off as an elevator disaster movie before incorporating the main bus bomb plot and concluding with a subway chase) and keeps the suspense meter running at the highest level.
Now, looking at this list, perhaps we can all agree that there is a Sandra Bullock movie for everyone to love. However, do you love our list?
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Video released by the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office shows University of Cincinnati police officer Ryan Tensing, who shot and killed Sam DuBose, an unarmed black man, during a traffic stop. Reuters
Police Body Cameras: Coming Everywhere in 3 to 5 Years
Kriston Capps
The public largely sees body cams as a tool for police transparency and accountability, not a Big Brother nightmare. Still, there are many issues to consider as more departments adopt them.
University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing went to jail on Wednesday after he was indicted on murder charges for shooting Sam DuBose during a traffic stop. After releasing body-worn-camera footage of the shooting, Joe Deters, the Hamilton County prosecutor who brought the charges against Tensing, told reporters, “He purposefully killed him.”
The alleged murder of Sam DuBose may mark the turning point in the public debate about requiring police to wear body cameras. If DuBose’s death turns public opinion in favor of police body cams, then the public will have caught up with the police departments themselves.
“Every law-enforcement agency of 50 or more officers will have body-worn cameras within five years,” says Nancy La Vigne, director of the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center. Michael D. White, professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, shaves it even closer: “Within two to three years.”
And while David Klinger, a professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, expressed some caution about what we’ll do with the footage, he was firm on body cams. “We need to bring them online as quickly as prudently feasible,” he says.
Experts in criminal justice say that police are hardly recalcitrant about wearing body cams. Far from it: Law-enforcement agencies have been exploring the possibilities of this technology since as far back as 2005. It’s a dark irony that police shootings have made the strongest case for them.
With the press and the public paying more attention to fatal police shootings over the past year—thanks to the sweeping #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations—there’s more urgency among state and local legislators to strap cams on cops. Lawmakers are catching up with law enforcement, too.
States with legislation pending on body-worn cameras for police officers, as of February 2015. (National Conference of State Legislatures)
A majority of states are now mulling legislation on body-worn cameras: Government Technology reports that 36 states in total are weighing more than 100 bills. Law-enforcement agencies themselves are already moving ahead, however. By 2013, almost one-third of all local police departments—32 percent, or 3,900 departments—were equipping at least some patrol officers with body-worn cameras, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
And in 2013, most local police departments (78 percent) were using some kind of personal surveillance technology—including dash-mounted, body-worn, and weapon-attached cameras. That means most law enforcement officers (78 percent) were at least potentially equipped with a camera.
“Police have always been enthusiastic early adopters of technology,” La Vigne says. “We saw that with public surveillance cameras, which are now commonplace in most jurisdictions of any size.”
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance has already begun compiling research, policy, and technology FAQs in its Body-Worn Camera Toolkit. White, one of the experts consulted by the BJA, says that it’s a resource for everyone from “a concerned citizen to a Civil Rights activist to a chief of police”—but it falls short of a guide on best practices or recommendations.
It makes sense that law-enforcement agencies, state legislatures, and local city councils are racing to put cameras on officers: Almost everyone thinks they’re a good idea. Polls by YouGov and The Economist register persistent, bipartisan, near-unanimous support for body-worn cameras. “The train has left the station,” White says.
La Vigne notes that the public has received body-worn cameras much more warmly than they greeted public surveillance cameras. A considerable segment of the population opposed them, she says. But today, perhaps inured to the ubiquity of video technology and social media, people see police cameras as a tool for transparency and accountability, not a nightmare out of 1984.
And yet, despite their widespread adoption and near-universal appeal, body-worn cameras still pose troubling questions. For starters: Why did Ray Tensing shoot Sam DuBose if he knew his actions were being recorded?
No one will ever know what was truly in that officer’s heart. More reliable answers are to be found in data—but to date, studies on body-worn cameras are simply lacking. Over the next year, researchers will have more to say about trials underway now. La Vigne says that one jurisdiction piloted using helmet-mounted cameras for bicycle patrols. Even after the department stopped using the cameras, officers continued to try to use them, forgetting they weren’t there.
Even given dramatic video such as the Cincinnati shooting, video should never be afforded the status of absolute, determinative truth. Klinger mentions instant replay: In a very practiced recording, one angle might show a play as safe, where another angle shows a play as out. “Cameras also only show one side of the story,” La Vigne says. “You don't see gestures. You don't see facial expressions.”
All three researchers warned me about similar problems with implementing body-warn cameras—or rather, with their footage. Two kinds of laws guide police-camera footage: wiretap (or “eavesdropping”) laws and dissemination (or “sunshine”) laws, including the Freedom of Information Act. Of course, none of these laws was written with body-worn cameras in mind.
States that have passed body-warn camera bills. (National Conference of State Legislatures)
Officers have incredible discretion over when they turn cameras off or on, La Vigne says. But eavesdropping laws designed to protect the public interest may represent a real burden for police. Officers might face severe repercussions for failing to turn on a body-worn camera in the heat of the moment. (It is fortunate, in a ghastly sense, that Tensing did not think to turn his off.)
Some statutes may be interpreted as requiring “dual consent” for body-worn cameras—meaning that an officer must verbally announce his intention to record a subject and receive verbal consent to do so. An officer could be reprimanded for forgetting to turn a body cam off before entering a residence.
Or worse, Klinger says, a police department might be required to post this footage. It will fall on police departments to edit video to protect the privacy rights of suspects who are not charged with any crime or bystanders who are simply caught on film. In states that have broad public-records request legislation on the books, police-cam footage requests may represent an enormous burden on local police departments.
One such state is Washington: The Seattle Police Department put up a YouTube channel devoted to posting body-worn camera footage for anyone who requests it. (“You guys heading home? Get home safe,” one officer says—seemingly hundreds of times—to people leaving some kind of event during May Day protests, in the incredibly snoozy footage below.)
Unredacted video from a Seattle Police Department officer’s body-worn camera, posted on July 9 per a formal request.
As it stands, some law-enforcement agencies are interpreting body-worn camera footage as something other than a public record. Sara Libby has written about how San Diego Police Department routinely denies press requests for footage. In Baltimore, meanwhile, officials say that it will take four years to implement body-worn cameras. Critics say that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is dragging her heels on it, but it could well be the approach favored by the police union.
Four years is too long, but thinking things through is the right idea. Klinger—who worked as a patrol officer in the Los Angeles Police Department and Redmond Police Department—says that sunshine laws and Freedom of Information Act policies have not prepared cities for body-worn cameras. The law in Washington state requires police cameras to be switched on at all times and for officer to be prepared to prove it at any moment. “How in the world are we going to monitor this stuff?,” he asks.
That’s why he says police need body-worn cameras as quickly as prudently feasible—in a timeframe that considers the rights of the public and police alike. It might take months or years, but we as a society should take the time to answer questions now that are bound to arise. When a video captures two cops complaining about their boss, does the public have a right to witness that?
“I have an absolute right when I'm not in the public sphere to call you a dick,” he says. Just one of the rights lawmakers must safeguard right now.
@kristoncapps
Kriston Capps is a staff writer for CityLab covering housing, architecture, and politics. He previously worked as a senior editor for Architect magazine.
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West Palm Beach Personal Injury Attorney
Julie Littky-Rubin | Jun 13, 2019
The Week in Torts - Cases from the Week of June 7, 2019
Categories: The Week In Torts
Defer to trial judge's sense of touch
FLORIDA LAW WEEKLY
CASES FROM THE WEEK OF June 7, 2019
COURT REVERSES DENIAL OF ADDITUR WHERE JURY FOUND PERMANENT INJURY AND AWARDED PAST MEDICAL EXPENSES BUT NOTHING FOR PAST PAIN AND SUFFERING - HOWEVER, IT AFFIRMS DENIAL FOR FUTURE MEDICALS.
Arias v. Porter, 44 Fla. L. Weekly D1373 (Fla. 2nd DCA May 29, 2019):
In this case of admitted negligence, a jury found the plaintiff had suffered a permanent injury and awarded him past and future medical expenses “in an amount slightly less than what plaintiff sought but far greater than what defendant argued for,” but nothing for past or future pain and suffering damages. The plaintiff appealed from a judgment denying his motion for additur on the grounds that the jury’s zero verdict on both past and future non-economic damages was inadequate.
The Second District went through a detailed analysis of its own precedent on this issue, coupled with the Supreme Court’s decision in Allstate v. Manasse, and explained that when a jury finds permanent injury, and awards damages for past medical expenses, the plaintiff is entitled to at least a nominal award of past non-economic damages.
Conversely, because future damages are far more uncertain, the key to the inquiry regarding an additur for those damages is whether the evidence of the future non-economic damages was “substantially undisputed.”
In this case, the jury had awarded $50,000.00 to the plaintiff in past medical expenses and $200,000.00 in future medical expenses, (the plaintiff presented evidence of $2,500,000.00 in future medical expenses). The court concluded that because the jury awarded only 8% of the requested amount of future medical expenses, the amount awarded was actually not that substantial. That factor, coupled with the disputed evidence of future damages stemming from this accident, made the court conclude that while the additur needed to be granted for past non-economic damages, the trial court was within its discretion not to grant it with respect to the future damages.
My favorite line from this opinion was the court’s observation regarding the kind of wide deference it gives to a trial jury in making such a ruling: “The assessment obviously involves a sense of touch that can be delivered only by the trial judge that heard and saw the evidence.”
NO ABUSE OF DISCRETION IN DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO SET ASIDE DEFAULT JUDGMENT.
Benefit Administrative Systems v. West Kendall Baptist Hospital, 44 Fla. L. Weekly D1387 (Fla. 3rd DCA May 29, 2019):
A hospital sued the defendant to recover underpaid claims. After serving the summons and complaint, and in the absence of any answer from the defendant, the hospital successfully sought a default final judgment.
Several months later, the hospital sought to domesticate the default judgment in an Illinois court and to freeze the defendant’s assets. The defendant contended that that was the first time it became aware of the hospital’s lawsuit and the default judgment and finally sought to vacate the default judgment -- five months after it was entered.
Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motion to vacate. It rejected the evidence the defendant offered to support its claim of excusable neglect. It further found that the defendant had failed to act with due diligence in waiting for five months to seek relief.
The court reminded us that clerical error and a failure to follow an established policy may constitute excusable neglect. However, the only position advanced by the defendant was that it never received the summons and complaint. Because the evidence was contradicted by the hospital plaintiff’s evidence and the presumption of valid service arising from the return of service, the court weighed the evidence and determined that the defendant failed to show it was never served. There was also an alternative argument that the summons and complaint may have been “misfiled,” but that was a weak argument in light of its primary argument that it had never been served, (so it was hard for it to produce evidence to show that it was misfiled).
Similarly, the court concluded that because the hospital had introduced evidence that the defendant had been served with the default judgment, waiting five months to serve the motion to vacate default did not demonstrate the requisite due diligence needed to vacate the default.
TRIAL COURT DID NOT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING PLAINTIFF’S FOURTH MOTION TO AMEND COMPLAINT TO ADD A NEW DEFENDANT, WHERE THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE FOURTH TIME PLAINTIFF AMENDED TO BRING IN NEW PARTIES, AND THE REQUEST TO AMEND CAME AFTER THE CASE WAS SET FOR TRIAL, AND THE COURT HAD SPECIFICALLY SET A DEADLINE FOR BRINGING IN NEW PARTIES.
Toscano Condominium Association v. DDA Engineers, 44 Fla. L. Weekly D1389 (Fla. 3rd DCA May 29, 2019):
The plaintiff had amended its complaint twice to add in new defendants. In June of 2017, the court entered the Case Management order setting various deadlines for pretrial events, and scheduling the case for trial to begin in July of 2018. The order imposed an August 1, 2017 deadline for adding parties. Despite that deadline, the plaintiff moved on November 30, 2017, to file a fourth amended complaint to add claims against a new party. The trial court denied the amendment.
As a preliminary matter, the court made clear that an order denying leave to amend is a non-final non-appealable order, which must be challenged after a final judgment. That said, recognizing that the general rule governing motions to amend is that they should be freely granted, the court stated that that rule applies unless the privilege is abused, the opposing party would be prejudiced, or the amendment would be futile.
Notably, the court wrote that in addition to the desirability of allowing amendments to pleadings so that cases may be concluded on their merits, there is an equally compelling obligation on the court to see to it that the end of all litigation be reached.
Also, the proposed defendant had been involved in the case relatively early with an indemnity claim, so the plaintiff was aware of this defendant. The court also said that litigants must bear responsibility in diligently pursuing their cases to resolution in a timely manner.
ERROR TO DISMISS COMPLAINT WHICH SUFFICIENTLY STATED A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR NEGLIGENCE – COMPLAINT STATED PLAINTIFF’S STATUS ON THE PROPERTY, DATE OF INCIDENT, LOCATION ON PREMISES, CAUSE OF FALL AND DEFENDANT’S ALLEGED FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AND INSPECT AFTER THE FALL.
Maldonado v. Orange County Public Library System, 44 Fla. L. Weekly D1403 (Fla. 5th DCA May 31, 2019):
This case reminds us that Florida is a fact-pleading jurisdiction and not a notice-pleading jurisdiction. That means a complaint must contain a short and plain statement of the ultimate facts showing the pleader is entitled to relief. To state a cause of action for negligence, a complaint must allege a duty, a defendant’s breach of that duty, injury to the plaintiff arising from the defendant’s breach, and damage caused by the injury.
A business owner owes two duties to a business invitee: (1) reasonable care to keep its premises reasonably safe and (2) to warn of latent or concealed perils that were known or should have been known to the owner and which the invitee could not discover through the exercise of due care.
Because this amended complaint defined the plaintiff’s status on the property, the date of the accident, the location on the premises, the cause of the fall, and the defendant’s alleged failure to maintain and inspect the premises, the allegations were sufficient to state a case of action for negligence.
TRIAL COURT ERRED IN COMPELLING DEFENDANT NURSING HOME TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS CLAIMED TO BE PROTECTED BY STATUTORY PRIVILEGES, WITHOUT SPECIFICALLY RULING ON DEFENDANTS OBJECTIONS AND WITHOUT CONDUCTING AN IN-CAMERA INSPECTION BEFORE ISSUING ORDERS THAT WOULD FORCE “CAT OUT OF THE BAG” DISCOVERY OF PRIVILEGED DOCUMENTS.
East Bay NC, LLC v. DJADJICH, 44 Fla. L. Weekly D1409 (Fla. 2nd DCA May 31, 2019):
When a party raises objections regarding the production of documents on the basis of some type of privilege, a trial court must explain why it is ordering the production, and in most instances, must conduct an in-camera inspection to evaluate the privilege before compelling production. The failure to do so, in this case, was a departure for the essential requirements of law.
When parties dispute that documents are protected, the proper course is for the trial court to conduct an in-camera inspection to determine if the requested documents are discoverable.
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The Week in Torts - Cases from the Week of May 24, 2019
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Top 10 Types of Tire Defects
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Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices
Clayton Utz's Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Regulation group is the legal firm of choice for many of the most innovative pharmaceutical and medical device companies in Australia and the United States. Our team's unparalleled combination of scientific, regulatory and legal expertise in the issues affecting the pharmaceutical industry and medical devices means we can immediately understand your needs.
the full range of regulatory services, covering regulatory affairs, clinical research, medical affairs and health outcomes.
lawyers with a strong understanding of the science as well as the law.
both a legal and strategic angle.
a reputation you can rely on.
The registration and maintenance of pharmaceutical products or medical devices in Australia is a complex business, as the medical and healthcare sectors are amongst the most highly regulated and competitive industry sectors.
Our detailed understanding of the pharmaceutical business and the regulatory environment has made us the legal firm of choice for a significant number of the top 10 innovative pharmaceutical companies in Australia and for several Australian and US medical device companies.
Many of our team have science qualifications (including postgraduate qualifications) or pharmaceutical industry experience. This unique combination of in-house scientific, regulatory and legal expertise sets us apart from many other lawyers in this field, and our team's ability to immediately understand what are very often complex issues ultimately saves our clients time and reduces their costs.
We offer the full range of regulatory services, covering regulatory affairs, clinical research, medical affairs and health outcomes. Before and after market launch, we help clients with issues arising at any stage of the product management cycle, including research and development, registration and listing of drugs on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, marketing approval, pricing, labelling, product launch and post-market compliance.
When you need administrative law remedies (for example, appealing against decisions of the Therapeutic Goods Administration refusing to register a new drug), you can rely on our significant experience in section 60 appeals and applications to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
"Off-label" Promotion: We advised a pharmaceutical client in relation to whether its proposed use of clinical study results in the promotional literature for one of its drugs would be considered "off-label" promotion, in breach of the Therapeutic Goods Act and the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct. Advice was required on whether the promotional claims that the client wanted to make were within the scope of the product information.
Medicines Australia Code of Conduct: We prepared an appeal in relation to a finding of breaches of the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct by our client concerning a number of its promotional pieces. This involved a detailed review of complex clinical and scientific data to determine whether or not the claims which had been made by our client were adequately substantiated.
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) audit: We advised a client in relation to a proposed Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) audit conducted by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). We covered a range of issues in our advice, including the powers of the TGA to conduct GMP audits; the powers of the TGA to impose, vary conditions on, or revoke a manufacturing licence; the effect of a revocation or suspension of a manufacturing licence; and possible avenues for appealing a decision of the TGA.
Conduct of clinical trials in Australia: We have provided advice to pharmaceutical clients on various clinical trial agreements and the regulatory requirements governing the conduct of clinical trials in Australia. This has required consideration of compliance issues, local regulatory conditions, local commercial practice and privacy legislation.
Regulation of medical devices: We have advised on the regulation of medical devices in general, and also provided specific advice to a client in relation to their proposed introduction in Australia of an in-vitro diagnostic device (IVDD). This included an overview of the current regulatory requirements for IVDDs, and also the proposed changes to the regulatory framework.
Price reduction requests from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority (PBPA): We have advised a pharmaceutical client in relation to significant price reduction requests from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority (PBPA) for one of its drugs. We developed a range of novel arguments to assist our client in its negotiations with the PBPA, and were successful in helping our client reach a suitable agreement in relation to the price reduction requests.
Section 60 appeal, AAT proceedings and potential Federal Court proceedings: We advised a pharmaceutical client on a suitable administrative law strategy for one of its products in the context of a section 60 appeal, AAT proceedings and potential Federal Court proceedings. The TGA had imposed a condition on the registration of our client's products, amending the text of the product information and cancelling the registration of one of the product's indications. We worked closely with our client to develop a strategy designed to not only maximise prospects of success on the section 60 appeal/AAT proceedings, but also the less adversarial fall-back position of a negotiated settlement with the TGA. This involved first of all working with the client to settle two section 60 appeals, commencing an AAT appeal and then facilitating a series of meetings with key people within the TGA to reach a satisfactory settlement.
Section 60 of the Therapeutic Goods Act: A pharmaceutical client submitted an application for registration of a new chemical entity to the TGA. Its application was rejected, mainly on safety grounds. An appeal submitted by the client pursuant to section 60 of the Therapeutic Goods Act for a reconsideration of the TGA's decision was unsuccessful, viz the Minister's delegate was deemed to have confirmed the TGA's initial decision pursuant to section 60(4) of the TG Act. We represented our client in an application to the AAT for a merits review of the decision of the Minister's delegate, and were successful in reversing the TGA's decision and achieving registration of our client's drug, before the matter proceeded to a full hearing.
European pharmaceutical company: We are representing a European pharmaceutical company that supplies OTC products in Australia. Proceedings have been issued seeking damages for personal injury against the company alleging that the bottle in which the product was supplied and which allegedly broke causing a hand injury to a professional musician was defective; and the company does not have adequate quality control mechanisms and systems to ensure the defects were not revealed.
Compliance with Australian regulatory legislation: We are advising two separate medical device clients and one pharmaceutical client in relation to compliance with Australian regulatory legislation and guidelines relating to their dealings with health professionals and establishing anti-corruption due diligence procedures.
Regulator refusal to approve a prescription pharmaceutical: We represent a pharmaceutical client in administrative review proceedings brought in respect of the Australian regulator's refusal to approve a prescription pharmaceutical in a relatively novel treatment for marketing in Australia.
Negative and misleading representations: We advised a leading pharmaceutical company in a successful complaint against a competitor company as a result of alleged negative and misleading representations to healthcare professionals by the competitor. We successfully obtained undertakings from the competitor in the context of threatened Federal Court proceedings.
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Making a Difference in a Teen's Life
Teenagers tend to get a bad rep. Oftentimes, they’re noisy, irritable and maybe even disrespectful. From an adult’s perspective, teens can be pretty hard to manage. However, the teenage years are actually a very valuable time in a person’s life. The teen’s brain is still developing, they’re on the cusp of adulthood and they’re trying to figure out their identity. Not to mention, middle and high school can be a tough place to find friends and feel accepted.
Teenagers have a lot to manage and not a lot of life experience to utilize, which can result in a bad attitude and frustrating relationships. All of this is exactly why teenagers need valuable adult relationships in their lives. They need someone they can look up to, feel connected with and know they can go to during difficult times. If you’re an adult trying to live a more altruistic life, one of the most valuable contributions you can make is supporting a teenager.
Teenagers are our future; by building them up and encouraging them—even if they’re not our own children—we can create a better future for generations to come. Still, how do you start? How can you establish a valuable relationship with a teenager? Today we dive into some ways to make a difference in a teen’s life.
1. Volunteer with school programs.
One of the easiest ways to make a difference in a teenager’s life is by volunteering through a school or afterschool program. Whether you help out as a coach for a sport team, take charge of a club or work with a nonprofit organization, you can connect with teenagers of all different backgrounds in your community. Programs like these are constantly looking for new volunteers, and oftentimes will even provide valuable resources to help you learn more about communicating with teenagers. Check in your community to see what programs are available through the school or through an organization and learn how you can get more involved.
2. Show up consistently.
How do you gain a teenager’s trust? Keep showing up. People—teens especially—value those relationships with those who are there for them, no matter what. If you find a worthwhile program that you want to volunteer with, don’t just make it a one-time thing. One-time volunteering doesn’t allow you to build any sustainable relationships. Instead, keep showing up consistently, so the teens can get to know you more and more. The more you show up, the more they will recognize you and feel comfortable opening up.
3. Give them food.
Honestly, who doesn’t love food? As Charles M. Schulz said, “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” Teens are no different—they go where the food is. And since teenagers often aren’t done growing yet, they need a lot of it. They also don’t have very much of their own money. When you spend time with teenagers, make them a home-cooked meal, take them out for fast food or even provide some snacks to really help build up a stable relationship. You’d be surprised how many teens will come for the free food, then stay for the conversation and bonding time.
4. Listen to them.
All of us want to know that someone out there hears us, including teens. Think about it—teens spend the majority of their day listening to adults tell them what to do. It’s no wonder they can feel frustrated sometimes; they don’t feel heard. The most valuable thing you can do to make a difference in a teenager’s life is simply to listen to them. Listening—true listening—is a gift. Listen to a teenager’s problems, struggles and joys in life without being quick to offer advice or condemn their choices. By opening up and really listening, you can truly be a meaningful person for teenagers to go to.
Teenagers are the future of our community. By investing in them, we invest in generations to come. Use these tips to get involved and make a difference in a teen’s life today.
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Securing more than a return on investment
Art Coviello, chief executive at RSA Security, believes that investing in IT security measures for areas such as remote access...
Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly
Art Coviello, chief executive at RSA Security, believes that investing in IT security measures for areas such as remote access can bring a dual advantage for firms.
IT security has always been high on the agenda for IT directors and chief executives, but with most company boards reining in their spending, it has never been more important that investment in security also brings a return.
If the RSA Conference in San Francisco earlier this month is anything to go by, this message has started to filter through to security suppliers. Their attention is turning very firmly towards offering systems that save money and generate new streams of income for businesses.
Art Coviello, president and chief executive at RSA Security, which specialises in software security products, claimed that while the downturn may have damaged some firms, it has also forced the rest to become much more focused on the real needs of the businesses they serve.
RSA, like many user companies, has grasped the efficiency nettle by outsourcing some of its development work offshore to India and Russia. But rather than seeing this as a symptom of cost cutting, Coviello sees it as a strength. It is, he said, an opportunity to supplement the firms' US expertise by drawing on a larger pool of international talent.
"You can't be a chief executive officer and not be an optimist," he said in an exclusive interview with Computer Weekly. "There are tremendous productivity improvements to be gained from better security."
Analysts believe these productivity gains will come from new remote-access technologies that will allow companies to open up their networks to their customers and their business partners.
At the same time, single-sign-on technologies, currently being developed by industry groups such as the Liberty Alliance, will allow firms to radically cut the cost of password management and simplify network access.
Coviello has staked his company's future on the success of remote access technologies. He predicted they will have radical implications for businesses.
"A just-in-time inventory becomes literally true, and offering more products more quickly to your customers is a reality. The importance of reducing unit costs and business costs is much greater than before. Companies will either have to embrace this or they will not survive."
Coviello pointed to one of RSA's customers, a US insurance company, as an example of the way security technology can transform a company's business processes. The company is using remote-access software to give insurance brokers direct access to their websites.
Once the brokers are online, the company's website can redirect them to other insurance products that might be of interest. "They have no reason to go to a competitor because it is much easier to come to you. You have created a competitive advantage," he said.
Security can be used offensively, not just defensively, Coviello said. Single-sign-on systems mean users do not have to remember complex passwords that are changed every month.
"Most helpdesk calls are made by people who have forgotten their passwords, so that is a big saving. But it can also expand the number of applications and the number of people you can have online because you do not have to worry about who is accessing your systems," he said.
Coviello acknowledged that businesses still have a long way to go before they have addressed the defensive aspects of security. Good security is a never-ending struggle, he said.
"People think they can solve problems while their businesses grow. The number of network nodes and applications increases exponentially every year. That means the number of vulnerabilities increases every year."
There are signs that as the better security suppliers focus on the need for businesses to improve the bottom line, that spending on security is picking up. But Coviello does not expect a rapid bounce-back.
"We had good success in the third and fourth quarters last year. We continued that success in the first quarter this year, but it has not been easy.
"The first clear signs of recovery you see are in activity levels. The number of leads the industry generates has increased, but sales cycles take from six to 18 months. I think you will see improvements in 2003 but nothing dramatic. It will either become a table-setting year for a robust 2004, or we will continue with a slow gradual recovery."
www.rsasecurity.com/worldwide/uk/welcome.html
Analysis: What is RSA’s relationship with the NSA?
RSA 2014: Coviello downplays relationship between RSA and NSA
By: Brandan Blevins
RSA 2013: Big data could help or hinder business, says RSA
RSA Europe: New intelligence-led security model needed
EMC's Coviello: 'Security vendors do not sell fear' – SearchStorage
RSA 2011: Art Coviello champions trust in cloud ... – ComputerWeekly.com
RSA 2013: Big data could help or hinder business, ... – ComputerWeekly.com
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6 Unexpected Trends in 2018 Social Media Research
Posted Under: Baer Facts, Greatest Hits, Social Media Measurement
Baer Facts
2018 social media research is teaching us at least one thing: This may be the year that social media changed forever.
Released hours ago, a new report from my friends at Edison Research and Triton Digital uncovered a trove of statistically significant social media usage irregularities that may herald a dramatic shift in how and why Americans use social media (or don’t).
The Infinite Dial 2018 report continues the annual research series that consistently produces important findings that describe how we use social media, podcasts, and online audio services.
I highly recommend you grab the entire report, as the highlights I cover below are a VERY small selection of the insights contained in The Infinite Dial 2018.
Here are the six extremely important 2018 social media research trends that this report surfaced.
1. Social Media Usage Is Down Overall
For the first time ever, fewer Americans are using social media than the year prior. Edison Research contacted 2000 people aged 12 and older, using random digit dialing techniques, the same methodology used each year.
In 2018, however, they found that 77 percent of Americans use social media, compared to 80 percent in 2017.
This is a nearly four percent drop in social media usage nationwide. While not massive as a solo data point, remember that social media usage has increased a minimum of three percent, and an average of 7.77 percent, for the past nine years.
{new research} Social media usage in America increased an avg of 7.77% for the past 9 years. This year.....down 4%. Click To Tweet
In terms of what we consider to be the primary “social networks” (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, et al.), we may have reached “peak social media.” It’s likely that we’ll see a subsequent decline in usage in 2019.
This is because young Americans are embracing messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, and others, while using the core social networks less. I certainly don’t foresee a massive “extinction event” that would cause a collapse in social media usage, but the migration away from public social toward private social is very, very real.
Any drop in social media usage is unprecedented and indicates that Americans are not wholly satisfied with social in ways they may have been in the past.
2. Facebook Usage Is Down Overall
Facebook is the biggest contributor to the overall decrease in social media usage. Last year, more than two-thirds of all Americans said they use Facebook. This year, usage dropped from 67 percent to 62 percent, the first decline in Facebook’s history.
Perhaps the constant arguing (about politics, mostly) on Facebook is making it a less joyful experience and chasing people off of the platform. I don’t think that’s the only reason for the decline, but it’s certainly part of it.
I wrote an entire blog post about other reasons why Facebook’s audience is slipping: Facebook Usage Declined and the 3 Reasons Why.
It will be interesting to see what Edison’s upcoming 2018 social media research findings show for Facebook usage in Canada and Australia. That data might yield some clues as to whether America’s toxic political climate is having an impact on Facebook usage that is USA-specific.
3. Facebook Usage Is WAY Down Among Young People
Facebook’s demise as a hangout for young Americans has been long rumored, but the math finally supports the premise.
Among 12 to 34 year-olds, Facebook usage declined a staggering 15 percent in one year. Usage is still high, at 67 percent of young Americans, but such a precipitous decline does not bode well for the future of the platform.
{new research} Facebook usage among young Americans declined by 15% in the past year. Click To Tweet
And in a related trend, for the first time ever, Facebook is more popular among middle-aged Americans than it is among young Americans. This is remarkable, considering that Facebook was developed as a platform that ONLY students could use.
4. Twitter Usage Is Also Down
While the decline in Facebook usage represents the biggest share of America’s reduction in social media time spent, Twitter experienced a similar falloff.
Twitter’s overall usage is—as it has been for a long time—about one-third that of Facebook.
But this year, Twitter’s usage also declined for the first time ever. This pattern mimics Facebook’s almost exactly, with a bump between 2016 and 2017, and then a retreat in 2018.
This 2018 social media research found that 21 percent of Americans 12 years or older use Twitter, making it the sixth most popular social network.
Twitter is used by 21% of Americans...it is now the 6th most popular social network. Click To Tweet
5. Snapchat and Instagram Are Pulling Away Among Young People
In 2017, 19 percent of Americans 12 to 34 used Snapchat more than any other social network. Instagram was best-loved by another 18 percent.
This year, Snapchat is the favorite social network of 29 percent of 12 to 34 year-olds. This is a huge climb in just 12 months. Instagram also saw growth, with 22 percent now saying it’s their favorite.
What are these young Americans using less, so that they can use Snapchat and Instagram more? Facebook, which declined as a favorite from 48 percent to 35 percent in one year.
6. Photo-Driven Social Media Is Ascendant
Every social platform features a lot of photos. But only three are almost entirely photo or video dependent: Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat.
Among the top six social media destinations, only those three saw an increase in usage in the past year, with Instagram moving from 34 percent to 36 percent, Pinterest moving from 30 percent to 31 percent, and Snapchat moving from 29 percent to 31 percent.
The more text and opinion-oriented platforms (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter) were either flat or experienced a decline in usage.
In a complex and conflicted world, the relative escapism offered by thumbing through photos on Instagram, or creating the ultimate wish list on Pinterest, may be a welcome respite from the snark of Twitter or the sales pitches on LinkedIn.
Download This 2018 Social Media Research (and More)
This report provides some of the first evidence of a potentially massive shift in how and why social media is used. The team at Convince & Convert and I will continue to monitor these changes and document them for you here.
Meanwhile, I highly recommend you download The Infinite Dial, as it contains many more insights into smart speakers, podcasting, social media, and online audio trends.
Keep up to Date with Social Pros
Get every episode of the Social Pros podcast delivered to your app or tool of choice. Thank you for your support!
Subscribe to Social Pros Podcast
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Difference between revisions of "BMW R1200GS"
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|frame =
|suspension =Front: bmw motorrad telelever <br>
Rear: cast aluminium single-sided swing arm with bmw motorrad paralever
Rear: cast aluminum single-sided swing arm with bmw motorrad paralever
|brakes =Front: double disc. abs. floating discs. four-piston calipers. <br>Rear: single disc. abs. floating disc. two-piston calipers.
|front_tire = {{tire|120/70-r19}}
|fuel_capacity = 5.28 Gallon (20.00 Liters)
|oil_capacity =
|fuel_consumption = 4.96 litres/100 km (20.2 km/l or 47.42 mpg)
|fuel_consumption = 4.96 liters/100 km (20.2 km/l or 47.42 mpg)
|turning_radius =
|related =
==Chassis==
It came with a 120/70-r19 front [[tire]] and a 170/60-r17 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via double disc. abs. floating discs. four-piston calipers. in the front and a single disc. abs. floating disc. two-piston calipers. in the rear. The front suspension was a bmw motorrad telelever while the rear was equipped with a cast aluminium single-sided swing arm with bmw motorrad paralever. The R1200GS was fitted with a 5.28 Gallon (20.00 Liters) fuel tank. The bike weighed just 505.08 pounds (229.1 Kg). The wheelbase was 59.33 inches (1507 mm) long.
It came with a 120/70-r19 front [[tire]] and a 170/60-r17 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via double disc. abs. floating discs. four-piston calipers. in the front and a single disc. abs. floating disc. two-piston calipers. in the rear. The front suspension was a bmw motorrad telelever while the rear was equipped with a cast aluminum single-sided swing arm with bmw motorrad paralever. The R1200GS was fitted with a 5.28 Gallon (20.00 Liters) fuel tank. The bike weighed just 505.08 pounds (229.1 Kg). The wheelbase was 59.33 inches (1507 mm) long.
The 2016 MY BMW R 1200 GS has, at its heart, an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerplant paired to a six-speed manual transmission, and can reach a maximum power output of 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque.
Standard features for this machine include a Telelever front suspension coupled to a Paralever rear suspension, BMW Motorrad ABS, a dual seat, cast-aluminium wheels, an adjustable windshield and a rear luggage rack. In addition, a plethora of optional accessories and technologies are available to custom-fit this machine to any rider's needs and taste.
Standard features for this machine include a Telelever front suspension coupled to a Paralever rear suspension, BMW Motorrad ABS, a dual seat, cast-aluminum wheels, an adjustable windshield and a rear luggage rack. In addition, a plethora of optional accessories and technologies are available to custom-fit this machine to any rider's needs and taste.
R1200GS Adventure Triple Black, R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black, R1200GS Triple Black, R 1200 GS Triple Black, R1200GS Adventure XE, R 1200 GS Adventure XE, R1200GS Enduro, R 1200 GS Enduro, R1200GS TripleBlack, R 1200 GS TripleBlack, R1200GS xDrive Hybrid, R 1200 GS xDrive Hybrid, R1200GS TE Exclusive, R 1200 GS TE Exclusive, R1200GS Rallye TE, R 1200 GS Rallye TE, R1200GS Rallye, R 1200 GS Rallye, R1200GS TE, R 1200 GS TE, R1200GS Adventure, R 1200 GS, R 1200 GS Adventure
two cylinder boxer, four-stroke
101.0mm x 73.0mm
122.3 HP (91.2 KW) @ 7750RPM
92.2 ft/lbs (125.0 Nm) @ 6500RPM
Final Drive: shaft drive (cardan)
Clutch: oil lubricated clutch, hydraulically operated
Front: bmw motorrad telelever
Front: double disc. abs. floating discs. four-piston calipers.
Rear: single disc. abs. floating disc. two-piston calipers.
120/70-r19
59.33 inches (1507 mm)
L 86.89 inches (2207 mm)
W 37.52 inches (953 mm)
H 57.09 inches (1450 mm)
33.46 inches (850 mm)
505.08 pounds (229.1 Kg) (dry), 244.0 kg (wet)
5.28 Gallon (20.00 Liters)
4.96 liters/100 km (20.2 km/l or 47.42 mpg)
Tech Specs · Brochures · Reviews · Ads · Videos
The BMW R1200GS was a two cylinder boxer, four-stroke Adventure motorcycle produced by BMW between 2004 and 2019. It could reach a top speed of 124 mph (200 km/h). Max torque was 92.2 ft/lbs (125.0 Nm) @ 6500 RPM. Claimed horsepower was 122.3 HP (91.2 KW) @ 7750 RPM.
3 Chassis
5 2006 BMW R 1200 GS
7 2007 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure
10 2009 BMW R 1200 GS
11 2009 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure
14 2011 BMW R 1200 GS Triple Black
20 2012 BMW R 1200 GS Rallye
22 2013 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black
31 In Media
The engine was a liquid cooled two cylinder boxer, four-stroke. A 101.0mm bore x 73.0mm stroke result in a displacement of just 1170.0 cubic centimeters. Fuel was supplied via a double overhead cams/twin cam (dohc).
The bike has a 6-speed transmission. Power was moderated via the oil lubricated clutch, hydraulically operated.
It came with a 120/70-r19 front tire and a 170/60-r17 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via double disc. abs. floating discs. four-piston calipers. in the front and a single disc. abs. floating disc. two-piston calipers. in the rear. The front suspension was a bmw motorrad telelever while the rear was equipped with a cast aluminum single-sided swing arm with bmw motorrad paralever. The R1200GS was fitted with a 5.28 Gallon (20.00 Liters) fuel tank. The bike weighed just 505.08 pounds (229.1 Kg). The wheelbase was 59.33 inches (1507 mm) long.
2005 BMW R1200GS in Yellow
2006 BMW R 1200 GS
2006 BMW R1200GS in Gray
When it comes to versatility, it doesn't get much better than the 2006 MY BMW R1200GS, it being able to take the roles of a full-sized, two-up touring machine, a weekend leisure bike and an off-road two-wheeler. It comes standard with a big, 33 liter fuel tank, a large windshield, a longer rear suspension travel, for improved off-road capabilities, cross-spoked wheels, as well as a reduced dry weight, as opposed to its previous embodiments.
At its heart lies an air-cooled, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse, mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce 100 horsepower and a whopping 156 Nm of torque.
The 2007 MY BMW R1200GS is one of the most powerful adventure bikes available on the market, sporting an air-cooled, four-stroke, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse, mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and capable of producing 100 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque. Premium features such as the magnesium cylinder head covers, the stainless steel exhaust system, as well as the high-end suspension, composed of a 9-setting adjustable front spring preload, and a hydraulic rear spring preaload adjuster, make it one of the preferred choices among Beemer fans.
And, to top it off, not only is it versatile in the type of road (or terrain) you can ride it on, it is also versatile when it comes to categories of riders, coming standard with an adjustable seat height and adjustable handbrake and clutch levers.
2007 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure
The already versatile R1200GS has received an upgrade, in the embodiment of the 2007 MY BMW R1200GS Adventure, and comes standard with an adjustable windshield, heated hand grips, hand protection, cross-spoked wheels, off-road tires, as well as standard hard saddlebags. All there features combine to provide an adventure machine with increased long haul capabilities, addressed especially for those riders who want to spend as much time as possible behind the bars.
At its heart lies an air-cooled, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse, mated to a six-speed manual transmission, that produces 100 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque. Also, it features the acclaimed Telelever front and Paralever rear suspension, as the base model.
For riders on the market for adventure machines, the 2008 MY BMW R 1200 GS is a serious option to take into consideration. At its heart lies an air-cooled, four-stroke, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce 105 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque. It comes standard with a Telelever/Paralever suspension package, an Evo braking system, as well as an Electronic Immobilizer, a luggage rack and adjustable clutch and brake levers, as well as the handlebars, which increase it's versatility, both in terms of what type of roads it can tackle, as well as the range of riders it can accommodate.
The already versatile and acclaimed R 1200 GS from the House of Munich has been taken to the next level of adventure bikes, in the embodiment of the 2008 MY R 1200 GS Adventure. At its heart lies a powerful, air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin-cylinder poweplant mated to a six-speed manual transmission, that produces 105 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque. It features the Telelever/Paralever front/rear suspension system, as well as a high-end Evo braking system. As opposed to the base model, the Adventure comes with standard cross-spoked wheels, a tank and engine protection bar, as well as adjustable handlebars and gear lever, so it can accommodate a wider variety of riders.
The 2009 MY BMW R 1200 GS may be the right choice for riders who want a machine capable of taking them across concrete jungles, as well as long hauls and the occasional, light off-road track. At its heart lies an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder engine paired to a six-speed manual transmission, and produces 105 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque. It features the Telelever/Paralever front/rear suspension package, as well as the high-end BMW Evo braking system.
Technologies such as the Electronic Suspension Adjustment, the Integral ABS II or the Automatic Stability Control are available for purchase with this two-wheeler, and help it reach unmatched performance and safety levels, as well as seriously increase the desirability of this adventure machine among Beemer fans.
When it comes to adventure machines, it is unlikely you can find a better choice than the 2008 MY BMW R 1200 GS Adventure. At its heart lies an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc boxer twin cylinder powerhouse mated to a six-speed manual transmission, that has been tweaked to offer 5% more horsepower than its previous embodiment, raising the power output to 105 horsepower and 115 Nm of torque.
The German engineers have increased the versatility of this two-wheeler, with the addition of a taller windscreen, for better protection against the elements, an adjustable seat, so it can accommodate a wider variety of rider inseams, as well as extra wide foot pegs, so one can stay in control, even on the most treacherous off-road courses. Also, optionals such as the ABS and the Enduro Electronic Suspension Adjustment give it unparalleled performance, whether on or off the road.
The 2010 MY BMW R 1200 GS Adventure is a more off-road ready version of the R 1200 GS. It sports the same technologies and engine as the base model, and has received the same 5 horsepower and 5 Nm of torque increase. Features that differentiate it from the base GS are the bigger, 33 liters fuel tank, the stainless steel luggage rack, the hand protectors, and the bigger, adjustable windshield.
As the base model, it can be purchased with technologies such as Tire Pressure Control, Automatic Stability Control, ABS, as well as the Electronic Suspension Adjustment and the on-board computer.
For riders who want a machine capable of tackling every-day tasks, weekend longer strolls, as well as the occasional woodland track, the 2010 MY BMW R 1200 GS is a serious option to take into consideration. At its heart lies a powerful, air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder engine mated to a six-speed transmission, that can produce 110 horsepower and 120 Nm of torque. This means that, unlike its predecessor, the engine has been tweaked for a 5 horsepower and 5 Nm of torque increase.
It comes standard with an adjustable windshield, heated grips, and a luggage rack, which increase its long haul capabilities, while the low seat height, the center stand and the cross-spoked wheels increase its off-road capabilities. Optionals such as ABS, Automatic Stability Control, Tire Pressure Control and the Electronic Suspension Adjustment increase its overall usability, no matter the road or lack of one.
2011 BMW R 1200 GS Triple Black
The 2011 MY BMW R 1200 GS Triple Black is a new model launched by the House of Munich, and it addresses those riders who want a dark, stealthy and aggressive look from their adventure machine. Features such as the Sapphire Black Metallic body color, the Black cross-spoked wheels, a black front fork and engine accents, a black seat with an embroidered "GS" logo, as well as the special, Asphalt Grey Metallic swing arm, rear frame and valve covers, set it apart from the base model, and help it achieve a modern and aggressive look.
In the tech/engine department, it features the same engine as the base model, the differences lying in the fact that it comes standard with the Premium Package Equipment, which includes Enduro ESA, heated grips, on-board computer, hand protection, integral ABS and saddle bag mounts.
The 2011 MY BMW R 1200 GS is an adventure bike that offers that authentic boxer sound and feel with even more power, as opposed to its predecessor, thanks to its redesigned air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission, that leads to 110 horsepower and 120 Nm of torque. Also as all GS models from the House of Munich, it can take on city traffic, weekend long-hauls, and even the occasional off-road track, without putting a strain on the rider, or the machine itself. It comes standard with the Telelever/Paralever front/rear suspension package, as well as the high-end EVO braking system.
The engineers from the House of Munich have taken the already versatile R 1200 GS to the next level, in the embodiment of the 2011 MY BMW R 1200 GS Adventure. As opposed to the base model, this adventure machine brings forth a larger windshield, for better protection against the elements, wire-spoked wheels, for improved off-road capabilities, as well as a luggage rack, which help the rider spend more time behind the bars, whether on or off the road. Also, it can be fitted with ABS, as well as Electronic Suspension Adjustment II, which increase its safety and comfort, no matter if the road is paved.
The 2012 MY BMW R 1200 GS Triple Black has been designed to fit the needs of those riders who want a dark and aggressive adventure machine. Unlike the base model it features a black rear sub frame, front forks and engine accents, an Asphalt Grey Metallic finish on the swing arm and valve cover, as well as a Black/Rallye Gray seat color.
In the tech/engine department, it sports the same-air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder as the base model. The engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce 110 horsepower and 120 Nm of torque.
The 2012 MY R 1200 GS Adventure sports an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and produces 110 horsepower and 120 Nm of torque. It comes standard with features that allow the rider to spend more time in the saddle, as well as tackle harsher terrains. Features such as the long, 210mm front and 220mm rear spring travel, the generous 33 liters fuel tank and the wide footrests were all designed to make it one of the most sought after adventure machines available on the market. Also, the cross-spoked wheels and the Telelever/Paralever front/rear suspension package seriously increase its off-road capabilities.
A naked machine that offers the trademark sound and feel of a boxer engine, that is a small summary of the 2012 MY BMW R 1200 GS. At its heart lies an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerplant mated to a six-speed manual transmission, that produces 110 horsepower and 120 Nm of torque. Also, it comes with a high-end EVO Telelever/Paralever suspension package and an EVO braking system. Other features such as the hand guards, the dual pannier fastenings, the main center stand and the white indicators add to the desirability of this powerful adventure motorcycle from the House of Munich.
2012 BMW R 1200 GS Rallye
The 2012 MY BMW R 1200 GS Rallye addresses the more adventurous among Beemer fans. It comes standard with technologies and features such as the Enduro Electronic Suspension Adjustment, a chromed exhaust system, cross-spoked wheels, heated grips, hand protectors, a pannier holder as well as an on-board computer, all to make it one of the most off-road ready machines from the House of Munich. Also, the visuals have been radically altered, coming with Alpine White body parts and hand protectors, black-lined fork slider tubes and engine accents, Magma red rear frame, Granite grey metallic swingarm and cylinder head covers, as well as a black and white seat and graphics in the BMW Motorrad Motorsports colors.
As the base model, the 2013 MY BMW R 1200 GS has been revised in almost every department, boasting improvements in its long haul capabilities, its power output, its agility, and, as its previous embodiments, in its off-road abilities. It comes with BMW Motorrad ABS as standard, a longer front/rear spring travel of 210mm/220mm, a bigger, 33 liters fuel tank, wide footrest, a bigger windshield and wire-spoked wheels, as opposed to the base R 1200 GS.
At its heart lies a powerful, air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque.
2013 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black
The 2013 MY BMW R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black addresses those riders who want an adventure bike which will stand out in any crowd, due to its blacked-out appearance and aggressive styling. The designers form the House of Munich have used three different shades of black and grey on this machine to give it an unmistakable modern look, which fits perfectly with the nature of this two-wheeler.
In the tech/engine department it sports the same air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse found on the base model, mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and it can produce 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque.
The 2013 MY BMW R 1200 GS has been upgraded in almost every department, bringing forth an almost new two-wheeler, which may be considered one of the best adventure machines on the market. At its heart lies an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cyclinder mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and now produces 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque, 15 horsepower and 5 Nm of torque more than its previous embodiments.
And the good news doesn't stop here. It now comes standard with E-gas (ride-by-wire), which leads to five selectable riding modes, Rain, Road, Dynamic, Enduro and Enduro Pro. In addition, BMW Motorrad Integral ABS comes as standard, as well as an adjustable windshield and a 8 mm higher ground clearance.
The 2014 MY BMW R 1200 GS addresses the more adventurous among Beemer fans, capable of taking on the rolls of a daily commuter, a weekend leisure bike, a long haul machine, as well as an off-road adventure bike. At its heart lies an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque. In addition it comes with BMW Motorrad ABS as standard, as well as Automatic Stability Control, that features two selectable riding modes, Rain and Road. In addition, it comes with an EVO Telelever and Paralever suspension package, which makes for improved cornering and comfort.
The 2014 MY BMW R 1200 GS Adventure addresses Beemer fans who want an adventure bike with superior off-road skills. As opposed to the base model, the Adventure comes standard with wire-spoked wheels, a bigger 33 liter fuel tank, a large, adjustable windshield and air flaps, as well as wide enduro footrests. Furthermore, it comes with ABS and Automatic Stability Control as standard, and features two selectable riding modes.
At its heart lies a powerful, air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder engine, mated to a six-speed transmission, and can produce 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque.
When it comes to versatility, as well as the unmistakable boxer sound and feel, it doesn't get much better than the 2015 MY BMW R 1200 GS. It sports an air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse mated to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque. It is one of the most versatile machines ever to be designed by the House of Munich, capable of taking head-on daily commutes, weekend leisure rides, solo or two-up, cross-country long-hauls, as well as off-road tracks.
It comes standard with a Telelever/Paralever suspension package, which makes for a plush ride, as well as improved maneuverability, and BMW Motorrad ABS. It can be fitted with a host of modern technologies, such as ESA, DTC, and three selectable riding modes, to ensure optimum power delivery and handling, no matter the road ahead.
The engineers from the House of Munich have taken a R 1200 GS, and fitted it with a number of features that seriously increase its off-road abilities, as well as the desirability among more adventurous Beemer fans. At its heart lies the same, air-cooled, four-stroke, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerhouse mated to a six-speed manual transmission, that produces 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque.
As opposed to the base model, the Adventure comes with cross-spoked wheels, two riding modes, Rain and Road, a larger, 7.9 gallon fuel tank and an on-board computer. In addition, it can be purchased with a host of accessories and technologies, and offers a choice between Olive Matte, Racing Blue Metallic Matte and Alpine White.
The 2016 MY BMW R 1200 GS Adventure has, at its heart, an air-cooled, four-stroke, fuel-injected, 1170cc, boxer twin cylinder powerplant paired to a six-speed manual transmission, and can produce a claimed 125 horsepower and 125 Nm of torque.
It also comes standard with wire-spoked wheels, a bigger 33 liter fuel tank, a large, adjustable windshield and air flaps, as well as wide enduro footrests. Technology-wise, it boasts ABS and Automatic Stability Control (ASC) as standard, and has two selectable riding modes.
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Suicide and the Rural ER
Rural patients struggling with mental-health issues often use the emergency room as their first point of contact with the medical system. But the next step in treatment is uncertain — or nonexistent — for patients without deep pockets.
HealthConnectionLife & Limb
By Edwin Leap On Oct 11, 2017 Last updated Oct 11, 2017
Hendrik Jonas/Ikon Images/Corbis
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rural residents commit suicide at a rate 55% higher than residents of large metropolitan areas, according to a study released this month by the Centers for Disease Control. The higher rate of rural suicide was consistent across age, sex, and, for the most part, ethnicity. Columnist Edwin Leap, a rural emergency room doctor in North Georgia, says the ER is frequently the first — and sometimes the only — health institution that treats rural people who are at risk of suicide. This column originally ran on April 24, 2017.
I saw Jake in the emergency department of Tiny Memorial Hospital—both names have been changed for privacy—at 3 a.m. a few months ago. He was a spitting, screaming, muscular mess of rage. A local deputy brought him in handcuffs after his family called 911. He had been at his mother’s home, banging his head on the wall and talking about suicide. He was drunk and cycling between rage and sobs. His young wife had left and taken their 2-year-old boy with her. Everything in Jake’s life was spiraling out of control. The cause of the split was not forthcoming from anyone.
The deputy knew Jake from high school. He knew that he was serious; a determined, stubborn young man. There were no charges against him. His mother, through tears, simply said, “Please get him some help!” So the officer brought him to us and offered to stay as long as needed to keep him under control.
Jake had never been depressed or suicidal before. According to his shaken mother, her son was a hard worker who made good money in construction. He could build anything and was sought after by contractors. But lately, since his family troubles, he had been missing work and losing interest in his job, fun, and even in food.
The night he came to the ER, he told his mother and sisters that if he could, he would just go into the woods with his rifle and shoot himself. His father had done that very thing when Jake was a boy, and his broken heart had never healed. He seemed better when he married and his wife had their baby. But with them away, all the loss and pain came rushing back into a man not given to emotional outbursts, a man who seldom talked about his feelings.
When he got to the hospital, I was busy with standard ER problems. Patients with chest pain and trouble breathing, a newborn with a fever and a diabetic patient with a seizure from low blood sugar. This is life in the wee hours of the ER. I was the only doctor on duty in the whole hospital; there was simply no time for the deep exploration of anyone’s emotional issues. Besides, Jake was too angry to talk. I ordered some lab tests and went back to moving patients through the department, knowing I could circle back.
Fast forward three days and nights. Jake was lying in the same room in the ER where he had been since his arrival. I had ordered some medications to keep him calm. He slept off and on. There was no television — TVs are beyond our budget. He sat alone with his thoughts, in demeaning paper scrubs. He couldn’t have his cellphone because it could be used to cause harm.
Rural America languishes not only without enough jobs, doctors, or hospitals, but also without adequate mental health care. Psychiatrists are rare as Sasquatch while the few functioning clinics are overwhelmed by cases of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and addiction. Rural hospitals have been closing and the remaining rural ERs have been struggling with financial and staffing issues, so most have little to offer patients like Jake except hours to days, to sometimes weeks, of deadly boring non-treatment. Even tele-psychiatry is often an expensive luxury we can’t afford.
(Centers for Disease Control) The chart shows the rate of suicide categorized by metropolitan or rural status.
Like most rural hospitals, Tiny Memorial Hospital has no mental health workers. Each day, we made calls to psychiatric hospitals, hoping to transfer Jake so he could actually get some therapy. A transfer, a psychiatrist, would mean that he didn’t lie in a bed with his depression fermenting, becoming more powerful with every day that he stared at the blank walls and ate the standard issue hospital turkey sandwiches.
As usual, the state psychiatric hospitals had no open beds. Jake had no insurance, so the private hospital an hour away wouldn’t take him without what was (for his family) an impossible payment up front. Sometimes it felt to me like the state hospital staff were obstructive. “Why don’t you repeat the labs and fax it all again tomorrow? I think he has an alcohol issue and we can’t do detox. I’ll look it over again later,” said the physician on the line. I was angry. But I suspected they’re as overwhelmed as was everyone else, trying their best to sort through untold numbers of people needing help when funding and staff are at bare-bones levels.
And it isn’t just young men. It’s seniors with dementia and behavioral issues; it’s narcotic addiction, children with uncontrollable anger, abused women and veterans with PTSD. (Many veterans come from, and return to, rural America.) The list of people in need is long.
This isn’t merely alarmism or anecdote. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that suicides have increased in America from 1999-2015, but suicide in non-urban areas increased at a higher rate starting around 2007-2008. People like me who work in rural health care have seen this trend firsthand.
According to the American Psychological Association, 60 percent of rural citizens live in areas that have shortages of mental health workers. Furthermore, in rural areas, suicide rates for children and men are higher than in more urban areas.
In addition, rural America’s mental health problems are growing worse. If the view from my 23 years in the ER is accurate, those problems are quickly overwhelming the limited support systems in place. The causes, like the demons in the Gospel story, are legion. Families are less connected than in the past, so the ages-old tradition of mutual support among kin and clan is diminishing. Education is sometimes poorly funded, and educational options limited, contributing to the economic and social struggles already faced by rural students.
Single-parent homes leave women and children depressed, anxious and financially disadvantaged and often leave young men without purpose or connection. Centuries-old self-reliance, born of family and necessity, is less and less visible. (And the answer from politicians is ever more dependency.)
Economic difficulty, often associated with loss of traditional industries like coal and textiles, leaves entire regions in crushing poverty where previously even a high-school dropout had possibilities. Drugs and alcohol have poured in to numb the pain, and in the process have filled the cemeteries.
When mental illness is present, the stigma of accepting help can be a serious impediment to treatment. Also limiting care are the mundane but inescapable logistics of transportation—geography, weather, distance and sometimes the price of gas can all reduce the ability of rural Americans to reach the care they need.
Finally, rural citizens are among the last cultural groups in multicultural America toward whom ridicule and disrespect are acceptable humor among educated and elite urbanites. As a West Virginia native, how many times have I been asked whether my wife was my cousin? If my family had their teeth? Endless jokes are still made about their (about our) unique traditions, entertainment, dialects, even way of practicing the longstanding orthodoxies of Christianity. Funny to some, but it takes a toll in self-respect, and literally adds insult to injury. Rural American life, at least in some places, seems to be spinning apart in places where natural beauty, family connections and proud history are juxtaposed with growing hopelessness and loss of longstanding resilience.
Amid growing challenges facing rural America, the answer to many mental health issues in those communities tends to be reduced to “You should go to the ER.” The result is that ERs are constantly losing bed capacity for medical emergencies as psychiatric emergencies go untreated. I have friends who work in facilities where having multiple psychiatric patients awaiting transfer, for weeks, is not uncommon. Obviously, it makes it that much harder to care for the ER patient with a stroke or heart attack, trauma or poisoning. Since rural areas suffer from a lack of mental health workers, and often even primary care providers, hospital emergency departments are often the only portal to mental health care rural citizens can access. And the noose gets tighter.
Fast forward again. Three days of effort and the only progress we made in Jake’s case was that rules were followed, observation documented, vital signs taken, boxes checked off dutifully. At that point, Jake just wanted to go home.
But he couldn’t. He wasn’t a man to cry wolf. He hadn’t, as so many others, come to the ER for years, saying he wanted to kill himself. He didn’t come with hallucinations or confusion. But everyone involved believed that if he left, he would die by his own hand. When I asked him, he denied it. But when his sister visited, he said it again: “I just want to go home and die.” She came to me teary-eyed and begging, “Please don’t send him home!”
Even if he had left, he probably wouldn’t have gone to the counselor every week, not until he made some more money. His family is strapped too. They had very little after Jake’s father died, and the economy in the area has fallen apart as textiles left. The standard ER doctor answer: “You should follow up with a counselor or psychiatrist,” is so much vapor. It can’t happen. It won’t happen. Not for now. I know that, so there’s no point deluding anyone with those instructions.
At last, a hospital bed opened up and I was able to get Jake transferred (again by police). In the regional facility he saw a psychiatrist and counselor. He was in group therapy for a few days and then he was discharged less than a week after arrival.
He was (as I knew he would be) referred to a clinic, and given prescriptions that he couldn’t afford. His mother later saw me at WalMart. She didn’t understand, she said, “why they didn’t keep him” — just as hundreds of other parents and spouses and children wonder when crisis strikes. But when we talk about “keeping them,” we run into issues of money and also of civil rights. We can’t just keep them when they seem, at least superficially, better.
Jake’s family, every night, still expects the worst—and prays fervently that he will outlive this trouble.
I hope the next time I see Jake, he is at the Oktoberfest celebration, carrying his baby and holding his wife’s hand, having received the help he needed. Or, if not, that he’s at least come through the hard part and wants to live again. I hope, desperately, that I never have to tell his family that his wish to die finally came true because mental health (especially rural mental health) was just an understaffed, under-funded, under-appreciated disaster.
For Jake’s sake, and for our country’s sake, I just hope we can figure out how to do better.
Edwin Leap is medical director of the emergency department at a small hospital in northern Georgia and a columnist for The Daily Yonder. This article was co-published with Politico as part of Politico’s special report on rural heathcare.
By Edwin Leap
Edwin Leap7 posts 0 comments
Opposition from Both Sides Stalls Ag Guestworker Proposal
National Monument Policy Fight Moves to Congress
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2014 will bring interesting mid-term elections | Tim Talk | Tim Hunt | DanvilleSanRamon.com |
By Tim Hunt
E-mail Tim Hunt
About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add... (More)
About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in addition to writing editorials for more than 15 years. I have served as a director of many non-profits in the Valley and the broader Bay Area and currently serve as chair of Teen Esteem and on the advisory board of Shepherd?s Gate. I also served as founding chair of Heart for Africa and have travelled to Africa seven times to serve on mission trips. My wife, Betty Gail, has taught at Amador Valley High (from where we both graduated) since 1981. She and I both graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, as did both of my parents and my three siblings. Given that Cal tradition, our daughter went south to the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in international relations. Since graduation, she has taken three mission trips and will be serving in the Philippines for nine months starting in September. (Hide)
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2014 will bring interesting mid-term elections
Uploaded: Dec 31, 2013
Happy New Year's Eve and I wish all of you the best for 2014.
Looking ahead to 2014, it will be a critical political year because of the mid-term elections.
For U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, it will mean working even harder than he has in his first year in office because he will face a June primary challenge from veteran state Senator Ellen Corbett.
Unlike Swalwell, who jumped from a first-term seat on the Dublin City Council to Congress by taking out 20-term incumbent Pete Stark in 2012, Corbett has a long history of elected service. She served six years on the San Leandro City Council and was a directly elected mayor before winning a state Assembly seat for six years and then moving to the state Senate for eight years. She is termed out next year so will have the advantage of running for Congress as an elected official.
The open primary creates an interesting dynamic for both. It is a solidly Democratic district (48 percent to 22 percent Republican with 21 percent decline-to-state) so both likely will advance to the general election as the top two in the primary. Assuming the Democrat vote splits, both elections will be decided by the independents and the Republicans. Swalwell benefited in his successful challenge of Stark by garnering Republican voters who could not stand Stark.
Now, he will have a record to run on and has attracted the support of Democratic leaders who are poster women for what's wrong with the Democratic Party from a conservative viewpoint. Swalwell has been endorsed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and people in his email list received a fundraising appeal from House Democrat leader Debbie Wasserman-Schulz. Presumably, those endorsements help with the progressive elements of the Democrat voters, but their support will raise questions for independents and Republicans.
Swalwell's success in lining up key party leaders likely was a factor in Ro Khanna's decision to challenge long-time incumbent Mike Honda in the 13th District instead of taking on Swalwell. Both races will be closely watched and probably will involve lots of money.
The deposed Stark already has said publicly that he will invest some of his substantial personal fortune in helping Corbett defeat Swalwell.
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+ 1 person likes this
Posted by tim, a resident of Vintage Hills Elementary School,
on Dec 31, 2013 at 5:16 pm
swalwell is a younger version of stark.
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Posted by chemist, a resident of Downtown,
on Jan 3, 2014 at 9:11 am
Swalwell is a great self promoter who has done nothing good for the country. He is proud of the 250,000 air miles logged to and from DC at taxpayer expense so he could pose for photo ops with firemen. Give us a break Eric.
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Our CSR strategy : partnering a sustainable economy
The introduction of a Group-wide Code of Conduct
With today's accelerating regulatory and social changes relative to compliance and ethical requirements, banks are faced with a real transformation in their business environment:
pressure from supervisory authorities is growing, reflected in an increase in penalties. These authorities are also encouraging banks to foster a culture of ethics and compliance;
the number of non-financial ratings agencies that integrate the existence of this culture in their questionnaires and company assessments is increasing;
the markets are paying more and more attention to these issues, a reflection of the major risks that ethical misconduct may generate for businesses;
civil society (trade unions, NGOs, professional organisations, etc.) is increasingly attentive to this issue and is taking a stronger stance on ethics and morality.
For the first time in its history, Crédit Agricole has introduced a Code of Conduct common to the entire Group, applying to the Regional Banks, Fédération Nationale du Crédit Agricole, Crédit Agricole S.A. and its subsidiaries around the world. The Code of Conduct, signed by the Group's executives and upheld by all the governing bodies, underscores Crédit Agricole's values of customer-centricity, responsibility and solidarity. It reaffirms them powerfully for a Group present in over 50 countries that conducts its business in often complex environments. The Code constitutes a reference document setting out principles on the actions and behaviour to respect in our daily business with clients, employees, suppliers, society and all the stakeholders. It is on the basis of this document that all the other charters, codes of conduct and internal rules at all the Group's entities and businesses will be implemented or adjusted.
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BRIA 19 3 c The Bush Doctrine
Truman's policy of containment came under attack by John Foster Dulles, who became President Dwight D. Eisenhower's secretary of state. In the 1952 campaign, Dulles called for "rollback" and "liberation" of the Soviet empire instead of containment. Once in power, however, the Eisenhower administration and all subsequent administrations during the Cold War followed the policy of containment. This policy relied on deterrence to prevent a Soviet attack. The Soviet government was told that an attack on any NATO member state was an attack on all the member states. The United States and NATO would have responded to an attack with massive retaliation. This threat deterred the Soviet Union from attacking. And the Soviet threat of massive retaliation deterred the United States from intervening in the Soviet bloc.
The Cold War ended with the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. During the 1990s, the rapid spread of democracy and capitalism in the world seemed to herald a new era of peace and stability. The United States emerged as the most powerful nation in the world. Its economy is far stronger than any other country's. It almost spends more on its military than all the other nations of the world combined. The attacks on September 11, 2001, however, proved that even powerful nations like the United States were vulnerable to terrorist acts.
After the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush brought forward a new American security strategy to prevent terrorists and dangerous regimes from developing, acquiring, or using weapons of mass destruction. The new strategy, called the Bush Doctrine, also pushed for the expansion of democracy in Middle East Muslim countries and elsewhere in the world.
Background of the Bush Doctrine
Near the end of the Cold War, Iraq (led by dictator Saddam Hussein) invaded its oil-rich neighbor Kuwait. The U.N. Security Council authorized the use of force against Iraq unless it withdrew its forces from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. The United States organized a coalition made up of its NATO allies and other nations including several Arab countries. On January 16, the coalition, led mainly by American troops, started pushing Iraq out of Kuwait. When the Gulf War ended, President George H. W. Bush (the father of the current president) decided to contain Iraq's potential military threat. He did this by stationing American military forces in neighboring countries. The U.N. Security Council issued resolutions calling for Iraq to disarm by ridding itself of weapons of mass destruction, and it sent weapons inspectors into Iraq.
In 1992, Department of Defense officials Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis Libby wrote a proposal for a new American military and political strategy. They concluded that containment and deterrence had become obsolete with the end of the Cold War. They also argued for three revolutionary ideas:
The United States must remain the world's only superpower, unchallenged by any other nation.
The United States may need to use pre-emptive force (attack an enemy first) in self-defense.
The United States will, if necessary, act unilaterally (alone) to confront and eliminate threats to American security.
This proposal sparked great controversy. President Bush ordered his secretary of defense, Dick Cheney, to revise the strategy and remove the points about pre-emptive and unilateral action. When Bill Clinton became president in 1993, he continued the policy of containment and deterrence.
In 1998, Iraq expelled U.N. weapons inspectors. Around this same time, a group of national defense critics began to publicly argue for the forced removal of Saddam Hussein because of his potential use of weapons of mass destruction. Called "neo-conservatives" by the press, the group included Libby, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and other members of the former Reagan and Bush administrations.
When George W. Bush became president in 2001, he appointed Rumsfeld secretary of defense and Wolfowitz as one of his deputy defense secretaries. Vice President Dick Cheney appointed Libby his chief of staff. Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, and Cheney formed the core of neo-conservative influence on national security matters within the Bush administration.
The neo-conservatives wanted to revive the strategy proposed by Wolfowitz and Libby in 1992. They also pushed for the United States to confront hostile regimes and "militant Islam." In addition, they called for the United States to expand democracy and capitalism throughout the world.
Following the devastating terrorist attacks in 2001, Wolfowitz and the other neo-conservatives pressed for an immediate attack on Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell, however, persuaded President Bush to first attack the Al Qaeda terrorists and the Taliban regime harboring them in Afghanistan.
In his January 2002 State of the Union Address, President Bush identified Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as an "axis of evil." "The United States of America will not permit," Bush said, "the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
On September 12, 2002, after a sharp debate within the Bush administration over what to do about Iraq, the president addressed the United Nations. He warned that disarming Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction (banned by the U.N. after the 1991 Gulf War) "will be enforced" by the U.N. or, if necessary, by the United States acting unilaterally in self-defense.
In early November 2002, the United Nations adopted a U.S.-sponsored resolution. It stated that Iraq was in "material breach" of previous U.N. resolutions and called for Iraq to immediately disarm and fully cooperate with weapons inspectors or "face serious consequences."
Iraq agreed to comply, and inspectors returned. In their time in Iraq, the inspectors issued three reports, saying that they had not found weapons of mass destruction, but also saying that Iraq needed to be more cooperative. Citing Iraqi lack of cooperation as a material breach of the U.N. resolution, the United States pressed for a new resolution to use force against Iraq. When it saw that the Security Council was not going to approve the new resolution, it withdrew it.
The United States decided to act with a "coalition of the willing" (a group of allies) to remove Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The coalition included Great Britain and 29 other nations. It did not include any Arab states or some NATO members, including Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, and Norway. On March 20, 2003, the coalition forces, consisting mainly of U.S. and British troops, invaded Iraq. The war lasted several weeks and toppled the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.
President Bush's actions in Iraq seemingly were based on a new defense strategy document titled "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America." The administration released this document to the public in September 2002. Reflecting the long-held views of Wolfowitz, Libby, and other neo-conservative thinkers, the new strategy became known as the "Bush Doctrine." Three of the main points are:
1. Pre-emption. The Bush Doctrine downgrades containment and deterrence in favor of pre-emption. This is the idea that in a world of terrorist organizations, dangerous regimes, and weapons of mass destruction, the United States may need to attack first. "We cannot let our enemies strike first," the National Security Strategy document warns.
According to the Bush Doctrine, rogue states threaten American security today. These nations are hostile to the United States and are developing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction. The new security strategy calls for the United States to stop rogue states before they are able to threaten or use these weapons against us.
The National Security Strategy notes that international law allows nations to take pre-emptive action against a nation that presents an imminent threat. It also states that the United States has long followed this policy. Critics agree, but say that the Bush administration is pursuing a policy of preventive war, not pre-emptive war. A pre-emptive war is one against an enemy preparing to strike right away. A preventive war is one against an enemy that will pose a danger in the future. The distinction is important, say the critics, because preventive war is illegal under international law. Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. states: "Dec. 7, 1941, on which day the Japanese launched a preventive strike against the U.S. Navy, has gone down in history as a date that will live in infamy. During the Cold War, advocates of preventive war were dismissed as a crowd of loonies. . . . Robert Kennedy called the notion of a preventive attack on the Cuban missile bases 'Pearl Harbor in reverse,' and added, 'For 175 years we have not been that kind of country.'"
In addition, say critics, American preventive wars may encourage other nations to justify attacks on their enemies. There are many potential conflicts in the world, some even with the danger of nuclear war—the Mideast, India-Pakistan, and North Korea-South Korea. One nation, seeing another as a threat, may decide to wage a preventive war. Since we employ pre-emption, critics argue that other nations could invoke the same principle and American diplomats could do little to argue against the action.
Anticipating the critics, the National Security Strategy recognizes that pre-emptive action in the past required "the existence of an imminent threat—most often a visible mobilization of armies, navies, and air forces preparing to attack." It says, however, that terrorists and rogue states will not use conventional armies and navies, but rather terrorism and possibly "weapons of mass destruction—weapons that can be easily concealed, delivered covertly, and used without warning." It argues, therefore, that "the concept of imminent threat" must be adapted "to the capabilities and objectives of today's adversaries." It further states that other nations should not "use pre-emption as a pretext for aggression." It stresses that the "reasons for our actions will be clear, the force measured, and the cause just."
2. Act Alone, If Necessary. The Bush Doctrine identifies methods to achieve its aims such as establishing new military bases in the world, developing defense technology, and expanding intelligence gathering. Diplomacy also has a role to play, especially in the "battle for the future of the Muslim world."
The Bush Doctrine favors the United States acting in cooperation with allies and international institutions like the U.N. to deal with threats to world peace. But the security strategy states that the United States "will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary."
Critics argue that the Bush administration reflexively resorts to unilateralism, acting alone in the world. They cite the administration's withdrawal from three international treaties in its first year in office: the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, and the treaty setting up the International Criminal Court. Writing in the World Policy Journal, political science professor David C. Hendrickson states: "Even when the administration makes an approach to international institutions, as it did in its September 2002 demands on the U.N. Security Council [over Iraq], it does so with the explicit reservation that it intends to pursue in any event its chosen course, thus impugning the authority of the council even in the appeal to it." By going it alone in the world, critics say that American power loses its legitimacy and America is perceived as a bully.
Supporters of the Bush doctrine respond that the administration believes deeply in multilateral action whenever possible. They note that many people oppose the treaties that the administration withdrew from. The ABM Treaty, they argue, was outmoded. They believe that the International Criminal Court was harmful to the interests of the United States, and the Kyoto Protocol was purely symbolic. As President Bush states in his introduction to the National Security Strategy: "In all cases, international obligations are to be taken seriously. They are not to be undertaken symbolically to rally support for an ideal without furthering its attainment." As for Iraq, they point out that this was not a unilateral action: The coalition of the willing had many member nations.
3. Extend Freedom. The third major element of the Bush Doctrine is for the United States to "extend the benefits of freedom across the globe" in order to build "a balance of power that favors freedom." The security strategy states that the United States should do this by championing "nonnegotiable demands of human dignity." These include such things as the rule of law, freedom of worship, and respect for women. In addition, the strategy calls for the United States to promote world economic growth through capitalist free markets and free trade.
This is the most idealistic part of the National Security Strategy. It is opposed by critics who consider the policy unrealistic. They point out that it took democracy centuries to take root in Western societies. Societies such as Iraq, which have no democratic tradition, cannot be expected to form democratic institutions quickly. They think the costs of nation building will prove staggering. Other critics think it's wrong for us to impose our way of life, especially our capitalistic system, on other people.
Implications of the Bush Doctrine
After the quick victory in Iraq, reporters asked whether the United States would next pursue military action against Syria, Iran, and North Korea. The Bush administration quickly denied it had any such intentions. South Korea's president called for the United States to exempt North Korea from its policy of pre-emption, because a war with North Korea would likely result in the destruction of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The administration refused this request, saying it would leave "all options open." But it stressed that it hoped a diplomatic solution could be reached with North Korea, which is building nuclear weapons.
How does the Bush Doctrine differ from the containment policy of the Cold War?
The National Security Strategy states that "deterrence based only upon the threat of retaliation is less likely to work against leaders of rogue states . . . ." Do you agree? Explain.
What do you think President Bush should do if Iran and North Korea proceed with developing nuclear weapons? Why?
Do you think that the Bush Doctrine will help or hinder the United States in its war on terrorism? Explain.
Constitutional Rights Foundation's War in Iraq: Web Links: Bush Doctrine
Should the Bush Doctrine be a part of U.S. foreign policy?
The class will research the article and other sources in order to debate this question.
Form debating groups of three. The first debater will argue the pro position. The second debater will argue the con position. The third member of each group will act as a debate judge.
Every member of the class should research the issue. A good place to get information is Constitutional Rights Foundation's web site: www.crf-usa.org. Click on "War in Iraq," scroll down to "Web Links," and click on "Bush Doctrine." Advocates should find information to develop their arguments and judges should find information to ask questions about.
In each of the groups, the debaters will present their arguments in turn. The debate judge will listen to the arguments, take notes, and ask questions. Then, the debaters will have a chance to challenge each other.
After the debating groups have finished, the judges will assemble in a discussion group with the other students observing. The judges will then discuss and argue their own views on the debate question. To conclude, the judges may want to take a vote on the question.
Bookman, Jay. "The President's Real Goal in Iraq." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 29 Sept. 2002. • Brownstein, Ronald. "Those Who Sought War Are Now Pushing Peace." Los Angeles Times. 17 April 2003. • Chaddock, Gail Russell. "A Bush Vision of Pax Americana." The Christian Science Monitor. 23 Sept. 2002. • "Chronology: The Evolution of the Bush Doctrine." Frontline: The War Behind Closed Doors. 2003. • Efron, Sonni. "Looking Past Baghdad to the Next Challenge." Los Angeles Times 6 April 2003. • Farley, Maggie and McManus, Doyle. "To Some, Real Threat Is U.S." Los Angeles Times. 30 Oct. 2002. • Gaddis, John Lewis. "A Grand Strategy of Transformation." Foreign Policy. 1 Nov. 2002. • Hendrickson, David C. "Toward Universal Empire, The Dangerous Quest for Absolute Security." World Policy Journal. Fall 2002. • Hoffman, Stanley. "The High and the Mighty." The American Prospect's Top Issues, War on Iraq? The American Prospect. 13 Jan. 2003. • O'Hanlon, Michael E. et al. "The New National Security Strategy and Preemption." The Brookings Institution Policy Brief #113. Dec. 2002. • Reynolds, Maura. "Tough New Strategy Affirms U.S. Threat to Use Preemptive Force Against its Enemies." Los Angeles Times. 11 Dec. 2002. • Rice, Condoleezza. "Dr. Condoleezza Rice Discusses President's National Security Strategy, Waldorf Astoria Hotel" [speech]. 1 Oct. 2002. • Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. "Unilateral Preventive War: Illegitimate And Immoral." Los Angeles Times. 21 Aug. 2002. • Tolson, Jay. "The New American Empire." U. S. News & World Report. 13 Jan. 2003. • The White House. "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America." September 2002. • Wright, Robin. "U.S. to Press a Four-Step Plan for Transforming the Mideast." Los Angeles Times. 20 April 2003. • Zakaria, Fareed. "The Arrogant Empire." Newsweek. 24 March 2003.
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CSL Behring Will Help Transform Biotech Education and Research with $4.92 Million Gift to Penn State
CSL Behring commits $4.92 million to Penn State's multidisciplinary Center of Excellence in Biotechnology
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — 19 September 2017
Penn State today announced that CSL Behring a global specialty biotherapeutics leader, has committed $4.92 million to Penn State over the next six years to create the multidisciplinary Center of Excellence in Biotechnology, and to revitalize the Shared Fermentation Facility, an engine for collaboration and innovation in biological training and research on the University Park campus.
Housed within the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, the Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology will serve as a unique hub of multidisciplinary teaching and research. The Center will leverage expertise from the Eberly College of Science, and the Colleges of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, while supporting students, faculty and their research. Preparing and educating students to enter the dynamic, rapidly growing field of biotechnology is the Center’s primary objective and most important function.
The revitalized Shared Fermentation Facility will be located within the newly constructed Agricultural Engineering Building, a 21st Century state-of-the-art facility scheduled for completion in January 2018. The facility will be divided into a fermentation gallery, a downstream processing area, a centrifuge, and batching and cold-space rooms, all nestled among classrooms, conference rooms, and workshop spaces.
With this gift, Penn State will replace outdated equipment with instrumentation that closely matches what is available in today’s premier manufacturing settings, elevating Penn State’s educational and research capabilities, attracting top students and partner companies.
“We are proud that CSL Behring recognized Penn State’s excellence in advancing education and research in the fields of biotechnology and biotherapeutics,” said Nick Jones, executive vice president and provost at Penn State. “With the Center of Excellence and updated fermentation lab working together, we can generate a pipeline of experts who will help to address health challenges worldwide, thanks to CSL’s tremendous gift.”
Globally known for its leading edge R&D and production of therapeutic proteins, CSL Behring’s gift will advance Penn State and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as transformative leaders in biotechnology education.
“These are exciting times in biotech, and Penn State’s Center of Excellence will help meet the growing need for world-class teaching and research centers,” said CSL CEO and Managing Director Paul Perreault. “At CSL we’re driven by our promise to protect the health of people with rare and serious diseases around the world. Supporting Penn State’s new biotech venture is a natural outgrowth of our promise and of our willingness to consistently foster innovation.”
CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader driven by its promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients’ needs by using the latest technologies, they develop and deliver innovative therapies that are used to treat coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema, inherited respiratory disease, and neurological disorders. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery, organ transplantation, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn.
CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX:CSL; USOTC:CSLLY), headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs nearly 20,000 people, delivering its life-saving therapies to people in more than 60 countries. For more information visit www.CSLBehring.com and follow us on www.Twitter.com/CSLBehring.
Gifts to Penn State from alumni, friends, parents and organizations are essential to the success of the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve the public good. To fulfill that mission for a new era of rapid change and global connections, the University has begun A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence, a fast-paced campaign focused on the three key imperatives of a public university. Support from private and publically traded companies will keep the door to higher education open and enable students to graduate on time and on track to success; create transformative experiences on Penn State campuses and around the globe that tap the full potential of Penn Staters to make a difference; and impact the world through discovery, innovation, and entrepreneurship. To learn more, please visit www.greaterpennstate.psu.edu.
Amy Packard Ferro
jawp13@psu.edu
Christopher Florentz
christopher.florentz@cslbehring.com
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Government announces funding for a world-leading Smart Mobility Living Lab in London
A consortium led by TRL, the global centre for innovation in transport and mobility, has been awarded £13.4m of the government’s £51m Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) test bed funding to create a world-leading, real-world test environment in London for the development of future mobility solutions.
The initial round of funding is part of the £100m UK CAV test bed competitive fund and is the first investment by government and industry through Meridian to develop a coordinated national platform of CAV testing infrastructure.
The consortium comprises world leading expertise from across the transport and technology sectors including TRL, DG Cities, Cisco, Costain, Cubic, Loughborough University, Transport for London and the London Legacy Development Corporation. Delivery partners include Millbrook Proving Ground and the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre.
The ambitious project will see the creation of a Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL) in London, based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and nearby Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. The Smart Mobility Living Lab: London will provide a real-world urban test bed in a complex public environment, capable of demonstrating and evaluating the use, performance and benefits of CAV technology and mobility services in an accessible and globally recognisable context.
The Living Lab will be designed to operate as an open innovation environment where innovators in the automotive sector, transport service and technology providers, SMEs, local and central government and research bodies, can come together to exchange ideas and develop technical and business solutions for the future development of smart mobility solutions.
Paul Zanelli, Director, Engineering & Technology at TRL explained: “Users of the SMLL will be able to collaboratively or independently test their ideas, technology and services in a real-world environment. This exciting project will see us working closely with industry to develop the evidence case for bringing new products and services to market, and with local and national governments to address the challenges and opportunities of future mobility. This will ensure we gain the benefits and minimise the pain of change.
“At the heart of the Living Lab will be continuous engagement with the public, to help facilitate a greater understanding of the implications of autonomous technology and enable them to have their say during this huge transition in urban mobility.”
Located in Europe’s only mega-city, London, the SMLL will have access to a critical mass of entrepreneurial talent in all the relevant sectors, from science and engineering to digital, media, insurance and the financial markets.
Rob Wallis, CEO, TRL commented: “For TRL and its consortium partners, the SMLL provides a unique facility to respond to the rapidly evolving and challenging developments in new mobility solutions.
“This UK Government funding, complemented by industry investment, establishes an integrated eco-system of real-world CAV testing capability, positioning the UK as a leader in CAV technologies and mobility services worldwide.
“TRL, supported by its partners, is delighted to be leading the SMLL, which will attract global investment, create UK jobs and strengthen the UK economy, while delivering a range of societal benefits for everyone.”
Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark added: “Combining ambitious new technologies and innovative business models to address social and economic challenges lies at the heart of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy. Accelerating connected and autonomous vehicle technology development is central to achieving this ambition and will help to ensure the UK is one of the world’s go-to locations to develop this sector.
“These projects, backed by Government, form part of a globally unique cluster running from our automotive heartlands in the West Midlands, down through our innovation centres in Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes, through to London, Europe's only megacity.”
The SMLL adds to TRL’s growing programme of innovation into future transport and mobility solutions, focused on (i) highly-automated, self-driving vehicles, (ii) intelligent, connected infrastructure and vehicles, (iii) low carbon technologies and electrification and (iv) shared mobility services. Today TRL, together with its partners, has an active portfolio of autonomous, connected, electric and shared mobility projects totalling in excess of £70m. These include the recently awarded UK HGV platooning project, GATEway, MOVE_UK, Atlas, Driven, Streetwise, Merge Greenwich and DRAGON.
Michael Hurwitz, TfL’s Director of Transport Innovation, said: “It’s important that we support and learn from innovation that could improve transport across London. Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to significantly change travel - that’s why we are working closely on this project to ensure the development of these types of vehicles is safe, environmentally-friendly and benefits the city, complementing our focus on walking, cycling and green public transport.”
Jennifer Daothong, Head of Strategy and Sustainability at the London Legacy Development Corporation, responsible for the development of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, said: “Working in partnership with London’s clean-tech industry, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is rapidly becoming a world-leading test bed for trialling new and innovative approaches to our future transport needs. We are delighted to be working with world-leading companies to provide the first of many opportunities for Londoners to experience this ground breaking technology for themselves.”
Councillor Denise Hyland, Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich said: “I am delighted that the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has been chosen as the location for one of the UK test-beds for connected and autonomous vehicles, and will be home to the Smart Mobility Living Lab: London. This important initiative will further consolidate Greenwich, London and the UK’s pre-eminence in the development and application of connected and autonomous vehicle technology. It builds on our success in establishing the Royal Borough of Greenwich as a leader in smart city innovation and our work to identify the opportunities that technologies such as connected and autonomous vehicles can bring, how cities will need to adapt, and our determination to put city authorities at the heart of the innovation debate.”
Scot Gardner, Chief Executive, Cisco UK & Ireland said: “Connected and autonomous vehicles will be the future, but at the moment they are a future that still requires exploration. The partners in this project have the right experience to truly understand what is needed in the real world. As technology and delivery lead, we are delighted to be part of what we believe will help establish the UK as a global innovator in this space.”
Professor Steve Rothberg, Loughborough University, said: “Being part of the SMLL initiative builds on our world-class research in automotive engineering and we are excited by the opportunity to develop the CAV technologies that will revolutionise how we travel. We welcome the chance to drive forward this significant agenda from our London campus.”
Simon Ellison, Costain sector director, highways, said: "At Costain, we are proud to be an industry leader in road technology and able to share our expertise and vision to deliver technology-led solutions that will shape and improve the way people travel. Government support on CAV testing is vital if we, as a country, want to improve the efficiency and safety on our roads so it is extremely positive to see the TRL-led consortium get the green light on this.”
Alex Burns, President, Millbrook Group said: “We are proud to be a delivery partner for the Living Lab project, helping to bring a multi-user operating model out of the controlled test track into the public environment.”
Rahim Tafazolli, Founder/Director of the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre said: “SMLL is a fantastic facility for development, testing and optimisation of 5G technologies for autonomous driving and connected vehicles. It will turn our advanced research conducted in the past few years into a real and operational system”.
For more information about the Smart Mobility Living Lab: London visit: www.SmartMobility.London
Caption: Connected and autonomous vehicles like these will be brought to the UK road networks by the Meridian consortium, of which Costain is a member
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« Study of a White Titan
Interview with Alexander Dugin »
Cosmotheism
John Carver
Ludwig Fahrenkrog (1867–1952), “Allvater,” 1906
Portuguese translation here
Sometime in the early 1970s, William Pierce (1933–2002) — founder of the white nationalist organization the National Alliance — was invited to speak at a private high school in Maryland. That he was invited to speak at any school is surprising. That it is was the Indian Spring Friends’ School, operated by Quakers is truly remarkable. Pierce spoke to his young audience about his belief that whites must form a strong sense of racial identity and pride if they are to survive as a people. After his talk, Pierce was rendered speechless by one young (white) man’s question: “Why do you think it’s so important for the white race to survive?” Now, one would think that Pierce, of all people, would have had a ready answer to this question. But in fact he didn’t — or didn’t yet.
The incident got Pierce thinking, and he came to the conclusion that he could not convince whites to save their race simply through an appeal to “love of one’s own.” No, whites needed a reason why their race should be saved. The race itself needed a justification; it needed to be justified to itself. That justification took the form of what Pierce came to call Cosmotheism.
He first set forth the thesis of Cosmotheism in a 1976 essay entitled “Our Cause” (in which he does not yet employ the term Cosmotheism itself). (Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent quotes are from this essay.) After a long lead-in (which includes the story of his visit to the Indian Spring Friends’ School), Pierce introduces Cosmotheism by first suggesting that it is a world-view of which all whites are unconsciously aware, just by virtue of being white:
We know it because deep inside all of us, in our race-soul, there is a source of divine wisdom, of ages-old wisdom, of wisdom as old as the universe. That is the wisdom, the truth, which we in the National Alliance want to make the basis of our national policy. It is a truth of which most of us have been largely unconscious all our lives, but which now we have the opportunity to understand clearly and precisely.
From there, Pierce goes on to speak of the cosmos as “the whole” — by which he means something more than the physical universe. “The universe,” he writes, “is the physical manifestation of the whole.” Nothing within the universe can be said to be an end-in-itself: not mankind, not the planets, nothing. Only the whole is an end-in-itself. Further, the whole is continuously changing and evolving toward more and more complex forms.
The development of life on earth from non-living matter was one step in this never-ending evolutionary process. The evolution of man-like creatures from more primitive forms of life was another step. The diversification of these creatures into the various races and sub-races, and the continued evolution of these different races in different parts of the world at different rates, have been continuations of this process.
Now it helps to know that Pierce was trained as a physicist. He earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1962, and subsequently taught for several years at Oregon State University before abandoning his academic career. Cosmotheism is very much a physicist’s philosophy (or, as we shall see, religion). In particular, Pierce seems to have been influenced in part by the “strong version” of a theory referred to by physicists as “the anthropic principle.” Interestingly, this theory first gained currency in the early 1970s — the very time when Pierce was looking for some kind of philosophy to ground his political movement. He continues:
The entire evolution of life on earth from its beginning some three billion years ago, and in a more general sense, the evolution of the universe over a much longer period before the appearance of life, is an evolution not only in the sense of yielding more and more highly developed physical forms, but also an evolution in consciousness. It is an evolution in the self-consciousness of the whole.
Essentially, Pierce argues that the whole — which he calls “the creator,” who is “self-created” — is evolving toward consciousness of itself. The evolution of new and ever more complex forms is to be understood as a process in which the whole is seeking to become aware of itself. In this process, the human race plays the crucial role, for it is over the course of human development that the creator (which, again, just means the whole) comes to know itself. This seems like an awfully strange idea, but it can be explained rather simply. Human beings are themselves manifestations of the whole — the result of billions of years of its evolution. We are ourselves of the whole. Therefore, our efforts to do science and philosophy and (in general) to seek knowledge of the whole constitutes the whole’s attaining knowledge of itself. The whole achieves self-awareness through us.
“Our purpose,” Pierce tells us, “is the purpose for which the earth was born out of the gas and the dust of the cosmos.” And our destiny “will be godhood.” This last remark adds a new wrinkle to things. If man plays the cosmic role of bringing the whole (the creator) to self-consciousness, this means that we complete God. And doesn’t that in a way make us divine beings ourselves? Pierce goes on to speak of our task as the achievement of “full consciousness of our oneness with the whole, achieving full consciousness that we are a part of the creator and that our destiny is to achieve the single purpose for which the universe exists — the self-realization of the creator.” And he tells us that implicit in this is our “recognition and acceptance of our responsibility for the future of the universe.”
But Pierce is not speaking of humanity generally. He believes that it is preeminently through white, European man that this cosmic purpose is achieved.
Our purpose, the purpose with which we must become obsessed, is that for which the best, the noblest, men and women of our race down through the ages have struggled and died whether they were fully conscious of it or not. It is the purpose for which they sought beauty and created beauty; the purpose for which they studied the heavens and taught themselves Nature’s mysteries; the purpose for which they fought the degenerative, the regressive, and the evil forces all around them; the purpose for which, instead of taking the easy path in life, the downward path, they chose the upward path, regardless of the pain, suffering, and sacrifice that this choice entailed. No other race can travel this path, our path, for us.
Pierce speaks of the tremendous responsibility and burden that following this path places upon the race. His is a cosmological vision of “the white man’s burden”:
The acceptance of our truth not only burdens us with the responsibility that other men have shunned throughout history, it bestows on us a mantle of moral authority that goes along with the responsibility, the moral authority to do whatever is necessary in carrying out our responsibility. Furthermore, it is an acceptance of our destiny, an unlimited destiny, a destiny glorious beyond imagination, if we truly have the courage of our convictions. If we truly abide by the demands that our truth places upon us, it means that while other men continue to live only for the day, continue to seek only self-gratification, and continue to live lives which are essentially without meaning and that leave no trace behind them when they are over, we are living and working for the sake of eternity. In so doing, we are becoming a part of that eternity.
Satisfied that he had found a philosophical basis for his movement, Pierce took things one step further and declared Cosmotheism to be a religion. In 1976 he founded the “Cosmotheist Community Church.” Nine years later Pierce acquired nearly 400 acres in Mill Point, West Virginia as a location for the National Alliance and his Cosmotheist church. He apparently tried to have the land declared exempt from federal, state, and local taxes on the grounds that it was a church. In the end, only sixty acres of the property were declared tax exempt, and had to be used exclusively for Cosmotheist church-related activities (the rest of the land was used for National Alliance operations).
Pierce continued to set forth his Cosmotheist ideas in three further essays: “The Path” (1977), “On Living Things” (1979), and “On Society” (1984). In these essays he adopted an oracular tone that sounds at times like the Bible or Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. “The Path,” for example, begins with the words “LIFE IS SHORT, our brothers and sisters. Must it also be empty? Must it also be bitter? Must its passing hold terror?” The ideas expounded in these essays do not greatly amplify those set forth in “Our Cause.” However, in “The Path” greater emphasis is placed on the idea of (white) man’s potential divinization through the achievement of knowledge of the whole:
Man stands between sub-man and higher man, between immanent consciousness and awakened consciousness, between unawareness of his identity and his mission and a state of Divine Consciousness. Some men will cross the threshold, and some will not. Those who attain Divine Consciousness will ascend the Path of Life toward their Destiny, which is Godhood; which is to say, the Path of Life leads upward through a never-ending succession of states, the next of which is that of higher man, and the ultimate that of the Self-realized Creator. . . . Eternal nothingness is the destiny of those who are spiritually empty. But he who has attained a state of Divine Consciousness partakes of the immortality of the Whole in the way of higher man: his body perishes, but his spirit remains with the Whole. (“The Path”)
This makes it sound as if Pierce believes in immortality of the soul. No doubt, on one level, he wanted some of his followers to believe that that is indeed what Cosmotheism promises. He makes it clear, however, that this “immortality” is actually achieved through the continuance of the race and its cosmic mission:
He who is a member of the Community of Divine Consciousness is not annihilated by death, because his consciousness is one with that of the Community. So long as the Community lives, his consciousness lives; and so long as the Community serves the One True Purpose, he who served that Purpose before the perishing of his body serves it in eternity. . . . The Community of Divine Consciousness is the Community of the Awakened, the Community of the Climbers of the Path, the Community of the People of the Rune of Life, the Community of the Ordained Ones.
“On Living Things” emphasizes the hierarchical nature of life; how some creatures — as well as some men — are more advanced and better able to serve the One True Purpose than others. “On Society” sets forth Pierce’s thoughts on the basic organization of society. Here, as one would expect, he emphasizes that the main role of government is protection of the race. And this calls for a certain ruthlessness. Pierce writes: “If a man teaches others that the mixing of stocks is permissible or that all men are of equal value or that human life has no purpose, then the Community shall make him an outlaw and drive him out” (“On Society”).However, the race is not protected as an end-in-itself: its future is secured so that it may continue to perform its cosmic mission.
Now, whatever one may think of Pierce and his political views, this is a fascinating, audacious, and strange theory. It is by no means original, however. Essentially, Cosmotheism is identical (in broadest outline) to the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel — right down to the racialist component. Cosmotheism is, in truth, a philosophical theory which Pierce chose to put forward as a religion.
But considering it first as a philosophy (and setting Hegel aside), what evidence is there to support Cosmotheism? Pierce, in fact, presents no arguments for the basic tenets of Cosmotheism. He presents no arguments for why we should consider “the whole” to be God. Cosmotheism does not rest on a set of arguments at all. It is a vision — a grand vision — which we are either captivated by, or we are not.
Thus, in the final analysis it might indeed be better to see Cosmotheism as religion rather than as philosophy. But here too there are serious problems.
First of all, Cosmotheism is really a form of monotheism, and it exhibits many of the same problems we see in other monotheistic religions. Chief among these is a highly abstract conception of God divorced from lived experience, and divorced from nature. According to Cosmotheism, we do not find God within nature (as we do in the paganism of our ancestors). Nature is “part of the whole,” but it is not the whole itself. Thus, the God of Cosmotheism transcends nature and the senses entirely. In this regard, Cosmotheism is actually a worse form of monotheism than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, since it presents us with a God completely without any personal properties. Worse yet, an “incomplete” God on whom we must put the finishing touches. This is truly a “God of the philosophers” and not the stuff of religion. It is not the sort of thing that could be believed in (let alone understood) by people of all walks of life.
Further, there are more similarities between Cosmotheism and the Judeo-Christian tradition than the simple fact that both are monotheist. Pierce’s Cosmotheism speaks of a specific race charged with a special mission vis-à-vis God. What can this remind us of except God’s covenant with the Israelites, the Chosen People? In fact, certain forms of Jewish Kabbalism actually claim that it is the task of the Jewish people to “complete” God’s creation through the observance of the Law. In recent times the Israeli writer Mordekhay Nesiyahu formulated a kind of secularized version of this doctrine, which he actually termed “Cosmotheism”! (I have no idea if William Pierce knew about this, but if he did I’m sure he must have found it disturbing.)
In sum, Pierce’s theory is very much in the Judeo-Christian spirit. It is monotheist. It sees a particular people as (in effect) entering into a special covenant with God and playing a role of cosmic importance. It has a linear conception of time: it raises the history of scientific progress up into the dimension of the sacred. It even promises a kind of immortality to the members of the race who accept this mission and take part. If we find the Judeo-Christian tradition problematic, then we must find theories like Cosmotheism problematic as well.
And, like Christianity, Cosmotheism is de facto a universalistic religion. Now, this will seem a strange claim since Pierce offers it as an ethnic religion — a religion for whites exclusively. But consider the following. Pierce would certainly have acknowledged that there are members of other races who have the ability to advance scientific knowledge. He might have argued that their numbers are small, but he would have conceded that they exist. In Pierce’s terms, such non-whites are therefore capable of playing a role in “completing God.”
If whites adopted Cosmotheism, eventually — far into the future — this point would be made. Eventually the pietistic teenaged sons and daughters of affluent white Cosmotheists would argue that it is unfair to exclude so-and-so from the great cosmic project since, after all, isn’t he exceptional? Hasn’t he proved himself to be a gifted physicist, or what have you? Can’t he help advance the self-consciousness of the Creator? And in this way what had begun as an ethnic religion would morph into a universalistic one.
But let’s now set aside the details of the Cosmotheist theory and consider first the remarkable fact that it was put forward at all. When we do, we find that Pierce’s Cosmotheism — for all its flaws — reveals something very unusual about white people. Pierce arrived at Cosmotheism as a result of his realization that he needed to offer white people a justification for saving their race. If we stop and think about it, this ought to seem very peculiar. Other peoples do not seem to need to “justify” protecting and preferring their own. They simply feel a natural affinity for their own kind and seek to promote the interests of others like themselves.
A race or ethnicity is simply a group of genetically-similar people. So is a family. Suppose that a man needed a “justification” for preferring his own family to others or for protecting his family and promoting its interests. Suppose that John Smith saw his wife and children in harm’s way and said “Can you give me any good reason to protect them? Are they worth saving?” Or suppose that when faced with the necessity of providing for their future he said “But why should I set aside money for my own family, and not someone else’s? Perhaps some other family deserves it more.” We would consider such a man to be oddly twisted and defective. We would think that he is missing something very important. And that something is, of course, a feeling of love of one’s own — something felt by most people in the absence of any “justifications” or rational arguments.
On one level, Pierce’s Cosmotheism and his conviction that it is necessary reveal something very singular about white, European people: they have a tendency to feel that they must justify their very existence, in one way or another. To be sure, this is not true of all of them. But generally the greater their intelligence and their capacity for abstract reasoning (especially reasoning in terms of moral principles) the more they feel that in order to love their own people and protect them, their people must be worth loving and worth protecting. Again, my impression is that this is not so true of other peoples – even the intelligentsia of other peoples. They seem to have a stronger tendency to identify with and promote the interests of their own people, just because they are like each other. This is, arguably, a much healthier mindset – at least if one thinks that the survival and flourishing of one’s own group is a value.
One wants to say to William Pierce, “If your mission is saving your race, why don’t you just encourage them to be like other peoples and love their own simply because it is their own? Why do you set forth this grand philosophical (or religious) vision — open to a whole host of queries and objections — and have everything hinge on that?” But the answer is, again, that white Europeans are different. Needing to become worthy of being saved, needing a mission that justifies us, is simply part of our nature. There is no getting around this. Arguably, it is a terrible flaw. Of course, one can also argue that it is a great virtue. Either way, it looks like we Europeans are stuck with it.
And so we can imagine Pierce responding to the above criticism by saying “All right, if not Cosmotheism, what then?” It is an excellent question, to which I have no answer.
Published: July 26, 2012 | This entry was posted in North American New Right and tagged anthropic principle, articles, cosmotheism, destiny, G. W. F. Hegel, John Carver, originals, philosophy, Pierce symposium, religion, white nationalism, William Pierce. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
Posted August 2, 2012 at 8:44 am | Permalink
Interesting essay by Revilo P. Oliver here: http://www.counter-currents.com/2011/07/william-gayley-simpsons-which-way-western-man/
He knows that all men and women are created unequal by the laws of genetics that govern all forms of organic life. He even considers the possibility that a religion may be an indispensable symbol and bond of a people’s unity, and he speculates about the likelihood that our people, if it does not become extinct, may in a distant future develop some believable and wholesome faith of which the form cannot now be foreseen.
They don’t make men like this anymore – but we can try.
Cosmotheism represents belief in progress on steroids. It is a millenarian intellectual construct.
Millenarianism, the belief in a future utopia, has been characteristic of various sectarian groups of whites throughout history. Judaism, too, is utopian, as are its secular off-shoots like Communism.
The other striking characteristic of Cosmotheism, noted by Carver, is its universalism. Universalism seems inherent in all forms of pantheism or panentheism, to which whites, or a large subset of them, are strongly drawn.
I am most familiar with this in the form of New Thought, developed by New England mystics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (but still alive today) influenced by Emersonian Transcendentalism. New Thought bears many resemblances to Cosmotheism, with the exception, of course, of any pro-whiteness. Its ideology is multiracial.
“The universe,” [Pierce] writes, “is the physical manifestation of the whole.” Nothing within the universe can be said to be an end-in-itself: not mankind, not the planets, nothing. Only the whole is an end-in-itself. Further, the whole is continuously changing and evolving toward more and more complex forms.
That is a universalist vision. Non-whiteness is inherent in it.
Achaean
Universalism is extremely difficult to write about in a few postings; still, it is the case that the West produced a scientific methodology which all the civilized cultures of the world have adopted. The ideals of freedom and the impartial use of reason in political affairs are Western but these ideals have not had the same influence on the East. Nevertheless, these ideals are universalist in their ambitions. So, while one can say that “non-Whiteness” is inherent in these rational and liberal ideals, in light of their implications, I don’t see how one can deny that Whites have not been the most universalist-seeking race. This is why I think Pierce felt compelled to offer a rational explanation for the preservation of the white race.
This does not mean that whites lack basic ethnocentric instincts or in-group tendencies. It means that whites, at the level of intellectual discourse, demand rationally based explanations, and free settings for debate. Rational studies on genetic interests, IQ measurements, are almost all Western. The roots of this go back to ancient Greece, and I don’t see a way around it. We want reasons; we need to explain why “reason” and “freedom” are uniquely white traits which cannot be transmitted to non-whites as if they were mere propositional values.
Mr. Sardonicus
Perhaps Pierce should have familiarized himself with the Eddas or the work of von List rather that trying to concoct a new religion, a la Scientology.
Jaego Scorzne
A new people: the eugenic aspect is the most concrete and practical. To make ourselves smarter, healthier, and more beautiful – better vehicles for the spirit to manifest. No great violinist would play a beat up old fiddle if a stradavarius was available. We know how – it’s a question of Will and the political and social structures that would support such a choice. And obviously some difficult moral choices and sacrafices from some.
But it must be remembered that the form side is only half the story. Many Traitors have been men of pure and high Nordic blood. The inner man must live up to his endowment. Morality and Character are not inherited. Alexander the Great was preparing to betray his culture when he died. He loved being the God King of Babylon. He hated the way his old comrades talked back to him – in Europe, the King was merely first among equals among the nobles. So he was raising up a young army of Persians. They were the new apple of his eye. Had he lived, he planned to take them west to put down Greece and ultimately to take on the rising star of Rome.
Another point: For Hegel, Western man cannot but feel/think himself obligated to offer a rational explanation for every belief he holds, and so, from this perspective, Pierce was correct that it is necessary to offer a reason as to why white people should exist within a land that is theirs. I disagree with Carver’s wording of this point, according to which, for Pierce, “European people: they have a tendency to feel that they must justify their very existence, in one way or another. To be sure, this is not true of all of them. But generally the greater their intelligence and their capacity for abstract reasoning (especially reasoning in terms of moral principles) the more they feel that in order to love their own people and protect them, their people must be worth loving and worth protecting”.
This may be Pierce’s reason, I don’t know, but if Pierce was influenced by Hegel, and perhaps implicitly from Pierce’s viewpoint, it is not that white people feel a need to justify their existence because they are smarter or think they are, or because they feel their people must be worth loving on the strength of their intelligence. White people have developed in such a way that they must freely articulate in a rational way whatever it is that they think is worth believing. They cannot accept or take it as given and natural, on the basis of their ethnocentric instincts, the need for white preservation, their minds must demonstrate to themselves that it is worth doing so. Pierce felt he had to offer reasons rather than simply appeal to the natural instincts of whites for preservation. Non-whites have not achieved a point of spiritual development wherein the human spirit demands free expression rather than mere obedience. The historical experience of whites has brought them to a point where they are required to offer freely articulated grounds for whatever it is they decide to act upon and accept as true.
Lars Pieterson
On the masthead of Dr. Pierce’s National Vanguard magazine it reads:
“Towards a new consciousness, a new people, a new order”.
Simply put, the onward and upward momentum of the White race. to godhood.
I am not familiar with Pierce, but if we were to link his Cosmotheism with Hegel’s philosophy, as suggested in this essay, but then pushed aside by Carver, it might be possible to offer a defense of Pierce’s claim that there is something singular about the way the white race came to a deeper understanding of the self-consciousness of the whole — without tying this claim to any notion of a Chosen People. It can be done through an appreciation of Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit, and the way this book is an account of the actual conceptual experience of the Western mind as it gains a deeper awareness of itself as free self-consciousness in the course of time. This phenomenology (= experience) can only be a narrative of the Western mind, since only this mind came to understand itself as the source of its own actions and thoughts, not in isolation but as a socialized mind belonging to a particular place and culture, able to recount its own experience in a self-conscious way, becoming aware of the entire sequential forms of consciousness it developed, to the point that it was able to break free from any extra-rational postulate, be it God’s, Nature’s, or Society’s commands. Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit should not be seen as an account of the experiences of the human spirit but of the Western spirit. The forms of consciousness exhibited in this book are all Western. Hegel was thoroughly steeped in the Western experience, and gave his mind over to that experience, reenacting its historical course within his own mind, in order to determine and bring to full consciousness its state of being at the time of his writing, which he called “absolute consciousness” — absolute in the sense that in his philosophy the Western mind had come to the realization that it was free activity, self-determined, aware of the whole trajectory it has undergone, and thus the completion of God as Spirit.
China’s consciousness is devoid of a developmental pattern and for this reason it is impossible to write a phenomenology of its spiritual history. The Judaic (or Magian consciousness) is dualistic, a struggle between opposites without a dynamic beyond the same eternal forces. It is static, whereas Western consciousness is dynamic and with a directional pattern — the theory of progress is uniquely Western — a struggle between opposing forces which undergo change in the course of time.
Yet his sytem was corrupted by Marx. And some say the Elite still use the dialectic in their plots against Western Humanity.
China has the I Ching system of yin and yang. The dialectic would be the moving line. Just food for thought – I’m not sure if this is an exact parallel. Jung thought very highly of it. And Ezra Pound of Chinese poetry: all the Western themes are there, but in a different “key”.
William Luther Pierce was a man of Western thought and inclinations. He seemed, to me at least, a remnant of high-culture, stuck in a bog of apathy and misunderstanding; even amongst his own peers. The ‘conservative’ element of his day looked at him, not up to him; this would have made them look impotent.
Then, even as now, you had your intellectuals and your activists, and only a very few were a combination of Both. Dr. Pierce was a creator, and he, unlike many of his peers, searched for much more than the mundane; this was both his appeal and gave ammunition to his detractors, as they sensed he was a ‘pie-in-sky’ sort of man.
Man, Western man, has searched in his own fashion, for these answers belonging to Life, as he perceives it. In his primitive state, that is, before the modern, western man has responded to life in different ways but, more often than not, it has been an instinctual aggression to the forces of nature which, as the case might be, caused him to fear that which would destroy him; that which threatened his survival. He did, regardless of the modern’s position that early man was ‘devoid’ of spirituality, that is to say, that ‘he understood his presence in the world’.
That Western man believed, really believed in something ‘outside’ of himself is manifest by every attempt he made to ‘record’ his presence in the ‘art’, ‘motifs’, ‘totems’ and relics which he has left, a legacy for us to partake in. Whatever the ‘belief’ was, is pure speculation on our, the children of these spirits, part. Whether this belief was seen, or performed through say, for instance, a tree, stone, river, or lake, it was and extension of what he believed. This belief was absolute. It could not be separated from him; it was all he knew. He ‘prayed’ and, if that prayer came to pass, well, it was a ‘magical’ thing; it became, in our words, mystical. He gave up his soul, willingly, to that which blessed him, and which had answered by delivering to him his ‘need’ or ‘desire’. This ‘mental’ state is the ‘healthy state’ of faith. This is belief, which denies all ‘outside’ reason. This is the ‘faith’ of a child.
This, then, is the essence of ‘all’ religion: Without faith, there can be no value. Alternatively, without value, there can be no morality, this is the purpose stated, or unstated of all of man’s religions. However, subjective reality dictates that ‘morality’ proper, as an extension of each individual or its racial components, the race-culture, are subjective by each racial experience, its history, its location/territory, and all the factors, which predispose a People to be who they are, even as we see them. So, the question is now asked, “Are there morals for some, but not for others?” If there are various degrees of morality, or at least a perception of morality, by which, precisely, is the morality, which we mark the higher-man, hence the higher-culture?
Dr. Pierce saw a correlation in science and religion; of this I am certain. He knew, instinctively, that outside of the day-to-day activities, of struggle and chaos, the balance of spirit was precious to him. Like his political endeavors, his Cosmotheism was akin to a spiritual meditative quality – all men who delve deeply into a struggle for the lives of their fellows is gifted with this type of duality.
Religion is for the Individual Consciousness, which created it.
I think Dr. Pierce understood this, explicitly.
Science, for him, gave him boundaries which, in the abstract, gave him unlimited access to the ‘limitless’ boundaries of his chosen discipline. Revilo Oliver was very similar, although castigating the ‘believers in Spooks’ he, as well as Pierce, saw the Race as its own mystical motif – that all thought and power came from a continuum of thousands of generations of ‘souls’ – these men, in particular, may have had differences of opinion, but both were very spiritual men in their own unique ways.
I like the term ‘race-culture’, which presupposes this continuum as a collective trans-migration of souls – a Celtic form of Reincarnation – but is Race specific; this is not hard to fathom, once one accepts the premise that we, all of us, are ‘particular aspects’ of our ancestors. As were our progenitors, the Seed which is left to the ‘flow of our people’ is manifested time and time again, with various and unique aspects spread to thousands, yet sympathetic to each other. Some men, for instance, have ‘traits’ and ‘proclivities’ which seem as natural as rain, without any significant training or instruction, this is the finely tuned spirituality of blood and bone which defines us all as a unique and important specie.
William Galey Simpson had a similar view based, in part, on his study of Nietzsche and Spengler. He believed that the White Peoples of the Earth should, and would, develop a ‘religion’ to take them into the future, but was quick to add that this inception could not be forced; if one forced this concept, it would be artificial in the most crass way: it would be Institutionalized.
I have become enamored with a body of works which details much of what we are discussing, and will offer these few quotes from Rise of The West: http://www.amazon.com/Rise-The-West-Frank-DeSilva/dp/1461001501/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343350962&sr=8-2&keywords=rise+of+the+west
Without the conflict of ideas, there can be no distillation. There can be no rising. In our milennia, this distillation may be summed up concerning the spiritual soul of man: “If it did not possess this greatness, then it could not become God even through grace.” This from the mouth of a truly Western thinker, [Meister] Echehart of Hocheim. This man was not the crass bastard of Africa, but of Thuringian nobility. True, this may be conceit, but let us assume that it represents the pride of personality rather than some baser instinct, for the premise is purely Western. True Western values, and that is the essence of religion, values, and is the belief that the nobility of the self-reliant soul is the highest of all values. This in no way absolves us of the ‘value’ of God; rather it reinforces the interrelationship between the seen and unseen. The tangible and the intangible.
William Pierce saw us all as a organism, living and breathing in tandem with one another, a body-politic which rose or fell with a synchronicity which could only be applied to the knowledge of physics; this could be seen in his sedate, yet revolutionary world-view, as he was both an intellect and activist – the Poet warrior, with the scale dipping towards the poet.
In those early days, white nationalism was gestating, and would not become sentient for a few more years, but Dr. Pierce had the luxury of knowing William Galey Simpson, and showed much in his cosmological outlook that, in my mind, could only have come from the delicate spirituality of WGS.
In relation to this, it is precisely ‘the spirit of Western Man’ which makes our struggle (both from a inner/outer perspective) of such pertinent and permanent value in our struggle:
“The last race to keep its form, the last living tradition,
The last leaders who have both at their back, will pass
Through onwards, Victorious.”
The words above of Oswald Spengler are worthy of our attention. He saw clearly the step-by-step process ineluctably present in the fulfillment of culture to be the ennobling of Man – to the Higher Culture.
Truly, the ‘ennobling of man’ was, in his mind, the highest mark of a truly great people. For one to understand the seemingly metaphysical aspects of ‘survival’, and ‘ennobling’, one must know empirically, as well as spiritually, the cause and effect of the mind of Western man. One, of necessity, must be animated with his [Western man] inner most mental concepts: his concepts of Religion; his concept of Identity; his Mystical apparatus – that element which has driven him ever upwards and onwards – all must be understood in its interwoven relationship with the whole of Western man. Hence, it is that Nobility, as a mental attitude, must be groomed and well founded in a higher Culture.
The subtle tissues of his spirit enveloped the ‘essence’ of what were his spirituality, his evolution of mental constraints, and his outlook on his surroundings. Primitive man was close to nature, as are all primitives, and was closer to a stricter understanding of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as it seemed to him: what nurtured him was good; what denied or hurt him was bad. Simple, yet not ‘simple minded’. Through the passing eons, these ‘feelings’ and ‘experiences’ were molded by his evolving system of technics, his very own creations that passed eventually into the regimen of Religion. This, then, was the Institutionalization of his very consciousness. (ROTW)
Did William Pierce offer us a solution? I don’t think even he knew the width and breadth of his cosmology. It is worthy of speculation however, and in the minds of these ‘searchers for truth’ will come a time and a place, in which we all can sense this change; when this change happens, I hope that those of us who have benefit of this historical glance at Pierce andothers, will aid us in formulating our own world-view and, perhaps, this will congeal:
What or Who, then, should the West follow. Should we follow Hammurabi, Moses, Jesus, or the Philosophers? Should the traditions of our northern Folk, the Eddas, be followed? Should the spirituality of the West be confined to any one Institution? Can we, in any event, reshape the technics of the past? What imperative should we, as a People, follow? Should our value be ‘of this world’? On the other hand, should we transcend the earthly and nestle, childlike, in the realms of ‘heaven’ and the ‘world to come’? After all, as has been said, ‘where a man’s heart is, there also, is his vision, his value, his importance’. This, then, the spirit of Western man. This spirit, the power behind all great cultures, has also seen its greatest Religions.
Good and Evil are symptomatic of every Religion, of every Culture. Hence, the question: What is good for our People? What is evil for our People? For some individuals, the search is for something outside ‘christianity’ – that substance, which embodied the original teachings of that first evangel, Jesus, and not simply the de facto relationship of the modern religious technic of the ‘church’ is their prime motive – still they search. If we seek a foundation by which to reaffirm our spiritual direction, our spirituality, what, then, do we replace it with? Can we, you and I, overcome ourselves? Can we, you and I, create our own ‘good’ and ‘evil’? This, of course, would be the great doing as Nietzsche put it. Do you believe, are you able to envision this actualization? This is the question: Are you willing to try? Let us, then, resist the evil, and embrace the good. Thus, to our rising.
In his own way, Pierce was a Creator; how could he not be?
In the beginning of the article, Mr. Carver prefaced the beginning with the assertion that Dr. Pierce and NA were White Nationalists – I would agree by degrees – and would also assert that in this early beginning, not only was Pierce among a few that saw a ‘future’ in which all of us would congeal and unify under a socio-political banner – what name or orthodoxy was not known early on, but ‘white nationalism’ was already invoking its own evolution and synthesizing its own eschatology. Dr. Pierce was a part of this, just as we all are.
In another quote from: http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-The-Twenty-First-Century/dp/1463562217/ref=la_B002MG6O0A_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343352469&sr=1-1 Dr. Pierce, in fact, is mentioned in the Dedication:
White Nationalism has its own narrative, the multi-verse of scriptural anecdotes, and belief systems, which range from Catholicism, Christian Identity, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Asatru, Odinism, Wotanism, Aryan Mysticism, Dualism, Vedic thought, Transmigration, Natural Philosophy, the doctrine of Metempsychosis30 , Cosmotheism and Theosophy just to name a few.
And white nationalists have been called small-minded and myopic!
The White Nationalist reeks of ‘religious’ ideas, but this does not necessarily disclose the nature of science or of spirituality in regards to Nationalism.
30 A term disclosed by Professor Revilo P. Oliver, when discussing the value of an Aryan Religion or, more precisely, the need for a strictly White-aryan religion; he remarked that: Schopenhauer drew inspiration for much of his philosophy from the fifty Upanisads that he read in the Latin translation by Anquetil Duperron (Strassburg, 2 vols., 1801-1802), of which he said (Parerga, II, 185), “It has been the most elevating reading which (with the exception of the original text) there can possibly be in the world. It has been the solace of my life, and will be of my death.” [See Note, (Liberty Bell, December 1986)] FLS
I have always like the concept of distillation.
It seems to me, that in the distillation of our Western ethos, even in certain ‘christian’ ethics, there is, fundamentally, a passion and spiritual disposition to our Struggle – and being a White Nationalist is about preparation, struggle, sacrifice; of Art and War. You cannot have one (Art), without a sense of ‘spirituality’, and one cannot have War without a sense of passion – in fact, both elements are about Love of something – and most of us see this as centering on our Race, our flesh and bone. This seems to me, to envelope all that Dr. Pierce has to say, as well as so many of our other thinkers here, in America.
Truly, we have men in this country who are known by their Deeds, and it is only right and proper that we pay our respects and acknowledge their ‘deeds’, in both the spiritual and physical realm.
The infighting and egoism of others pales in comparison to those ‘true-believers’ like William Luther Pierce.
Short question, quick comment, for there is much to be said in response to your analysis.
Faustus citing deSilva in blockquote:
“(ROTW)”
Question: Is that “Rise of the West”?
Faustus in blockquote:
I think this section works perfectly as the foundation for answer(s) to the questions asked by “Lew” in the “Paganism without Swords” thread; to wit, what is the most effective and appropriate vehicle for such transformation without the glorification of that which is merely egoistic, at the direct expense of carrying the Race forward?
I have argued that the Northwest Republic as the temporal bridge for the metapolitical order would best be served by a spiritual component manifesting as a religion, the Restatement of Christianity (the Greater Reformation of Christianity might be more appropriate). Within such an Order we could have, following the example of the very popular among your sons Warhammer 40K Universe, the various Orders, including the Orders Militant.
“Militant,” of course, in an “apple pie, strictly legal, sort of way.” (HT: Jim Giles)
It is the spiritual foundation of that militancy of Devotion and Service that might deserve attention.
Thank you for a well-written, well-argued commentary. I hope to do it justice in my later comments.
And yes, (ROTW) was from Rise of The West.
Looking forward to your commentary.
Faustus in blockquote, cites in italics:
William Luther Pierce was a man of Western thought and inclinations…. That Western man believed, really believed in something ‘outside’ of himself is manifest by every attempt he made to ‘record’ his presence in the ‘art’, ‘motifs’, ‘totems’ and relics which he has left, a legacy for us to partake in… This belief was absolute. It could not be separated from him; it was all he knew….
This, then, is the essence of ‘all’ religion: Without faith, there can be no value. Alternatively, without value, there can be no morality, this is the purpose stated, or unstated of all of man’s religions…
Faith/Value/Morality/Religion is one formulation; another might be that the spiritual forces wich operate on people of a Culture are seen through the Lens of “religion.” As the connection with the spiritual foundation (“Inspiration”) from which the Culture is derived fades, so does the Race, and the religion.
Dr. Pierce saw a correlation in science and religion; of this I am certain. He knew, instinctively, that outside of the day-to-day activities, of struggle and chaos, the balance of spirit was precious to him. Like his political endeavors, his Cosmotheism was akin to a spiritual meditative quality – all men who delve deeply into a struggle for the lives of their fellows is gifted with this type of duality…
The dichotomy between science and religion oes not exist, save to those whio choose to become limited by their egoistic materialism. Indeed, at one point, Heisenberg, contemplating a problem, experienced samadhi. To his credit, he did not become trapped in it, but continued to work on solving the problem.
This is very close to the beginning of “Imperium.”
Yet, what is being DONE to develop this concept to fruition? The “Cosmotheist” didn’t leave behind a priesthood to carry the Work forward. THIS would have been a perfect opportunity for Bob Mathews, and many, many more like him.
William Pierce saw us all as an organism, living and breathing in tandem with one another, a body-politic which rose or fell with a synchronicity which could only be applied to the knowledge of physics; this could be seen in his sedate, yet revolutionary world-view, as he was both an intellect and activist – the Poet warrior, with the scale dipping towards the poet.
And yet, what is left to carry this Work forward? Simpson sparked the fire within the soul of Pierce.
And THIS is the metaphysical foundation of the new, organic Natural Aristocracy of the New Order. THIS is a concept well worthy of much more discussion. Pierce was silent on this, of course.
The subtle tissues of his spirit enveloped the ‘essence’ of what were his spirituality, his evolution of mental constraints, and his outlook on his surroundings. Primitive man was close to nature, as are all primitives, and was closer to a stricter understanding of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as it seemed to him: what nurtured him was good; what denied or hurt him was bad. Simple, yet not ‘simple minded’. Through the passing eons, these ‘feelings’ and ‘experiences’ were molded by his evolving system of technics, his very own creations that passed eventually into the regimen of Religion. This, then, was the Institutionalization of his very consciousness. (“Rise Of The West”)
So, as the Culture developed, so did the lens of Religion through which the Culture defined the spiritual foundation of Reality. The question of Intentionality presents itself.
Did William Pierce offer us a solution?…. I don’t think even he knew the width and breadth of his cosmology. It is worthy of speculation however, and in the minds of these ‘searchers for truth’ will come a time and a place, in which we all can sense this change; when this change happens, I hope that those of us who have benefit of this historical glance at Pierce and others, will aid us in formulating our own world-view and, perhaps, this will congeal:
What or Who, then, should the West follow?..If we seek a foundation by which to reaffirm our spiritual direction, our spirituality, what, then, do we replace it with? Can we, you and I, overcome ourselves?
Can we, you and I, create our own ‘good’ and ‘evil’? This, of course, would be the great doing as Nietzsche put it. Do you believe, are you able to envision this actualization? This is the question: Are you willing to try? Let us, then, resist the evil, and embrace the good. Thus, to our rising.
A “Creator” who did not develop the foundation of his Creation past himself, much less his lifetime. The fruits of this died with him, and can’t we wonder why?
Historically, self-identified “White Nationalists” have been incredibly “small-minded and myopic.” Pierce did little enough to form an organizational – i.e.; EFFECTIVE – counterforce to this. Why” Surely, Kevin Alfred Strom could easily have been the Living Foundation of such an Order.
THIS ties perfectly into the “Paganism Without Swords” thread. Intensity – a focused, disciplined quality of Will – is required to true Create, and achieve the fulfillment of a unique Destiny.
Truly, we have men in this country who are known by their Deeds, and it is only right and proper that we pay our respects and acknowledge their ‘deeds’, in both the spiritual and physical realm. The infighting and egoism of others pales in comparison to those ‘true-believers’ like William Luther Pierce.
I’m not sure that last sentence came out the way you meant it. Works for me, though. Remember, Pierce, at the end of the day, was all about Pierce – no organization, no Spiritual Orders within “Cosmotheism,” nothing left after his passing but some writings, some American Dissident Voices, and some good people with good memories, all of which he could have done from a rented room in any number of places.
Nothing to stand after your passing, as a matter of your deliberate choice; if that isn’t a definition of “egoism,” I don’t know what is.
Now, as to The Way Forward…
Clarifying and extending (slightly!) one comment I made in my response to Faustus:
Fourmyle of Ceres in blockquote:
Surely, Kevin Alfred Strom could easily have been the Living Foundation of such an Order.
Modify it to:
“Surely, Kevin Alfred Strom could easily have been the Contemplative Aspect of the Living Foundation of such an Order, and David Eden Lane the Active Aspect of the Living Foundation of such an Order.”
Thank y0u.
It works as a Myth – and we need a Myth. I mean what other race seeks knowledge for its own sake? What other race dreamed of going into space and then did it? What other people would climb high mountains in Alaska in the middle of winter? Or any high mountains at any time for that matter? We are different and need a way to understand ourselves.
But will the Elite really believe it? Perhaps not, but if it helps people value our Race, then it is validated. It certainly wont serve as a religion for ordinary people – nor for spiritual seekers who want Experience or real contact with the numinous. So more is needed. Perhaps if a Teacher manifests, he could make use of Cosmotheism and “ensoul” it – as Christianity did for Greek Philosophy.
Both the Orthodox and Latin Churches make use of it, but different uses. Orthodox focus more on the moral and epistemological aspects of Aristotle. As far as using him as a spring board towards science, that was left to the Latins of Western and Northern Europe. Metropolitan Anthony, one of the great Orthodox Churchmen of the 20th Century, said that the spirit of the Gothic repelled him. The great spires of the Cathedrals to him indicated a search for God – or in other words, a denial of the Incarnation. But to us, it is an expression of our ardour and love for the yet unseen God. Yes Christ came but did even his Disciples see him as He was? Did not Christ say, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth itself to be taken by violence and the violent bear it away? Thus the union of the gentle Christian Spirit and the Promethean is affected. Our great buildings and achievements can themsleves be a way of worship – or not if built ugly or with the wrong motive or with stolen money or slave labor. But they are not wrong per se as the Metropolitan seemed to feel. His culture is different, that is all.
BasilX
Do whites need any metaphysical.religious beliefs in order to survive?
I believe that instincts,deep-rooted emotions ,pride are supreme.
Can you be indifferent to destruction and humiliation to you and your family just because you are white ? And you should consider as a family member any white regardless of their ethnic or religious background. That is how other races look at you as “white”.To be indifferent or even welcome your destruction means betrayal of your ancestors.Pride should be your succour.
Good essay. An essay upon an essay.
The original contains some disturbing ideas:
“We must think of ourselves instead as the beginning — the barest beginning — of a mighty army whose task is not to clean out a cave full of robbers, but is to conquer an entire hostile world.”
Because overreach worked out so well the first time.
“All matter, living and non-living, is ordered in a hierarchy: animate above inanimate, conscious above unconscious. The Urge is toward higher consciousness; the purpose of all material things is the implementation of the Urge, the service of the One Purpose; and the value of each thing is its potential for serving the One purpose.”
And this is frankly, immoderately, non-Darwinian. There is no living species that is not adapted to its natural environment, that being the purpose of adaptation. The built environment of man is what alienates species, starting with its maker. There is certainly no proof that consciousness deserves to be capitalized as the supreme urge.
I never read Pierce. The more I do, the more I find him shockingly bad. I prefer Matt Nuenke: http://www.neoeugenics.net/
podslova
WP was too smart and rational to really believe in Cosmotheism. He used the idea as a metaphor, but most WNs aren’t intelligent enough to grasp that aspect of his theory and sermons.
Only a racist physicist could come up with Cosmotheism, which adds to its merit, not detracts. Racism needs redefinition as something Neitzschie would endorse- it’s noble, dignified, and given who is arrayed against it, thoroughly aristocratic.
Christian racism is pretty good, too. We believe that Jesus died for our sins, which means we are sinners. We aren’t supermen, but we do hope for a supreme future.
The author does a good job of critiquing it from the standpoint of paganism, so allow me to offer a few from the point of view of Tradition.
First, of course, is his point of view of the Supreme Reality, what he calls the Cosmos. He seems to view this reality from a “developing” viewpoint, which seems limited. Tradition attempts to go beyond that which is “becoming”, and achieve liberation through realizing the eternal, or Being. Scientifically speaking, it appears that, at the highest dimensional levels, we conceive of a reality now where all possible universes are already manifest. This seems to coincide well with the doctrine expressed in Eastern Orthodoxy that God is “pure action”, that there is no “potential”. Guenon talked about the “states of being” in humans which were different ways that this Supreme Reality manifested, which we can use to achieve inner states better reflecting this Reality. Though there is some similarity here between Cosmotheism and Tradition, the former’s concentration on a changing reality means that it does not go far enough and is thus a regression with respect to Traditional metaphysics.
Moreover, there is the racial component. The idea that the white race alone is the way through which the Cosmos achieves this development, whether or not Pierce himself really believed this, appears nonsensical on its face. Presumably, most on here would have no problem agreeing that Yukio Mishima, Sun Tzu, and Suleiman the Magnificent are rather more “complex”, than a white man who spends his days drinking and brawling and living on welfare. The author has already pointed this out rather well. Tradition, of course, is also something in which anyone capable of any race can take part. It is by definition “universal” in being absolutely True, even if the white race or humanity or even life as a whole did not exist. Hence, the spiritual aspect of race that Evola promoted. That said, most Traditional faiths, if not all, have recognized the multiplicity of races and peoples as good (even Islam).
A healthy self-love, self-respect and ethnocentrism is all that is needed, in my view, for the European peoples to walk the appropriate middle path between ethnic masochism on the one hand, and fanatical self-worship on the other. Europeans can and must love themselves, but by that love strive to improve themselves as individuals, nations and Europeans, and realize that this love is perfectly consistent with working with and appreciating the physical, cultural and spiritual production of other races.
Merely asking the question, why should the White race be saved, even if little more than an example of adolescent show-off contrariness, indicates that something is wrong.
I recently did a thought experiment. The US population is currently 65% White, 13% Black, 15% Latino, 5% Asian, 1%Amerindian and maybe 5% Other.
I started combining and, more importantly, subtracting, these groups the list and speculating on the effects. If you want to know why the White race needs saving, take the 65% out of the US equation and leave the country to the remaining 1/3: Blacks, Latinos, etc.
Instant 3rd world.
So our race’s continued existence depends upon we serve to make the United States a First Wold country? For whose benefit, exactly?
Well, mine. I don’t want to live in a 3rd world country.
Seriously, though, it was a simple and concrete example that might have provoked Dr Pierce’s young inquirer to answer his own question at his level.
I am generally in favor of using this quick-and-dirty method in a wide variety of settings to help assess the worth of a wide variety of things: remove it from the equation and what happens?
I understand, but I wonder if you are not committing yourself unknowingly to a false moral premise.
The young white man had been brainwashed into accepting the demise of his own race.
This is not normal. And thus there is no need to theorize a justification for our continued existence.
The theory we have to come up with do is not why we should exist, the theory we need to find is why it was possible to brainwash this young man into racial suicide.
Shortly before he died Pierce himself nailed the most important part of coming to understand why people can be brought to racial suicide. Pierce wrote (or said, I can’t remember if I read this or listened to him) that he had come to the conclusion that it was normally necessary for the vast majority of the people in any culture to subconsciously seek to be politically correct. In order to be united against the external world a troop of baboons has to fear the anger of their own group and their own leader more than they as individuals fear the fangs of an opposing troop when fighting over a drying water hole.
As George Patton put it; “I’m a better general because I’m the best ass kicker in the U.S. Army. My men fear me more than they fear the enemy.”
And individuals in a society need to fear their fellows more than they fear the enemy. That is what makes the Jewish P.C. tactics work. It’s that basic human instinct to try to be “average” in their thinking. Without most people desperately wanting to be normal and accepted you couldn’t have political correctness. You couldn’t have a culture of race suicide.
Remember the Jones Town Massacre in Guyana in 1978? Jim Jones illustrated for us how cultural brainwashing can even control people to the point they will voluntarily commit literal mass suicide, let alone race suicide.
Hegel was a conscious White Supremacist and not just a German Supremacist – and thus only an indirect advocate for the White Race? Only in these degenerate times could someone imagine that a non White could be a German.
Love for ourselves was once quite common. As one of the Greeks said, no man loves his city because it is great, but because it is his. English Literature is full of similar sentiment. When Chrisitianity became worldly instead of supernatural, we tried to assume the role that God once had and the lesser loves were banished by the Universal Agape. Of course, some reveled in the subhuman but even those who abstained adored the Negro as the “real thing” and Whites as mere abstractions compared to Him. Obama, as half White and half Black is the Christ, half human and half divine.
But I grant you we are strangely susceptible to the lure of the Universal. And we are obviously the most Promethean Race by far. The two seem to go together in us. So Pierce’s endeavor makes sense on a certain level. But will it serve? Doubt it since anyone smart enough to need it will see it for what it is. And it is too cold to serve as a religion for most people below that level. In any case, the idea that one create a religion negates the idea of a religion as something beyond or above man. I’ll stick with the Great Tradition – even though none of the Great Paths serves the White Race per se. Perhaps Orphism and Zoroastrianism once did, but the first is gone and the second moribund and for others now. We must face this bravely and try to incorporate our own paganism into our lives – even while admitting that it is insufficient. We can only hope and pray for our own Teacher someday. The Homeless Jack stories by Millard feature this and make them a worthy contribution ot Cosmotheism.
The East Asians have the Universal Ideal as well in the figure of the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. Thus the ideal of Agape is well established but without the Promethean. The East Asian is saved by an intense practicality and natural love of his own. The idea of flooding his nation with aliens in order to “save” them would never occur to a Zen Master anymore than to a traditonal Catholic Saint. So if the two religons are both universal, why do we fall and not them? Two possibilities: they are just naturally more ethnocentric and/or our religon has been tampered with by aliens and alien ideas.
East asians are hyper-ethnocentric, but I’ve seen no evidence of pan-asian racial consciousness amongst them, except perhaps some of those living in America. The Japanese for instance take no particular interest in Korean or Chinese survival.
Perhaps whites are the same — I’m sure you could get many millions of people to agree that Germans or Russian or French people “ought to survive.” “White race” survival by contrast only gets a few thousand.
Come to think of it, what peoples truly have “racial” as opposed to “ethnic” or “tribal” consciousness? The people who have it seem to be blacks living in white lands, and whites and asians living unpleasantly in the midst of large numbers of blacks.
A theory of why there is ethnocentrism comes from social-biology. The rational for preferring to mate with and work for the well being of your ethnic group is practically self-evident. To the extent that your ethnic neighbors share your genes (“Love thy neighbor as thyself”) helping your neighbors children thrive helps your genes survive. To the extent that your mate’s genes are similar to yours both you and your mate get a double genetic survival benefit from nurturing you common child.
This explains why the small “family nations” Europe were ethnocentric. Even though they were all white there where minor differences in gene frequencies that gave rise to the ethnocentrism. So Danes lived among and mutually assisted other Danes, Italians ditto, Poles ditto.
There probably is no such thing as “racism” in this same sense. Our ethnocentric instincts grew out of competition between small groups living in close enough proximity to be in genetic competition, but the proximity also implies they were genetically much closer than the three major races are today. Since races developed mainly through lack of contact almost by definition racism couldn’t have evolved by the processes of social-biology. Only ethnocentrism could have evolved that way.
But if you recognize that someone is not of your race that means they damn well aren’t a fellow Dane. So you have “racism” which might be termed ethnocentrism that is being driven into near panic mode by the mind boggling, instinct boggling, in you face differences.
Richard Wright, a black Marxist intellectual, noted when he traveled to fascist Spain in the 1950’s that the Spanish, in cities and rural villages alike, seemed to “have no racial consciousness whatsoever”, unlike the white Spanish upper classes in South America who saw their European (as opposed to just Spanish) heritage as more essential to their identity. There’s definitely a sense in which any group identity requires an “other” to oppose itself to. Bavarian to Prussian, German to Russian, white European to black African, human to animal, living to non-living. This is probably why it is easier now, in a globalized world with large migration patterns, to talk about a European unity than it has been since the time of Christendom.
“Love for ourselves was once quite common. As one of the Greeks said, no man loves his city because it is great, but because it is his. English Literature is full of similar sentiment.“
This is an important point. The reason it was common was because it was natural. It never needed to be rationally explained before. We never had and never will have an inherent white trait that demands we justify our own existence to ourselves.
The problem is not a white defect, the problem is Jewish cultural brain washing (assisted by the usual white liberal suspects.)
With enough cultural control you can persuade people to do far more than just indulge in a slow process of racial suicide that will end in racial death a couple of centuries hence. With enough cultural control you can literally make people commit to their own immediate personal suicide.
Learn from the Jones Town Massacre, Guyana 1978.
Near the end of the tape, the white survivor quotes Jones “America will see that 900 BLACK people (my emphasis) would rather die than come back to racist America.”
“Witness to Jonestown Massacre”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DtxJKqoyos
The vulnerability to fatal brain washing is not a white defect. It is a human trait.
If out of what I suspect is a sneaky secret racial pride we really believe whites are the only ones who are truly universalistic, we will make a potentially fatal mistake. We will waste effort trying to “prove” to other whites that we have a racial right to exist.
We don’t need fancy logic, we need simple counter propaganda. We need “practical politics.” KISS.
To quote Captain Martin in “Patriot”
Benjamin:”And perhaps that’s his weakness.” Gabriel:”Sir?” Benjamin:”Pride. Pride’s a weakness.” Jean:”Personally I would prefer stupidity.” Benjamin:”Pride will do.”
Read more at http://www.hark.com/clips/whvkxgphhj-prides-a-weakness#JPvKUuWCvJPk3lat.99
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Wild People: John Muir
Scottish-born environmentalist, naturalist, author and glaciologist John Muir was one of the world’s earliest and most influential conservationists
By Roly Smith
John Muir, the Scots-born pioneer environmentalist, has more protected areas, public parks and schools named after him in California than any other person. The immigrant Scot was voted “the greatest Californian” in 1976, and you can’t travel far in the Golden State without coming across his name and rugged, white-bearded profile, which even features on the state’s quarter dollar coin.
Scotland’s best walks
Guide to Scottish islands
But Muir, one of the world’s earliest and most influential conservationists, is barely recognised in the country of his birth. The John Muir Trust in his native Scotland does sterling work in acquiring and protecting wild land, and he is commemorated in a visitor centre in his birthplace of Dunbar on the North Sea coast. But most British people don’t have a clue to who this hugely influential figure was.
John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland ©Getty
Yosemite spell
The soaring granite domes, spires and walls of Yosemite, described by Muir as “Nature’s cathedral”, were his spiritual home. The mile-deep valley in the Sierra Nevada, 140 miles east of San Francisco, captivated Muir from the moment he first set foot in it in 1868, as a rather reluctant sheep herder. Predicting the modern problem of overgrazing, he memorably dubbed sheep “hoofed locusts”.
“He often went out with just a crust of bread and slept out for nights on end under the stars”
But from the moment he arrived, he began campaigning for its protection as a national park. Yosemite was already America’s first state-protected area, after President Lincoln signed a bill ceding it to the state of California “for public use, resort and recreation” as the Civil War raged in 1864. But Muir pushed for greater protection, and his ambition for Yosemite to become a national park was finally achieved in 1890 when it was signed into law by President Harrison.
Yosemite was Muir’s spiritual home; he called it “Nature’s cathedral” ©Getty
Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838, the son of an evangelical Presbyterian who immigrated to the Wisconsin frontier in 1849, and he never lost that soft, Lowland Scots burr. Later in life Muir recalled: “When I was a boy in Scotland I was fond of everything that was wild… I loved to wander in the fields to hear the birds sing, and along the shore to gaze and wonder at the shells and the seaweeds, eels and crabs in the pools when the tide was low; and best of all to watch the waves in awful storms thundering on the black headlands and craggy ruins of old Dunbar Castle.”
Walking to wilderness
After making his name in Wisconsin as a youthful inventor (and nearly losing the sight in one eye after a circular saw accident), Muir followed his boyhood love of the countryside, and embarked on a 1,000-mile journey on foot from Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico in 1867.
Muir embarked on a 1,000-mile journey on foot from Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico in 1867 ©Getty
He eventually found his way to California, and spent the next decade among the rocks, trees and flowers of his beloved Yosemite. Near Yosemite Falls he built himself a $3 shack made of sugar pine over a stream, as he liked to hear the sound of running water. Tree frogs in an archway of ferns “made fine music in the night” while he lay in his hammock.
His exploration of the valley was marked by his stoical constitution – he often went out with just a crust of bread and slept out for nights on end under the sparkling Sierra skies– and by his extraordinary daring.
His derring-do exploits included shuffling out on a three-inch-wide ledge towards the very lip of the 1,430-foot Upper Yosemite Falls on a moonlit night, just to get a closer view. “The effect was enchanting” he wrote. “Fine savage music sounding above, beneath, around me; while the moon… now darkly veiled or eclipsed by the rush of thick-headed comets, now flashing through openings between their tails. I was in fairyland between the dark wall and the wild throng of illumined waters.”
“Fine savage music sounding above, beneath, around me,” Muir wrote about Upper Yosemite Falls ©Getty
On another occasion, he deliberately took a dizzying ride in the top of a Douglas fir to experience a fierce windstorm. “The slender tops fairly flapped and swished in the passionate torrent, bending and swirling backward and forward, round and round, tracing indescribable combinations of vertical and horizontal curves, while I clung with muscles firm braced, like a bobolink (an American blackbird) on a reed.”
After the storm, detailed in Muir’s Mountains of California (1894), he commented on the interconnectedness of nature: “We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men” and “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
Pioneer conservationist John Muir (right) stands with US President Theodore Roosevelt atop Overhanging Rock on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park,1906. Yosemite Falls are in the background
Grizzled explorer
Among his other Yosemite adventures was being tossed about on the valley floor during the great 1872 earthquake; surviving a “gloriously exciting” avalanche in a Yosemite side canyon, and actually charging a large grizzly bear – so he could study how it moved. Muir was also the first to conclusively prove that Yosemite had been carved out by the glaciers of the last Ice Age 15,000 years ago. Until then, accepted geological wisdom thought that the valley was formed by a huge rift fault.
Muir’s most notable Yosemite visitor was perhaps President Theodore Roosevelt, who joined him for a three-night camping trip in 1903. It was possibly the defining moment when the concept of “America’s best idea” of national parks entered the American psyche. Roosevelt became one of the strongest proponents of national parks, creating five during his presidency and extending Yosemite.
Muir married Louie Wanda Strentzel in 1880 and ran the family fruit farm at Martinez, north of San Francisco for five years, where they brought up their two daughters, Wanda and Helen. Muir constantly pined for his beloved mountains, and was encouraged by his lifelong friend and mentor Jeanne Carr to laboriously write up his memories in what he called his “scribble den” on the top floor. He continued to campaign for the preservation of America’s scenic heritage, founding the influential environmental pressure group, the Sierra Club, in 1892.
But Muir failed to stop the flooding of the Hetch Hetchy Valley for a reservoir by fast-expanding San Francisco in 1913, until his death a year later of a broken heart and pneumonia.
National parks have often been described as ‘America’s best idea’, and John Muir is credited as their father
Fountains of life
Yosemite will always remain Muir’s lasting monument. Although in high summer the valley floor is thronged with tourists, crammed with shopping outlets, and blighted by a notorious one-way traffic system, if you follow Muir’s advice you can still find that, as Muir put it, “going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”
Photos: Alamy/ Getty Images
Wild people
Wild People: Lucy Walker, Victorian mountain climber
Roger Deakin: writer and wild swimmer
Wild People: Nan Shepherd
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Flyers cut ties with Kate Smith recordings after 'offensive lyrics' come to light
The Flyers say they are removing Kate Smith's recordings of "God Bless America" from their library after racist lyrics from the 1930s came to light.
Flyers cut ties with Kate Smith recordings after 'offensive lyrics' come to light The Flyers say they are removing Kate Smith's recordings of "God Bless America" from their library after racist lyrics from the 1930s came to light. Check out this story on courierpostonline.com: https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/sports/nhl/flyers/flyer-files/2019/04/19/flyers-cut-ties-kate-smith-recordings-due-offensive-lyrics/3518478002/
Dave Isaac, NHL writer Published 9:56 a.m. ET April 19, 2019 | Updated 6:08 p.m. ET April 19, 2019
In this May 13, 1975, file photo, Kate Smith sings "God Bless America" before the Flyers played the New York Islanders in the playoff semifinals. (Photo: AP)
More than 30 years after the death of Kate Smith, who famously sang “God Bless America” before Flyers games, the team has cut ties with recordings of the singer they used to play on the scoreboard as a good-luck charm.
The Flyers followed the footsteps of the New York Yankees, who have also stopped using recordings of Smith singing “God Bless America,” after a report from the New York Daily News highlighted a racist song that was a top-20 hit in 1931.
Smith’s recording of a song entitled “That's Why Darkies Were Born,” included lyrics “Someone had to pick the cotton, someone had to pick the corn, someone had to slave and be able to sing.”
Flyers cover Kate Smith statue, cut her recordings after 'offensive lyri...
Flyers fan Ken Giusini of Philadelphia takes a selfie next to a covered statue of Kate Smith that stands outside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Friday, April 19, 2019. The Flyers covered the statue of the singer and cut ties with her recordings of “God Bless America,” the team used to play on the scoreboard as a good-luck charm, after several songs performed by Smith containing offensive lyrics have come to light. Giusini stated that he is totally appalled with the decision to cover the statue of Smith. Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer
A covered statue of Kate Smith stands outside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Friday, April 19, 2019. The Flyers covered the statue of the singer and cut ties with her recordings of “God Bless America,” the team used to play on the scoreboard as a good-luck charm after several songs performed by Smith containing offensive lyrics have come to light. Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer
Flyers fan Ken Giusini of Philadelphia takes a photo of a covered statue of Kate Smith that stands outside the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Friday, April 19, 2019. The Flyers covered the statue after recordings of the singer containing offensive lyrics have come to light. Giusini stated that he is totally appalled with the decision to cover the statue of Smith. Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer
The Flyers released the following statement Friday morning:
“We have recently become aware that several songs performed by Kate Smith contain offensive lyrics that do not reflect our values as an organization. As we continue to look into this serious matter, we are removing Kate Smith’s recording of 'God Bless America’ from our library and covering up the statue that stands outside of our arena.”
Smith first sang “God Bless America” live before the Flyers’ home opener of the 1973-74 season, their first Stanley Cup championship season. According to flyershistory.net, Smith sang in person a handful of times but between live performances, recordings and duets with Flyers anthem singer Lauren Hart performing alongside the recordings, the Flyers had a record of 101-31-5 when Smith’s rendition was played.
The Flyers did play the recording of “God Bless America” this season.
Dave Isaac; @davegisaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com
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Flyers prospect watch: Wade Allison ‘always catching up’
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Cheers as Tony Jones hits back at ABC funding question
Magda Szubanski clashes with Nationals Senator
Bill Shorten courts battlers on Q&A
Magda Szubanksi on Q&A
Offshore detention no better than Trump's wall
Australia's biggest security leak
Heartbreaking find at her dads work
Man rescued after losing boat
Virginia Trioli in a tense exchange with a senator
Red Symons apologises
Tony Jones hits back at ABC funding question
by Ben Graham
19th Jun 2018 5:12 AM
ABC presenter Tony Jones hit back at a Liberal Senator in a fiery on-air spat over the future of the organisation's funding.
There were cheers and a chorus of laughter from the audience as the Q&A host hit back at pollie Linda Reynolds who asked why he and the show hadn't been out to visit her constituents in Western Australia for several years.
The exchange began when a member of the audience asked whether how an initiative, championed by some in the Liberal Party during a conference over the weekend, to privatise the public broadcaster could be beneficial to the Australian public.
"Why do you think this is a beneficial decision when the ABC is the most trusted news source and broadcasting corporation in Australia?" she asked. "If it was privatised, how would you guarantee its independence?"
Mr Jones said Q&A would gladly come to WA if funding wasn’t an issue. Picture: ABC
Senator Reynolds hit back at the question, saying the Prime Minister had "made it very clear" the ABC won't be privatised.
"I was there at the conference over the weekend and I heard the debate on the motion and, from my perspective, I think it's not so much about privatising the ABC which is not going to happen, but $1.2 billion of your taxpayers' money goes into the ABC every year.
"I think it's valid for us in Parliament and for all of you to actually question whether that money being best spent.
"So for example I'm from the state of Western Australia and I hear frequently from people in rural and regional areas in Western Australia that they don't feel that they get enough service from the ABC."
She then turned to Mr Jones, challenging him and the show to visit Western Australia, which claimed they hadn't done in "about six or seven years".
"You might have to increase our funding just a little bit, Linda," Mr Jones replied. "That's one of the problems, I'm afraid."
Senator Reynolds took aim at Mr Jones. Picture: ABC
The audience then erupted into applause, but the senator continued to probe the emboldened host.
"I think in $1.2 billion you can find a few dollars," she said.
However, Mr Jones replied saying the budget had to cover a lot of services over a big organisation.
"We'd love to do that, so write to the managing director and see if they can find the money in the diminishing budget," he said.
"Come to Port Headland and the Pilbara and where 40 per cent of our nation's wealth has been generated and probably 40 per cent of your salary comes from Western Australia," Senator Reynolds said in one last jab at Mr Jones.
The fiery exchange came after the Liberal federal council passed a motion with a two-to-one majority on Saturday calling on the coalition to sell off the ABC, except in regional areas.
However, Malcolm Turnbull on Monday declared the ABC will always be in public hands, after members of his Liberal Party voted to sell it off.
"The ABC will always be in public hands. It will never be sold. That is my commitment. It is a public broadcaster. It always has been and it always will be," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Canberra.
The Prime Minister's statement in defence of the ABC came minutes after he was forced to abandon a press conference to block attempts by the federal Opposition to bind Parliament to keeping the institution public.
Mr Turnbull said the ABC will always be in public hands. Picture: Kym Smith
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus sought to move a motion in Parliament resolving the Lower House would "never support the privatisation of the ABC", and for an $83 million funding cut to be reversed.
Other Q&A panellists chipped in and were largely supportive of the ABC remaining in public hands.
"The motion we saw at the Liberal Party Federal Council on the weekend, it's not an isolated incident," said Tim Watts, a Labor member for the western Melbourne seat of Gellibrand.
"Five Liberal Party senators have spoken in favour of privatising the ABC before.
"It sounds insane. It sounds like a crazy idea, but this is the mainstream of the modern Liberal Party.
"There was a time when conservatives cared about institutions. They cared about the things that we needed to sustain a democracy. Now it's just off-the-shelf ideology from America."
Senator Reynolds responded saying the claim that the Coalition's policy and ideology comes from America "doesn't make sense" and added that the ABC plays a "really important role".
"But that said, it is still publicly funded," she added. "What we want to do is, like we do with any other organisation that's publicly funded, is keep challenging it to make sure it is still serving the purposes for which we fund it and for which we require."
Government blocks debate on ABC privatisation
Disbelief over push to sell ABC
abc editors picks funding q&a tony jones
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What we do>
Arts & Culture>
Salt Spring Island Arts
Capital Regional Hospital District
Community & Public Health
Community & Recreation
Integrated Watershed Management
Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Community Planning
Libraries, Theatres & Museums
Marine & Science Research
Noise & Nuisance
Regional Housing
Transportation & Transit (SSI)
1.299 Salt Spring Island Arts
This service provides annual funding to the Island Arts Centre Society, the owner of the ArtSpring Theatre, as well as to the Salt Spring Arts Council (formerly the Gulf Islands Community Arts Council).
ArtSpring Theatre is located in downtown Ganges on 1.81 acres of parkland. It is an 11,800-square-foot, two-level heavy timber structure containing a 5,200-square-foot exhibition/multi purpose area and a 6,600-square-foot, 265 seat theatre.
The Salt Spring Arts Council operates out of Mahon Hall on Salt Spring Island, and provides funding, material and organizational support to a broad range of groups and individuals to encourage participation and excellence in the visual and performing arts and crafts.
On the 1st day of September 1991, the CRD granted a sub lease to the Island Arts Centre Society to construct, operate, maintain, repair and use an Arts Centre facility on a portion of Lands the CRD leased from the province (and CRD eventually acquired for parkland). Over a period of years, the theatre was built, paid for in part by community donations (labour and funds) and from CRD grants. ArtSpring Theatre opened in 1999 and Salt Spring Island Parks & Recreation Commission provided a limited contribution to operating funds in the early years.
In 2004 a referendum was held to support ongoing annual funding to ArtSpring and the Gulf Islands Community Arts Council. The referendum passed, and on 24 March 2004, the CRD Board adopted Bylaw No. 3116 "Salt Spring Island Arts Contribution Services Establishment Bylaw No 1, 2003" for the purpose of contributing to the cost of maintaining, equipping and operating the ArtSpring theatre and contributing to Arts programming through the Salt Spring Arts Council (formerly the Gulf Islands Community Arts Council) on Salt Spring Island The total annual contributions are split 85% to the Island Arts Centre Society, 15% to the Salt Spring Arts Council. The service continues to be authorized by Bylaw No 3116.
A standing committee oversees this service and makes recommendations to the CRD Board. This funding service is administered by the CRD Finance & Technology Department.
The budget for this service is established through an annual CRD Financial Planning process and is funded by an annual property value tax levied in the Salt Spring Island Electoral Area.
Salt Spring Arts Council
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Del Mar Foundation’s Bluegrass and Beyond series presents Della Mae
Della Mae, a Nashville-based, all-female bluegrass and Americana ensemble, will perform in Del Mar April 7.
(Ryan Nolan)
Della Mae, a Nashville-based, all-female bluegrass and Americana ensemble, will perform in Del Mar’s Town Hall as part of the Del Mar Foundation’s Bluegrass and Beyond series on Sunday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
Grammy-nominated in 2014 for their debut album on Rounder Records, Della Mae was awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artists of the Year Award in 2013, and named one of Rolling Stone’s “10 bands to watch for” in 2015. They have traveled with the U.S. State Department to over 18 countries spreading peace and understanding through music.
The Bluegrass and Beyond series, now in its 15th year, brings world-class bluegrass and roots music to Del Mar. The Foundation’s Cultural Arts Committee invites the community to experience Del Mar’s new Town Hall as a stellar performance space, with excellent acoustics and comfortable seating in a beautiful environment. Tickets are available online: www.delmarfoundation.org/bluegrass
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borderline lepromatous leprosy= الجذام الجذامي الحدودي
Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease principally affecting the skin and peripheral nervous system. Leprosy is caused by infection with Mycobacterium leprae. Although much improved in the last 25 years, knowledge of the pathogenesis, course, treatment, and prevention of leprosy continues to evolve. The skin lesions and deformities were historically responsible for the stigma attached to leprosy. However, even with proper multidrug therapy (MDT), the consequent sensory and motor damage results in the deformities and disabilities associated with leprosy.
The earliest description of leprosy comes from India around 600 BCE. Leprosy was then described in the Far East around 400 BCE. In the fourth century, leprosy was imported into Europe, where its incidence peaked in the 13th century. Leprosy has now nearly disappeared from Europe. Affected immigrants spread leprosy to North America.
Armauer Hansen discovered M leprae in Norway in 1873. M leprae was the first bacillus to be associated with human disease. Despite this discovery, leprosy was not initially thought to be an infectious disease.
In 2009, the discovery of a new cause of leprosy, Mycobacterium lepromatosis, was announced. Genetically, M leprae and M lepromatosis are very similar, but M lepromatosis causes the diffuse form lepromatous leprosy found in Mexico and the Caribbean.1
Humans are the primary reservoir of M leprae. Animal reservoirs of leprosy have been found in 3 species: 9-banded armadillos, chimpanzees, and mangabey monkeys.
Other eMedicine articles on leprosy include Leprosy (Neurology), Neuropathy of Leprosy, and Leprosy (Infectious Diseases).
Leprosy is not a highly infectious disease. The principal means of transmission is by aerosol spread from infected nasal secretions to exposed nasal and oral mucosa. Leprosy is not generally spread by means of direct contact through intact skin, although close contacts are most vulnerable. The incubation period for leprosy is 6 months to 40 years or longer. The mean incubation period is 4 years for tuberculoid leprosy and is 10 years for lepromatous leprosy.
The areas most commonly affected by leprosy are the superficial peripheral nerves, skin, mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, anterior chamber of the eyes, and the testes. These areas tend to be cool parts of the body. Tissue damage depends on the degree to which cell-mediated immunity is expressed, the type and extent of bacillary spread and multiplication, the appearance of tissue-damaging immunologic complications (ie, lepra reactions), and the development of nerve damage and its sequelae.
M leprae is an obligate intracellular, acid-fast, gram-positive bacillus with an affinity for macrophages and Schwann cells. For Schwann cells in particular, the mycobacteria bind to the G domain of the alpha-chain of laminin 2 (found only in peripheral nerves) in the basal lamina. Their slow replication within the Schwann cells eventually stimulates a cell-mediated immune response, which creates a chronic inflammatory reaction. As a result, swelling occurs in the perineurium, leading to ischemia, fibrosis, and axonal death
The presence of an inflamed nerve in a skin biopsy specimen is considered the criterion standard for diagnosis.
The skin biopsy sample should be examined for morphologic features and for the presence of acid-fast bacilli. Biopsy is useful for determining the morphologic index, which is used in the evaluation and treatment of patients. The morphologic index is the number of viable bacilli per 100 bacilli in the leprous tissue. The bacterial index of granuloma (BIG) does not differentiate between viable and nonviable bacilli.25
See Histologic Findings below.
Lepromin testing
This test indicates host resistance to Mycobacterium leprae. Its results do not confirm the diagnosis, but they are useful in determining the type of leprosy.
A positive finding indicates cell-mediated immunity, which is observed in tuberculoid leprosy. A negative finding suggests a lack of resistance to disease and is observed in patients with lepromatous leprosy. A negative result also indicates a worsened prognosis.
To perform this test, bacillary suspension is injected into the forearm. An assessment of the reaction at 48 hours is called the Fernandez reaction, and a positive result indicates delayed hypersensitivity to antigens of M leprae or mycobacteria that cross-react with M leprae. When the reaction is read at 3-4 weeks, it is called the Mitsuda reaction, and a positive result indicates that the immune system is capable of mounting an efficient cell-mediated response.
Serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing: Although useful in detecting multibacillary disease, these are not widely performed because they fail to reliably detect early or mild forms of leprosy.
Serology can be used to detect antibodies to M leprae –specific phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I). This test is useful primarily in patients with untreated lepromatous leprosy, because 90% of patients have antibodies. However, antibodies are present in only 40-50% of patients with paucibacillary disease. PGL-I antibody levels decline significantly during MDT; therefore, these levels may be monitored for chemotherapy effectiveness.26
A dipstick assay test called the M leprae lateral flow test can detect PGL-I antibodies within 10 minutes with a sensitivity of 90-97.4% in multibacillary leprosy patients. It has the added advantages of using whole blood (versus serum), the technique is easily taught, the results are easily interpreted, and it requires no special equipment.27
The use of the anti–45-kd and modified anti-PGL-I antibody assays in combination may be more sensitive in detecting cases of paucibacillary leprosy than either assay individually.28
PCR analysis targeting 16s ribosomal RNA can be used to detect and identify M leprae. The technique is used most often when acid-fast bacilli are detected but clinical or histopathologic features are atypical. Specimens for PCR should be fixed in alcohol or should be rapidly processed because prolonged formalin fixation decreases the sensitivity.29
The development of a one-step reverse transcriptase PCR assay may be more sensitive in detecting bacilli in slit smears and skin biopsy specimens. This RNA-based assay is also effective for monitoring bacteria clearance during therapy.30
Other: Although laboratory studies help in making a definitive diagnosis of leprosy, such tests are usually unavailable in remote areas and in some developing countries.
Radiographs
Plain radiographs may be useful to detect and monitor leprosy-induced bone changes.31
Resorption, fragmentation, and maligned fractures are common signs of leprosy-induced bone changes. Medullary sclerosis or wavy diaphyseal borders indicate diaphyseal whittling.
In the indeterminate form, findings are nonspecific. Histiocytes and lymphocytes are scattered, with some concentration around dermal appendages and nerves. At times, an acid-fast bacillus can be observed in a nerve bundle. The number of dermal mast cells may be increased.
In the tuberculoid form of leprosy, well-developed epithelioid granulomas are observed in the papillary dermis, often around neurovascular structures. The granulomas are surrounded by lymphocytes, which extend into the epidermis. Langhans giant cells are common. Dermal nerves are destroyed or swollen because of the granulomas. Acid-fast bacilli are not observed. S-100 is useful in identifying nerve fragmentation and differentiating it from other granulomatous disease.32
In the borderline tuberculoid form, well-developed epithelioid cell granulomas are apparent and diffuse, but few or no Langhans giant cells are observed. Few lymphocytes are present in the epidermis in this form, compared with tuberculoid leprosy. Bacilli are absent or rare, but they can be found in dermal nerves and in the arrector pilorum. Nerves are moderately swollen.
In the borderline borderline form of leprosy, diffuse epithelioid granulomas that lack giant cells are observed in the dermis below the subepidermal zone of uninvolved papillary dermis (ie, grenz zone). Nerves are slightly swollen, and acid-fast bacilli are present in moderate numbers.
In the borderline lepromatous form, smaller granulomas with some foamy changes and numerous lymphocytes are observed. Nerves often have an onionskin appearance as a result of invasion of the perineurium. A few epithelioid cells may be observed.
In the lepromatous form of leprosy, a diffuse infiltrate of foamy macrophages is present in the dermis below a subepidermal grenz zone. An enormous number of acid-fast bacilli develop within the foamy macrophages, singly or in clumps, called globi. Lymphocytes are scant, and giant cells are typically absent. Numerous bacilli invade the nerves, but these are fairly well preserved with little infiltrate. Nodular, or dermatofibromalike lesions in lepromatous leprosy, referred to as histoid leprosy, result in a diffuse fascicular arrangement of spindled cells in the dermis admixed with foamy macrophages that contain numerous bacilli.
The histoid form has spindle-shaped clusters of histiocytes in a whorled or parallel pattern. In paucibacillary histoid leprosy, these clusters are in the papillary and mid dermis. Multibacillary histoid leprosy has a grenz zone with the histiocytes located in the mid and deep dermis.33 Globus formation is usually absent. They also tend to grow in an expansive, rather than infiltrative, manner. Bacilli are notably longer than ordinary lepra bacilli.
The genomic sequence of M leprae was only completed within the last few years. One important discovery is that although it depends on its host for metabolism, the microorganism retains genes for the formation of a mycobacterial cell wall. Components of the cell wall stimulate a host immunoglobulin M antibody and cell-mediated immune response, while also moderating the bactericidal abilities of macrophages.
The strength of the host's immune system influences the clinical form of the disease. Strong cell-mediated immunity (interferon-gamma, interleukin [IL]–2) and a weak humoral response results in mild forms of disease, with a few well-defined nerves involved and lower bacterial loads. A strong humoral response (IL-4, IL-10) but relatively absent cell-mediated immunity results in lepromatous leprosy, with widespread lesions, extensive skin and nerve involvement, and high bacterial loads. Therefore, a spectrum of disease exists such that cell-mediated immunity dominates in mild forms of leprosy and decreases with increasing clinical severity. Meanwhile, humoral immunity is relatively absent in mild disease and increases with the severity of disease.
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may also play a role in the pathogenesis of leprosy.2 M leprae activates TLR2 and TLR1, which are found on the surface of Schwann cells, especially with tuberculoid leprosy. Although this cell-mediated immune defense is most active in mild forms of leprosy, it is also likely responsible for the activation of apoptosis genes and, consequently, the hastened onset of nerve damage found in persons with mild disease. Alpha-2 laminin receptors found in the basal lamina of Schwann cells are also a target of entry for M leprae into these cells, while activation of the ErbB2 receptor tyrosine kinase signaling pathway has been identified as a mediator of demyelination in leprosy.3
The activation of macrophages and dendritic cells, both antigen-presenting cells, is involved in the host immune response to M leprae. IL-1beta produced by antigen-presenting cells infected by mycobacteria has been shown to impair the maturation and function of dendritic cells.4 Because bacilli have been found in the endothelium of skin, nervous tissue, and nasal mucosa, endothelial cells are also thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of leprosy. Another pathway exploited by M leprae is the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, by causing immune cell apoptosis and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–alpha/IL-10 secretion.5
Other pathways that may be involved are the vitamin D receptor (VDR), transforming growth factor (TGF)–beta, and NOD2-mediated signaling pathways.6,7
A sudden increase in T-cell immunity is responsible for type I reversal reactions. Type II reactions result from activation of TNF-alpha and the deposition of immune complexes in tissues with neutrophilic infiltration and from complement activation in organs. One study found that cyclooxygenase 2 was expressed in microvessels, nerve bundles, and isolated nerve fibers in the dermis and subcutis during reversal reactions.8
Approximately 6000 patients with leprosy live in the United States. Approximately 95% of these patients acquired their disease in developing countries. In the United States, 200-300 cases of leprosy are reported each year. States with large immigrant populations (eg, California, New York, Florida) have the largest number of new cases of leprosy. Small endemic foci of leprosy exist in Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii.
The worldwide prevalence of leprosy is reported to be just less than 1 case per 10,000 population. Most affected persons live in the tropics and subtropics. Six major countries in Asia, Africa, and South America have not achieved the goal of elimination (<1 case per 10,000 population). Approximately 86% of reported cases are found in 11 countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, and the United Republic of Tanzania. Overall, the prevalence of leprosy has decreased since the introduction of short-course MDT in 1982. The global annual detection rate for leprosy has also been declining since 2001.
If severe and left untreated, leprosy can cause clinically significant and debilitating deformity. Since 1943, when sulfone was introduced as the first effective treatment for leprosy, antibiotic treatment has dramatically improved patients' outcomes. Early diagnosis and effective antimicrobial treatment can arrest and even cure leprosy.
In general, leprosy affects the skin, peripheral nerves, and eyes. Systemic symptoms of leprosy are also possible. Specific symptoms vary with the severity of the disease.
Prodromal symptoms are generally so slight that leprosy is not recognized until a cutaneous eruption is present. However, 90% of patients have a history of numbness first, sometimes years before the skin lesions appear.
Temperature is the first sensation that is lost. Patients cannot sense extremes of hot or cold. The next sensation lost is light touch, then pain, and, finally, deep pressure. These losses are especially apparent in the hands and feet; therefore, the chief complaint may be a burn or ulcer in an anesthetic extremity.
Other parts of the body that might be affected by leprosy are the cool areas, which can include superficial peripheral nerves, the anterior chamber of the eyes, the testes, the chin, malar eminences, earlobes, and knees. From this stage of leprosy, most lesions evolve into the tuberculoid, borderline, or lepromatous types.
Assess for physical signs of leprosy in 3 general areas: cutaneous lesions, neuropathies, and eyes.
For cutaneous lesions, assess the number and distribution of skin lesions. A hypopigmented macule with a raised border is often the first cutaneous lesion. Plaques are also common. Lesions may or may not be hypoesthetic. Lesions on the buttocks often indicate borderline disease.
Regarding neuropathies, assess for areas of hypoesthesia (light touch, pinprick, temperature and anhidrosis), especially peripheral nerve trunks and cutaneous nerves. The most common nerve affected is the posterior tibial nerve. Others commonly damaged are the ulnar, median, lateral popliteal, and facial nerves. Besides sensory loss, patients may have associated tenderness and motor loss. Nerve palpation, monofilament testing, and voluntary muscle testing are the most useful clinical tests for detecting nerve damage.9
Eye damage is most often seen with facial lesions. Lagophthalmos (inability to close the eye), a late finding in persons with lepromatous leprosy, results from involvement of the zygomatic and temporal branches of the facial nerve (cranial nerve [CN] VII). Involvement of the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve (CN V) can result in reduced corneal reflex, leaving dry eyes and reduced blinking.
Clinical tests: Certain tests can be performed in the clinic to aid in the diagnosis of leprosy.
Tissue smear testing/slit-skin smears: An incision is made in the skin, and the scalpel blade is used to obtain fluid from a lesion. The fluid is placed on a glass slide and stained by using the Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast method or the Fite method to look for organisms. The bacterial index (BI) is then determined as the number of organisms at 100X with oil immersion. Skin smears have high specificity but low sensitivity because 70% of all patients with leprosy have negative smear results. However, this test is useful because it detects the most infectious patients.
Histamine testing: This test is used to diagnose postganglionic nerve injury. Histamine diphosphate is dropped on healthy skin and affected skin, and a pinprick is made through each site. The site forms a wheal on healthy skin, but not on skin where nerve damage is present.
Methacholine sweat testing: An intradermal injection of methacholine demonstrates the absence of sweating in leprous lesions. This test is useful in dark-skinned patients in whom the flare with the histamine test cannot be seen.
Diagnostic criteria for leprosy10 : The diagnosis of leprosy is primarily a clinical one. In one Ethiopian study, the following criteria had a sensitivity of 97% with a positive predictive value of 98% in diagnosing leprosy. Diagnosis was based on 1 or more of the 3 following signs:
Hypopigmented or reddish patches with definite loss of sensation
Thickened peripheral nerves
Acid-fast bacilli on skin smears or biopsy material
Classification11 : The Ridley-Jopling classification is used to differentiate types of leprosy and helps in determining the prognosis. Purely neuritic leprosy (asymmetrical peripheral neuropathies with no evident skin lesions), with or without tenosynovitis and symmetric polyarthritis, is also possible.12 A general classification of disease is based on the number of skin lesions present and the number of bacilli found on tissue smears. Paucibacillary disease (indeterminate leprosy and tuberculoid leprosy) has fewer than 5 lesions and no bacilli on smear testing. Five or more lesions with or without bacilli (borderline leprosies and lepromatous leprosy) is considered multibacillary disease.
Indeterminate leprosy: This early form causes one to a few hypopigmented or, sometimes, erythematous macules. Sensory loss is unusual. Approximately 75% of affected persons have lesions that heal spontaneously. In some, the disease may persist in this indeterminate form. In those with weak immunity, the disease progresses to one of the other forms.
Tuberculoid leprosy: Skin lesions are few. One erythematous large plaque is usually present, with well-defined borders that are elevated and that slope down into an atrophic center. The lesions can become arciform or annular. They can be found on the face, limbs, or elsewhere, but they spare intertriginous areas and the scalp. Lesions can be dry and scaly, hypohidrotic, and hairless. Another presentation involves a large, asymmetric hypopigmented macule. Both types of lesions are anesthetic and involve alopecia.
Spontaneous resolution can occur in a few years, leaving pigmentary disturbances or scars. Progression can also occur, leading to borderline-type leprosy. In rare instances in which a patient is untreated for many years, the lepromatous type can develop.
Neural involvement is common in persons with tuberculoid leprosy; it leads to tender, thickened nerves with subsequent loss of function. The great auricular, common peroneal, ulnar, and radial cutaneous and posterior tibial nerves are often prominent. Nerve damage can happen early, resulting in wrist drop or foot drop.
Borderline tuberculoid leprosy: Lesions in this form are similar to those in the tuberculoid form, but they are smaller and more numerous. The nerves are less enlarged and alopecia is less in borderline tuberculoid leprosy than in other forms. Disease can remain in this stage, it can convert back to the tuberculoid form, or it can progress to lepromatous leprosy.
Borderline borderline leprosy: Cutaneous lesions consist of numerous, red, irregularly shaped plaques that are less well defined than those in the tuberculoid type. Their distribution may mimic those of the lepromatous type, but they are relatively asymmetric. Anesthesia is only moderate. Regional adenopathy may be present. Disease may remain in this stage, it may improve, or it may worsen.
Borderline lepromatous leprosy: Lesions are numerous and consist of macules, papules, plaques, and nodules. Annular punched-out–appearing lesions that look like inverted saucers are common. Anesthesia is often absent. As with the other forms of borderline leprosy, the disease may remain in this stage, it may improve, or it may regress.
Lepromatous leprosy: Early cutaneous lesions consist mainly of pale macules. Late infiltrations are present with numerous bacilli. Macular lesions are small, diffuse, and symmetric. The skin may be smooth and shiny, but skin changes do not occur in lepromatous leprosy until late in the course. Therefore, early lepromatous leprosy lesions have little or no loss of sensation, nerves are not thickened, and sweating is normal. Nerve loss is slow and progressive.
Hypoesthesia occurs first over extensor surfaces of the distal extremities, followed by weakness in the same areas.
Alopecia affects the lateral aspects of the eyebrows (madarosis), spreading to the eyelashes and then the trunk. Scalp hair remains intact.
Lepromatous infiltrations can be diffuse, can occur as nodules (called lepromas), or can be plaques. The diffuse type results in the thickened skin appearance of a leonine facies. Neuritic lesions are symmetric and slow to develop.
Eye involvement occurs, causing pain, photophobia, decreased visual acuity, glaucoma, and blindness.
Nasal infiltration can cause a saddle-nose deformity and impaired olfaction. Hoarseness ("leprous huskiness") and stridor are a result of laryngeal involvement.13
Oral lepromas, usually located on the hard and soft palate, uvula, tongue ("cobblestoning"), lips, and gums, can progress to necrosis and ulceration. Tissue destruction may result.14
Infiltration of the helix or megalobule (elongation and wrinkling of the earlobe) may occur.
Lymphadenopathy and hepatomegaly can result from organ infiltration.
Aseptic necrosis and osteomyelitis can occur with repeated trauma after joint invasion.
Brawny edema of the lower extremities is a late finding.
Unlike the other types of leprosy, lepromatous leprosy cannot convert back to the less severe borderline or tuberculoid types of disease.
Histoid leprosy is a recognized clinical variant of lepromatous leprosy.15 It can occur as a result of M leprae resistance to monotherapy of MDT. Reports of de novo histoid leprosy suggest that it may also possibly evolve from borderline or indeterminate leprosy. Paucibacillary and multibacillary forms also exist. They may present as firm plaques or nodules. The lesions may occur on the thighs/buttocks, back, face, and extremities, especially bony areas like the elbows and knees. Eyebrows and nasal cartilage are usually spared.
Other: Lepra reactions are complications that occur in 50% of patients after the start of therapy or occasionally before therapy (see Complications).
Leprosy is caused by M leprae, an obligate intracellular, acid-fast, gram-positive bacillus.
Most persons are immune to leprosy. Subclinical disease is common in endemic areas, and the infection progresses to clinical disease in only a select few.
Exposure to the nasal discharge of individuals who remain untreated for years is thought to be the main cause of infection. Transmission is not completely understood.
In addition to exposure to respiratory secretions, exposure to insect vectors and infected soil has been suspected as a possible mode of transmission.
In endemic countries, household contacts of patients are at increased risk for contracting leprosy. The relative risk is 8-10 times for lepromatous leprosy and 2-4 times for tuberculoid leprosy. In nonendemic countries, household contacts rarely acquire the disease.
HIV infection is not a risk factor for acquiring leprosy, nor does it increase the clinical symptoms or virulence of leprosy. However, latent cases of leprosy infections may emerge as part of the immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome after starting highly active antiretroviral therapy.16,17
One report describes 2 cases of leprosy developing after treatment with infliximab.18 Both patients developed type I reversal reactions after stopping the TNF-alpha inhibitor. Another patient developed a type I reversal reaction after stopping adalimumab therapy, despite no prior diagnosis of leprosy.19
Several cases of tattoo inoculation leprosy have been reported, most in India.20
Leprosy has been reported in conjunction with visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar).
The following genes have been associated with leprosy; hence, susceptibility to leprosy may be at least partially inheritable7 :
Susceptible loci have been found on band 10p13 and chromosome 6.
Associations include HLA-DR2 and HLA-DR3 (tuberculoid disease), as well as HLA-DQ1 (lepromatous leprosy).
HLA-DRB1*04 is associated with resistance, and HLA-DRB1*10 is associated with susceptibility to leprosy in Brazilian and Vietnamese patients.21
Genetic variants have been found in the shared promoter region of the PARK2 (parkin) and PACRG genes expressed on monocytes.
Lymphotoxin-alpha (LTA) + 80 expressed on dendritic cells appears to be a risk factor for early-onset leprosy, independent of PARK2/PARCG and HLA class I and HLA-DRB1 genes.22,23
Polymorphisms in the gene promoter regions of TNF (multibacillary leprosy) and IL-10 (-819T allele) are noted in leprosy susceptibility.
Mutations in TLR1 and TLR2 may be involved in susceptibility and/or resistance to other infectious diseases.
Polymorphisms in the NRAMP1 gene appear on macrophages in multibacillary disease in African patients.
TaqI polymorphism (tt genotype) at exon 9 of the vitamin D receptor gene is noted
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Getting warmer: Climatologist says it's time to act on global warming
Dec 19, 2010 at 12:01 AM Dec 20, 2010 at 11:06 AM
Q: As a climatologist, why were you interested in publishing a paper in a journal on human behavior?
Lonnie Thompson is one of the country's most respected climatologists for his research examining the retreat of high altitude glaciers around the globe. In his most recent paper, "Climate Change: The Evidence and Our Options," Thompson offers his conclusions on what must be done to address global warming.
The Ohio State University researcher sat down with The Dispatch this month to discuss his paper.
A: We are always talking about how to strengthen multidisciplinary research, especially on something as broad as climate change. It's important to reach out to groups like these behavior analysts, people who study people - trying to understand what goes into our daily decision-making process.
So we can make better decisions but also be able to implement those decisions. It's my opinion that we, as scientists, need to cross that bridge more often.
Q: Colleagues and longtime observers of your work say you also are moving beyond presenting scientific conclusions to advocating solutions for climate change. How do you describe your goals for this essay?
A: Certainly, I've been giving lectures all over the world on the issue of climate change. Inevitably, you have to talk about what are some of the potential solutions out there. I think that the options are clear. With this particular phenomenon, you either mitigate, do something about it, or you adapt or you suffer.
Having worked now in 16 countries and conducted 57 expeditions, I can tell you that there are a lot of people out there already being impacted by these changes. The change is certainly under way. How far down this road we go depends on what we choose to do.
Q: A Michigan State University study that examined the pros and cons of advocacy by scientist found many researchers fear that it will damage their reputation or credibility. Is that a concern for you?
A: My view of the human race is kind of a normal distribution of people. There will be people on one side of the distribution that you will never reach no matter what information the data gives.
I think 80 percent of human beings are thinking they can reason through facts and can come to their own conclusions. What we're trying to do, and I think we've been successful, is to present the facts.
And anyone who looks at those facts would come to the conclusion that the system is changing, the world is warming. Once the picture is clear, you then have to say 'Well, OK, what are the options that are out there for all of us and which of these options are we willing to really embrace?'
Q: What specific things need to be done to mitigate, to reduce the threat of global warming?
A: We live in a country where we import over 70 percent of our oil from foreign sources. If you think about just the magnitude of consumption that that is driven by and the fact that as a country, you are at risk because your basic energy needs are not under your control.
This is where you get into these very complicated social forces. Even if we didn't have an issue with climate change we should be looking at new ways of creating the energy we need for our daily use in this country.
Q: In your paper, you mention recent opinion polls that show a marked decline in the number of Americans who believe global warming is real. Why do you believe this has happened?
A: I think that we all tend to react to what's right outside our door. What's the environment like today? I think our attention span is extremely short. I don't think we do a very good job of distinguishing weather, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year, from climate, which is a 30-year average of all of that.
The glaciers, that's what they do. They kind of average up all of those variables and respond to it. And they respond to it in their part of the world. If you are able to examine enough of these on a global basis you get this very clear balance of evidence. It's not what's happening in Columbus, Ohio, or in the United States. It's the planet as a whole we need to be concerned about.
Q: Bills that would limit industrial emissions of global warming gases have stalled in Congress for years. What role should scientists take in that debate?
A: As a scientist, I have an obligation to make this information available. We're very careful to make sure if we are asked to come address an issue on climate change by a Democrat, that we will do that. If we are asked by a Republican, we will do that.
"To me, it should never have become a political issue. This is not a political issue. It's an issue about people, and I think it should only be viewed in that fashion.
Q: As you've said before, you frequently offer your opinions on what should be done about climate change during speeches and talks. Is it different or more significant to put those viewpoints in writing?
A: In my opinion, no. I get so many requests from people who would like to have a summary of what I presented. I took the opportunity here to do that. They should take it as it is - an overview. I hopefully gave people a clear view.
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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Hanson & Doremus Investment Management
Daily Ratings & News for Alphabet
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Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 379 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Red Spruce Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $5,017,000. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. now owns 3,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,498,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 16,234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,744,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. IMS Capital Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 424 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,501 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. 33.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Bernstein Bank started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $1,600.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,600.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI reissued a “positive” rating and set a $1,600.00 target price (up from $1,350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,650.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $1,516.00 to $1,546.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,438.05.
GOOGL stock traded up $5.37 on Thursday, reaching $1,444.57. 482,537 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,268,867. Alphabet Inc has a 12 month low of $1,027.03 and a 12 month high of $1,442.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,356.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,248.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $996.31 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 3.75.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $10.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $12.42 by ($2.30). Alphabet had a return on equity of 18.34% and a net margin of 21.04%. The company had revenue of $33.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $13.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc will post 49.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Company Profile
Alphabet Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides online advertising services in the United States and internationally. The company offers performance and brand advertising services. It operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal Internet products, such as Ads, Android, Chrome, Commerce, Google Cloud, Google Maps, Google Play, Hardware, Search, and YouTube, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, including Virtual Reality.
Read More: What is a stock buyback?
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Selz Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII)
63,000 Shares in FedEx Co. (NYSE:FDX) Acquired by Selz Capital LLC
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Research Collections (1)
Imad A. Moosa
Imad Moosa’s thought-provoking book explores the contemporary doctrine that plagues the academic sphere: the principle of publish or perish. This book identifies the pressures placed upon academics to either publish their work regularly, or suffer the consequences, including lack of promotion, or even redundancy. Learn More
Advances in Political Methodology
Edited by Robert J. Franzese Jr
This research collection offers a 34-article tour of recent advances and the current state of 5 important and booming areas of empirical methodology: Bayesian methods; modelling of temporal duration, dependence, and dynamics; network-analytic methodology; text, classification, and big-data analytic methods; methods for nonparametric and design-based causal inference. These prominent articles, written by leading scholars, break new ground and provide definitive statements of the current best practices in those respective areas. Together they describe the cutting-edge profile of modern empirical methodology for applied empirical analysis in political science. This is an essential resource for those studying and researching political methodology. Learn More
Working with Paradata, Marginalia and Fieldnotes
Edited by Rosalind Edwards, John Goodwin, Henrietta O’Connor, Ann Phoenix
This book asks the important question; Can the by-products of research activity be treated as data and of research interest in themselves? This groundbreaking interdisciplinary volume considers the analytic value of a range of ‘by-products’ of social research and reading. These include electronically captured paradata on survey administration, notes written in the margins of research documents and literary texts, and fieldnotes and ephemera produced by social researchers. Revealing the relational nature of paradata, marginalia and fieldnotes, contributions examine how the craft of studying and analysing these by-products offers insight into the intellectual, social and ethical processes underpinning the activities of research and reading. Learn More
Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Political Science
Edited by Hans Keman, Jaap J. Woldendorp
This Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research methods and applications currently in use in political science. It combines theory and methodology (qualitative and quantitative), and offers insights into the major approaches and their roots in the philosophy of scientific knowledge. Including a comprehensive discussion of the relevance of a host of digital data sources, plus the dos and don’ts of data collection in general, the book also explains how to use diverse research tools and highlights when and how to apply these techniques. Learn More
Analysis and Public Policy
Stuart Shapiro
How do we incorporate analytical thinking into public policy decisions? Stuart Shapiro confronts this issue in Analysis and Public Policy by looking at various types of analysis, and discussing how they are used in regulatory policy-making in the US. By looking at the successes and failures of incorporating cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, and environmental impact assessment, he draws broader lessons on its use, focusing on the interactions between analysis and political factors, legal structures and bureaucratic organizations as possible areas for reform. Learn More
Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Social Capital
Edited by Yaojun Li
Social capital is fundamentally concerned with resources in social relations. This Handbook brings together leading scholars from around the world to address important questions on the determinants, manifestations and consequences of social capital. Combining cutting-edge theory and appropriate data and methods, it presents a challenge to both social capital researchers interested in explaining social inequality and to policy-makers with responsibility for designing effective measures for enhancing social cohesion. Learn More
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Protecting Yourself and Your Money
If you've recently lost a loved one, finances are probably the last thing you want to think about. Take the time to grieve, and be aware that you don't have to grieve alone. If you need more help and support than you're able to get from your immediate family and friends, there are counseling services available in most communities to help you through the grieving process. Simply consult the Yellow Pages or search your regional portal website for a counseling centre near you. If all else fails, contact your family doctor or any hospital for help.
Financial Planning for Survivors
After a loved one passes on, there are a number of issues to be resolved. If the deceased was a key provider, you may be worried about how the loss of income will affect you and your family. Is there life insurance? Who are the listed beneficiaries of RRSPs and RRIFs? What about jointly held property and other assets? If no beneficiaries are named, these assets may simply become part of the estate.
Estate Resolution
Hopefully the deceased has left a valid and up-to-date will and named an executor. If so, the most important first step is to contact the executor and notify them. If there is no will - or in the event that you've been named executor - contact a lawyer as soon as possible.
Even before the will can be executed, a final income tax return must be completed for the deceased. The final return must account for all assets of the deceased, and taxes must be paid on any capital gains accrued on those assets. Given the possible complexities of a final tax return, it may be a good idea to have a tax accountant complete it. With this finished, the total value of the estate can be calculated and the will can be executed.
Ask Us for Help
With the loss of a loved one, you may feel that you're alone. The fact is your community is full of people and organizations that offer help and support. All you need to do is ask. From executing a will to supporting non-profit organizations that counsel the bereaved, Eagle River Credit Union is here to help you find the resources that will help you through this difficult time.
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Home > Our Programs > Autism Services
Autism Success Stories
Easterseals autism services help people live, learn, work, play, and act in their communities. From children to adults, our programs are tailored to help individuals of all ages achieve their goals through a tailored and caring approach. Check out some of the success stories of Easterseals friends across the country:
Gabby and Duncan (Easterseals Michigan)
Laurel and Steve Smith adopted two Russian children – Gabby, 13, and Duncan, 11 — when the children were very young. While Gabby and Duncan have progressed in their decade here, some of the effects of the trauma they endured haven’t been erased. Both children spent time in orphanages, hospitals, as well as private residences, where they were both neglected. Exactly what the children experienced is unknown.
Gabby was adopted when she was 25 months old and when she arrived here she was 15 pounds, 27 inches – the size of a typical 4-month-old in the United States. Thanks to hormones, she has grown to about 4 feet 11 inches tall and 80 pounds. Her “hyper vigilance” and rigidity are signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Duncan was adopted when he was about 8 months old. He was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder that later developed into Asperger's syndrome. Both of the children have problems with food and “will eat anything” because they were not well-fed in Russia. In fact, Duncan prefers his food cold because that is what he is used to. Both have also been affected by a lack of love and affection during infancy, including being held or coddled.
That’s why their parents, Steve and Laurel, came to Easterseals Michigan and took advantage of the new LUNA Model program that helps children with trauma. The Smith family still receives services at Easterseals Michigan and is thriving now more than ever. They enjoy their therapy sessions at Easterseals and are growing into happy, healthy young adults.
Jaxson (Easterseals UCP North Carolina and Virginia)
When Jaxson was a year old, he came to the Wilmington Child Development Center with very few skills. He was a wanderer without any interests. Marcie Jaquish, Wilmington Child Development Center Director, said “He would look at no one and wander back and forth between the two classroom doors crying to go out. When Jaxson got outside, he would cry to come back in. His only solace was holding two similar balls at all times.”
After two years of consistent work in the Autism Center and the classroom, Jaxson has made great gains. He has increased his joint attention and plays with toys other than balls including cars on a track, participates in bowling and jumps on a trampoline. With the help of a communication device, Jaxson has made a big break-through and can express his wants and needs.
Jaquish says, “Not only does he activate the button on a device to say “hi” or “bye”, Jaxson will spontaneously shift his gaze and look at the individual he is greeting with a smile!” At the end of the day, he’s glad to see his “Poppy”.
Every day is a new learning experience for three-year-old Jaxson. The team approach at Easterseals UCP has made a significant difference in Jaxson’s life.
Paul's Story (Easterseals Greater Houston)
The Easterseals Greater Houston transition team met Paul and his mother in June of 2017 when he was a client in the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Transition Age Youth Project of Easterseals Greater Houston/DARS. Thanks to the Hogg Foundation, this project offers services and support for persons aged 16-27 who have autism and a co-occurring mental illness, and is designed to help youth become more independent and successful in their communities. The many facets of the program include social skills training, supported employment, summer internships, college classes at the Houston Community College VAST Academy, BCBA Services, peer supports, referral assistance, financial coaching, online driver's education and access to Easterseals Greater Houston's mobile technology program.
Paul had just graduated from Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena, Texas. His only work history was as a volunteer through a high school program with a couple of companies in the Pasadena area. Paul and his parents wanted him to find a part-time job with a number of specific requirements such as close to home, with work hours after 4:00 p.m. throughout the week. Together, Paul and his transition counselor, Robert Arranda, created a resume reflecting his volunteer experience and a reference list of his former supervisors. They met to complete online applications, practiced mock interviews and reviewed social skills for interviewing techniques. Paul interviewed with companies through summer and fall.
In December, Wal-Mart called Paul in for an interview. His Transition Counselor says he is a very likable and responsible individual and that he really wants to show his parents that he is able to expand his learning curve and become more independent. Paul’s interview at Wal-Mart was a hit with the Human Resources Department, and he was hired this past December as a Cart Attendant. Wal-Mart was very accommodating assisting Paul with the work schedule he needed. Within two months, Paul’s supervisors noted his great work ethic, enthusiasm and customer service. Paul was selected Wal-Mart Employee of the Month for February!
Kendra (Easterseals Rehabilitation Center)
Finding a job wasn’t an easy task for Kendra Jones. In fact, before finding her way to the Easterseals Rehabilitation Center’s New Frontiers Employment Services, Kendra had very little interaction with non-family members. Kendra has autism, which sometimes makes connecting with others a difficult task.
That’s where Keith Lender came in. Keith is a job coach with New Frontiers. He helped Kendra develop social skills through outings to the mall, the library, and other community locations. Kendra wanted to work at a restaurant, so Keith helped her find a trial position at The Carousel Restaurant in Evansville. He assisted Kendra in learning the job skills she needed. She did so well, her supervisor Robin Wade offered Kendra a permanent position.
Kendra celebrated two years at The Carousel in February. Keith said he never saw Kendra smile until she started her new job.Prior to working with Keith and New Frontiers, Kendra was shy and lacked confidence. Now Kendra has a newfound independence. She rides the bus to and from work each day and to purchase art supplies for her favorite hobby.
“She’s bubbly,” Robin said. “You see her walking across the parking lot, and she’s dancing on her way to work. She’s singing with her headphones on. She’s ready to be here. It’s pretty nice to see that.”
The Easterseals Rehabilitation Center’s New Frontiers Employment Services helps adults with disabilities who want to work discover their own interests and abilities and learn social and daily living skills. Job coaches also teach clients how to search for jobs, prepare resumes, apply for jobs and prepare for and go to interviews. Keith said the goal is always long-term employment.
Alex (Easterseals Michigan)
Alex was diagnosed with autism at a very young age. He was a happy and loving baby, but did not meet his physical milestones. He took his first steps on his second birthday after an entire summer of physical therapy. He did not speak until he was 5 years old and still has difficulty communicating. Things did not come easy for him but he worked extremely hard. As he got older, the signs of his autism became more apparent, and his family expanded the therapies in which Alex participated.
Kids with autism resist physical movement. It was the goal of his parents to make moving, exploring and trying new things part of Alex's normal everyday life. That is how Easterseals Michigan, through the Miracle League of Michigan baseball program, came into their lives. They started 8 years ago with the baseball program and since then, have participated in the bowling, football clinic, and dance program.
Said Donna, Alex's mom: “What we love about these programs is that he can explore what he likes and be physical in a safe environment free from judgement. I also love that Easterseals Michigan is constantly looking for new opportunities for our kids to explore.”
At Easterseals Michigan, Alex gets to discover that he has no limitations. He has come a long way over the years, and people who meet him know him as a terrific young man with a great sense of humor.
Robert's Story (Easterseals South Florida)
Miami native Robert L. Becera, 21, has non-verbal autism and communicates with the world through his iPad. His mother and father assist him with many of the activities of daily living. At Easterseals South Florida, Robert loves being part of the Culinary Arts High School Program, working in the kitchen where he thrives in a teamwork environment of his classmates and peers.
Outside of Easterseals, Robert has made a positive impact on thousands of lives in South Florida. He was recently honored on the US House floor by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for his role in Law Enforcement & Fire Rescue Training for the past 11 years on behalf of the Autism Society of Florida, where his mother, Teresa Becerra, serves as Executive Director.
Over the years, he has helped train more than 9,500 Miami Police Officers, firefighters and EMTs to identify people with developmental issues and tailor their actions and responses accordingly. With Robert’s help, officers and first responders in South Florida are trained to de-escalate volatile emergency situations involving individuals on the autism spectrum or with mental illness. Robert’s assistance and emergency response training has not only helped officers to connect with special needs young adults on an emotional level, it has also had a positive impact by broadening first responders’ real-world perspectives, potentially saving lives in South Florida.
Connect with your local Easterseals!
Benefits of Camp
Facts About Disabilities
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September 17, 2018 By Julie
Dublin Hong Kong Dragon Boat Regatta 2018 – RESULTS – Sunday, 16th September 2018
Please find the results from Sunday’s races here. RESULTS – Dublin SUNDAY 2018
Dublin Hong Kong Dragon Boat Regatta 2018 – RESULTS – Saturday, 15th September 2018.
A huge thank you to our main sponsor, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office without whose support we could not run this event and also to our annual supporter, Waterways Ireland who has supported this event since its inception. Attached are the results from Saturday’s racing. Results – Dublin SATURDAY 2018
September 5, 2018 By Julie
Dublin Hong Kong Dragon Boat Regatta – 15th & 16th September 2018
The annual Dublin Hong Kong Dragon Boat Regatta 2018 is fast approaching with just over a week to go. A massive thank you as always to our main sponsor the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels and our our key supporter Waterways Ireland.
Please find below the race programmes for Saturday and Sunday.
Race Programme – Dublin SATURDAY 2018
Race Programme – Dublin SUNDAY 2018
The 2nd annual Dragons at the Docks, raises over €250,000 for Dublin Simon
CAIRN HOMES PIPS COLLEN AND INVESTEC TO TAKE TOP PRIZE
Over 800 participants took part in this year’s Dragons At the Docks property industry fund raising event held at Grand Canal Dock, Dublin 2. The dragon boat racing competition saw 70 teams compete in races and, in the process, raise €250,000 for charity.
The overall winner was the team from Cairn Homes, with Collen coming second, and Investec coming third in a competitive final race. Last year the competition was won by the team from construction company Sisk. DATD -Results 2018
Nine of Ireland’s biggest property companies were the cornerstone sponsors of the second year of the event, with Dalata Hotel Group, Glenveagh Property and Hines joining the original six companies who launched the event last year: Cairn Homes, Green Reit, Hammerson, Hibernia REIT, Ires Reit and Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate.
75% of the funds raised will go to the Dublin Simon Community, with the balance to be distributed to local charities in the Grand Canal Dock area.
Sam McGuinness CEO of the Dublin Simon Community said:
“We are honoured to be the charity partner at the Dragons at the Docks. With the support of everyone involved we are making a life changing impact to the lives of vulnerable people living in unimaginable circumstances. Funds raised at the 2017 event allowed us to acquire two apartments and a 2-bedroom townhouse in Dublin now providing more people who have been through the trauma and abuse of homelessness with a home to call their own.
“This year, utilising funds raised at Dragons at the Docks, Dublin Simon Community plan to acquire five more apartments, for individuals and couples. Working together, we have the ability to deliver many more permanent homes, ensuring that people never have to face the uncertainty and anxiety of homelessness again. On behalf of Dublin Simon Community and most importantly the people who rely on our services, thank you for helping to rebuild lives.”
Irish Senior Women’s Dragon Boat Team Pick Up The Silverware!
We are delighted to congratulate the Irish Senior Women’s Dragon Boat Team on their medal haul at the recent European Nations Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. Competing in 1000m, 2000m, 500m and 200m the women’s team won 4 silver medals at the Championships. An impressive result for a team that has only ever raced once before at an International Championships.
The German Senior Women’s Team being on home turf won the gold medals and showed the rest of Europe the strength of dragon boating in Germany.
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Home » News & Events » News Releases » National Institute on Drug Abuse to hold teleconference discussing key findings of 2016 Monitoring the Future Survey on teen drug use
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will hold a teleconference on Tuesday, December 13, to discuss the results of the 2016 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. The survey, conducted earlier this year by scientists at the University of Michigan, tracks annual drug use and attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th-grade students. NIDA is part of the National Institutes of Health, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
MTF – the only large-scale federal government teen health survey that releases findings the same year the data is collected – will include findings on attitudes about, and prevalence of, marijuana use, prescription medications, e-cigarettes, heroin, synthetic cannabinoids (K2/Spice), alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
MTF is 1 of 3 major survey instruments the HHS uses to monitor the nation’s substance use patterns among teens. Information from these surveys helps to provide strategic planning for prevention, treatment, and recovery support services for youth.
WHAT: Teleconference to discuss the 2016 Monitoring the Future Survey results, which will be officially released at 12:01 a.m. EST on December 13.
WHEN: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EST
WHERE: To dial into the teleconference, call: 888-989-3414, Participant passcode: MTF2016
Materials for the teleconference will be posted online December 13 at www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/monitoring-future.
WHO: Featured Speakers
Nora D. Volkow, M.D.
Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Michael Botticelli
Director, National Drug Control Policy
Lloyd D. Johnston, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
Richard A. Miech, Ph.D., Research Professor
Follow Monitoring the Future 2016 news on Twitter at @NIDANews or join the conversation by using: #MTF2016.
Monitoring the Future is funded by grant #DA001411.
PDF (20KB)
NIDA. (2016, December 6). National Institute on Drug Abuse to hold teleconference discussing key findings of 2016 Monitoring the Future Survey on teen drug use. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2016/12/national-institute-drug-abuse-to-hold-teleconference-discussing-key-findings-2016-monitoring-future
NIDA. "National Institute on Drug Abuse to hold teleconference discussing key findings of 2016 Monitoring the Future Survey on teen drug use." National Institute on Drug Abuse, 6 Dec. 2016, https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2016/12/national-institute-drug-abuse-to-hold-teleconference-discussing-key-findings-2016-monitoring-future.
NIDA. National Institute on Drug Abuse to hold teleconference discussing key findings of 2016 Monitoring the Future Survey on teen drug use. National Institute on Drug Abuse website. https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2016/12/national-institute-drug-abuse-to-hold-teleconference-discussing-key-findings-2016-monitoring-future. December 6, 2016.
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The threepenny opera boom
(Invisible to policymakers: HGO’s production of “The Secret Marriage” (©LAURENT COMPAGNON))
Inspirational amateur companies are flourishing, yet damned as elitist by London’s culture czars.
The British pro-am opera sector, one of the many eccentric local phenomena which differentiate our society from others, still awaits its historian and its sociological analysis. I shudder to think, in these days of wokeness, how damning the latter might be; but the roots of the sector are in the civic choral tradition which began in the early 19th century (the Huddersfield Choral Society, still going strong, was founded in 1836). By the end of the century, there were choral and opera societies in towns and villages all over Britain. Each trotted out one or two productions a year of opera from Mozart to Gilbert and Sullivan sung to a piano accompaniment, with costumes stitched by members and financed at least partly by the singers who were happy to pay for the opportunity to display their talent (or at least their self-confidence) to an audience.
Over the last 50 years, the old-style amateur societies have been fading away due to lack of finance and venues, and the attractions of other pastimes. Some which survive, though retaining the word “Opera” in their title, are reduced to offering less ambitious activities. But their legacy has been vital to the British performing arts — they provided the first work experience for many of the great British professional singers and actors. From them developed the new wave of opera societies, dedicated to supporting young singers on the verge of a career, and with them tomorrow’s production and music directors, in professional stagings.
Now I find myself involved in this exciting movement. It took me almost 70 years to discover what I would be when I grew up, but it turned out last year that I was to become an opera impresario. The award-winning charity HGO (formerly Hampstead Garden Opera), of which I became chair, was founded 30 years ago. Thanks to the incredible efforts of my predecessors and their colleagues, it is now North London’s leading opera company, enabling local communities to experience two fully-staged productions with orchestra a year of operas ranging from Monteverdi to the present day. The skills of our young singers and production teams are wonderful and continually inspiring.
My knowledge of the industry had been limited to my studies of the grand opéra of 1830s Paris. But nothing much has changed since then, the key issues remaining publicity, assuaging the artistic temperament and, most important of all, money — from bums on seats and elsewhere. Companies not fortunate enough to have substantial corporate or public sector support depend on the generosity of their Friends’ circles and individual patrons, and on the box office, with the hope of an occasional grant from trusts or the Arts Council.
Ticket sales pull towards one direction — essentially Italian-libretto operas of the “long 19th century” — which can inhibit artistic exploration. Grant applications, very reasonably in my opinion, are often predicated on community and/or education involvement, which not all organisations have the competence to develop effectively (beyond lip-service). This itself comes at considerable cost which could be devoted to productions. HGO (and many others) still can’t afford to pay its singers, although at least we’ve stopped asking them for contributions. But we are still (without grants) developing our work with local schools. It’s not enough to advance young singers: we recognise the need to advance new audiences as well. The interest and involvement of the children at our staging workshops is a reward in itself.
But the consequence of public sector opera support going on one hand to cover the massive overheads and costs of the big opera institutions, and on the other to independent organisations based on the criterion of social commitment, is that the unfashionable issue of artistic standards is put at risk. We are still judged, I fear, by the prejudice that opera is “elitist” (let alone, in our case, that we were originally associated with an area as hideously haut-bourgeois as Hampstead Garden Suburb). However, it is HGO’s artistic reputation which results in the huge response we get to calls for auditions and directors for our productions, giving us a chance to spot the best. And if singers and musicians cannot be inspired to aim for the top levels of skill, if young producers and music directors can’t get the opportunity to work with them, and if audiences cannot access the thrill which great opera can provide, then we can’t truly provide for the future of the art.
Look for a dispiriting example at London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s culture strategy for London, released last December. The 180-page document, misleadingly titled Culture for All Londoners, mentions the word “pub” 25 times, “club” 16 and “bar” nine. The word “opera” appears nowhere. A statement on culture by the Deputy Mayor speaks for itself: “Culture has defined our city through the decades, from reactionary punks in the 70s to grime music today.”
And yet throughout London, aside from the two big opera houses, there is a host of high-level independent opera activity which attracts audiences, both local and tourist, enables the flourishing of new talent, and makes a major contribution to the capital’s cultural reputation and economy. Look at what is achieved by Fulham Opera, the Grimeborn Festival at the Arcola Theatre, OperaUpClose, Pegasus Opera and Opera Holland Park, to name but a few — and by HGO itself, may I modestly add.
https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/may-2019/the-threepenny-opera-boom/
Concert Saturday September 28th
What they had to say about Macbeth:
from one of our soloists: "I had an absolutely wonderful experience with Duchy Opera. It was indeed one of the most amazing experiences I ever had on stage. And everything contributed to that, the production itself, the venue, the whole cast (principal and chorus), the directors, the atmosphere, the accommodation, the hosts. Communication was also great, all the time, and I'm amazed how you managed the logistics of all that. "
from members of the audience: "Wednesday night's performance was magnificent and thoroughly enjoyed"
"A brilliant show"
"We brought three friends to the matinee performance of Macbeth at The Minack, yesterday afternoon, and WE LOVED IT!
Right from the word “Go”, the witches were superb, with their cackling gyrations and impeccable diction, to say nothing of the precise percussion of their beating sticks (I know that took some practice!). The men did so well too, despite their relatively few numbers. I loved the solution to the disposal of the branches from Birnam Wood: heave them over the rampart: so simple, yet so practical. The potential problem that concerned me most was how convincing would it be to have Macduff on crutches killing a fit and healthy Macbeth, but, in fact, it didn’t appear to be a problem at all – we just accepted that Macduff was crippled and his stabbing of Macbeth on stage was fast and efficient, without the difficulty of a protracted duel.
All the principals were excellent, including those from the Company, again with clear diction and voices which rose easily to the very top row of the audience, where we were sitting. The orchestra was very good and there was never a moment when it drowned the singers. I thought the costumes were very effective, particularly the hooded apparitions and the parade of kings.
In short, this is a production of which Duchy Opera can feel justly proud and a great tribute to all your hard work.
Well done!"
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Get In Touch With Our Team 954-764-4330
Edward J. Jennings
Jenna L. Wulf
HOA Disputes
Landlord/Tenant Dispute Resolution
L’Oreal Must Pay $91 Million for Stealing Trade Secrets
Every company has its own trade secrets. These secrets may be customer information, recipes, formulas and procedures that help a company develop products and services. They include information that, if another company were to get a hold of them, would put them at an unfair advantage.
That’s why stealing trade secrets is a business tort. An individual or company who purposely steals information from another company in order to profit can face serious legal consequences.
This was the case for popular hair care brand L’Oreal, who stole trade secrets from a startup company. A federal jury recently ruled in favor of the startup, Olaplex LLC, and L’Oreal is forced to pay the company $91.4 million.
L’Oreal is accused of breaching a contract, stealing the California-based startup’s trade secrets and infringing on two patents on a system that protects hair during the bleaching process. The jury also found that L’Oreal’s acts were intentional, which is why the damage award was so high.
Olaplex and L’Oreal first met in 2015, when L’Oreal was considering buying Olaplex. Olaplex claims that L’Oreal stole product information from what meeting. L’Oreal, on the other hand, claims that it developed the products on its own. It created a use for critical acid in August 2014.
In late June, the judge ruled that L’Oreal’s products had infringed upon two patents. However, the jury had to decide whether or not the patents were valid. Also, did L’Oreal steal the trade secrets? Did the company break nondisclosure agreements relating to the trade secrets? The jury decided that the answer to all three of these questions was yes.
In 2018, L’Oreal reported more than $30 billion in sales. The product lines in question involve a three-step hair protection system. They accounted for $3.7 billion in sales, or 12% of the company’s revenue.
Olaplex has no physical store, conducting all of its business online. The company employs fewer than 30 people. Olaplex does not advertise much, but has seen much success through word of mouth. The company quickly built a following with its core products, which strengthen and reconnect protein bonds in the hair during the bleaching process. The products were launched on the company’s website in June 2014 after they were used by top hair colorists.
This caught the attention of SalonCentric, which is owned by L’Oreal. The company noticed the buzz about Olaplex on social media and tried to steal the two scientists who invented the hair care product. The scientists, however, decided to stay put. They had started selling their product in a garage, pouring the product from five-gallon buckets into small bottles.
Seek Legal Help
Stealing trade secrets can severely harm a company. They can lose out on revenue and see their customer base decline.
Don’t let another company ruin your business. Get the help you need from Fort Lauderdale business torts lawyer Edward J. Jennings, P.A. He can help you file a lawsuit against the other party and recover the financial damages you suffered. To schedule a consultation, call 954-764-4330 or fill out the online form.
news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/loreal-owes-startup-91-million-for-stealing-its-trade-secrets
https://www.ejj-law.com/elements-of-a-successful-tortious-interference-claim/
By Edward J. Jennings, P.A. | Posted on October 18, 2019
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No content on this site may be reused in any fashion without written permission from www.ejj-law.com
© 2017 - 2020 Edward J. Jennings, P.A., Attorneys At Law. All rights reserved.
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Home > Who We Are > Our History > John Lubbock
< Our History
John Lubbock
Enid Lakeman
Founder of the Electoral Reform Society, then known as the Proportional Representation Society
Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, 4th Baronet, PC, DL, FRS
Sir John Lubbock founded the Proportional Representation Society, as the Electoral Reform Society was then known, in 1884.
As well as to the cause of electoral reform, Sir John made significant contributions in archaeology, ethnography, and several branches of biology. He coined the terms Palaeolithic and Neolithic and helped establish archaeology as a scientific discipline.
We have him to thank for both Bank Holidays and the first act to protect Britain’s ancient monuments.
When his friend Charles Darwin died in 1882, Lubbock suggested the honour of burial in Westminster Abbey, organising a letter to the dean to arrange this, and was one of the pallbearers.
Along with Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll), C.P. Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian and Thomas Hare, inventor of the Single Transferable Vote and an equal number of Conservative and Liberal MPs, he founded the Society in January 1884.
Sir John Lubbock died in 1913, just a few years before the Single Transferable Vote’s first use for national elections in Malta and Ireland.
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Travel – Guam
Travel – Saipan
Road to EIF
EIF Guam
Halloween Massive
EIF Spotlight: Coach Jimmy Yi on Building Championship Mentalities
by EIF | Apr 17, 2018 | 0 comments
Self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-awareness is playing a much bigger role in today’s society as mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD continue to deteriorate some of these positive human traits we need in order to be successful in school, work, business, and sports. We often hear coaches talk about their player’s “mental game” and “mental toughness”. This stigma of competing with confidence have recently trickled down into the business and media world through much of Gary Vee’s philosophy that’s blasted through streams of content platforms promoting self-esteem through self-awareness and by putting yourself in the right mindset to ultimately win.
This leads to our first 2018 series of EIF Spotlight where we linked up with Coach Jimmy Yi to discuss about self-esteem and developing championship mentalities. For those of you who may not know who he is, Coach Jimmy has been an integral part of the local Guam basketball community. As a first-team all-island for the 2002 FD Friars, Jimmy co-lead the team towards a perfect 16-0 season that today still holds as the best record in the school’s near 3-decade basketball era. After graduating from FD and finishing college, Jimmy returned home and began coaching some of the most dominant teams and players the island has seen. In the few years serving as coach and assistant coach, Jimmy has already garnered 5 championships in both JV and Varsity in Mens and Womens’ with hopes of surpassing records in the year’s ahead.
EIF: You’ve had the experience of coaching and engaging with multiple generations of young high-school athletes go through their seasons as JV players into the Varsity level. What would you say makes the biggest difference between a winning team and a losing team? And what do you think separates individual talents from the herd?
Coach Jimmy Yi: That’s a great question. The biggest difference between a winning team and a losing team is what they do after their previous season ends. Basically, it comes down to work ethic during the off-season. Over the past few years, the team that won championships are teams and players that actually put in the work during their off-season, it really shows when they come back the following school year on who put in the work and who didn’t. Although the losing teams, they may argue and say they do put in the work, however, whoever puts in the MOST amount of work (and yes there has got to be talent yes, there has to be a great coach) however, the players that put in the most work and constantly put themselves in uncomfortable situations on the court will eventually succeed and win. This has been repeated many times over the years at all levels of sports.
“hard work trumps talent when talent doesn’t work hard”
EIF: Do you think a lot of the athletes on-island today have self-confidence in their skills? Do you think the mindset aspect of the game is as important as talent and work ethic?
Coach Jimmie Yi: Most young kids don’t have confidence today. Confidence has to come from within and someone has to kind of break it out and a good coach would do that (laughs) but we also need to be empathetic to these kid’s backgrounds and upbringings that makes them who they are so a lot of what we do asides from making them better basketball players is to help them gain self-confidence through this medium we called sports, this doesn’t just go for basketball players but all athletes competing. The kids’ mindsets today are totally different from our days especially with technology, social media, and just random stuff, today’s kids confidence are not as high as it was before, so when you can build that confidence up, it translates into better performance so yes the mindset of being self-confident is equally important to talent and work ethic. Taking the last shot of the game takes a lot of confidence and it needs to come and be built from within. Winning championships (at any level) isn’t easy and I think the team that ultimately competes at the highest-level of self-confidence usually will come out on top especially when talent and work ethic are also in place.
EIF: There’s a fine line between being self-confident and just being straight arrogant. And we think most people get confused by that especially if you don’t know the person (or even if you do). How would you best describe the difference between the two?
Coach Jimmie Yi: You have to walk your talk. A lot of people do take self-confidence in the wrong way in an arrogant way, however, if you can back it up and to do what you say and follow-through it shouldn’t be an issue. But if you’re like the last person on the bench and you’re talking this game you don’t even get to play, then you should zip it. You got to back up your stuff so just be careful how confidence you are trying portray. Not everyone shows their confidence to the world so there are different approaches but if you are the loud one then you just need to back it up. There’s nothing wrong with being confident, put in the work ethic behind the scenes and you go to work it should be no issues, but if you gain like 35 pounds and haven’t touched the ball in a year and you come out and start smacking, then that’s the biggest difference there.
EIF: When you think of the word success, who is the first person who comes to mind and why?
Coach Jimmie Yi: Bill Britt, met him a long time ago, he’s passed away now. Many years ago prior to that, I didn’t really know the definition of success what successful is because there are many, many different definitions of success today. I personally like the definition of success he gave me years ago. “Success is defined by how many people are better off because you lived.” And I learned that firsthand from this guy, and it’s trickled down from many, many generations already to me. So he’s the first person that comes to mind and his famous quote the definition of success is how many people are better off because you lived.
EIF: What advice would you give to your old high school self? What would you say to him?
Coach Jimmie Yi: I tell him to work your butt off every single day, and put in every single dollar that your earn or received back in those days and just leave it in your bank account; and I mean work your butt off seven days a week, no days off period!
EIF: What is one book you can recommend to people currently?
Coach Jimmie Yi: Jack Canfield, the one I just finished, success principles. Jack Canfield is the CEO for the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. John Maxwell books are good, there’s a ton of them, it’s on leadership. Developing the Leader within you 2.0, the original book was made 25 years ago and still as relevant as ever!
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Tommy Hilfiger Discount
End of Summer Chat with DJ Supagi
Pushing Guam’s Future with The Native’s Jerred Pastones
How to Address Depression
EIF 2018 Headliner Heroes X Villains Talks Guam, Trap, Hip-Hop, Fashion and Much More
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Science and Technology - Press Info - Press Releases
Elsevier and Endeavor Information Systems Provide Chinese Academic Consortium with Online Access to ScienceDirect
Des Plaines, IL, May 17, 2006 — Elsevier, a world-leading scientific and healthcare publisher, and Endeavor Information Systems (www.endinfosys.com), one of the leading worldwide providers of library management software and a wholly owned subsidiary of Elsevier, today announced that the more than 100 member organizations of the Chinese Academic Library & Information System (CALIS) will transition to the Web-based version of ScienceDirect by July 2006. Previously, those organizations utilized a localized version of ScienceDirect to access the more than seven-and-half million articles, 2,000 journals and hundreds of Elsevier books available through this comprehensive information resource.
“Elsevier continues to deliver innovative solutions that provide our global customer base with seamless access to a wealth of scientific, technical and medical resources,” said Frank Vrancken Peeters, managing director, Academic & Government, Science & Technology, Elsevier. “In particular, our success in working with a number of institutions in China is a direct reflection of the strength of Elsevier’s content, our flexibility in providing multiple delivery channels for that content and our willingness to meet our customers’ linguistic requirements.”
Previously, CALIS’ localized version of ScienceDirect required a weekly update of articles and journals achieved by uploading content accessed from CD-ROMs, which were sent directly from Elsevier’s Amsterdam headquarters.
“Elsevier and Endeavor share in the privilege of providing the members of the CALIS consortium access to ScienceDirect,” said Roland Dietz, president and CEO, Endeavor. “As recent technologic and telecommunications advancements have made online access to ScienceDirect faster and more secure, this Web-based model will allow us to realize increased economies of scale while delivering the latest academic research in ‘real time.’
”While in the past, language and distribution barriers have prevented Chinese research from becoming more widely accessible. In June 2005, Elsevier launched its comprehensive Chinese Journal Cooperation Program (CJCP) partnering with Chinese publishers, societies and research institutes, to improve international quality and distribution of Chinese journals. The CJCP oversaw the recent addition of Chinese journals to the ScienceDirect China Collection, announced in March 2006 with the goal of providing unique online access to peer-reviewed literature from an emerging global player, on the world’s leading full-text platform.
Previously, in November 2005 Elsevier launched a joint translation center with Science Press, a leading scientific, technical and medical publisher in China. The translation center aims to reciprocally promote books and journals in the Chinese and international markets. Additionally, in December 2005, research from the Robert Gordon University in Scotland examined patterns of Chinese international co-authorship and the impact of Elsevier journals. The study revealed that 9.4 percent of Elsevier’s published articles had at least one Chinese author; a favorable comparison given the wider Chinese world share of 6.52 percent.
About ScienceDirect
Over a quarter of the world’s full text scientific, technical and medical (STM) articles – managed by renowned editors, written by respected authors and read by researchers from around the globe – are available in one place: ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com). Elsevier’s extensive and unique full text collection covers authoritative titles from the core scientific literature including high impact factor titles such as THE LANCET, Cell and Tetrahedron. Over 7 million articles are available online, including Articles in Press which offer rapid access to recently accepted manuscripts.
The critical mass of information available on ScienceDirect is unsurpassed. Coverage includes over 1,800 journals published by Elsevier and dynamic linking to journals from approximately 350 STM publishers through CrossRef. An expanding program of online major reference works and book series in all fields of science seamlessly interlinks with primary research referenced in journal articles.
About Endeavor Information Systems
Endeavor Information Systems produces advanced library management systems for research and public librarians seeking to integrate ever-increasing electronic resources within their collections. Since 1994, Endeavor has pioneered library management systems by offering enhanced functionality coupled with intuitive interfaces that increase usability and efficiency. Its heritage of technological innovation and service to libraries as well as its significant financial strength as a wholly owned subsidiary of Elsevier combine to make Endeavor Information Systems an industry leader. Visit Endeavor at www.endinfosys.com for more information.
Endeavor Information Systems
Phone:+1.847.227.2634
Email: brian.schwartz@endinfosys.com
Lee Lee Pui
Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd Beijing
Phone: +86.10.85185800, ext. 208
Email: lp.lee@elsevier.com
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Lloyds Banking Group announces new £2.5bn lending commitment for Midlands businesses
As part of Lloyds Banking Group’s national pledge to lend up to £18bn to UK businesses in 2020, the Group expects to support firms in the Midlands with up to £2.5bn of lending this year, highlighting its commitment to be by the side of British business whatever the future brings.
The funding is available to firms across the Midlands and will support entrepreneurs looking to start a new business, micro-businesses seeking to scale-up and small businesses considering trading internationally for the first time. It will also support established mid-sized businesses and large, multinational corporations seeking further growth.
This new lending commitment for 2020 follows on from the Group’s pledge in 2019, also for £18bn lent nationally and £2.5bn available to the region’s firms. Despite the continuing challenging economic environment, the Group is not lessening its backing for British businesses and is on hand to support their growth aspirations.
Part of that money saw Lloyds Bank support the UK’s only wheelbarrow manufacturer, The Walsall Wheelbarrow Company, to more than double its capacity with the help of a £450,000 hire purchase facility last year. The business, which began manufacturing wheelbarrows in the 1940s, bought a new powder painting machinery to help it meet growing demand without impacting cashflow.
Jo Harris, Lloyds Banking Group Ambassador for the Midlands, said: “Many Midlands businesses are thriving, with plenty of exciting opportunities in the pipeline too. Continued investment in the Midlands Engine, and regeneration projects underway across the region, are just two things that will help to drive business growth this year.
“We anticipate lending up to £2.5bn to Midlands firms in 2020, as they take advantage of the prospects ahead.”
During 2019, as well as supporting British businesses’ growth aspirations, the Group assisted its customers in becoming more sustainable. The Group is on course to meet its ambitions to support existing and new customers with energy efficiency improvements for a further one million square feet of commercial real estate as well as delivering renewable energy projects capable of powering 3.5 million homes by 2020.
To support customers on their sustainability journey, over 450 relationship managers have undertaken intensive training on climate change and sustainability-related risks and opportunities in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. We are putting sustainability at the heart of our relationship teams’ support for businesses.
António Horta Osório, Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group, said: “In 2020, our commitment to supporting businesses is undiminished and we will lend up to £18bn to businesses across the UK. We know that during uncertain times our customers look to us not just for financial support but also for expert guidance to navigate the challenges they may face. Whatever the future brings, we will continue to support UK businesses as part of our commitment to help Britain prosper.”
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Critical Evaluation
Sense and Sensibility (Critical Survey of Contemporary Fiction)
Sense and Sensibility (Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism)
Which is the major contrast made between Elinor and Marianne?
David Morrison | Certified Educator
Elinor and Marianne represent, respectively, the sense and sensibility of the title. Their biggest contrast lies in their respective temperaments, which really couldn't be any more different. Elinor is a cool, rational, sensible young woman, someone with a strength of understanding that allows her to offer wise counsel to her mother, even at so young an age. She is considerably more mature than...
(The entire section contains 190 words.)
Compare and contrast Elinor to Marianne in "Sense and Sensibility".
In Sense and Sensibility, how do Marianne and Elinor Dashwood display the characteristics of...
What are the character traits of Elinor and Marianne in Austen's Sense and Sensibility?
How does the relationship between Elinor and Marianne change over the course of the novel Sense...
Compare and contrast the sisters, Elinor and Marianne, in Sense and Sensibility to Cecily and...
What is the main theme of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility?
Explain the setting of Sense and Sensibility.
What literary devices does Jane Austen use in Sense and Sensibility, such as foreshadowing and...
How does the relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon change over the course of the novel?
What are major themes in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility?
Sense and Sensibility Summary
Sense and Sensibility Themes
Sense and Sensibility Characters
Sense and Sensibility Analysis
Sense and Sensibility Quiz
Sense and Sensibility Lesson Plans
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Credit Rating Agencies X Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group X Corporate Information X
27/08/2018 ESMA22-106-1137 Summary of conclusions- SMSG meeting 25 May 2018 Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Summary of Conclusions PDF
17/03/2017 ESMA 22-106-143 Summary of conclusions- SMSG meeting 9 February 2017 Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Summary of Conclusions PDF
01/12/2011 2011/SMSG/15 Summary of conclusions- SMSG meeting on 11 October 2011 Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group Reference PDF
03/02/2017 ESMA80-1467488426-27 Supervision Annual Report 2016 and Work Programme 2017 Credit Rating Agencies, Trade Repositories Report PDF
06/04/2017 ESMA33-9-158 Supervisory Briefing: A Common Approach to the CRA Regulation’s Provisions for Encouraging the use of Smaller CRAs Credit Rating Agencies Report PDF
ESMA is required to play an active role in building a common supervisory culture by promoting common supervisory approaches and practices among nationally appointed Sectoral Competent Authorities (‘SCAs’).
The purpose of this supervisory briefing is to provide guidance to SCAs in relation to the application of Articles 8c and 8d of the CRA Regulation and promote a common supervisory approach and enforcement of these Articles. In this regard, the Supervisory Briefing includes the following:
A Common Supervisory Approach as to which issuers and related third parties are covered by Article 8c and 8d; and,
A Standard Form for documentation in accordance with article 8d.
The common supervisory approach will assist SCAs as well as issuers and related third parties by clearly establishing who should be prioritised for supervision and enforcement under these Articles.
The Standard Form will assist SCAs by guaranteeing standardised and consistent data across different issuers and related third parties. It will also assist issuers and related third parties by providing clarity as to how they may meet their regulatory obligations under these Articles and simplify their internal processes by removing the need to develop in-house templates for documenting compliance under Article 8d.
The Supervisory Briefing will be published on ESMA’s website and on the websites of the nationally appointed SCAs.
11/07/2019 ESMA41-137-1148 Svenska Handelsbanken AB- PUBLIC NOTICE Credit Rating Agencies Reference PDF
11/07/2019 ESMA41-137-1151 Swedbank- PUBLIC NOTICE Credit Rating Agencies Reference PDF
17/09/2014 2014/850rev Technical Advice in accordance with Article 39(b) 2 of the CRA Regulation Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
370.42 KB This document has been revised to reflect an amended figure in Table 1 and two re-classifications of solicitation status in Table 2. Article 39b(2) of the CRA Regulation states that the European Commission shall adopt a report by end 2014 – after receiving ESMA’s technical advice – on the appropriateness of the development of a European creditworthiness assessment for sovereign debt. In its request for advice, the Commission asked ESMA to provide input on the issue of sovereign ratings and rating processes including an overview of the market for sovereign ratings, information on operational issues regarding sovereign ratings, information on sovereign rating processes as well as lessons drawn from ESMA’s supervisory experience. Contents For the purposes of this advice, ESMA provides its views based on the quantitative information contained in the CEREP public database and on information publicly disclosed by credit rating agencies registered with ESMA. Additionally, ESMA’s advice has been informed by its first supervisory activities regarding the rating process for sovereign ratings of CRAs which are active in the EU sovereign rating market. In accordance with the CRA Regulation, these supervisory activities did not address the content of the sovereign methodologies themselves but rather were concerned with the independence, transparency and governance of the sovereign rating process. Sovereign credit ratings play a crucial role from a credit market and financial stability perspective, not least because sovereign governments account for the largest group of borrowers in capital markets in terms of volume. In addition the crucial importance of these sovereign ratings can be amplified by the “cascade” effect sovereign ratings have on other asset classes via their presence as factors in other asset methodologies. In the EU the sovereign rating market is composed of nine CRAs established in nine different EU member states. These nine CRAs exhibit a high level of variation with respect to the type and number of sovereign ratings they assign. Sovereign credit ratings themselves can also be differentiated in various ways depending on such factors as local/foreign currency, duration of issuance, whether the rating applies to a specific issuer or issuance and if it is solicited or unsolicited. In addition ESMA would like to emphasise the following points which it believes to be important when considering the appropriateness of the development of a European creditworthiness assessment of sovereign debt.
02/10/2015 2015/1472 Technical Advice on Competition, Choice and Conflicts of Interest in the CRA industry Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
31/05/2013 2013/626 Technical advice on CRA regulatory equivalence on Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
840.48 KB The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has provided advice to the European Commission in respect of the equivalence between the EU regulatory regime for credit rating agencies and the respective legal and supervisory frameworks of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore. This is in response to the European Commission’s request for technical advice from ESMA on the equivalence of these jurisdictions legal and supervisory frameworks with the EU regulatory regime for credit rating agencies as set out in Regulation (EC) No. 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and the Council on credit rating agencies. The European Commission has already published equivalence decisions on US, Canada and Australia, on 9 October 2012, and on Japan, 28 October 2010. Regarding compliance with the EU requirements on endorsement, ESMA has already indicated that it considers the legal and regulatory regime for CRAs supervision of the following countries as “as stringent as” the EU requirements: 15 March 2012, Hong Kong and Singapore; 18 April 2012, Argentina and Mexico; 27 April 2012, Brazil.
17/11/2017 ESMA33-9-207 Technical Advice on CRA Regulatory Equivalence- CRA 3 Update Credit Rating Agencies Final Report PDF
18/04/2012 2012/259 Technical advice on CRA regulatory equivalence- US, Canada and Australia Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
697.78 KB On 12 June 2009 the European Commission requested CESR, now ESMA, to provide its technical advice on the equivalence between the legal and supervisory framework of Japan, The United States, and Canada with the EU regulatory regime for credit rating agencies. (Regulation (EC) No. 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and the Council on credit rating agencies ). On 17 November 2009, the Commission also requested CESR to provide its technical advice on Australia. On 28 September 2010, the European Commission published an equivalence decision on Japan. With regard to the compliance with the EU requirements on endorsement, ESMA had already indicated that it considers the legal and regulatory regime for CRAs supervision of the following countries as “as stringent as” the EU requirements: - On 22 December 2011, Japan and Australia; - On 15 March 2012, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore. This report sets out ESMA’s advice to the European Commission in respect of the equivalence between the US (Part I), Canada (Part II) and Australia (Part III) respective legal and supervisory frameworks and the EU regulatory regime for credit rating agencies.
02/10/2015 2015/1471 Technical Advice on Reducing Sole and Mechanistic Reliance on Credit Ratings Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
18/07/2019 ESMA33-9-321 Technical Advice on Sustainability Considerations in the Credit Rating Market Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
21/11/2013 2013/1703 Technical Advice on the feasibility of a network of small and medium-sized CRAs Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
601.05 KB The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has finalised its Technical Advice to the European Commission on the feasibility of a network of small and medium sized credit rating agencies in order to increase competition in the market. The technical advice provides quantitative and qualitative information on small and medium-sized CRAs in the EU, based on the analysis of the periodic reporting obligations of CRAs to ESMA via the central repository CEREP. It also covers some information regarding possible barriers to entry for companies that wish to conduct rating activity in the EU. Contents The main findings of the advice are: • The 22 registered CRAs are established in 11 EU Member States; • None of the small and medium-sized CRAs cover the whole range of the five rating classes considered (corporates (non-financial), financials, insurance, sovereign and public finance, and structured finance). Whilst DBRS and BCRA cover four and three classes respectively, all the remaining small and medium-sized CRAs cover one or two rating classes only. This contrasts with Fitch, Moody’s and S&P that issue ratings for all five possible rating classes; • Small and medium-sized CRAs are mainly active in issuing corporate ratings. Within this rating type, four small and medium-sized CRAs issue a relatively high number of corporate ratings (CERVED and ICAP) or financial and insurance ratings (GBB and AM Best); • Only 6 of the small and medium-sized CRAs provide sovereign ratings (BCRA, Capital Intelligence, DBRS, European Rating, Feri Euro Rating (Feri) and Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR)), whilst only one (DBRS) issues structured finance ratings; • As of end 2012 the majority of small and medium-sized CRAs issued solicited ratings only, whilst eight issued unsolicited ratings only. Three small and medium-sized CRAs (DBRS, JCR, and Scope) issued both solicited and unsolicited ratings, as was the case also for Fitch, Moody’s and S&P; • As regards geographical coverage of the small and medium-sized CRAs 6 out of 19 (AM Best, Capital Intelligence, Creditreform, DBRS, JCR and Scope) have a coverage that goes beyond one Member State when referring to corporate ratings. As regards the sovereign ratings type, three of the small and medium-sized CRAs cover more than one Member State (Capital Intelligence, Feri and JCR). In both of these ratings types, Fitch, Moody’s and S&P’s rating activities cover all Member States of the EU; • In 2013, 96% of the supervisory fees were paid by S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch, while their turnover from rating and ancillary services was equal to 88% of the total turnover of the 20 registered and certified CRAs in 2012: and • As of July 2013, 14 out of 19 small and medium-sized CRAs have been granted at least one of the regulatory exemptions provided for in the CRA Regulation. Finally, and with reference to the current situation in the segment of small and medium-sized CRAs, ESMA is not aware of any private networks of small and medium-sized CRAs currently in place.
19/12/2013 2013/1953 Technical Advice to the European Commission on the equivalence between the Argentinean regulatory and supervisory framework and the EU regulatory regime for CRAs Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
09/06/2010 10-333 Technical Advice- The Equivalence between the Japanese Regulatory and Supervisory Framework and the EU Regulatory Regime for Credit Rating Agencies CESR Archive, Credit Rating Agencies Technical Advice PDF
11/01/2018 ESMA80-196-954 Thematic Report- On fees charged by Credit Rating Agencies and Trade Repositories Credit Rating Agencies, Trade Repositories Report PDF
esma71-99-923_factsheet_tr_fees.pdf
esma71-99-928_factsheet_cra_fees.pdf
04/04/2016 2016/219 ToR CRA TC Credit Rating Agencies Reference PDF
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TennisTennis
Australian OpenAustralian Open
Grand Slam HistoryGrand Slam History
Federer won't return for Davis Cup in 2015
Medvedev finds his groove in first-round win at Australian Open
Coco Gauff shows how far she's come in Australian Open win
1dSimon Cambers
Bryant: As Australia burns, it's time for athletes to speak out on climate
4dHoward Bryant
Kyrgios cruises, McEnroe joins bushfire pledge
5hJake Michaels
Konta, Edmund crash out of Australian Open
'One of the people' - Why John Millman is so likeable
9hMatt Walsh
Nadal wins Australian opener in straight sets
Tsitsipas implores his fans to be more 'respectful'
Sharapova ousted in first round at Australian Open
Roger Federer out of Davis Cup
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Roger Federer is skipping the Davis Cup this year after leading Switzerland to its first title in 2014.
Federer played the entire Davis Cup season last year, with Switzerland beating France 3-1 in the final. The Davis Cup was the only major competition the 17-time Grand Slam champion had not won.
He won't be in the lineup when Switzerland opens its defense of the title in Belgium on March 6-8. And Federer said he has no plans to play Davis Cup the rest of the year either.
"It wasn't a difficult decision," the 33-year-old said Monday at the Dubai tournament. "I have played for so long, and I think by winning it I can finally do whatever I please, to be quite honest."
The Swiss team in Belgium will also be without 2013 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
Federer has played in 26 Davis Cup ties since 1999 with an overall 50-17 win-loss record.
"It's been a big burden for me throughout my career and one of the things that have caused more difficulties in my life than many other things, I must say," Federer said.
"I always feel there is so much guilt put on you from the federation or from the ITF more so than anybody else. So I'm happy I was able to finally tick that off and do it altogether."
Federer said his decision to dedicate himself to the 2014 Davis Cup campaign was more for his teammates than himself.
"I totally did it for the boys more than for me, to be quite honest," he said. "I just really wanted Michael [Lammer] and Marco [Chiudinelli] and Stan to get it because they deserve it. So for me, this year, it was very clear that I was not going to play."
While the Davis Cup is not in Federer's plans, Wawrinka has not decided whether to play later in the year.
"I hope that Stan is going to play, next round or September or whatever it's going to be, to keep us in the World Group," Federer said. "Who knows? You never know if they can win it without us as well. It's an opportunity, but clearly we are not the favorites now playing against Belgium."
Federer, however, could have to show up for one more Davis Cup tie in the next two years to qualify directly for the Swiss Olympic team for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
ITF rules state that a player must compete in Davis Cup for his country once in the season leading up to or in the Olympic year to be eligible to compete at the Games.
Federer could also be offered a wild-card entry into the Olympic tournament.
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Starbucks® FoodShare Pays a Passion Forward for Employee Kirsten Casteel
Starbucks shift supervisor Kirsten Casteel is passionate about helping to fight hunger in her San Antonio, Texas community. And the reasons are deeply personal. As a child, Kirsten’s family struggled to make ends meet, and she often relied on food banks and school programs for her daily meals. “A lot of times those were the only meals we had,” says Kirsten.
So when the Starbucks FoodShare program was initiated in 2016, she was proud to be able to support the same system that sustained her family through those difficult times. “We all have that urge to help somebody out when they need something,” says Kirsten. “FoodShare gives us the power to do that."
Developed in partnership with Feeding America, the Starbucks FoodShare program supports local food banks by collecting 100 percent of food available to donate from Starbucks stores each night. The program has already provided over 10 million meals to people in need in communities across the country and has become a meaningful part of the day for many Starbucks partners (employees). “It’s a simple thing we do each night that makes us feel like a part of something bigger,” says Kirsten.
The program started as a pilot in a few stores, but quickly grew thanks to the passion of partners like Kirsten who saw the potential impact a program like this could have on their communities. “In the past few years, I've watched it grow,” says Kirsten. “Partners have become very involved in the volunteer program, and some even lead monthly events at the local food bank.”
By 2020, all Starbucks company-owned stores will participate in the Starbucks FoodShare program, increasing meal donations to 50 million per year.
"I used the food bank as a child. And now I'm able to give back to the program that helped me," she says. "That means a lot."
Ready to do more? Join Kirsten and Starbucks in ending hunger by donating your time to your local food bank.
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Brazil, U.S. beef trade agreement raises concern
Beef leaders question agency's animal health vetting process.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Aug. 1 that it reached an agreement with Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Food Supply to allow access for U.S. beef and beef products to the Brazilian market for the first time since 2003. Brazil's action reflects the U.S.'s negligible risk classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and aligns Brazil's regulations with OIE scientific international animal health guidelines.
"After many years of diligently working to regain access to the Brazilian market, the United States welcomes the news that Brazil has removed all barriers to U.S. beef and beef product exports," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "We are pleased that Brazil, a major agricultural producing and trading country, has aligned with science-based international standards, and we encourage other nations to do the same. Since last year alone, USDA has eliminated BSE-related restrictions in 16 countries, regaining market access for U.S. beef and pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the American economy.
"The Brazilian market offers excellent long-term potential for U.S. beef exporters. The United States looks forward to providing Brazil's 200 million-plus consumers and growing middle class with high-quality American beef and beef products," Vilsack said.
Both countries will immediately begin updating their administrative procedures in order to allow trade to resume. U.S. companies will need to complete Brazil's regular facilities registration process.
In a separate decision, USDA's Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) also recently determined that Brazil's food safety system governing meat products remains equivalent to that of the U.S. and that fresh (chilled or frozen) beef can be safely imported from Brazil. Following a multiyear, science-based review consistent with U.S. food safety regulations for countries that export meat, poultry and egg products to the U.S., FSIS is amending the list of eligible countries and products authorized for export to the U.S. to allow fresh (chilled or frozen) beef from Brazil.
Industry reacts
National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn. president Tracy Brunner said the Administration’s decision to move forward on allowing fresh and frozen beef imports from Brazil “is of continued concern as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is still reviewing the methodology used during the decision-making process.”
He added, “Furthermore, USDA has failed to provide the detailed and documented science-based review of the risk evaluation protocols for determining an animal health status for countries — information requested by the U.S. beef industry and Congress last year in order to alleviate serious animal health concerns."
With so much at stake, Brunner said there is no reason USDA shouldn’t be forthcoming with information and willing to wait for the completion of the GAO audit.
“Most importantly, we need the U.S. government to take the proper precaution and ensure a robust foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank,” he added. “The U.S. cattle herd has not been exposed to FMD since 1929, and the current lack of FMD preparedness could devastate our industry if our herd is exposed to the highly communicable disease. We cannot afford to jeopardize our nation’s livestock herds, which are the foundation of our global food supply, before all the possible risks to animal health and food safety have been properly addressed and precautions have been established.”
R-CALF USA chief executive officer Bill Bullard called the move a “political tit-for-tat that will expose U.S. consumers and the U.S. cattle herd to an unnecessary and avoidable risk of disease.”
Bullard said claims that the Brazilian market affords U.S. cattle producers with economic opportunities “would be laughable” if not for the significant risk associated with countries like Brazil that continue to battle FMD and other dangerous livestock diseases.
"Brazil lacks the resources and infrastructure to maintain health and safety standards that are at least equal to that of the United States," Bullard said. "That is why the USDA lowered the U.S. standard to that of mere equivalency, which essentially means ‘close enough.’”
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) told Feedstuffs that the potential for the U.S. to export beef and beef variety meats to Brazil will be fairly limited in the near term due, in part, to Brazil’s economic situation and the weak real. However, the group added that it foresees more significant medium-term opportunities for exports of high-quality U.S. middle meats and picanha for use in Brazil’s foodservice and high-end retail sectors.
“U.S. beef will be differentiated and marketed as a unique product in the upscale sectors of metropolitan areas such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil),” USMEF said.
There are also opportunities for U.S. liver exports, the group said, as beef livers are a popular item in Brazil and command relatively high prices. "The U.S. is the largest exporter of beef livers in the world and has been seeking to diversify its export outlets since Russia closed to U.S. beef in 2013,” USMEF added.
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Regional Employers Inspire Future IT Stars at the Digital Communications Academy
by Derby College
Derby College
A former Derby College Group (DCG) IT student has returned to the Digital Communications Academy at the Joseph Wright post 16 Academic and Arts college to inspire young people at the start of their further education careers.
Mike Perkins (21) secured a full time job at The Royal Bank of Scotland in Kegworth which provides IT and property support across the global banking group - after completing a work experience placement there as part of his college study programme.
Mike and colleagues from The Royal Bank of Scotland were joined at the Academy’s induction day for students by representatives from a wide range of other companies who will also be supporting this year’s 100-strong IT student body with specialist talks, projects, work experience and placements.
Students learnt about career opportunities at RBS and their recruitment partner Lorien Resourcing, Rolls-Royce, RDS Global, Lubrizol, Koobr as well as higher education options at the University of Derby and volunteering opportunities with Code Club.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has worked in partnership with DCG for four years – providing additional training for IT students and work placement opportunities - and has recruited more than 20 students into full time roles.
Mike Perkins joined DCG on an IT study programme from Belper School. Following work experience at RBS, he was appointed as a service desk analyst three years ago and was then promoted to a senior role before progressing into the company’s Digital and Automation team.
Mike explained: “My main message to students is to embrace the opportunities that are available to them to work with employers during their study programme.
“College really prepared me for the world of work and instilled a good work ethic whilst gaining qualifications.
“Having the opportunity to do work experience helped me to appreciate the many different career opportunities there are and what employers expect in the workplace.
“It definitely gave me and the other students an advantage when applying for jobs both at The Royal Bank of Scotland and other companies.”
The Royal Bank of Scotland Senior Team Leader Paul Wyatt: “We have successfully recruited a number of students from Derby College over the past four years.
“We find that they are ready for the workplace from day one and often progress much quicker than many other new recruits of the same age.”
Pardeep Bring, who is a Consultant for the team in Kegworth, continued:
VISIT FROM TAJIK STATE UNIVERSITY OF LAW, BUSINESS AND POLITICS (TSULB
Ofsted's Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman discusses the quality of educ
Today our blog looks at new recommendations we are setting out on tea
“Our aim is to support young people in the local community by embedding the technical and employability skills during the work placements. We also help students develop their CVs and interview skills.
“By working in partnership with the college, we can better prepare them for the future – whether that is university, apprenticeships or work.”
Digital Communications Lecturer Mark Shore concluded: “Inviting employers that we work with into the Academy on day one confirms just how important these companies are to their college careers.
“It clearly establishes in the young people’s minds that the purpose of their time here is to prepare them for the next stage of their lives.
“The day particularly highlights that employability skills such as communication, team work as well as good English and Maths skills are just as important as the IT qualifications that they will be working towards during their time with us.”
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1 in the bag
APOLONIA Vaivai has won Fiji?s first medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which is Fiji?s third by a woman in the history of the Commonwealth Games. Vaivai, 27, won a bronze in the 2014 games and repeated the feat yesterday in the women?s 69kg category. The only other woman to have won a medal in […]
Brady ‘open-minded’ about his NFL future
Titans quarterback Tannehill named a Pro Bowl replacement
Toronto’s Bradley faces four months out after ankle surgery
Friends United successfully defends title
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Man At His Best
AI Editor Squire
Esky Shop
Spain’s stolen children: An investigation into the babies abducted at birth and sold for adoption
Six mothers and a daughter share their poignant tales of a horrific kidnapping conspiracy.
Nov 12, 2019 Words By Esquire Singapore
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Clara Alfonsa Reinoso had just turned 15 when, on 18 June 1987, she gave birth to what she was told was a baby boy at a top- notch private clinic in Barcelona. The girl came from a troubled family—her mother was a prostitute, her father a heavy-drinker and violent man—and the local Juvenile Court had just taken legal custody of her and her nine siblings. Reinoso had spent the previous weeks in a shelter for vulnerable pregnant women. On the day of the delivery, she was put in a taxi a given two tranquilliser pills. She doesn’t remember entering the clinic and giving birth. “I was probably sedated,” she explains. “When I woke up afterwards and asked for my baby, a doctor told me the boy was too small and didn’t make it”. In the following years, Reinoso got married and gave birth to three more children. On 10 May 2013, she received a phone call from a psychologist from the Government of Catalunya who asked her if, in June 1987, she had given birth to a baby. Reinoso confirmed and told him the boy had died. “It wasn’t a boy and he didn’t die. Your daughter is alive and she is looking for you,” he replied. Reinoso collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by the shock. Since December 2013, Reinoso has waged a fierce legal battle in order to prove her daughter was stolen. Hers has become one of the most high-profile cases in the stolen children scandal—involving, among others, Spain’s current minister of defence Margarita Robles, who was a senior judge at Barcelona’s Juvenile Court at the time of the events.
The penetrating gaze of Maria Vega Martinez Loza burns with fury as she stares at her husband. The man stands in front of her, head down, unable to look back at her. The table separating the two is covered with papers documenting the suspicious death of their twins on 9 October 1970 at the Hospital Provincial of San Sebastián. “I do think our kids were stolen, but a lot of time has passed,” says the man, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “With the little evidence that we have, it is like finding a needle in a haystack.” “They are your sons, Javier. Don’t you want to find them?” replies Martinez Loza. “Aren’t you ashamed to leave this burden to me alone?” The man falls silent, guilty and visibly embarrassed. Tired and disappointed by the disinterest of Spain’s justice system, Martinez Loza keeps on fighting alone. Her husband’s reluctance to help her has permanently affected their marriage. Deep in his heart, Javier knows his wife will never forgive him.
Vanessa Muñoz Mallen was supposedly born on 27 July 1974 at Clínica Virgen del Consuelo in Valencia. The clinic doesn’t have any medical report of her birth, only a logbook where her unknown biological mother was registered as “patient of Doctor Carbonell”. Muñoz Mallen was given to a young couple in their 20s who could not have kids and who desperately wanted a daughter. In the previous months, her future adoptive mother had staged a pregnancy, wearing large clothes in order to deceive the family’s acquaintances. For the first years of her adoptive daughter’s life, she lived in fear that the biological mother would claim her back. When Muñoz Mallen was a child, her schoolmates used to laugh at her and say her parents were not her real ones. The adoptive parents eventually followed the advice of a psychologist and confessed she had been adopted. “Since then, my birthday has become the worst day of the year,” explains Muñoz Mallen. “When the date approaches I only wish that my biological mom remembered me as much as I remember her”. Muñoz Mallen never found her birth mother’s written consent to the adoption, only a few hospital receipts with the money her adoptive parents paid, “as if I was a car”, she bitterly says. When she contacted a local association of stolen children in 2010, she was relieved to hear she might be one of them. “I would rather be stolen than abandoned,” she explains. “That’s how I felt for most of my life, even if my adoptive parents treated me well”. Last January, she was finally able to connect with a second cousin, thanks to a US-based DNA testing company. She hopes he will be able to help her locate her mother.
Despite her precarious state of health, Dolores Pimienta Cuecas hasn’t lost hope to reunite with her son Félix after almost 60 years. He was born at 6.15pm on 29 May 1960 at Hospital Clínico in Barcelona. Pimienta Cuecas held him briefly in her arms before a nurse took him away to give him his first bath. A few hours later, the mother was informed he had died for having swallowed liquid during the delivery. Pimienta Cuecas never believed it, but there was little she could do. She was alone at the hospital and had no family in Barcelona—she and her husband had recently emigrated from the south of Spain. The illiterate couple could not question the doctors’ words. In 2011, with the help of her eldest son, Pimienta Cuecas was finally able to retrieve Félix’s medical report. There was no mention his death and neither the civil registry nor the cemetery had any record of his decease. Pimienta Cuecas’s most realistic chance to reunite with her lost son is a DNA match. She had left hers at several Spanish and foreign laboratories, hoping to receive a phone call from Félix before leaving this world. “I don’t even know what I would tell him, but I would be the happiest person on Earth,” she concludes.
Josefa Zamorano Madera’s sixth son was born on 3 June 1968 at the Manuel Lois hospital in Huelva. The baby weighed almost 5kg and kept on growing while the mother breastfed him during the first two days. “On the third day, a nun handed me a much darker and gracile baby,” she continues. “This is not my son!’ I told her. Her only reply was ‘if you want you can have this one, otherwise I’ll take him away’.” As the mother protested, the nun walked away with the newborn. Zamorano Madera was dismissed the following day, while her son was kept in an incubator. She came back several times to check on the baby, but she was never allowed to see him. On the 12th day, she was told by phone that her son had died.
Isabel Maria Gil Pérez’s melancholic, hazelnut eyes look at a small, faded photo showing a 20-year-old woman and her newborn baby. “This is the only souvenir I have of my son Raul,” she explains. “Without it, what happened would have only been a nightmare”. The picture was taken on 17 March 1978 at the maternity ward of a hospital in Terrassa, where Gil Pérez had just delivered a baby boy weighing around 4kg. For three days, Raul would stay with his mother during the day and be brought to a common nursery at night. At 5am on the fourth day, a doctor and a few nurses walked into the room to inform her of the sudden death of her child. The mother was incredulous and wanted to speak to the nurse who had discovered the death, but the doctor replied that she had fallen ill because of the shock and had gone home. Gil Pérez gave birth to three more children, but her young couple struggled to recover from the senseless loss of their first child. “My husband and I would constantly blame each other for what had happened. It was a constant torture and it almost caused us to break-up,” explains Gil Pérez. In July 2011, Raul’s supposed remains were exhumed from the family niche in the local municipal cemetery and DNA-tested by a private laboratory. The results were a devastating blow: the laboratory couldn’t establish any paternal relationship between the tests and the two parents. The baby who had been buried was not Raul.
Práxedes Maxía Piqueras weeps uncontrollably while caressing the doll she had made for her daughter Jessica. “I still have a little dress I had sewn for my baby,” she adds, gulping down some tranquillisers to compose herself. “To come back from the hospital alone was the toughest thing I had to endure.” Jessica was born on 23 August 1982 at Hospital Sanjurjo in Valencia. She supposedly died 10 hours later because of several malformations and was buried in a municipal common grave. “According to the medical reports my daughter was a monster, but when I held her on my lap she was perfectly fine!” continues Maxía Piqueras, with a desperate voice. “She had marvellous blue eyes and hair so blonde as if they had been dyed in saffron.” In 2013, Maxía Piqueras camped for 68 days in front of Valencia’s main square, enchained, in order to press the authorities for the exhumation of her supposed daughter. Her case was dismissed a few weeks later.
For seven decades until 2001, an estimated 300,000 Spanish babies were abducted at birth and sold to affluent couples in Spain and abroad by a complicit network of medical, religious and administration officials. Mothers were separated from their babies immediately after delivery through various pretexts and later informed the child had died for health complications. They were not shown the corpse and were told the hospital would take care of the burial at no cost.
Their stolen babies were instead being sold to couples who could not have kids. They were either adopted or inscribed as biological children of their new parents, thanks to forged birth papers provided by the traffickers. Many ignore their real origins to this day.
A few years ago, some of the mothers finally found the courage to denounce the scandal. When they started looking for papers proving their babies’ deaths, they encountered blatant incongruences and tampered documents. In some cases, there was no proof that their children were ever born. Since then, exhumations of supposed stolen children have revealed empty coffins, adult body parts or remains whose DNA do not match those of the searching parents.
Spain’s judicial system—unwilling to confront one of the country’s darkest secrets—is systematically dismissing cases in spite of recommendations from the EU and the UN to investigate the issue seriously. Not a single person has been condemned so far. Victims have lost faith in local authorities and are now turning to international tribunals in their quest for truth and justice.
While a few have managed to reunite with their loved ones—mainly thanks to DNA testing services—the vast majority continue their search, determined to find them at all costs. Here are their unbelievable stories.
Words by Matteo Fagotto
Photographs by Matilde Gattoni
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Sheffield is primed for growth: explains why Chinese will invest £1bn
Sheffield in South Yorkshire, which was once one of the leading industrial cities in Britain and is still recognised for its large contribution to the highly successful steel industry, has changed a lot, and whether you believe the alterations have been for the better or not, there have certainly been plenty of them, with lots more to come.
Combining the best of city living with the beauty and tranquillity of the nearby Peak District National Park, Sheffield, which is undergoing a strong regeneration programme, is looking more cosmopolitan by the day, and offers lots of opportunities for many of its 570,000 local residents, including the large student population.
Sheffield, home to Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam Universities, was recently named as the best city for graduates, based on the average graduate salary, the average rental cost and house price, monthly utilities as well as disposable income and – perhaps most importantly at an average of just £2.70 – the cost of a pint!
The research by property website The House Shop found that of the main UK cities, Sheffield had the cheapest rental and living costs, with a two-bedroom house costing £667 per month to rent on average, while the average price to purchase a two-bedroom property is just £119,806.
“Sheffield has been the big winner here, with the perfect combination of low rents, affordable house prices, good graduate starting salaries, cheap pints and plenty of shops, pubs, restaurants, clubs and bars to keep new graduates entertained,” said Nick Marr, co-founder of The House Shop.
Separate data provided by Adzuna’s “Affordability Index” for house hunters found that Sheffield ranked in the top 10 most affordable UK cities for first-time buyers at just 3.03 times average earnings for the area; an attractive proposition for bargain hunters, and those priced out of acquiring property across many other parts of the country.
Sheffield’s growing popularity means that demand for property in the city is increasing, as reflected by Direct Line Home Insurance’s latest property research which found that 74% of adults in the Steel City admit to regular window shopping for homes in Sheffield by browsing the main property websites – more than any other part of the country.
This demand is driven not just by students and graduates, but also those relocating from more expensive areas, like Leeds and Manchester, as well as buy-to-let investors, many of which are targeting Sheffield’s vibrant student accommodation market.
Educated investment
Sheffield was recently named as the third best city for buy-to-let property investment opportunities for parents of undergraduate students in the UK, after Leeds and Manchester, with an average rental yield of 5.3% achievable, according to analysis by Urban.co.uk.
The agency’s co-founder, Adam Male, commented: “Universities in the North are incredibly popular, and for parents with children studying in the area, this region presents itself as a prime place to invest.”
“With massive transport investments planned for these areas as well as more businesses moving North, a buy-to-let in these areas is not only likely to offer short-term financial gains, but a solid long-term investment too,” he added.
Housing shortage
While demand for property in Sheffield is growing, the supply of housing on the market is actually falling, with the volume of homes on the market down 8.6% in June compared with the previous month, the latest property supply index from online estate agents HouseSimple.com shows.
“Fear and uncertainty over the Brexit vote definitely had an impact on buyer and seller confidence in June, with many sellers holding off putting their properties on the market until the result was known,” said Alex Gosling, CEO of HouseSimple.com.
Although the UK’s decision to leave the EU has come as a shock to some people, Gosling points out that a degree of uncertainty has been removed from the equation, while the growing housing supply shortage may well “counter any fallout from Brexit”.
The latest homeowner research statistics from Plentific.com on the back of June’s Brexit victory highlight that 5% of homeowners in Sheffield are less likely to sell their property in the current market, which will further add to the supply-demand imbalance.
“The big story for the last two years which we’ve been banging on about and every other estate agent has too, is that there is not enough property to sell. Over and over this is the message which has been coming out,” said Ian Preston co-founder of Preston Baker estate agents, which trades in Sheffield, Doncaster, Selby, North Leeds and York.
The growing housing shortage in the city has unsurprisingly placed upward pressure on house prices, with the latest data from property analyst Hometrack revealing that the average price of a home in the city has increased by 4.3% over the past 12 months to reach an average of £128,800.
The report, by Hometrack, shows that Sheffield’s prices are still to return to the levels before the financial crash.
At their highest point in 2007, homes in the city cost £134,737 on average.
Room for growth
Despite the recent market slowdown in places like London and Cambridge, owed in part to the uncertainty around the EU referendum, Richard Donnell (right), insight director at Hometrack, points out that home sales in many large regional cities, like Sheffield, have held up well in comparison.
“This is thanks to a combination of much better housing affordability, improving economic growth and record low mortgage rates helping to stimulate demand,” he said.
While it is still very early days to assess the true impact of the Brexit vote on the housing market in Sheffield, the early affect has been nowhere near as dramatic as many agents has expected.
Given that the volume of households in the city expected to keep growing, the housing shortfall is likely to get worse. But thankfully with market conditions in Sheffield picking up, there are some new developments on the horizon.
The government has big plans for Sheffield that has got many property investment firms, such as the YPC group, excited about the area.
With the government planning to invest £328m by 2021 and approval already given for a high-speed rail link in the form of HS2, the potential for Sheffield is “phenomenal”, according to Brett Alegre-Wood, founder and chairman, YPC.
“We’re talking about regenerating a whole region to make it an economic powerhouse that could eventually rival London. I can see the investment opportunities a mile off,” he said.
Earlier this week, a major Chinese manufacturing firm agreed to invest more than £1bn in Sheffield over the next 60 years, including around £220m by 2019.
The bulk of the funds will be invested in the city centre, and although no individual projects have yet been confirmed, much of the investment is expected to go toward building new homes, as well as hotel and leisure facilities.
The large-scale investment in the city has been described as a “massive vote of confidence in Sheffield” by local Councillor Julie Dore.
“We have the skills and the connections to drive economic growth in our city,” she added.
The money, announced after council leaders visited Chengdu in China last year, is the biggest Chinese investment deal outside London, according to Dore.
Wang Chunming, Sichuan Guodong’s chairman, has personally visited Sheffield on numerous occasions and previously said it has “real growth potential”.
There are lots of new housing schemes in Sheffield – large and small – already under construction and thousands more in the housing pipeline.
Dransfield Properties' Fox Valley town centre development in north Sheffield, which opened earlier this year, will eventually feature up to 118 new homes on the site of the former steelworks.
Sheffield-based property developer Primesite UK Ltd has just submitted a planning application to develop the vacant villas opposite the Botanical Gardens.
The proposal includes replacing existing ancillary buildings behind the offices with four town houses, two with four bedrooms and two with five, plus nine apartments within the office building.
“The city desperately needs new family homes to meet the required provision. This site is sustainable and is a rare opportunity for both conversion and new build in south west Sheffield,” said Scott Hinchliffe, Primesite UK managing director.
Elsewhere, work on a prime housing development in Shiregreen was last month given the seal of approval by Sheffield MP Gill Furniss during a visit to the site.
Leading housing provider Sanctuary Group is more than half way through the construction of its 46- unit over 55s scheme, named Sycamore Heights.
“Sanctuary has invested a staggering £100m in transforming homes and the community at Shiregreen over the past ten years and I’m delighted that they are continuing to support the area through projects such as this,” said Furniss.
Among the recent completed residential projects is a scheme to regenerate Richmond Park, involving the refurbishment and redevelopment of more than 400 run-down homes to create new contemporary family housing that is affordable to rent.
The £24.5m scheme also improved the community’s infrastructure such as the pedestrian links to the roads and problematic alleyways.
Elsewhere, the first phase of Project Maltravers has created a ‘new face’ and gateway for Wybourn through the delivery of 88 much-needed new family homes – 12 of which are bungalows – for affordable rent.
Meanwhile, Little Kelham – a development of 157 one to four bedroom low carbon homes in the Kelham Island area – provides residents with economic living thanks to their exceptional eco features including superior insulation. The homes are also digitally-enabled, allowing residents to control and monitor energy usage from a smartphone or tablet.
Regional disparities
While central Sheffield has recovered well over the past year or two, regional disparities in the city’s housing market have widened, with the gap between prices in core areas compared to those in fringe schemes growing.
Values per square foot can now differ by up to 50% when comparing apartments in premium developments in central locations with properties located on the outskirts.
But with residential property prices in the city centre rising, the biggest growth in terms of households moving forward may occur on the outskirts of the city, especially those areas undergoing a major overhaul and where prices appear to represent good value for money.
The primary questions are, which areas will potentially be the biggest beneficiaries of price growth rippling out from central Sheffield and which agents will be there to reap the rewards?
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Okami HD's Switch release is a nigh-on flawless port
Whether you're playing docked or on the go.
Face-off by John Linneman, Staff Writer, Digital Foundry
Released more than 12 years ago, the original Okami arrived during the PlayStation 2's twilight years. It's a sprawling open-ended action RPG fusing The Legend of Zelda with ancient Japanese history and at the time of its initial release, it was also one of the most ambitious and expensive games undertaken by publisher Capcom. It's a beautiful adventure and one the firm has seen fit to re-release across three generations of consoles - and it now arrives on Nintendo Switch, boasting new features including touchscreen input and motion control, along with HD visuals in line with the other current-gen ports.
And honestly, it works. The visual aesthetic is timeless - it's one of those games that manages to hold up even when viewed through the lens of a modern 4K TV. Okami is one of those titles with timeless charm, created by genuine gaming artisans. Back in the day, Capcom's Clover Studio was a development group formed by Capcom to develop new IPs and explore new genres. With the talents of Shinji Mikami, Hideki Kamiya, Atsushi Inaba and others behind it, Clover produced some true classics during its short lifespan. While the studio no longer exists today, the spirit of Clover lives on through Platinum Games - but Okami remains a superb example of this remarkable team's early work.
With an enormous pool of talent and money behind the game, Okami was released to critical acclaim back in 2006. It may not have ignited sales charts, but it's widely considered a classic of its era. It's still a great game today but what stands out most is its visual style. Clover Studio pushed its cel-shading techniques to the next level but rather than mimicking the look of a modern anime or manga as was common at the time, the team focused instead on replicating the style of Japanese sumi-e paintings.
Inky black lines envelop geometric edges across the world bleeding out across the image. A textured paper effect is applied to the scene lending the game a sense of texture as if it were being drawn before the player. Objects such as trees and grass consist of beautiful, flat paintings carefully placed into each scene. This is combined with a soft glow applied across the game world. It's hauntingly beautiful on original hardware with a look quite unlike any other game on the market - even now. In its original form, Okami runs at a 512x448 resolution, which looks great on a nice CRT, but blown up on a large flat panel, it does start to show its age.
It's a mini DF Retro episode! John Linneman takes us through a guided tour of all of the Okami ports.
And that's where the ports come in. Since release, Capcom has released Okami on multiple platforms including Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and now Switch. This latest offering is no ordinary port, however. There are basically three unique conversion efforts to discuss here. First, there's the Wii. Capcom decided to bring the game to Nintendo's very successful motion-controlled console but faced some challenges along the way. At this point, Clover Studio was no more, and the job was outsourced to Ready at Dawn with assistance from Tose - the go-to studio in Japan, known for co-developing many a game. Lacking some of the source art and forced to reverse engineer the original code, the Wii version of Okami is lacking some of the visual flourishes found in the original PS2 release. It did, at least, add the option to control the celestial brush using the Wiimote, which is one of its key selling points.
Years later, Okami received a port on PlayStation 3 courtesy of HexaDrive - a very talented studio known for its expertise in converting games to new platforms. There's an air of mystery surrounding this port, however. When it was released, HexaDrive posted this blog detailing some of the improvements and techniques used to build the HD version of the game, suggesting a native rendering resolution of 4K. However, further on into the blog, the suggestion is we're looking at 1080p with 4x MSAA. As a result, arguments have persisted for years - is the game really rendering at a higher resolution internally? Does Okami use SSAA? Our best guess is that it is indeed full HD with MSAA, but what is beyond doubt is that image quality on the PS3 version is simply exceptional - and possibly the best on the system. Okami was bolstered still further with higher resolution assets, algorithmically generated by Hexadrive. They look superb.
And this brings us onto the third and final conversion effort for Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4 and the new Switch version. It is undoubtedly the best version yet. Based on HexaDrive's PS3 port, this new conversion seems to have been handled by Buzz and Vingt et un Systems. All the benefits of the PS3 version are present and accounted for - improved textures, exceptional image quality and, perhaps the greatest feature of all, the option to skip through lengthy dialogue sequences. There's a lot of text in Okami and it can become tiresome at points, so this new feature is highly desirable. While this function was initially made available on Wii, it was not present in the PS3 port, so it's nice to see it return in the latest edition.
We've looked at every console version Capcom has released and they all run at native resolution: 1080p on PS4, Xbox One and the docked Switch and full 4K on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. When gaming on the go, Switch drops down to the screen's 720p resolution. In all cases, we get the MSAA of the PlayStation 3 version too, so the title looks pristine wherever you play it.
While the basic design of the game is consistent across generations, there is a lot of variation between each version. From aspect ratio changes to differences in texture and lighting, every version of Okami is unique. It's the soft bloom effect which lends the PS2 version a dream-like appearance is all but missing in the various ports.
Darker scenes tend to fare better across generations retaining the look of the PlayStation 2 original in high resolutions. The PS3 and Switch versions both stand up well against the downsampled 4K image presented on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.
Bloom lighting seems to vary the most between the original version and each port. On PlayStation 2, these effects exhibit a faded appearance that perhaps more closely recalls the style of artwork which inspired the game. It looks good in all versions but it's interesting to see that it hasn't been entirely matched.
This scene is useful for highlighting some of the differences in aspect ratio and color. The PS3 version seems to squish the image slightly resulting in an oblong sun. The Wii version then is completely missing the paper filter and all remasters feature a bright blue sky compared to the faded PS2 original.
Beyond visual quality, the Switch version adds a couple new input options. When playing in portable mode, it's possible to use the touchscreen to manipulate the celestial brush and for my money, this is far and away the best implementation to date. I always felt that manipulating the brush in other versions was a touch fiddly but you have a level of precision on Switch that just feels great, and the fact that you can simply touch the screen at any time to initiate brush mode is even better. It's a great addition for portable play. While docked, you can opt for the more traditional analogue stick-driven option or use one of the JoyCon's gyro sensors to move the brush around, similar to the original Wii release. Unfortunately, since it is not IR-based as it was on Wii, precision is reduced. It's fun to use but it's often difficult to draw a perfect line, which makes certain sections challenging.
Performance-wise, all versions of the game - including the new Switch release - run at a capped 30 frames per second, just like the original release. Modders have attempted to double frame-rate on the PC version, but have come up against numerous technical hurdles including broken physics and crashing, suggesting that 30fps is hard-coded into the title. Every port today has at least locked at the target frame-rate and Switch follows suit, with just the most occasional bout of frame-pacing stutter that passes by largely unnoticed. It's the same whether you're playing docked or in portable mode - the experience is solid overall.
Looking back, there's a wide range of excellent Okami HD ports and I can recommend all of them - with the possible exception of the Wii version, which lacks some of the original's visual effects. The PS3 version is perhaps the most technically impressive, delivering native 1080p with 4x MSAA and 16x anisotropic filtering on a PlayStation 3 - which is quite a feat. It's only let down by noticeable screen-tearing in some scenes and the lack of dialogue skipping, but otherwise it's a very close match for the PS4 and Xbox One renditions of the game. While the 4K console twins offer the best console experience overall, image quality is good enough across the board that any one of them are worth a shot.
And the arrival of this new Switch release offers a unique package. Playing while docked, it's essentially the same as the base PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game, but what sets it apart is its mobile play. A fair few Switch releases pare back the visuals or see a performance drop when transitioning to portable mode, but Okami HD loses nothing bar the resolution drop to the 720p screen - it's a nigh-on flawless port, however you choose to play it and it comes highly recommended.
Buy Okami HD from Amazon [?]
Okami Review
Okami HD Review
John Linneman
Staff Writer, Digital Foundry
An American living in Germany, John has been gaming and collecting games since the late 80s. His keen eye for and obsession with high frame-rates have earned him the nickname "The Human FRAPS" in some circles. He’s also responsible for the creation of DF Retro.
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'Cancer Profile' Is Changing for Americans With HIV
AIDS-linked tumors predicted to decline by 2030.
Everyday Health Editors
By 2030, the researchers predict, the number of cancer cases in HIV-positive patients will dip to about 6,500.Sebastian Kaulitzki/Getty Images
As HIV becomes a lifetime disease instead of a killer, researchers say these patients will likely start to mirror other Americans when it comes to the kinds of cancers they develop.
By 2030, the total number of cancers in HIV-positive people is expected to decline dramatically, as fewer patients develop tumors linked to a ravaged immune system, the new report suggested.
Prostate, lung and liver cancer are predicted to become the most common cancers in this group, followed by anal cancer, which is linked to the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV).
"They're starting to look more like people without HIV in a lot of ways, but the cancer risk will still be different," said Michael Silverberg, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente Northern California. He was not involved in the study.
In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, patients developed cancers such as Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma as their immune systems deteriorated, the researchers explained. But medical advances over the past two decades have allowed people with HIV and AIDS to live much longer.
RELATED: HIV Patients Less Likely to Get Treatment for Cancer
In the new study, Jessica Islam, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues sought to understand how cancer might affect people with HIV through 2030.
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The researchers estimated that almost 8,000 cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2010 in people with HIV: 2,720 were immune-related cancers that are common in AIDS patients, and almost 5,200 were other types of cancer.
By 2030, the researchers predict, the number of cancer cases overall will dip to about 6,500, with an especially large decrease (to 710 cases) in the number of AIDS-related cancers. Cases of Kaposi sarcoma are expected to drop but still remain higher than normal in HIV-positive people, Islam said, while non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical cancer rates are expected to reach normal levels in some age groups.
Meanwhile, cases of other types of cancer are expected to grow a bit, to almost 5,800 cases.
"The aging of the HIV-positive population will result in certain cancers occurring more frequently," Islam said. "For example, as more HIV-positive men reach an age where prostate cancer becomes more common, the number of cases diagnosed will rise in that population."
As for anal cancer, it should remain common in HIV-positive people because it's linked to HPV, which can be sexually transmitted, Islam explained.
Silverberg said the study findings reflect what physicians and patients have noticed: "They're seeing the typical HIV cancers on the decline, but more of the ones that you expect to see with older age."
Although anti-HIV drugs are effective, the cancers linked to HIV will not necessarily disappear, Silverberg said. That's because some HIV-positive people don't know they're infected, and their immune systems may deteriorate before they are diagnosed and treated, he added.
Dr. Gita Suneja, an associate professor with Duke University who's studied HIV and cancer, cautioned that HIV-infected people face cancer-related challenges, regardless of the changing statistics.
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"Other studies have shown that people with HIV present with more advanced-stage cancer, are less likely to receive appropriate cancer treatment, and have worse cancer survival compared to uninfected patients," she said. "These important disparities need to be recognized."
The study was scheduled for presentation Wednesday at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Research released at conferences should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
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Title: Old Friends
Barrie, James Matthew
(7 of 11 for author by title) ⇤
→ Quality Street: A Comedy in Four Acts
← A Lady's Shoe
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.
Tags: comedy, drama, fiction, one-act play
A quiet family evening turns sour when a secret is revealed. [Suggest a different description.]
Author Bio for Barrie, James Matthew
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860—19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland but moved to London, where he wrote a number of successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (included in The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a "fairy play" about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland.
Although he continued to write successfully, Peter Pan overshadowed his other work, and is credited with popularising the name Wendy. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents. Barrie was made a baronet by George V on 14 June 1913, and a member of the Order of Merit in the 1922 New Year Honours. Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, which continues to benefit from them.--Wikipedia.
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The Parable of the Gig Economy
by Peter Heslam
Originally, a gig was a spear for catching fish. Then it was a boat, then a horse-drawn carriage, then a punishment, and then a rock concert, then a unit of digital information.
Now it’s a taxi ride, a meal delivery, a handyman task, or the provision of overnight accommodation. Mobile technology, particularly the smartphone app, is facilitating the rapid growth of a new service market – the gig economy – epitomized by such firms as Uber, Deliveroo, TaskRabbit and Airbnb.
The rise of such companies is meteoric. Estimates vary but as many as 5 million people work in the UK’s gig economy. London, famous for its black cabs, has over 30,000 Uber drivers. In the USA, independent contractors will soon comprise 40 percent of the workforce.
The pros and cons of the gig economy are, however, fuelling fierce debate. Many of its workers, or ‘gigsters’, report excellent job satisfaction. They value being their own boss, and flexible hours. Those in areas of high unemployment find their locality poses little barrier to finding work. Instant customer ratings allow gig providers to identify suitable individuals for specific tasks.
But the easy availability of gigs can stimulate overwork, as they are used to subsidize low-paid jobs. By regarding their workers as self-employed, gig companies are not obliged to provide them with benefits like insurance or sickness pay, whereas they do expect them to cover expenses such as the running of their own vehicles.
Fresh legislation is being developed but the issues cannot be reduced to legal ones about what counts as ‘self-employed’. The rise of the gig economy – and its discontents – is a modern morality tale. It demonstrates that if the freedoms of innovation and enterprise are enjoyed without their inherent responsibilities, the penalty is regulation.
A more ancient parable of the gigsters is the parable of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16). Its landowner, who goes several times to the market-place to find casual labourers, is not unlike gig company directors who repeatedly check their screens to see which couriers are available for which new gigs.
But what about that parable’s outrageous ending, in which those who had worked only one hour are paid the same as those who had worked all day? That also speaks to company directors today about the need to value, and be generous towards, the most vulnerable of suitable workers. For as the parable’s strapline warns, ‘the last shall be first, and the first shall be last’.
(This reflection was originally published by LICC and is used with permission).
Dr Peter S Heslam
Director, Faith in Business
Written by Peter Heslam
Peter S Heslam became Director of Faith in Business in 2018, succeeding Richard Higginson (see below). He also directs Transforming Business, which focuses on the interface of business, faith and development. Although largely overlooked, he believes greater understanding of this interface will help deliver practical change that increases human and environmental well-being. He has a broad academic background that includes various positions at Oxford and Cambridge. In directing an international research project on Christian entrepreneurs, he has interviewed scores of business leaders around the world. He convenes the Oxford and Cambridge Symposium on Enterprise, Ethics and Development (SEED)
Filed Under: Business Sectors
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Premature Menopause: What to look for
Premature Menopause: What to look for While most women begin the process of menopause in their late 40s and early 50s, some experience symptoms much earlier. Premature menopause occurs before a woman is 40, with some women first experiencing symptoms in their mid-30s. Roughly 1 in 100 women will experience menopause by the age of 40. Medical treatments such as radiation therapy to treat cancer and surgery to remove the ovaries can result in premature menopause. In addition, other factors such as genetics, chromosome defects, hormonal disorders, thyroid disease, autoimmune diseases and certain lifestyle choices including smoking can bring on early menopause.
Women undergoing premature menopause typically experience the same symptoms as women going through natural menopause due to decreasing estrogen levels in the body. However, in addition to dealing with normal menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings, many women undergoing premature menopause have to deal with additional physical and emotional [...]
Menopause 2.0
Menopause marks a major milestone in a woman’s life and is a time of great physical, hormonal and psychological changes. During perimenopause, which is the transition phase leading up to menopause, a woman’s ovaries gradually stop producing estrogen and progesterone. It is these hormonal changes that cause menopausal symptoms. Perimenopause can last anywhere from 1 to 10 years — and while most of the symptoms that women experience occur during this transition phase, some symptoms continue into menopause and postmenopause.
There is nothing you can do to stop or delay menopause from happening. However, you can take steps to decrease the prevalence and severity of symptoms. All women experience menopause differently. Some women report having a lot of difficulties, while others hardly notice any symptoms at all. Symptoms of menopause vary from woman to woman and can include hot flashes, insomnia, headaches, vaginal dryness, low libido, urinary incontinence, mood swings, irritability, depression, and anxiety.
It is essential that [...]
BodySculpting, SculpSure, TLC Windsor, Windsor Body Sculpting, More Tags
Dodge Charger, F-250 popular with car theives
Auto thefts decline because of technology, but statistics conflict
Automakers, New Models, Products
The most theft-prone vehicle in America might be the Dodge Charger. Or it might be the Ford F-250 pickup truck.
Those are the contradictory conclusions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the insurance industry-funded Highway Loss Data Institute.
Still, the government agency and private group agree that the theft of late-model vehicles is on a rapid decline in the United States. One reason: automakers’ increasing use of ignition immobilizers, which stop thieves from hot-wiring cars. Nearly 90 percent of 2012 models are equipped with them.
In a report released on Monday, NHTSA said the car stolen most often during the 2011 calendar year was the Charger, with 4.8 thefts for every 1,000 cars produced in 2011. It was followed by the Mitsubishi Galant, Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet HHR among vehicles with more than 5,000 units produced that year.
Pickup trucks took the top [...]
Cars, Interiors, Leather Seats
BMW extends global sales lead over Audi, Mercedes in June
Automakers, Production, Sales
Global sales of BMW Group’s core brand rose faster in June than at Audi and Mercedes-Benz as demand from China and the United States helped the premium carmaker to extend a lead over the two rivals in the first six months of the year.
Sales at the brand were up 9 percent last month to 153,075, the group said today, compared with growth of 5 percent to 140,300 and 8 percent to 131,609 at Audi and Mercedes respectively.
Six-month sales at BMW brand rose 8 percent to 804,000 cars, expanding the lead over runner-up Audi to 24,000 from 11,000 after five months. Half-year sales at Audi and Mercedes rose 6 percent each to 780,500 and 694,000 respectively.
“BMW has stronger momentum than Audi and Mercedes, that won’t change in the second half,” said Hanover-based NordLB analyst Frank Schwope. “Design of their cars has improved and they’re ahead [...]
Audi, BMW, Global Sales
Tesla to join Nasdaq 100 as Oracle defects to NYSE
Automakers, Manufacturing, Production
Tesla Motors Inc., the world’s best-performing automotive stock this year, will join the Nasdaq-100 Index next week, filling the spot vacated by Oracle Corp., which is moving to the New York Stock Exchange.
The electric-car maker will be added to the gauge, which tracks the biggest companies on the Nasdaq, before the start of trading on July 15, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. said in a statement Monday. Oracle, which last month said it will join the NYSE, is the biggest company to jump between the competing exchanges.
Shares of Tesla, the carmaker headed by billionaire Elon Musk, have more than tripled this year as the popularity of its new Model S sedan helped the company turn its first quarterly profit. Gaining entry to benchmarks tracked by investors is attractive to public companies because it provides a guaranteed shareholder base.
“It’s a coming of age, recognition that a [...]
Financial, Nasdaq, NYSE, Tesla
Toyota Camry, Honda Civic inventories rise, report says
The Toyota Camry and the Honda Civic, the top-selling mid-size and compact cars in the U.S., face risks of reduced production as inventories of the models rise, an RBC Capital Markets report said.
Toyota’s Camry exceeded its seasonal historical average inventory by more than 15 days supply in June and Honda carried about 25 days more Civics than usual, Joseph Spak, a New York-based analyst for RBC, said in today’s report. Camry and Civic were the only models identified as at risk for reduced output among 16 of the top-selling vehicles in the U.S. market. General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC all added U.S. market share in the first six months of 2013, the first time that all three gained first-half share in 20 years. Models such as GM’s Chevrolet Cruze compact and Ford’s Fusion mid-size sedan, leading Detroit’s most competitive set of [...]
Global Sales, Honda, Toyota
Fiat exercises option to buy additional 3.3% of Chrysler shares
Purchase brings closer a merger of the two automakers
Fiat today exercised an option to raise its stake in Chrysler by 3.3 percent.
The move is part of CEO Sergio Marchionne’s step-by-step purchases intended to lead to full control of Chrysler and the creation of a merged company that would be able to compete better with industry leaders Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen.
Fiat has been exercising options since mid-2012 to buy holdings of about 3.3 percent from the VEBA, a medical-benefits trust for the U.S. carmaker’s retirees.
Including today’s purchase, Fiat has exercised three of its six-monthly options, increasing its stake to 68.49 percent.
Fiat has said it wants full control of Chrysler, which would give it access to some of Chrysler’s cash flow for investments in new models.
Chrysler has become Fiat’s most reliable profit generator as the Italian company struggles to end losses in Europe that totaled 704 million euros ($903 million) in [...]
Buyout, Chrysler, Fiat, Financial, More Tags
What is Menopause
Menopause is the moment in time in every woman’s life when her menstrual periods stop and she is no longer fertile. Technically, a woman officially reaches menopause when she has not had a period for 12 consecutive months.
All the physical and emotional changes a woman experiences leading up to menopause are part of a transition period called perimenopause, which typically begins when a woman is in her late 40s or early 50s. Knowing what to expect and how to get relief can help make the transition smoother and simpler.
Four Solutions for Menopause Symptoms Hot flashes:
Hot flashes, also called vasomotor symptoms, are one of the most common complaints of menopause. During a hot flash you may feel a sudden burst of heat with sweating, usually beginning in the face or chest. This may occur due to declining estrogen levels [...]
Acne Treatment, Body Contouring, Menopause, Skin Rejuvenation, More Tags
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