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#CarlJung, Liber Novus, Psychosis, The Red Book
Carl Jung avoided a “Psychosis” – The Red Book
Date: October 2, 2019Author: Mr. Purrington
The following month, on a train journey to Schaffhausen, Jung experienced a waking vision of Europe being devastated by a catastrophic flood, which was repeated two weeks later, on the same journey.
Commenting on this experience in 1925, he remarked:
“I could be taken as Switzerland fenced in by mountains and the submergence of the world could be the debris of my
former relationships.”
This led him to the following diagnosis of his condition:
“I thought to mysel£ ‘If this means anything, it means that I am hopelessly off”‘
After this experience, Jung feared that he would go mad.
He recalled that he first thought that the images of the vision indicated a revolution, but as he could not imagine this, he concluded that he was “menaced with a psychosis.” ~Introduction, The Red Book, Page 198
On July 28, Jung gave a talk on “The importance of the unconscious in psychopathology” at a meeting of the British Medical Association in Aberdeen.
He argued that in cases of neurosis and psychosis, the unconscious attempted to compensate the one-sided conscious attitude.
The unbalanced individual defends himself against this, and the opposites become more polarized.
The corrective impulses that present themselves in the language of the unconscious should be the beginning of a healing process, but the form in which they break through makes them unacceptable to consciousness. ~Introduction, The Red Book, Page 201
A month earlier, on June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was assassinated, by Gavrilo Princip, a nineteen-year-old Serb student.
On August I, war broke out.
In 1925 Jung recalled, “I had the feeling that I was an over-compensated psychosis, and from this feeling I was not released till August 1st 1914.” ~The Red Book Introduction, Pages 201-202
Years later, he said to Mircea Eliade:
As a psychiatrist I became worried, wondering if I was not on the way to “doing a schizophrenia,” as we said in the language of those days …
I was just preparing a lecture on schizophrenia to be delivered at a congress in Aberdeen, and I kept saying to myself:
“I’ll be speaking of myself! Very likely I’ll go mad after reading out this paper.”
The congress was to take place in July 1914-exactly the same period when I saw myself in my three dreams voyaging on the Southern seas.
On July 31″r, immediately after my lecture, I learned from the newspapers that war had broken out.
Finally I understood.
And when I disembarked in Holland on the next day; nobody was happier than I.
Now I was sure that no schizophrenia was threatening me.
I understood that my dreams and my visions came to me from the subsoil of the collective unconscious.
What remained for me to do now was to deepen and validate this discovery.
And this is what I have been trying to do for forty years. ~Carl Jung, Combat interview , C. G. Jung Speaking: Interviews and Encounters, Pages 233-34·
In 1955/56, while discussing active imagination, Jung commented that “the reason why the involvement looks very much like a psychosis is that the
patient is integrating the same fantasy-material to which the insane person falls victim because he cannot integrate it but is swallowed up by it. ” ~Introduction, The Red Book, Page 202.
Liber Novus is of critical significance for grasping the emergence of Jung’s new model of psychotherapy.
In 1912, in Transformation and Symbols of the Libido, he considered the presence of mythological fantasies-such as are present in Liber Novus-to be the signs of
a loosening of the phylogenetic layers of the unconscious, and indicative of schizophrenia.
Through his self-experimentation, he radically revised this position: what he now considered critical was not the presence of any particular content, but the attitude
of the individual toward it and, in particular, whether an individual could accommodate such material in their worldview.
This explains why he commented in his afterword to Liber Novus that to the superficial observer, the work would seem like madness, and could have become so, if he had failed to contain and comprehend the experiences.201
In Liber secundus, chapter 15, he presents a critique of contemporary psychiatry, highlighting its incapacity to differentiate religious experience or divine madness from
psychopathology.
If the content of visions or fantasies had no diagnostic value, he held that it was nevertheless critical to view them carefully. ~Introduction, The Red Book, Page 215.
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Cascade HealthAbout CascadeOur Leadership
It Takes A Team
Eric Van Houten, L.C.S.W.
CEO*
Eric T. Van Houten, LCSW, has worked in the private non-profit and public sector since 1996. Since 2002 he has managed mental health and substance abuse programs, multidiscipline social service entities and ambulatory primary care clinics. His background includes working with individuals with a myriad of issues including chronic physical health conditions, drug and alcohol abuse & addiction, severe and persistent mental illness, poverty, and homelessness.
Eric has presented nationally on issues related to youth homelessness, multidisciplinary intervention strategies and implementation of behavioral health care into primary care. In 2012, he and other staff received the Oregon Primary Care Association Sustainability Award. He is a member of the Expert Oversight Panel for the Patient Centered Primary Care Institute. In 2014, he was invited to participate in an expert review group in support of the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative’s Behavioral Health Integration Implementation Guide project in collaboration with AIMS Center at University of Washington, Qualis Health, and the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation.
Eric was raised in Eugene and after years almost 10 years away for college and a tour of service in the Peace Corps, returned in 1994. He is married to Wendy Hunter, PA-C at Peace Health, and has two wonderful daughters. Eric enjoys being active with hiking, bicycling, playing basketball and golf, and trying to keep up with his daughters’ busy basketball and soccer schedules.
Linda Fleck, C.P.A.
Linda has worked in the field of health care since she was in her mid-20s. She earned her under-graduate and graduate degrees as an adult. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and a Master of Business Administration in Accounting. She became a licensed CPA in 2012. Linda and her husband Darreld moved to the Eugene area in 2006, relocating from Hillsboro, Oregon. They have three grown children and three beautiful granddaughters. When not working, Linda enjoys being outdoors in the sunshine, traveling, watching Oregon Ducks football, and spending time with family.
Travis Brooke
Director of Occupational Health
Dedicated and motivated, Travis Brooke joined Cascade Health in 2010, committed to increasing awareness of work and community health programs designed to enhance workers’ quality of life and increase health and safety. He specializes in identifying employer’s immediate needs and coming up with wellness programs and cost-saving solutions that have a direct benefit to worker health while decreasing compensation costs. He enjoys getting to know each of our client companies on a personal basis to understand the intricate details of each organization and the challenges they face.
Travis is a native of Eugene where he attended and graduated from the University of Oregon. In his spare time, Travis enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, skiing, volunteering and supporting the Oregon Ducks.
Laurel Anderson, L.C.S.W.
Behavioral Health/DIRECTION for Employee Assistance Manager
A social worker for more than 20 years, Laurel Anderson is the manager of DIRECTION for Employee Assistance Program. She worked with adults, children and families in various settings, and has a rich background as a counselor and support group leader. She helps people cope with issues like grief, loss, trauma, stress, anxiety, depression, and self-care. Grieving is a natural and important part of adjusting to and coping with death and in its many forms. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family and friends and loves to garden, hike, spend time at the Oregon coast, read, and travel.
Kirsten Gram, R.D., L.D., C.D.E.
Manager of Diabetes & Nutrition Education
Passionate about helping others make positive changes in their lives, Kirsten Gram provides education and support for those with diabetes, celiac disease, high cholesterol, and weight management issues.
Kirsten became a diabetes educator in 1990, and has worked in the diabetes field for 30 years. Today, she oversees Cascade Health’s diabetes and nutrition programs.
Her role as an educator, she says, is to “till the ground” and “plant the seed,” but the “harvest” comes when that person puts in the hard work, learns from his or her mistakes, paving the way to a healthier lifestyle.
Kirsten spends her free time hiking, biking, and trekking, as well as cooking, gardening, and being with her family.
Laura Helfrich
Home Health Manager
While spending the first 11 years in the clinic and hospital setting, Laura learned that people heal better in their homes. Having therapists and nurses come in to one’s home environment providing education on chronic disease management and home exercise program allows patients to get to a higher level of safe independence. When Laura was faced with the opportunity, 10 years ago, to join a home health team, be a part of improving patient outcomes, she had faith that she had much to offer the home health industry. For the better part of the last 10 years Laura has been a leader and nurse educator in home health, always looking for innovative ways to provide services to patients in their home. Serving the community towards better health is what brings gratification to Laura’s work life. She also enjoys gardening, sewing, spending time with her grandkids.
Travis Hoffman, O.T.R.
Workers Action Program Manager
An occupational therapist for 16 years, Travis Hoffman manages our Workers Action Program, which focuses on the rehabilitation of injured workers. He joined Cascade Health in 1999.
Previously, Travis worked as a traveling occupational therapist and had the opportunity to work at health centers all along the East Coast.
“My favorite thing about occupational therapy is getting to know and learning about the people we treat – their hobbies, interests, kids, plans for the future. It seems as though I’m constantly making new friends,” he says.
He also enjoys the challenges of his job, determining which of the many joint, muscle, and nerve conditions a patient might have, prescribing the appropriate treatment and exercise, and seeing improvement.
Travis enjoys time with his family, camping, hunting, fishing, golfing, and riding four wheelers at the dunes and on mountain trails.
Terrance Kinnamon, R.N.
Director of Hospice
Having worked in the field of hospice for 19 years, Terrance Kinnamon understands the ever-changing regulatory requirements and the many benefits that hospice brings to the community and the patients served. As Cascade Health’s Director of Hospice, Terrance is looking forward to opening the first Hospice House in Lane County. This will allow hospice to serve patients and families in their home, as well as in an acute care setting when symptoms can no longer be managed at home.
“The privilege of caring for people and their families at the end of their lives has been an honor and is very rewarding,“ says Terrance. “My goal is to be able to help more community members learn about our expanding hospice program.”
Terrance Kinnamon is a registered nurse with 20 years experience. He has also worked as a nurse in the acute hospital setting, including a neonatal intensive care unit, and previously served as a licensed practical nurse in the long-term care setting.
Terrance was raised in Globe, Arizona and after college and ten years experience working for a large hospice in Phoenix, Arizona he moved with his wife and two athletic boys to Oregon where he continued to work in the hospice field as a manager of two separate non-profit sector hospice agencies. Terrance enjoys being active with archery target shooting, fishing, and exploring new areas of Oregon on long walks with his wife.
Margie Brooks
Executive Director of Cascade Health Foundation
Margie’s bio – Coming Soon!
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The next ten years: how desperate can we become?
With the year's end, it is tradition to make predictions for the next year. In this case, I looked for something that would take a longer timespan as a target and I found something published in 2015. It can be used to learn how bad some predictions can be and how desperate we are becoming.
Do you remember the predictions of the 1950s? The time when scientists and science fiction authors alike engaged in describing to us how bright the future would be? There was no shortage of wonders that were presented to us at that time. Space travel, energy too cheap to meter, robotic home helpers, anti-gravity, a cure for cancer, increased human lifespan, and much more. It is disheartening to think of how little of all that fluff actually materialized. Overall, in terms of problem-solving, the performance of science during the past 50 years of so has been comparable to that of the Iraqi army in 2003 in terms of military effectiveness.
A taste of how desperate our situation has become can be gained by taking a look at an article published in 2015 by Peter Diamandis. A little more than a year after it appeared, it can be used to understand not only how bad a prediction can be, but also how desperate we have become.
The article by Diamandis falls flat from its very first line; when he says that "in accordance with Moore's Law, we'll see an acceleration in the rate of change." But, as we know, Moore's law was declared officially dead in 2016, and it was known to be terminally ill a few years earlier. So, Diamondis starts from an overoptimistic premise but, even so, it is surprising to see how unappealing are his predictions.
In the article, all the wonders predicted in the 1950s have disappeared and all what Diamandis can do is to line up a list of internet-related gadgetry whose usefulness can only be limited or debatable - or even defined as negative. Yes, in the future we'll probably have more people connected to the Internet at faster speeds, but then what? Can more Internet connections lead us to "perfect knowledge"? (prediction n. 3). Diamondis was writing before the "fake news" story became a widely recognized issue, but it was there and it is remarkable how he could miss so badly that quantity is not the same as quality! Then, there is the "trillion-sensor economy" (prediction n. 2) that probably means what we call the "Internet of Things". Not an impossible target but, as for many other things, are we really sure it is a good idea? What if the hyperconnected world goes to the blue screen of death? The other predictions are not much better, for instance about the overhyped "3D printing".
It looks like we are becoming increasingly desperate. We expected from science solutions for the climate and the resource crisis. We expected knowledge, wisdom, health, and abundance. All we got were 140 characters and it seems we'll have to be happy with that.
The Train for Berlin: Can Railroads Replace Planes for Long Distance Travel?
This November, I went by train from Locarno, in Switzerland, all the way to Berlin, for the conference of ASPO Germany. The trip lasted more than 11 hours and it involved four different trains, it was the longest daytime trip by train I ever took in my life. It was one of the several tests I have been performing during the past few years to see how and how much I could avoid using planes for traveling within Europe. (Above: crossing another train in Switzerland).
There doesn't exist a sustainable fuel that can power a passenger plane; at least not at the same price and for the same performance we can obtain from fuels derived from fossil hydrocarbons. While airlines dream of impossible "green planes," we need to find something that can take people from a place to another without emitting greenhouse gases, at least over medium-long distances. Maybe, one day, we'll develop a new generation of solar powered airships but, for the time being, the good, old trains look like the best option. Trains run on electricity, so they are directly compatible with solar and wind energy. They don't even need rubber tires or bitumen for roads - both produced from fossil fuels. So, I have been experimenting for quite a while with traveling by train in Europe and let me report to you about this experience.
First: the good news. During the past few years, the development of on-line services has made enormously easier to plan long distance train trips. The European railroads have also improved their ticket sales interface and you can now buy fully electronic tickets from one single national site for a multi-country trip. This is a big improvement. For instance, up to a few years ago, if you wanted to board a Swiss train, you had to have a physical ticket issued in a Swiss station or, if you didn't live in Switzerland, you had to have it shipped to you by mail, which was both slow and expensive.
Then, many railroad networks have now an on-board Wi-Fi system. That's a big plus because a long trip by train becomes actually a chance to do some work in holy peace - something that you can't do on a plane, where you can't even recharge your laptop (and not even open it, if you travel in economy class). In the image you see real-time travel information on a German intercity train.
Still, there is a lot of work to do to improve the service of railroads. For instance, in Switzerland, trains have no Wi-Fi (maybe because motion sickness is almost guaranteed if you travel in the Alpine region). Even in Germany, with all their hi-tech, the connection during my travel to Berlin worked only for the first half hour and then it died for the rest of the trip (and they wanted me to pay 6 euros for it!). In the picture, you can see that I was reading Epictetus on the train, a stoic philosopher who helped me survive the lack of an Internet connection! But, surely, that can be improved: in Italy, for instance, the Wi-Fi connection in the high-speed trains comes for free and it normally works very well.
Then, there remain two fundamental problems with long distance rail trips: one is that night trains are becoming an extinct breed in Europe, the other that the high-speed trains are not conceived for long distance travel.
First, sleeper trains. Theoretically, they are a very good idea: you travel overnight, while you sleep, and you arrive in the morning, ready for business or for sightseeing. This kind of trip may be considered also as something romantic if you can share the compartment with a significant other (assuming that neither of you suffers from motion sickness). Of course, sleeping in one of these trains is not the same thing as sleeping at home: the paradigm of the sleeper train is the 6-passenger compartment, hot and poorly ventilated, that can give you a feeling of what must have been like to be deported to a concentration camp during the second world war. But, even if you book a place in a single or a double compartment, the price is not unreasonably high if you think that you are saving the cost of one night at a hotel.
Unfortunately, there are big problems with sleeper trains. One is that they are old, poorly kept, and don't smell so good. In my personal experience, they are also often delayed (two hours of delay the last time I went to Paris). Then, all the romanticism of the experience goes away when, in the morning, you are served a pure cardboard croissant and a cup of coffee that looks and smells like crude oil. Apparently, the fasts of the old "Orient Express" are past and forgotten. As a final outrage, I can report how, while traveling from Italy to Paris, I was awakened at 2 a.m. by the Swiss police who wanted to check my bags. Imagine that your plane from London to New York is stopped midway by the Icelandic police and made to stop in Rejkiawick so that they can check your bags!
But the main problem with sleeper trains is another one. When you arrive in the morning to your destination, you badly need a shower, but your hotel won't let you into your room before 1 p.m. (that is, if you are lucky, because some hotels won't let you in before 3 pm.). The problem is even worse with your trip back home. Your train leaves at, maybe, 11 p.m., but your hotel will unceremoniously kick you out of your room at 12 a.m. (and they can be quite nasty if you ask them for an extra half-hour). Then, maybe you have some business or sightseeing in the afternoon but then you are stranded in a foreign city with your bags and with nowhere to stay except in an unappealing waiting room in a train station. No wonder that these trains seem to be disappearing from the European railroad network.
Then, there are high-speed trains; wonderful machines that could compete with planes even for relatively long trips. At a speed typically over 200 km/hour, a train could cover the ca. 1500 km from Rome to Berlin in some 6-7 hours. Of course, you should add the time for a few stops along the way and the fact that not the whole network allows for high speed. Still, you could likely make it in less than 10 hours. That's reasonable for a comfortable daytime trip, where you can relax and work while you travel. But, in practice, there is no way to get to Berlin from Rome or Florence in a single day. My train trip to Berlin started from Switzerland; it was less than 1,000 km and it took more than 11 hours; an average speed of less than 100 km/h. The reason is that I had to change three times and that involved considerable idle time in stations (image: a coffee shop in Bellinzona, Switzerland. Nice place, and they had good Italian espresso coffee, but it was a lot of lost time)
So, despite the recent improvements, there still a lot of work to do before railways can become competitive with planes in Europe. Something that could make sleeper trains more practical would be the possibility of renting rooms in hotels for half a day at a reasonable price. That makes a big difference in comfort: I remember having done that in St. Petersburg, in Russia, while waiting for the night train for Moscow. But, in Western Europe, renting a room by half-day or by the hour remains something that hotels don't want to do, perhaps because they are afraid for their reputation. Things might be changing and some internet sites have appeared that offer this service for business travelers.
But the real problem with sleeper trains is that they are in direct competition with low-cost airlines and, as things stand today, trains can't just compete. Airlines offer a faster service for the same or lower prices. Only a serious carbon tax could change things and make sleeper trains competitive, but that doesn't seem to be coming fast.
The future looks more favorable for high-speed day trains. The main problem, here, seems to be related to planning. So far, national railway companies have been planning their schedules only at the national level, also because of the limited interoperability of the railway networks. In some ways, it seems that railroads are still operating as they did at the time of the first world war; when people thought that an enemy invasion could have been slowed down by making the national rail gauge different from that of neighboring countries. Different gauges in Europe still exist in Russia and in Spain and the railways operate different voltages AC and DC, varying from 750 to 25,000 volts. Also, the signaling systems vary from country to country. The result is that, for instance, high-speed Italian trains cannot run in Germany or in France, and the reverse is also true.
Nevertheless, progress is being made and the latest generation of high-speed trains is built with interoperability in mind. Soon, these trains should be able to roam the whole European network. What is lacking here, mainly, is a serious push from the European Government to convince national railroads that connecting the main European capitals by high-speed trains is important and useful. But the EU has done very little in this sense, so far. One more failure for them (they seem to collect failures as some people collect stamps or butterflies). There used to be a European Railway Agency, but something must have gone wrong with it because it was closed down and there is now a brand new European Union Agency for Railways. We can only hope they will do better than their predecessors.
So, is there hope that we'll be able to take again long travels by train in comfort and style in Europe, as it could be done in the 1930s? Could we revive the fasts of the old "Orient Express"? It is surely possible, but it will take some work and some strong political will. That will be absolutely necessary if we want to adapt European travel to the objectives of the 2015 Paris treaty. In the meantime, the most adventurous of us will still do their best to shun planes in favor of trains. (image below, the Italian FrecciaRossa high-speed train, photographed at the central station in Florence. Allow me a small display of national pride if I say that it is the best train I have ever traveled on - expensive, though!)
Labels: airlines, climate change, peak oil, train
A Merry-Enough Christmas to everybody
2016 has not been a good year for many reasons, one is that Leonard Cohen left us. So, I thought a good way to celebrate this Christmas was to put up an old rendition of "Silent Night" that Leonard Cohen sang in 1979, together with Jennifer Warnes.
Maybe it won't be a great Christmas, this year, but it can still be a merry-enough Christmas.
There is only one culture: bringing back science into the fold of humanism
Yesterday, I was invited to give a talk at a public meeting on the usual themes: climate change, resources, pollution, and the like. This time, a question I received from the audience caused me a small enlightenment that I am describing here as I remember it (h/t Lorenzo Citti for having organized this interesting meeting) (image source)
Thanks for this question - it is a very interesting question: "are we teaching enough science to our children?" And I can tell you that it is much more than an interesting question, it caused some small earthquake in my mind. Truly, I had a flash of understanding that I had never had before and right now I completely changed my view of the world. It happens to me: the world changes so fast and I do my best to follow it.
Your question is so interesting because it has to do with the idea that there are two cultures: a scientific one and a literary one. As a consequence, some of us think that instruction is unbalanced in one or the other direction: maybe we teach too little science to our children, maybe too much. The whole idea goes back to someone named Snow who proposed it in the 1950s. He was not wrong, I think, but there were problems with the idea. The concept of the two cultures can be intended as meaning that we need somehow to bridge the gap that exists in between. Or, and I think that's what happens most often, it can be interpreted as meaning that one of the two cultures is superior to the other. That can generate a competition between the two and divide people into two different tribes: literates and scientists. We are very good, as human beings, at dividing ourselves into separate tribes fighting each other. And that's bad, as you can imagine. Actually, it is a disaster. Snow was a scientist and he decried the scientific ignorance of literates. On this, he was right but in the long run the result was that literates despise scientists as illiterate boors and scientists despise literates as feebleminded ignorants.
Now, I had been thinking about all this and, as I said, today I had this flash that focused my mind on a concept. I think we have to say this clearly: this story of the "two cultures" is an idiocy. It must end. There is only ONE culture, and that's what we may call "humanism," if nothing else because we are all humans. That is, unless someone in the audience today is an alien or a droid. In such case, would you please stand up? No......? Apparently, we are all humans in this room and so we call our culture "humanism" (or, sometimes, "arts and humanities") How else would you call it?
So, there is really no reason for considering modern science a separate culture rather than part of the human culture that we call humanism. I am saying this as a scientist: science is part of what I would like to call human "sapience", what the ancient called "sophos"; that we translate as "wisdom" "sapience," or "knowledge." The term philosopher just means someone who loves sapience. And that's what we are; scientists or non-scientists, the very fact that we are here today, engaged in this discussion. means that we love knowledge: we are all philosophers. And that's a good thing to be; sapience is what makes us human and that's why we speak of humanism.
So, why do science and scientists sometimes pretend to be a separate branch of knowledge? Well, it has to do with another concept that comes to us from the Greek philosophy. It goes under the name of techné that we may translate as "craftsmanship" and that originates the modern term "technology". Here lies the problem.
Five minutes ago, someone asked me about hydrogen powered cars. I answered that they have been a complete failure and that was it. But I ask you to go a little more in depth with this question. Why do many of us think these things are important: hydrogen cars, a hydrogen powered economy, and lots of strange things we hear as proposed by scientists and that are said to be able to "solve our problems." Why is that? There is a reason and it goes back to a period in history when scientists found that they were able to devise some clever gadgets: you remember the "atomic age", right? It started more or less from there. Then there was the space age, the information age, and so on. There was this great wave of optimism when we really thought that science would bring us a new age of happiness and prosperity - it was the triumph of technology over everything else. The triumph of techné over sophos.
That period of optimism is still with us: anything that you say that disputes the sacred cow of economic growth is answered with "the scientists will think of something." Climate change? Resource Depletion? Pollution? Not really problems if you have the right gadget to solve them. And this brings, sometimes, the question "do we teach enough science to our children?" It is a result of the opinion that, in order to solve our problems, we need more gadgets and that, in order to have more gadgets, we need more science and that, in order to have more science, we need to teach more of it to our children. I think this is not a good idea. I think we have too many gadgets, not too few. And all these gadgets either don't work or cause more problems than those they are supposed to solve. Think about that: we wanted flying cars and we got killer drones, we wanted freedom and we got body scanners, we wanted cheap energy and we got Fukushima, we wanted knowledge and we got 140 characters, we wanted a long life and we got Alzheimer. The more gadgets we have, the worse the situation becomes.
Don't get me wrong: I am not saying that technology is bad in itself. We all live in heated spaces, we use electricity, when we have a headache we take an aspirin, and we use a lot of useful devices in our everyday life. I am not telling you that we should run to the woods and live as our stone-age ancestors - not at all. Being good craftsmen is part of being human. It is just that this fascination with gadgetry is generating multiple disasters, as we have been discussing today: from climate change to all the rest. One of these disasters is the decline of science, with scientists often turned into those raucous boors who feel they have to send out a press release every month or so to describe how their new gadget will save the world.
It can't work in this way. We need to take control of the technology we use, we need to stop being controlled by it. And I think the first step for retaking control is to bring science back into the fold of humanism. I am saying this as a scientist and as someone who loves science - I have been loving science from when I was a kid. Modern science is a beautiful thing; well worth being loved. It has been telling us so much that's worth knowing: the history of our planet, the origin and the fate of the universe, the thermodynamic engines that make everything move, and much more. We need to see science as part of the human treasure of knowledge and we need to love knowledge in all its forms. And, as I said at the beginning, someone who loves knowledge is a philosopher and that's what we can all be and we should be; because it is our call as human beings. If we want to save the world, we don't need gadgetry, we need to be what we are: human beings.
See also this comment on my "Chimeras" blog
Labels: art, atomic age, climate science, humanism, hydrogen, science, two cultures
Supporting everything that smells bad: Donald Trump's new energy policy promises to be a disaster
Michael Klare has published an extensive comment on "Tomgram" about what appear to be the current policy choices by Donald Trump on energy and he correctly notes how contradictory they are. Basically,
The main thrust of his approach couldn’t be clearer: abolish all regulations and presidential directives that stand in the way of unrestrained fossil fuel extraction, including commitments made by President Obama in December 2015 under the Paris Climate Agreement.
In other words, Trump seems to be locked in a market-only vision of the problem, thinking that physical realities have no role in the extraction of fossil resources. On this, he is surely not alone, but the problem is that deregulation is not so important as Trump seems to think. It was not because the market was over-regulated that oil prices spiked up to $150 dollars/barrel in 2008 and kept hovering at around $100/barrel from 2011 up to late 2014. And it was not because oil production was suddenly deregulated that prices collapsed to below $40 in 2015. The oil market, as all markets, suffers from instabilities that may be, sometimes, cured by regulations. Eliminating all the regulations may well cause further price swings and wild oscillations, rather than increase production.
If oil companies are in trouble, right now, is because the oil prices are too low, not because oil extraction is over-regulated and Trump's policies - if they were to work - may damage the fossil fuel industry even more. That, in itself, would not be a bad thing - especially in terms of the effects on climate. The problem is that Trump's ideas to revitalize the fossil fuel industry may not be limited to deregulation, but could involve actively discouraging renewable energy, a policy that, for instance, the Italian government has been successfully applying during the past few years.
So, why does Trump want to do such a thing? Here, we can only imagine what passes in the mind of a 70-year old man who is not known to be especially expert in anything. Klare puts forward a possible explanation as:
To some degree, no doubt, it comes, at least in part, from the president-elect’s deep and abiding nostalgia for the fast-growing (and largely regulation-free) America of the 1950s. When Trump was growing up, the United States was on an extraordinary expansionist drive and its output of basic goods, including oil, coal, and steel, was swelling by the day. The country’s major industries were heavily unionized; the suburbs were booming; apartment buildings were going up all over the borough of Queens in New York City where Trump got his start; cars were rolling off the assembly lines in what was then anything but the “Rust Belt”; and refineries and coal plants were pouring out the massive amounts of energy needed to make it all happen.
And don’t forget one other factor: Trump’s vindictiveness -- in this case, not just toward his Democratic opponent in the recent election campaign but toward those who voted against him. The Donald is well aware that most Americans who care about climate change and are in favor of a rapid transformation to a green energy America did not vote for him,
Given his well-known penchant for attacking anyone who frustrates his ambitions or speaks negatively of him, and his urge to punish greens by, among other things, obliterating every measure adopted by President Obama to speed the utilization of renewable energy, expect him to rip the EPA apart and do his best to shred any obstacles to fossil fuel exploitation. If that means hastening the incineration of the planet, so be it. He either doesn’t care (since at 70 he won’t live to see it happen), truly doesn’t believe in the science, or doesn’t think it will hurt his company’s business interests over the next few decades.
This interpretation by Michael Klare may or may not be correct but it underlies a basic problem: elections give power to people on the basis of their promises, but nobody really knows how they will behave once they have power in their hands. The world's history is full of leaders who had mental problems of all kinds or even just had a vision of the world that was completely out of touch with reality. The result was normally unmitigated disasters as leaders, in most cases, refuse to learn from their mistakes. And not just that, they tend to double down, worsening things.
About Donald Trump,as I discussed in a previous post, nobody can know what's going on inside his mind. All what I can say is that America may badly need God's blessing in the near future.
Labels: disaster, fossil fuels, oil, renewable energy, Trump
The Worst Mistake a General Can Make: the Pickett Charge of the Oil Industry
The Pickett charge took place in 1863, during the battle of Gettysburg, and it ended as a defeat for the confederates. Years later, when asked why the charge failed, General George Pickett is reported to have replied: "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it." It seems that the worst mistake that a general can make is to forget that there is an enemy. It seems to be the mistake that the oil industry is making: forgetting that there is such a thing as climate change.
At the conference, I sit in the audience in the session dedicated to fossil fuels. The person speaking is the representative from Exxon. She looks confident when she starts speaking at the microphone. Her talk is given in a rather droning tone, it is clear that she is used to these presentations.
I have in my hands a handout that was distributed before the session started and I see that she is closely following the data and the figures presented there. Most of the data are extrapolations of future trends in the production of fossil fuels. I still have the handouts that they gave to me at the conference, but it is easy to find the report on the Web. Here is how it is described:
Every year, a core team in ExxonMobil produces the acclaimed The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040. Based on historical data, current developments, trends, and assumptions about the future (e.g., how energy efficiencies will improve, the number of cars on the road going forward), the ExxonMobil team projects demand and supply for all energy sources, including fossil fuels and renewables, and the resulting global energy mix.
and here is a snapshot of their main predictions to 2040:
As you see, everything keeps growing except, thank Lord, coal, but it contracts of only about 0.2% per year. The rest, it is all growth.
And so I watch the presentation coming to a close: the gist of it is that everything is well and will be well. We will keep growing oil and gas production, the economy will keep growing, and that's they way things have been and will be. The term "climate change" is not even mentioned. Then, the talk is over and there follow a few polite questions before passing the microphone to somebody else. I vaguely think of rising up and saying something like "but don't you think you are forgetting something with your projections?" But I don't, of course. I just keep sitting where I am, unable to do anything except shaking my head.
It was at that moment that the story of the Pickett charge came to my mind. Did general Pickett realize that he was sending his men to charge in the open against the well-defended wall of Cemetery Ridge? Did he really forget that there was an enemy, there? So, did the lady from Exxon forget that there is something called "climate change" out there? Did the people who prepared the report ever think about that?
I don't think they did. If you look at the Exxon site, they have several pages dedicated to climate change. It is all vague talk where they say, yes, it is important, yes, we are doing something, and yes, we understand, and yes, yes, yes, we know about it, but we will keep extracting and burning because it is our job. And, no, we won't show you quantitative data on the consequences of what we are doing.
So, let me show something quantitative: a little graphic that my coworkers recently prepared.
Graph by Ilaria Perissi and Sara Falsini
You see the black circles: business as usual; not very different than the Exxon Scenario. The colored dots mark the trajectories that we have to follow if we want to stay within the global carbon budget for no more than 2 degs of temperature increase. The trajectories assume a constant percentage yearly decline and, of course, the more we wait, the sharper the decline has to be. It is already so sharp to be unthinkable if we were to start in 2030. Then, if we wait too long, it will be simply impossible: at the BAU rate, we run out of the carbon budget in 2042. This is, more or less, the temporal limit of the Exxon analysis. If we follow their extrapolation, in 2040 we'll have zero carbon budget left. And they truly believe in their extrapolation. They don't think that such a thing as "peak oil" exists
It is the Pickett charge again: there is an enemy there but the oil industry keeps charging as if there were none.
The Trump Effect: is Climate Change Denialism on the Rise?
The results of a search for "climate hoax" on Google Trends
Google Trends shows a remarkable spike in the interest for the coupled terms "climate" and "hoax". Does that mean that people are becoming more skeptical about climate science? Or simply more interested in the subject? On this point, Google Trends tells us that there has been no special change in the level of interest in the general subjects of climate change and global warming. The interest is specific in the coupling of "climate" and "hoax." And, if we couple the terms "climate", "hoax" and "Trump" we see that there is a clear correlation.
So, it seems clear that the rise of Donald Trump has emboldened science deniers, who are more active than before. Qualitatively, it is a trend noted also by "DeSmog" and others. That doesn't necessarily mean a change in the distribution of the opinions on the danger of climate change, still deadlocked in what I termed "trench warfare in the climate wars". Instead, The election of Donald Trump may lead to an even sharper polarization of the US public opinion on climate. Most likely, the virtual trench warfare will continue for quite a while, and we can only hope that it won't become real warfare.
John Glenn (1921-2016): the End of an Era
John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, in 1962. It was the start of the adventure that led to the lunar landing in 1969; only seven years later. It was an age of enthusiasm and of great expectations; a time that, today, looks remote. The conquest of space may have been made possible by the high energy yield of fossil fuels that made us rich. But it is a wealth that we don't have anymore; the depletion of the high yield fossil resources is making us unable to afford the kind of extravagances that were possible decades ago. So, the death of John Glenn may signal the end of the cycle of human spaceflight.
On this occasion, I thought I could reproduce a post that I published on Cassandra's Legacy in 2015. It may not be unrelated to the general decline of the concept of human spaceflight that the Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was criticized in Italy on the basis of the idea that women should stay home and have children. And also because she is probably a witch.
The last astronaut: the cycle of human spaceflight is coming to an end (Feb 9, 2015)
Smart, dedicated, competent, polyglot, and more; Samantha Cristoforetti seems to have been invented for a "Star Trek" episode. She is shown here at the International Space Station, where she is staying at the moment of publication of this post. Cristoforetti may not be the last astronaut to orbit the earth, but it is possible that the end of what was once called "the space age" will not be far away in the future. (image credit: ESA/NASA)
I experienced the enthusiasm of the "space age," starting in the 1960s, and I am not happy to see the end of that old dream. Yet, the data are clear and cannot be ignored: human spaceflight is winding down. Look at the graph, below. It shows the total number of people launched into space each year. (The data are from Wikipedia - more details.)
As you see, the number of people sent to space peaked in the 1990s, following a cycle that can be fitted reasonably well using a bell-shaped curve (a Gaussian, in this case). We have not yet arrived at the end of space travel, but the number of people traveling to space is going down. With the international space station set to be retired in 2020, it may be that the "space age" is destined to come to an end in a non-remote future.
The shape of the cycle can be seen as a "Hubbert curve." This curve typically describes the exploitation of a non-renewable resource; fossil fuels in particular, but it also describes how economic activities are affected by a diminishing availability of resources. In this case, the shape of the curve suggests that we are gradually running out of the surplus resources needed to send humans into space. In a sense, the economics of human spaceflight are like those of the great pyramids of Egypt. These pyramids were expensive and required considerable surplus resources to be built. When the surplus disappeared, no more were built. The shape of the pyramid building curve was, again, Hubbert-like.
This result is not surprising, considering that we are reaching the planetary limits to growth. In part, we are reacting to the diminishing availability of resources by replacing humans with less expensive robots, but sending robots to space is not the same as the "conquest of space" was once conceived. Besides, the decline of space exploration is evident also from other data, see for instance this plot showing the budget available to NASA (from "Starts with a Bang").Note how the peak in human spaceflights coincides with the peak in the resources destined to space exploration.
If space exploration is directly related to the availability of resources, it is also true that, from the beginning, it was not meant to be just a resource drain. The idea of the conquest of space involved overcoming the limits of the earth's ecosphere and accessing the resources of the whole solar system. Some of the concepts developed in this area were thought explicitly as ways to avoid the dire scenarios laid out in the 1972 study, "The Limits to Growth." Proposals involved placing giant habitats at the Lagrange libration points, where no energy was necessary to keep them there. The idea gained some traction in the 1970s and, in the figure, you see an impression of one of those habitats - the "Bernal Sphere."(image credit: NASA)
Today, we can't look at these old drawings without shaking our heads and wondering how anyone could take them seriously. Yet, these ideas were not impossible in themselves and, in the 1970s, we still had sufficient resources to make it possible some kind of human expansion into space, even though not on the grand scale that some people were proposing. But we missed that occasion and we much preferred to invest our surplus in military toys. Today, we can't even dream of colonizing space anymore.
The space age is not completely over, yet, but it is becoming more and more difficult to sustain the costs of it. Right now, the Russians are still willing to launch to orbit West European astronauts. But how long will they continue to do so while Western Europe is enacting sanctions devised to cripple the Russian economy? Samantha Cristoforetti, brave and competent Italian astronaut, may well be a member of the last patrol of humans orbiting around the earth for a long time to come.
Italy's Referendum: the Great Defeat of Matteo Renzi, as commented by Leon Tolstoy
Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister, portraited as Napoleon Bonaparte on the front cover of an Italian magazine of a few years ago. For some reason, successful leaders tend to embark in risky enterprises that put their leadership at stake and, often, they fail utterly. It happened to Napoleon with the invasion of Russia and it happened to Matteo Renzi with the recent constitutional referendum that ended up with a disastrous defeat for him.
There is a clear parallel between the results of the Italian constitutional referendum of Dec 4th, 2016 and those of the Brexit referendum and the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the US. In all cases, we saw devastating failures for the mainstream media. People refused to listen to the messages beamed to them. They had the feeling of being swindled and probably they knew that, when you start suspecting that you are being swindled, you probably are. And they reacted accordingly.
Something is deeply changing in the world. Top-down, government-controlled propaganda has been used with great efficacy for more than a century, but now it is being defeated by bottom-up, viral information that ebbs and flows in the Web. Is it a good thing? For sure, the defeat of the Empire of lies is a good thing, but it is also true that the opposite of a lie is not necessarily the truth. All we can say is that it is happening and that the old ways don't work anymore.
On this point, perhaps it is worth re-reading Tolstoy when he describes the surprise that Napoleon felt at the battle of Borodino, during the Russian campaign, when he, too, found that the old ways didn't work anymore.
Alexander Tolstoy: "War and Peace", Book 10, Chapter XXXIV
Napoleon was experiencing a feeling of depression like that of an ever-lucky gambler who, after recklessly flinging money about and always winning, suddenly just when he has calculated all the chances of the game, finds that the more he considers his play the more surely he loses.
His troops were the same, his generals the same, the same preparations had been made, the same dispositions, and the same proclamation courte et energique, he himself was still the same: he knew that and knew that he was now even more experienced and skillful than before. Even the enemy was the same as at Austerlitz and Friedland- yet the terrible stroke of his arm had supernaturally become impotent.
All the old methods that had been unfailingly crowned with success: the concentration of batteries on one point, an attack by reserves to break the enemy's line, and a cavalry attack by "the men of iron," all these methods had already been employed, yet not only was there no victory, but from all sides came the same news of generals killed and wounded, of reinforcements needed, of the impossibility of driving back the Russians, and of disorganization among his own troops.
Formerly, after he had given two or three orders and uttered a few phrases, marshals and adjutants had come galloping up with congratulations and happy faces, announcing the trophies taken, the corps of prisoners, bundles of enemy eagles and standards, cannon and stores, and Murat had only begged leave to loose the cavalry to gather in the baggage wagons. So it had been at Lodi, Marengo, Arcola, Jena, Austerlitz, Wagram, and so on. But now something strange was happening to his troops.
Despite news of the capture of the fleches, Napoleon saw that this was not the same, not at all the same, as what had happened in his former battles. He saw that what he was feeling was felt by all the men about him experienced in the art of war. All their faces looked dejected, and they all shunned one another's eyes- only a de Beausset could fail to grasp the meaning of what was happening.
But Napoleon with his long experience of war well knew the meaning of a battle not gained by the attacking side in eight hours, after all efforts had been expended. He knew that it was a lost battle and that the least accident might now- with the fight balanced on such a strained center- destroy him and his army.
Labels: empire of lies, Hillary Clinton, matteo renzi, MSM
Climate science communication: trust begets trust
With more than 50.000 students, the University of Florence, in Italy, is a huge organization with plenty of problems. But it is also an ancient and prestigious university that, sometimes, manages to do something right. Recently, it organized an information day on climate change for its employees that was remarkably successful, showing that trust begets trust.
Why are we failing at communicating the danger of climate change? Maybe people don't have enough information? (This is the "information deficit" model). Or maybe they have too much information? (This is called the "cultural cognition" model). Or maybe they are not getting the right information? Or there is something else that's wrong?
Without going into the details of the debate, let me tell you of an event that was an eye-opening experience for me. It made me understand that there is such a thing as an "information deficit" problem, but also that things are not as simple as that. I think that more than an information deficit, there is a "trust deficit" that blocks communication. It is not enough to tell people how things stand: we need to generate trust. And trust begets trust. But let me tell you the story.
This year, the University of Florence decided to offer to its personnel - the employees working in the administration or in services - three "information days" on matters related to sustainability. One of these information days was dedicated to climate change and was held on Nov 9th, 2016. I was one of the organizers, so I followed the event from the beginning.
The first point is that this was supposed to be a class; not a vacation day: there would be several talks for a total of about eight hours and we planned them as real, university-level lessons. We had climate modeling, paleoclimatology, climate negotiations, communication, mitigation, adaptation, and more. It was communication directed to non-scientists, but the speakers were all specialists in their fields and they made no attempt of sweetening the pill or of trivializing the subject.
To be honest, I wasn't sure that it would have worked. I was afraid that people would take the initiative as an excuse for a day of vacation; that they wouldn't show up, or show up and disappear shortly afterward. Or, if they were to stay, they would be bored to death and sleep throughout the day. I was even expecting that some idiot in the audience would stand up and say something like "don't you see how cold it is today? Climate change is a hoax!"
But nothing like that happened. With a certain surprise on my part, the aula magna of the University of Florence was crammed full with some two hundred people, mostly university employees, but also students and faculty members. Most of them bravely sat through the 8 hours of talks, a remarkable feat (at some moments, some of them had to stand because there were not enough seats available). And not only they sat in the room; they listened to the talks. After much experience with public talks and lessons, I can sense whether the audience is attentive or not, and they were. They were not sleeping. Actually, I detected some closed eyes, occasionally, - it is normal. But, on the whole, I would say that they were more attentive than many of my students.
We made no attempt of a formal evaluation of the results of this initiative, but I think I have sufficient informal feedback to be able to tell you that the message got through. Many people were not just interested, they were amazed. They had no idea that climate science was such a deep, wide, and fascinating field. They had never realized the extent of the threat we are facing.
For me, as I said, it was an eye-opening experience that made me re-evaluate everything I knew about scientific communication. It made me understand how remote climate science is for the people who, really, suffer from an information deficit problem. Most people who are not scientists get their information from the mainstream media (MSM) and there are two problems with that: one is that they only get snippets and glimpses, drowned in the general noise of the news. The other, perhaps more important, is that they correctly mistrust the MSM. Yet, where else can they get information from? It is truly a deadly combination: bad information from a mistrusted source: any wonder that nobody is doing anything about climate change?
And here comes the university; an institution full of problems but that's supposed to exist in order to create science and culture, not to make money. Because of this, it enjoys a certain prestige and, this time, it used it to do something right. It told to its employees, "we value you, so we offer to you our knowledge about climate science for free. We trust that you will appreciate it." And the employees responded by reciprocating the trust and appreciating this gift. Trust begets trust.
I think this experience has a general value. It agrees with a fact that is described, for instance, by Ara Norenzayan in his book "Big Gods". Simply stated, people will believe a message if (and only if) they believe the messenger. So, no wonder that people are not much moved by the messages on climate change that they receive by the MSM - not only they are receiving a garbled message, they don't believe the messenger. But when they receive the message from a trusted institution and from people who, clearly, are doing their best to inform them, then they understand. It is not a question of volume, not a question of sweetening the pill, not a question of public relation strategies. It is a question of trust.
And here lies the problem: we have squandered so much of the trust that the public had in its sources of information that we live squarely in an "Empire of Lies". Will we ever be able to restore trust? Perhaps not impossible, but very, very difficult. Still, what the University of Florence did was a step in the right direction. Maybe it can be replicated and then, who knows?
I would like to thank all those who participated in this information day as speakers or organizers, in alphabetic order.
Adele Bertini
Marco Bindi
Francesca Bigi
Federico Brocchieri
Stefano Caserini
Gianfranco Cellai
Sara Falsini
Giovanni Pratesi
Luca Toschi
Labels: climate change, cognitive deficit. trust, communication, information deficit, MSM
The Peak Oil Election
The peak for conventional crude production arrived between 2008 and 2011. It seems that we passed the peak for "all liquids" in 2015, even though it will take some more time to be sure that an irreversible decline trend has started. Of course, reaching the peak has generated a vehement denial that the peak even exists. In this article, Eugene Marner comments on how and why the presidential elections completely ignored the hard facts of the declining net energy supply from fossil fuels. (Image from "The Victory Report")
From The Daily Star, by Eugene Marner
Here in the USA, we held an election recently that left most surprised, many dismayed, and many others eager to explain what happened, why it happened and what we do now. Lots of deep thinking and heavy breathing have gone into those analyses and I don’t mean to compete here with students of history and politics. I would, however, like to offer what I think may be an important part of the context for recent events, a context that is defined and enforced by geology and physics. I suggest that the election of 2016 can be called the Peak Oil Election, although the issue certainly never came up in public.
Back in November 2000, The Daily Star published a guest commentary in which I wrote about peak oil, the moment when global production of oil reaches its maximum and starts its inevitable decline. I had hoped to rouse people to think about the grave consequences that would ensue when oil, the key resource that fuels and supports our civilization, is no longer widely and cheaply available. Clearly that didn’t work very well, as most people still don’t have any idea what peak oil means, much less that its consequences are unfolding around us right now. No doubt our media, always complicit in a corporate agenda (oil companies are big advertisers), have not done much to inform the public but, more alarming than the blithe disregard of the population at large, is the apparently total cluelessness of both the two major presidential candidates and most of their advisers and entourages as well as the Congress. The Army Corps of Engineers issued a report back in September 2005 called Energy Trends and Implications for U.S. Army Installations that sounded the alarm about peak oil coming soon but that didn’t get much attention, either.
The economy is widely acknowledged to be the critical factor in most elections. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, like most politicians everywhere, talked and continue to talk about “economic growth.” Voters can forgive scandals, bigotry, nastiness, stupidity and just about everything else but, when they see their standard of living falling, their jobs vanishing, their children with no future (and sometimes with nothing to eat), they blame politicians, rightly or wrongly. Politicians usually pretend to have solutions that almost always involve some path or other to “growth.”
Although none of us alive today can remember a time when economic growth was not part of our expectation for the future, such growth has only been conceived of for about the last 200 years. Until fossil fuels became the energy that powered the Industrial Revolution, economies grew by making war on their neighbors and taking their wealth. That was the stuff of history: empires rose on the principal of capturing territory and exacting tribute and eventually collapsed under the weight of their military costs and the expense of hauling all the loot back home.
Europeans had nearly exhausted the resources of their corner of the Eurasian landmass when Columbus came upon what was called the New World. Of course, it was just as old as every other place and, contrary to the persistent mythology, was not empty but chock full of animals, plants and, yes, many millions of human beings living in complex cultures. For the next three centuries, first the Spanish and Portuguese and, soon after, the Dutch, French and English crossed the Atlantic to subdue, conquer, and kill off the inhabitants in order, in traditional imperial fashion, to steal their stuff. Europe became rich again. That was how growth was done before about 1800 and the beginning of the fossil fuel age.
From the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution was powered by coal, which was dirty but had much higher energy content than wood and charcoal, the main fuels that humans had used until then. In 1859, a hustler who called himself “Colonel” Edwin Drake drilled the first commercially viable oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania and the petroleum age began. Oil is an incomparable fuel: at the beginning it was easily extracted, easily transported and, best of all, a single gallon of oil contains as much energy as a fit man working hard for three months or about 700 men working for an hour. One gallon. That huge amount of energy suddenly available is what gave rise to what we now call “economic growth.” More production and consumption requires more energy inputs and oil made it possible. But on a finite planet, nothing can go on forever and, by the 1960s, oil companies were finding less new oil each year than we were burning. Thus, about 40 years later, peak oil. Coal and gas will continue to be available for a while, but both will start to decline within a decade or two. Both already have serious financial problems, and neither one can do what oil does.
Let me return to why I called this the Peak Oil Election. Neither candidate spoke about it. Perhaps they don’t know about it. Or if they do, don’t want to believe it. Or maybe no politician can get elected by promising that the economy will continue to contract and energy supplies become ever scarcer. It was the Peak Oil Election because peak oil defeated both of them. Without increasing energy consumption, there can be no economic growth and, without increasing supplies, there can be no increase in energy consumption. The so-called renewables are hopelessly dependent upon fossil fuels for manufacture, installation and maintenance and are much less energy-intensive than fossil fuels.
The fact is that because oil production cannot be increased, economic growth is now over. Donald Trump’s promise to bring back coal production, increase all fossil fuel extraction and rebuild manufacturing are simply not going to happen, not because of Trump but because policy is no longer in charge. From now on, geology and physics call the shots. The remaining oil is too expensive to get to and extract. Oil companies can’t make a profit at a price that customers in a contracting economy can afford to pay. The growth game is finished as will be soon the multitude of financial frauds that, starting with the peak of United States oil production in 1970, have come to comprise much of our economy.
We need a new sort of politics and economy: local, cooperative, community-based, low-energy, conservationist, non-polluting, an economy that sustainably supports biological needs and health, rather than pursuing riches. I don’t think any politicians are going to do that for us; we need to do it for ourselves.
In Genesis 3:19, God instructs Adam that his punishment for disobedience will be “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” Apparently, humans didn’t like that very much, as all of history reveals them trying to get around that decree by any means possible: forcing others to do the work (slavery), getting rich and hiring others to do the work (wage slavery), or by burning oil (energy slavery). The time is here again for community cooperation, for low-tech solutions like the power of oxen, horses and mules, for relatively inexpensive simple technologies that can be made locally, like hoes, scythes, and pitchforks, and for the sweat of our faces. This isn’t a matter of virtue but of necessity; a simpler life is coming whether or not we choose to embrace it.
Eugene Marner lives in Franklin.
Labels: election, peak oil, Trump
Tiffany's fallacy: the mineral pie is shrinking, and most of what's left is in the sky
Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie: "Breakfast at Tiffany's." From the title of the film, I take the concept of "Tiffany's fallacy": it is not enough to see jewels on the other side of the window to have them. You have to pay for them. The same is true with mineral resources. There may be plenty of oil reserves on paper, but if you want them, you have to pay for their extraction. What follows is a slightly modified excerpt from my upcoming book "The Seneca Effect."
In the debates that deal with energy and fossil fuels, it is rather common to read or hear statements such as “oil will last for 50 years at the current rate of production.” You can also hear that “we still have one thousand years of coal” (Donald Trump stated exactly that during the US presidential campaign of 2016). When these statements are uttered at a conference, you can sometimes hear the sigh of relief of the audience, the more pronounced, the surer the speaker appears to be. This reaction is understandable if the assessment of a long duration of fossil fuels were to correspond to what we can expect for the future. But can we, really?
The essence of propaganda, as it is well-known, is not so much telling lies, but presenting only one aspect of the truth. That's true also for the depletion debate. Saying that a certain resource will last decades, centuries, or more is not a lie, but not the truth, either. These numbers are based on only one aspect of the problem and on highly simplified assumptions. It is the concept of “reserves to production ratio” (R/P), a number that gives you a duration in years of the resource, supposing that the amount of reserves is known and that extraction will continue at the current rates. Normally, the results of these estimates have a comfortable ring to it. According to the 2016 BP report, the global R/P ratio for crude oil calculated for “proven reserves” was around 50 years, that for natural gas about the same, whereas coal was found to have an R/P ratio of more than a hundred years. If the “possible reserves” are added to the estimate, coal turns out to have an R/P ratio of the order one thousand years or even more.
Most people understand from these data that there is nothing to be worried about oil for at least 50 years and, by then, it will be someone else's problem. And, if we really have a thousand years of coal, then what's the fuss about? Add to this the fact that the R/P ratio has been increasing over the years and you understand the reasons for a rather well-known statement by Peter Odell, who said in 2001 that we are “running into oil” rather than "running out" of it. In this vision, extracting a mineral resource is a little like eating a pie. As long as you have some pie left, there is nothing to be worried about. Actually, the peculiar pie that's crude oil has the characteristic that it becomes bigger as you eat it.
If that sounds too good to you, you are right; this optimistic vision that sees mineral resources as a pie is also firmly placing it in the sky. Just to raise a nagging question, let me cite a report that appeared in 2016 on Bloomberg (not exactly a den of Cassandras), titled “”Oil Discoveries at a 70-year low”.
The data show that the amount of oil discovered during the past decades is way below the amount that's being produced, an assessment that is not changed by some recent, much publicized and overemphasized, discoveries. The situation is about the same with most mineral resources; the R/P ratios keep producing reassuring values: decades of availability, at least. But the number of discoveries keeps diminishing, well below the replacement rate that would be needed to keep production ongoing. See, for instance, this figure, courtesy of André Diederen
So, what's going on, here? If these resources are there, how come that we can't find them? Is this a conspiracy of the oil companies to keep oil prices high? A hoax that the Greens propagate in order to get people to vote for them? An attempt by a cabal of evil scientists who are aiming at obtaining research grants for their depletion studies? If one of these is the case, the coalition of these mighty powers seems to have been especially inept because the past few years have seen oil prices collapsing. But the crude oil world is especially ripe with conspiracy theories; including the one that sees oil as “abiotic” and being continuously formed in enormous amounts in the depths of the Earth – a “fact” that everyone would know were it not for the conspiracy of the oil companies, the Greens, the scientists, etc. That's just one of the many legends pervading the Internet. Just one more expression of our teleological approach to problems that consists in finding evil human agents for explaining them.
But there is no cabal, no hoax, no conspiracy in the estimates of oil and of other mineral resources. The problem is that using the R/P data to assess the future of mineral resources is misleading and it may easily lead you to a dangerous feeling of complacency. It is something that I call “Tiffany’s fallacy”. You probably remember the 1961 movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” that features the character played by Audrey Hepburn having breakfast while looking at the jewels on display in Tiffany’s windows. There is no doubt that there is plenty of gold on the other side of the glass, but it would be a fallacy to assume that one is rich just because of that. To get that gold, one must pay for it (or use dangerous and risky methods to get it). That’s the problem with the industry statistical estimates of “reserves.” These reserves are there, probably, but it takes money (and a lot of it) to find them, extract them, and process them. And it is not just a question of money, it takes material resources to extract minerals: drills, trucks, rigs, and every sort of equipment, including transportation and, of course, people able to use all of it. These are things that cannot simply be printed or obtained by magic financial tricks such as “quantitative easing”.
Mineral resources are nothing like a pie that you can eat until you have some of it. They are more like Tiffany's jewelry that you may get only if you have the money to pay for it. And the price of any commodity is directly related to its cost. It costs money to produce anything and nothing is produced if it can’t return a profit when it is sold on the market. So, in the case of minerals, extraction costs keep increasing because, of course, we extract the cheapest resources first. At some moment, we may find that we cannot afford anymore to pay for these costs. And when something costs more than what you can afford, you may as well say that you "ran out" of it, no matter what you read in terms of reserves that should exist somewhere underground. The mineral pie is shrinking and most of what's left is in the sky.
Labels: crude oil, peak oil, reserves, resources, Seneca effect
Peak Oil in a Fact-Free World: the New "Oil Bonanza" in West Texas
Sometimes, I have the feeling of living in a fact-free universe where the laws of physics hold only if you believe in them. (image)
So, the USGS comes out with a press release that the media immediately diffuse in terms of a great discovery: 20 billion barrels, somewhere in Texas in a place called "Wolfcamp". Bloomberg multiplies the number by the current oil price and comes up with a title that reads: "A $900 billion Oil Treasure," for a piece that tells of "bonanza" and of "the gift that keeps on giving". USA today speaks of "The Largest Oil Deposit Ever Found in the US". And how about the comments? Just a few examples.
As our new President will do - DRILL BABY DRILL!!! Energy independence - that sure has a nice ring to it. Middle finger to Middle East arabs.
I remember in the late 70's when scientists said we would be running out of oil by the late 90's. I wonder where those scientists are working now? Climate change?
They are constantly finding more reserves. President Trump will open up more land and ocean for safe drilling. Something the Obama administration had no clue how to do..
but of course the Radical Left, determined to return all of western civilization to the hunter-gatherer society of 10,000 years ago will do all it can to prevent this once great nation from becoming energy dependent and permanently kicking the barbarian raghead arab oil nations out of this country.
Great fun, and all fact-free! But let's suppose, for once, that facts mattered. What should we say about the "Largest Oil Deposit Ever Found in the US"? One point is that nothing new was "found;" the Wolfcamp formation was well known and already being exploited. The USGS just made a new estimate; probably valid within the assumptions made; but it is just that: an estimate. It doesn't mean that these resources have been discovered (note that the USGS explicitly says "undiscovered.") So, what all this means is that, statistically, these resources should be there, but nobody can be completely sure and it wouldn't be the first time that these estimates turn out to be optimistic. (in this case, the round number "20" is more than a little suspicious).
But never mind that; let's assume that these 20 billion barrels are there for real. How does this amount stack up in comparison with the world's oil situation? Here are some data, taken from Bloomberg (not exactly a den of Cassandras).
Let's compare these data with the world's oil consumption that, according to "Index Mundi," is today a little more than 33 billion barrels per year. So, you see from the figure that, during the past decade at least, we have been consistently burning more oil than we could discover. Now, if there had been other major discoveries this year, they would have been trumpeted enough that we would know of them. So, adding the 20 billion barrels of the Wolfcamp formation to the meager total of 2016, probably, we still don't reach a total of 33 billion. In the end, all that we can say is that, for this year, oil discoveries were just a little less, rather than much less, than what the world has consumed. These would be the news, if facts mattered.
But, that's not even the point: the essence of depletion is not how much of it there is, it is how much it costs to extract it. Here, Arthur Berman notes that Bloomberg had calculated the value of this "treasure" at $900 billion as if "if the oil magically leaped out of the ground without the cost of drilling and completing wells; if there were no operating costs to produce it; if there were no taxes and no royalties." Then, Berman calculates how much it would cost to extract all this "bonanza" of oil and concludes that, at the current prices, it would result in a net loss of some $500 billion.
So, aren't you happy to live in a fact-free world? You can keep thinking that it is enough to poke a few holes in the ground to see it gush out in never ending abundance because, as everyone knows, it is really "abiotic." Sure, and you can also walk on thin air, as Wile E. Coyote can do as long as he doesn't realize he does.
Labels: fact-free society, peak oil, permian basin, USGS
Jay Forrester: the man who saw the future
Jay Wright Forrester (1918-2016) may have been the source of inspiration for Hari Seldon, a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. In Asimov's novels, Seldon develops "pyschohistoric equations" that allow him to predict the impending collapse of the Galactic Empire. In the real world, Forrester developed "system dynamics equations" that allowed him to predict the impending collapse of the modern human civilization. The predictions were ignored by the Imperial powers of both the fictional and the real universe.
Jay Forrester, one of the great minds of the 20th century, died at 98, a few days ago. His career was long and fruitful, and we can say that his work changed the intellectual story of humankind in various ways, in particular for the role he had in the birth of the Club of Rome's report "The Limits to Growth"
In 1969, Forrester was a faculty member of the MIT when he met Aurelio Peccei in Italy. At that time, Peccei had already founded the Club of Rome, whose members were worried about the limits to the natural resources that the Earth could provide. They were trying to understand what the consequences would have been for humankind. From what Peccei wrote, it seems clear that he was seeing the situation mostly in Malthusian terms; thinking that the human population would have been growing until reaching the resource limits, and then stay there, kept in check by famines and epidemics. The main concern of Peccei and of the Club of Rome was to avoid human suffering by ensuring a fair distribution of what was available.
The encounter with Forrester changed this vision in ways that, perhaps, neither Peccei nor any of the Club members would have imagined. In the 1960s, Forrester's models were already well advanced. Based on a completely new method of calculation that Forrester had dubbed "system dynamics," the models were able to take into account how the many variables of a complex system interacted with each other and changed in time.
The result was the study that the Club of Rome commissioned to Forrester and to his research group: simulate the future of humankind over a time range of more than a century, all the way to 2100. Forrester himself prepared a complete study with the title "World Dynamics" that was published in 1971. A group of Forrester's students and coworkers prepared a more extensive study titled "The Limits to Growth" that became a true intellectual revolution in 1972.
Forrester's system dynamics provided results that proved that Malthus had been an optimist. Far from reaching the limits to growth and staying there, as Malthus had imagined, the human civilization was to overshoot the limits and keep growing, only to crash down, badly, afterward. The problem was not just that of a fair distribution of the available resources, but to avoid the collapse of the whole human civilization. The calculations showed that it was possible, but that it required stopping economic growth. That was something that nobody, then as now, couldn't even imagine to do.
You know how things went: I told the story in my book "The Limits to Growth Revisited". Forrester's work was mostly ignored, but the better known "The Limits to Growth" study was not only rejected; it was actively demonized. The legend of the "wrong predictions" of the study was created and it spread so much that it is still widely believed. Yet, the intellectual revolution that was the creation of System Dynamics never died out completely and, today, world modeling is returning. We need to study the future in these times of great uncertainty. It is difficult, unrewarding, and often leading us astray. But we must keep trying.
Perhaps of Forrester's unknown achievement was of having inspired Isaac Asimov for the character of "Hari Seldon" in the famous "Foundation" series that Asimov wrote starting in the 1950s. We have no proof that Asimov ever met Forrester or knew his work, but they both lived in Boston at the same time, so it is at least possible. Then, Hari Seldon and Jay Forrester share similar traits: both are scientists who develop powerful methods for prediction the future. Seldon develops a field known as "Psychohistory" while Forrester developed "System Dynamics." In both cases, the equations predict that civilization will undergo a collapse. In both cases, the scientists are not believed by the Imperial authorities of their times, fictional or real.
In Asimov's story, Seldon goes on to create "Foundation" a planet where the achievements of civilization are kept alive and will be used to rebuild a new civilization after that the collapse of the old one. The plan succeeds in Asimov's fictional universe. In our case, the real Earth of the 21st century, nobody seems to have been able to create a safe haven for the achievements of civilization that we can use after the collapse. Seeing how things stand, maybe it is the only hope left?
But, maybe, Asimov wasn't directly inspired by Forrester for his Hari Seldon. Maybe he was just inspired by the archetype of the wise man that, in human history, has been played by people such as Merlin, Laozi, Kong Fuzi, Prince Gautama, Socrates, and many others. Perhaps Jay Forrester deserves to be listed among these wise men of old. Perhaps, the wisdom that Forrester brought to us will come handy in the difficult future that awaits us.
Forrester's achievements are many besides those of World Modeling. He developed a completely new magnetic computer memory that became the world standard, he developed a complete programming language (called "dynamo"), he is the originator of several fundamental ideas in system management: the "bullwhip effect," the concept of "Urban Dynamics"; of "Industrial Dynamics" of the "leverage points" in complex systems, and much more. A true genius of our times.
Labels: complex systems, jay forrester, system dynamics, the limits to growth
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FIVE TRUTHS REPUBLICAN SENATORS WON’T TELL YOU: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on January 21, 2020 at 12:12 am
On January 16, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered this oath to the 100 Senators who would render judgment on the conduct of the 45th President of the United States:
“Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?”
Truth #2: All 100 Senators pledged they would. But Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham had earlier made clear they had no such intention.
“I’m not an impartial juror. This is a political process. There’s not anything judicial about it,” Mitch McConnell told reporters in December. “I would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the Senate. I’m not impartial about this at all.”
And Lindsey Graham offered this during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity: “The best thing for the American people is to end this crap as quickly as possible, to have a trial in the Senate, bipartisan acquittal of the President. And on Feb. 4, when the president comes into the House chamber to deliver the State of the Union, he will have been acquitted by the Senate.”
If this were a criminal or civil trial, McConnell and Graham would automatically be ejected from jury service.
Truth #3: Instead of acting as impartial witnesses, Republican Senators are conspiring to obstruct evidence through smears and intimidation.
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has called for at least four witnesses to testify. These include:
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney;
Former national security adviser John Bolton;
Robert Blair, senior adviser to the acting White House chief;
Michael Duffey, an official with the Office of Management and Budget.
These are men who are in a position to testify about what they actually saw Trump do.
To prevent such testimony, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and other Right-wingers threaten that if Democrats subpoena Bolton, Republicans will subpoena Hunter Biden and the whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
Biden is the son of former Vice President Joseph Biden—and has nothing to contribute to knowledge of Trump’s attempted extortion of Ukraine. Subpoenaing him would simply be an act of gratuitous cruelty and sensationalism.
And forcing the still-unidentified whistleblower to testify would violate Justice Department protections for those who testify to government wrongdoing.
Truth #4: Republican Senators’ willingness to support Trunmp’s crimes cannot be divorced from the evil of their constituents.
On August 30, 2017, an article in Salon examined why Donald Trump’s base supports him so fanatically: “Most Americans Strongly Dislike Trump, But the Angry Minority That Adores Him Controls Our Politics.”
“These are older and more conservative white people, for the most part, who believe he should not listen to other Republicans and should follow his own instincts….
“They like Trump’s coarse personality, and approve of the fact that he treats women like his personal playthings. They enjoy it when he expresses sympathy for neo-Nazis and neo-Confederate white supremacists.
“They cheer when he declares his love for torture, tells the police to rough up suspects and vows to mandate the death penalty for certain crimes. (Which of course the president cannot do.)
“…This cohort of the Republican party didn’t vote for Trump because of his supposed policies on trade or his threat to withdraw from NATO. They voted for him because he said out loud what they were thinking. A petty, sophomoric, crude bully is apparently what they want as a leader.”
Trump supporters giving the Nazi salute
Truth #5: Republicans love Trump—but love their careers more.
According to an August 29, 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center, 65% of Republicans are revolted by Trump’s personality and behavior. But they are being advised by GOP political consultants to vigorously support him.
“Your heart tells you that he’s bad for the country,” one anonymous consultant told a Salon reporter. “Your head looks at polling data among Republican primary voters and sees how popular he is.”
Thus, it is not Trump who commands their ultimate loyalty—and certainly not the United States Constitution—but their desire to remain in office for life.
By supporting Trump, they guarantee that he will not “primary” them in the upcoming 2020 elections—that is, run an even more Fascistic candidate against them.
They also ensure a steady stream of “campaign contributions” (i.e., bribes) from Russian oligarchs—who, in turn, take their marching orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Finally: Republicans fear that if Trump is convicted and removed, they will lose their own hold on nearly absolute power in Congress and the White House. If Trump is branded a loser, his supporters will also be branded the same.
Republicans vividly remember what happened after Richard Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace on August 9, 1974: Democrats, riding a wave of reform fever, swept Republicans out of the House and Senate—and Jimmy Carter into the White House.
If Republicans are conflicted about supporting Trump, their dilemma boils down to this:
Can I hold onto my power—and all the privileges that go with it—by supporting Trump? Or:
Can I hold onto my power—and privileges—by deserting him?
This is how Republicans define morality today.
FIVE TRUTHS REPUBLICAN SENATORS WON’T TELL YOU: PART ONE (OF TWO)
On January 16, two Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump were submitted to the United States Senate.
Almost one month earlier—on December 18, 2019—the House of Representatives had approved those Articles for:
Article 1: Abuse of Power: For pressuring Ukraine to assist him in his re-election campaign by damaging former Vice President Joseph Biden, his possible Democratic rival.
Article 2: Obstruction of Congress: For obstructing Congress by blocking testimony of subpoenaed witnesses and refusing to provide documents in response to House subpoenas in the impeachment inquiry.
One hundred Senators will now decide if Trump remains as the 45th President of the United States—or becomes the first President in history to be convicted and removed.
The United States Senate
(The first President to be impeached, Andrew Johnson, survived in office by only one vote. The second, Richard Nixon, resigned rather than face almost certain conviction.)
Of those 100, 53 are Republicans—like Trump.
Democrats form a majority in the House—that was how they secured Trump’s impeachment. But with only 47 members in the Senate, they do not command a majority to secure conviction.
Their only hope is to convince enough Republicans to vote on the basis of the evidence—which is overwhelming.
On September 9, 2019, the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight and Reform committees began investigating his attempted extortion of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On July 25, 2019, Trump had “asked” Zelensky to do him a “favor”: Find embarrassing “dirt” on former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter.
Hunter had had business dealings in Ukraine. And Joseph Biden might be Trump’s Democratic opponent for the White House in 2020.
To underline the seriousness of his “request,” earlier in July, Trump had told Mick Mulvaney, his White House chief of staff, to withhold $400 million in military aid Congress had approved for Ukraine, which is facing an increasingly aggressive Russia.
But then a CIA whistleblower filed a complaint about the extortion attempt—and the media and Congress soon learned of it. And ever since, the evidence linking Trump to impeachable offenses has mushroomed.
On January 16, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld security aid to Ukraine.
The GAO, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, declared that the White House Budget Office violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law that limits the White House from withholding funds that Congress has appropriated.
“Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the GAO auditors wrote.
Still, no one actually expects Republican Senators to uphold their Constitutional duties. The smart money is on their giving Trump a free pass on his latest act of illegality.
There are, however, truths that these Republican Senators will not dare mention publicly. This article will do its best to cast a spotlight on them.
Truth #1: The man presiding over the Senate—Kentucky United States Senator Mitch McConnell—has received monies from Russian oligarchs linked to Russian dictator and Donald Trump sponsor Vladimir Putin.
pacAnd so have other Republicans.
Len Blavatnik is a Russian oligarch with strong ties to Putin. In 2015-16, he contributed to GOP Political Action Committees (PACs) and top Republican leaders, including McConnell.
According to Federal Election Commission:
During the 2015-16 election cycle, he proved one of the largest donors to GOP PACs..
Blavatnik’s net worth is estimated at $20 billion. In 2016, he gave $6.35 million to GOP PACs.
In 2017, he gave millions of dollars to top Republican leaders—such as Senators Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Marco Rubio (Florida) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina).
Specifically, Blavatnik contributed:
The Kremlin
Another Russian oligarch, Alexander Shustorovich, contributed $1 million to Trump’s Inaugural Committee.
A third oligarch, Andrew Intrater, contributed $250,000 to Trump’s Inaugural Committee.
And a fourth, Simon Kukes, contributed a total of $283,000, much of it to the Trump Victory Fund.
Altogether, four Russian oligarchs—Blavatnik, Shustorovich, Intrater and Kukes––contributed $10.4 million from the start of the 2015-16 election cycle through September 2017. Of this, 99% went to Republicans.
Truth #2: At least two Republican Senators—McConnell and Graham—committed perjury when they took an oath to render impartial judgment on Trump.
All 100 Senators pledged they would “do impartial justice” in judging Trump’s actions as President.
But Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham had earlier made clear they had no such intention.
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SUBSIDIZING BUMS—NOT COPS, TEACHERS OR FIREFIGHTERS: PART THREE (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on January 17, 2020 at 12:08 am
Huge areas of San Francisco are covered in feces, urine, trash and needles. Hospitals overflow with patients that have fallen ill due to the contamination.
And what has been the reaction of successive mayors and members of the Board of Supervisors?
A disgraceful combination of tolerance and indifference: Tolerance toward those who create such dangers—and indifference toward those who are their potential victims.
Walk down almost any street in the downtown part of the city and you’ll find sidewalks crowded with
stinking
disease-ridden,
lice infested,
drug-addicted,
alcohol-soaked,
often psychotic men and women
whom city officials politely refer to as “the homeless.”
And yet those officials remain in office for years.
These are the realities now confronting tourists to this once-great city—and residents who live in it year-round:
You’re elderly, and walking with a cane—and must often try to negotiate your way around big tents that take up most of a sidewalk.
You’re riding in a wheelchair along a sidewalk until you come to a large mattress lying directly in your path, with a potentially psychotic “homeless” man lying upon it.
You call the police—and are told that removing such obstacles—and the people who create them—is no longer their responsibility.
You find a street teeming with rats—eating the food scraps left by “homeless” people.
You walk into an underground Municipal Railway bus station—and find it littered with derelicts passed out or shooting up heroin in plain sight. Naturally, they don’t worry about picking up their used hypodermic needles. They leave those out for others to step on or pick up at their own risk.
You’re standing at a bus stop or eating in a restaurant—when a large, filthy, possibly disease-carrying man or woman demands a “handout” from you.
You board a local bus and are forced to sit near a man stinking of feces and/or urine. Naturally, the driver doesn’t put him off—giving you the choice of surviving the stench or getting off to catch another bus.
You can’t use the elevators at the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station because “homeless” derelicts have ruined their mechanism with urine and feces.
Among the trappings that go with the “homeless” population:
Piles of belongings
Stolen shopping carts
Half-eaten food
Empty cans/bottles of alcohol
Piles of feces
Pools of urine
It’s long past time for San Francisco—and other cities—to stop catering to its population of DDMBs—Druggies, Drunks, Mental cases and Bums—who prey on the guilt or fear of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.
The same laws that protect citizens against patients with highly communicable diseases like typhoid and cholera should be vigorously applied to those whose filthy habits threaten similar public contagion.
Among such reforms:
The city should launch a “Please Do Not Feed the Bums” publicity campaign—as it has against feeding pigeons. And those caught doing so should be heavily fined.
Trash cans should be equipped with locked doors, to prevent DDMBs from using them as food dispensers.
Those living on the street should be given a choice: Go to a local shelter or face arrest and the immediate confiscation of their possessions.
San Francisco’s rent control laws should be strengthened, to prevent future evictions owing to the unchecked greed of landlords. Tenants on fixed incomes should be given special protections against extortionate rent increases.
Bus drivers should have the right to refuse passengers who stink of urine/feces, as they present a potential health-hazard to others.
The owners of restaurants, theaters and grocery stores should likewise be allowed to refuse service on the same basis.
Those applying for welfare benefits should be required to provide proof of residence. Too many people come to San Francisco because, upon arrival, they can immediately apply for such benefits.
The city should set up a special unit to deal entirely with removing “street people” and their possessions from city sidewalks. This could be a division of the Sanitation Department, since its personnel are used to removing filth and debris of all types.
San Francisco officials need to:
Forcefully tell alcoholics and drug addicts: “Your anti-social behavior is not welcome here. Take your self-destructive lifestyles elsewhere. We won’t subsidize them.”
Urge Sacramento officials to authorize state mental hospitals to take the mentally helpless off the streets and provide for their needs. This was the situation until Governor Ronald Reagan closed down these hospitals in the 1970s.
Recognize that no one city can solve a problem that’s nationwide—and the more concessions San Francisco makes to this population, the other cities and states will feel free to dump their DDMBs on San Francisco.
Recognize that the more DDMBs who come, the more they will overwhelm the limited resources of and further contaminate this once-beautiful city.
Tell those who are just plain bums: “Don’t expect us to support you.”
Only then will San Francisco rightly reclaim its former glory as “the city by the Bay.”
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SUBSIDIZING BUMS—NOT COPS, TEACHERS OR FIREFIGHTERS: PART TWO (OF THREE)
Imagine that you find your home infested by cockroaches. You call an exterminator, and he tells you: “What you need to do is to put out big packets of sugar for the roaches.”
“But roaches love sugar. How will that get rid of them?”
“It won’t. But roaches are God’s creatures, and they need to eat, too.”
A typical cockroach scene
“But they’ve taken over my kitchen. They’re filthy, they leave droppings everywhere and they contaminate the food I’m supposed to eat.”
“You must learn to have compassion for all of God’s creatures, and learn to get along with them.”
“So you’re not going to get rid of them for me?”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Help you to accept that they have a right to be a part of your community.”
Any pest control company that operated like this would soon be out of business.
Yet, in San Francisco, successive mayors and members of the Board of Supervisors operate in exactly that manner toward succeeding waves of drug addicts, drunks, mentally ill and outright bums.
Who can otherwise be classified as DDMBs.
And those officials remain in office for years.
Huge areas of the city are covered in feces, urine, trash and used hypodermic needles. Hospitals overflow with patients that have fallen ill due to the contamination.
Typical “homeless” campsite
In February, 2018, NBC News surveyed 153 blocks of the city—an area more than 20 miles. That area includes popular tourist spots like Union Square and the cable car turnaround. It’s bordered by Van Ness Avenue, Market Street, Post Street and Grant Avenue. And it’s also home to City Hall, schools, playgrounds, and a police station.
Reporters found trash littered across every block. Forty-one blocks were covered with needles and 96 blocks were contaminated with piles of human feces.
Most of the trash found consisted of heaps of garbage, food, and discarded junk—including 100 drug needles and more than 300 piles of feces throughout downtown. If you step on one of these needles, you can get HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B or a variety of other viral diseases.
In 2015, Public Works cleanup crews picked up more than 679 tons of trash from homeless tent camps—and collected more than 100,000 used syringes from the camps.
But you don’t have to actually get stuck by a needle to become a victim. Once fecal matter dries, it can become airborne and release deadly viruses, such as the rotavirus.
“If you happen to inhale that, it can also go into your intestine,” says Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, Berkeley. The results can prove fatal, especially in children.
And cleaning up the messes of DDMBs is no easy task. In a 2018 news story on NBC’s San Francisco affiliate, KNTV, Mohammed Nuru, the Director of the Public Works Department, said: “Yes, we can clean, and then go back a few hours later, and it looks as if it was never cleaned. So is that how you want to spend your money?”
A single pile of human waste takes at least 30 minutes for one of his staffers to clean up. “The steamer has to come. He has to park the steamer. He’s got to come out with his steamer, disinfect, steam clean, roll up and go.”
Another danger posed by DDMBs: Hundreds—if not thousands—of them are heroin addicts. Such people will commit virtually any crime to support their habit. And their crimes of choice are burglary and robbery.
Thus, pouring large numbers of them into San Francisco neighborhoods via “Navigation Centers”—essentially holding pens for DDMBs—guarantees that countless decent citizens will become targets for desperate criminals.
Navigation Centers boast that they ban drug-abuse or drug-dealing on their own premises. But they allow DDMBs to come and go at will. Which means they are free to engage in drug-abuse and/or drug-dealing in the neighborhoods where these centers exist.
In 2016, San Francisco spent $275 million on homelessness—up from $241 million in 2015. Four years later, City Hall is preparing to spend $300 million to find housing for DDMBs.
San Francisco’s political elite see this blight as well as everyone else. They can’t avoid seeing it, since the city covers 47 square miles.
Cabe6403 at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons
One of those who sees the disgrace up-front is Supervisor Hillary Ronen: “Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable We’re losing tourists. We’re losing conventions in San Francisco.”
Yet what does she propose as the solution? “We need more temporary beds for street homelessness.”
This is on a par with a “pest control expert” recommending: “We need more sugar to clear up our roach problem.”
The latest fad remedy: “Navigation Centers.” These will supposedly warehouse DDMBs temporarily until they can be “navigated” to permanent housing.
But housing is in short supply in San Francisco, and there is no telling how long how many of these drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally disabled and bums will stay in them. Or what harm they will wreak on the neighborhoods warehousing them.
Meanwhile, other—and effective—remedies are available.
SUBSIDIZING BUMS—NOT COPS, TEACHERS OR FIREFIGHTERS: PART ONE (OF THREE)
In San Francisco, rents are so high that most of the city’s firefighters, police officers and school teachers can’t afford to live there.
Yet the Mayor and Board of Supervisors are spending $300 million a year to ensure that drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill and outright bums can do so.
Yes, welcome to San Francisco—home of cable cars, Ghirardelli Square and the Golden Gate Bridge.
And, oh, yes—and thousands of stinking, disease-ridden, lice/bedbug-infested, drug-addicted, alcohol-soaked, often psychotic men and women whom city officials politely refer to as “the homeless.”
Thanks to its mild climate and social programs that dole out cash payments to virtually anyone with no residency requirement, San Francisco is often considered the homeless capital of the United States.
Current estimates peg the homeless population of San Francisco at about 7,500. And it hasn’t changed much during the last 10 years.
In 2019, a survey found that an estimated 2,831 members of this population were sheltered. Another 5,180 were unsheltered. This made for a total of 8,011.
The vast majority of them fall into four groups:
Drug-abusers
Bums.
Or, to put it more discretely: DDMBs.
Many DDMBs refuse to enter the city’s available shelters. Some claim these places are dangerous—understandably so, since they’re peopled with drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill and outright bums.
But another reason why many of these shelters go unused is: They don’t allow their guests to drink up or drug up.
The city spends about $300 million each year on DDMBs. Dividing that amount by 8,011 provides the figure of $37,448 per DDMB.
Yet mere statistics don’t capture the true intensity of the problem. To do that, you must confront its realities at the street level.
One of those realities can be seen every Sunday, when many stores on Market Street close for lack of workday traffic. Stroll along the street and you’ll find it crowded with passed-out drunks/druggies, ranting psychotics and aggressive panhandlers.
Another such reality was Suzie Wong, who went by the name Ling Ling. A resident of the Nob Hill District, Wong daily gave residents and tourists a sight to remember her by.
She alighted from the 27 Bryant bus from the Mission and halted at the nearby bus stop. Then she dropped her drawers to leave a yellow or brown deposit on the sidewalk. Finally, she crossed the street, and caught the 1 California bus for Chinatown.
When she didn’t relieve herself on Nob Hill, she often did so on Stockton Street in Chinatown. Then she headed to her usual spot to panhandle.
Children and pets often stepped in her feces. So did adults, who were preoccupied with their cell phones.
Parents vainly tried to shield their kids from the disgusting sight. Residents lodged scores of complaints about Wong’s repeated defecations.
The Department of Public Works sent crews to clean up her messes countless times. Police repeatedly scooped up Wong for a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold at San Francisco General Hospital.
But doctors usually released her before the cops even get back to the station.
Under a 5150 designation, people can be held at the hospital for up to 72 hours to determine:
Are they gravely disabled?
Are they mentally ill?
If they are mentally ill, do they pose a danger to themselves or others?
But authorities repeatedly determined that Wong didn’t fit any of these criteria. The reasons:
She had a mental health care worker at a North Beach clinic.
She had arranged housing and food services throughout the city.
She could use public transit.
Chalk up another win for the DDMBs.
And this despicable behavior is repeated countless times by other DDMBs throughout the city.
San Francisco officials have effectively washed their hands (if not the streets) of the problem. If local residents must put up with repeated violations of the most basic sanitation laws, that’s their tough luck.
What matters to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors is this: The “rights” of those whose filth poses an immediate threat to public health take precedence over those of tax-paying, law-abiding San Franciscans.
During the Mayorship of Willie Brown (1996 – 2004), Hizzonor proposed what he thought was a brilliant way for residents to “contribute” to street people. Those who were somehow certified as “homeless” would be issued special electronic “cash cards.”
When someone wanted to make a “donation,” s/he would swipe a credit card against the one owned by the street bum, for whatever amount s/he wanted to donate.
But before the program started, someone at City Hall realized a blunt truth: Residents—especially women—weren’t likely to whip out their credit cards in front of a ranting, foul-smelling, probably disease-ridden street bum.
San Francisco residents can be fined $25 to $1,000 for feeding pigeons—but not for giving money to street bums.
In 2010, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed the “No Sit/No Lie” ordinance, which “makes it unlawful, with certain exceptions, to sit or lie on a public sidewalk, or on an object placed on a public sidewalk, between 7AM and 11PM.”
It also prohibits sleeping in public parks at night and building encampments.
And is it enforced? Not in DDMB-loving San Francisco.
So much for the will of tax-paying voters.
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DONALD TRUMP: “TROOPS FOR SALE–TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!”
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on January 14, 2020 at 12:05 am
Since the end of the Cold War, the American military and Intelligence communities have grown increasingly dependent on private contractors.
In his 2007 bestseller, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, Tim Weiner writes:
“Patriotism for profit became a $50-billion-a-year business….The [CIA] began contracting out thousands of jobs to fill the perceived void by the budget cuts that began in 1992.
“A CIA officer could file his retirement papers, turn in his blue identification badge, go to work for a much better salary at a military contractor such as Lockheed Martin or Booz Allen Hamilton, then return to the CIA the next day, wearing a green badge….”
Much of the CIA became totally dependent on mercenaries. They appeared to work for the agency, but their loyalty was actually to their private—and higher-paying—companies.
Writes Weiner: “Legions of CIA veterans quit their posts to sell their services to the agency by writing analyses, creating cover for overseas officers, setting up communications networks, and running clandestine operations.”
One such company was Total Intelligence Solutions, founded in 2007 by Cofer Black, who had been the chief of the CIA’s counter-terrorism center on 9/11. His partners were Robert Richer, formerly the associate deputy director of operations at the CIA, and Enrique Prado, who had been Black’s chief of counter-terror operations at the agency.
Future CIA hires followed suit: Serve for five years, win that prized CIA “credential” and sign up with a private security company to enrich themselves.
This situation met with full support from Right-wing “pro-business” members of Congress and President George W. Bush.
They had long championed the private sector as inherently superior to the public one. And they saw no danger that a man dedicated to enriching himself might put greed ahead of safeguarding his country.
Now President Donald Trump is carrying the employment of mercenaries to an entirely different level.
A January 11 headline in Rolling Stone sums it up thus: “Trump Brags About Serving Up American Troops to Saudi Arabia for Nothing More Than Cash.”
On January 10, Trump, interviewed by Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham, bragged about his positive relationship with Saudi Arabia—and how the Saudi royal family is paying to use American troops:
“Saudi Arabia is paying us for [our troops]. We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia. I said, ‘Listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us.’
“They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.
“We are going to help them, but these rich countries have to pay for it. South Korea gave us $500 million… I said, ‘You gotta help us along. We have 32,000 soldiers in South Korea protecting you from North Korea. You’ve gotta pay.’”
Republicans have been silent on Trump’s plan to turn American soldiers into foreign-paid mercenaries. But at least one former Republican has dared to speak out.
Rep. Justin Amash (I-Michigan) recently tweeted: “He sells troops.”
In October, 2019, on “Meet the Press,” Amash accused Trump of breaking his campaign promise to bring troops home.
“There are people who support the president, who believe things he says, but it’s pretty clear he’s not bringing home the troops. He’s just moving them to other parts of the Middle East.”
But there are dangers to relying on mercenaries. Recent examples include:
Edward Snowden deliberately joined Booz Allen Hamilton to secure a job as a computer systems administrator at the National Security Agency (NSA). This gave him access to thousands of highly classified documents—which, in 2013, he began publicly leaking to a wide range of news organizations.
His motive, he has claimed, was to warn Americans of the privacy-invading dangers posed by their own Intelligence agencies.
On March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks published a “data dump” of 8,761 documents code-named “Vault 7.”
The documents exposed that the CIA had found security flaws in software operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Android and Apple iOS. These allowed an intruder—such as the CIA—to seize control of a computer or smartphone. The owner could then be photographed through his iPhone camera and have his text messages intercepted.
According to anonymous U.S. Intelligence and law enforcement sources, the culprits were CIA contract employees.
More ancient sources have also warned against the use of mercenaries. One of these was Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman of the Renaissance.
In The Prince, Machiavelli writes:
“Mercenaries…are useless and dangerous. And if a prince holds on to his state by means of mercenary armies, he will never be stable or secure. For they are disunited, ambitious, without discipline, disloyal. They are brave among friends; among enemies they are cowards.
“They have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to man, and destruction is deferred only as the attack is. For in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy.
“The cause of this is that they have no love or other motive to keep them in the field beyond a trifling wage, which is not enough to make them ready to die for you.”
Centuries after Machiavelli’s warning, Americans are realizing the bitter truth of it firsthand.
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SAN FRANCISCO: THE CITY BY THE BUM
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on January 13, 2020 at 12:08 am
The San Francisco Travel Association reported a total of 25.8 million visitors to the city in 2018, up 1.2% over 25.5 million in 2017.
Total spending by visitors was $10 billion, up 2.3% over $9.8 billion in 2017 (including spending on meetings and conventions) and creating 82,538 jobs.
In 2012, the association conducted a survey among San Francisco residents, who named tourism the city’s most important industry.
The study found that 98% of San Franciscan respondents agreed that “tourism is very important or important to the vitality of the city’s economy.” Additionally, when directly asked if they believe tourism is “the city’s most important industry,” almost 70% agreed or strongly agreed.
Downtown San Francisco
Christian Mehlführer, User:Chmehl [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)%5D
Yet San Francisco’s political establishment seems determined to destroy its main source of city revenues.
They do so by catering to a population euphemistically called “the homeless,” but which is more accurately described as DDMBs: Druggies, Drunks, Mentals and Bums.
Their legacies include the following:
The city’s sidewalks reek of human feces and urine.
Pedestrians must tread carefully to avoid used hypdermic needles and empty cans or bottles of alcoholic beverages.
Sleeping bags and tents litter sidewalks, making it hard to pass by—especially for the elderly or those using canes or wheelchairs.
Elevators in the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system are often unusable because “homeless” people urinate in them.
Restaurants have been forced to close because they’ve become havens for DDMBs. A Burger King at Civic Center Plaza recently suffered this fate. So did a McDonald’s in the Haight Ashbury district.
Tourists—and residents—are daily forced to sit next to filth-encrusted men and women who reek of urine and/or feces in restaurants and movie theaters, as well as on buses.
Bum passed out near the Cable Car Turnaround on Powell
So what are San Francisco’s politicians doing to curb these offenses against public health—and the tourism industry on which the city depends?
They’re opening a series of “Navigation Centers” to invite even more DDMBs to San Francisco.
According to the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing:
“A Navigation Center is an asset to a community.”
Such Centers are “a form of Temporary shelter that are low-barrier and high-service, have 24/7 access, and connect clients to resources and services to help them exit homelessness.”
Services offered include: Health care, benefits counseling, mental health care, housing assistance, substance abuse treatment and employment services.
Since 2015, eight Navigation Centers have been opened throughout San Francisco; six are in operation.
Among the “amenities” they provide:
Space for pets
Space separate from sleeping areas
Access to benefits
While city officials increasingly cater to the drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill and outright bums who comprise most of this population, San Francisco’s reputation as a tourist mecca is increasingly threatened.
“The large homeless population in San Francisco is more of a mental health and humanitarian issue, although it has affected the tourism and related industries,” said Christian Tong, operations manager for Intrepid Urban Adventures in San Francisco.
“Whether a visitor is staying in Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach or Union Square, they’ll most likely run into a few of the city’s homeless people, with the largest concentration in the Tenderloin neighborhood.”
“A few?”
Current estimates peg the homeless population of San Francisco at about 7,500. And it hasn’t changed much during the last 10 years. In 2019, an estimated 2,831 members of this population were sheltered. Another 5,180 were unsheltered. This made for a total of 8,011.
Many DDMBs refuse to enter the city’s available shelters. Some claim these places are dangerous—understandably since they’re peopled with drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill and outright bums.
But another reason why many of these shelters go unused is they don’t allow their guests to drink up or drug up.
Just as roaches flock to areas where huge quantities of food is available, so will DDMBs continue to flock to San Francisco. Especially if other cities/states don’t cater to them.
And while San Francisco politicians are going all-out to provide for DDMBs, they’re fighting a war against those who feed pigeons in parks. This includes posters erected by the Department of Public Works, which read:
“Large population of pigeons is a health hazard. Our huge feral pigeon population is a health hazard and creates many problems in the city.
“Pigeon droppings dirty public spaces, do costly damage to buildings, and can spread life-threatening diseases, especially to the elderly and immune-deficient. Their nesting materials block drains and harbor parasites like bird mites. Pigeon food makes a mess and attracts rats.
“Feeding pigeons promotes over-breeding. Pigeon feeding produces over-breeding.
“Pigeons are harmed when fed. When you feed pigeons, you are not doing them a favor. They lose their natural ability to scavenge and survive on their own.
“Pigeon over population leads to overcrowded, unsanitary conditions and produces sick and injured birds. A smaller flock is healthier and does less damage.”
Substitute “DDMBs” for “pigeons” and you have an accurate description of what San Francisco’s policy toward these people should be.
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OBAMA VS. TRUMP—IN FICTION
Presidential legacies live on in unexpected ways.
Right now, the legacies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump are vying for the attention of—fiction readers.
In Hope Never Dies: An Obama-Biden Mystery, author Andrew Shaffer has fashioned a novel that is half-mystery, half-bromance.
Vice President Joe Biden has just left the Obama White House and doesn’t know what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Then Finn Donnelly, his favorite railroad conductor, dies in a suspicious accident, leaving behind an ailing wife and a trail of clues.
To unravel the mystery, “Amtrak Joe” calls on the skills of his former boss: The 44th President of the United States. Together they scour biker bars, cheap motels and other memorable haunts throughout Delaware.
Then Biden unearths a disturbing truth about his longtime—and now dead—friend. This, in turn, leads Biden and Obama to uncover the sinister forces behind America’s opioid epidemic.
The book is pure fantasy fun, as evidenced from this review by Alexandra Alter in The New York Times:
“[Hope Never Dies is] a roughly 300-page work of political fanfiction, an escapist fantasy that will likely appeal to liberals pining for the previous administration, longing for the Obama-Biden team to emerge from political retirement as action heroes. But it’s also at times a surprisingly earnest story about estranged friends who are reunited under strange circumstances.”
A reader named Casey, reviewing the novel for Goodreads, writes: “While Shaffer could have leaned into nostalgia alone, he’s written a solid mystery with the characters fleshed out as more than just cliches.
“The reader really feels Biden’s longing to be helpful and his anguish over seeing 44’s legacy undone so quickly by an individual who shall remain nameless. (The presidential zings in this book are incredible, truly.)
“The tension between the two rings as true as it did when they were in office….By all means, this book shouldn’t work as well as it does. For a few hours, I got to enjoy the company of politicians who behaved like adults (mostly). It sure was nice.”
Contrasting with the relatively lighthearted fictional image of Barack Obama is the immensely darker one of Donald Trump.
Don Winslow offers Trump an extended cameo appearance in The Border, his massive, 736-page novel about America’s war on drugs—and the horrific violence it has spawned in Mexico. It’s the third of a trilogy of novels vividly portraying the violent costs of an unwinnable conflict.
Art Keller is a dedicated agent of the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). For over 40 years, he has waged all-out war on Adán Barrera, the godfather of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
Appointed director of the DEA, Keller now faces a series of deadly enemies:
A heroin epidemic surging across America;
Hitmen who want to kill him;
Politicians who want to sabotage his agenda; and
An incoming administration that’s allied with the very drug traffickers he’s trying to destroy.
And heading this administration is John Dennison—Donald Trump in all but name—who:
Gratuitously insults people on Twitter;
Fires a Special Counsel;
Gets blackmailed by a woman he once bedded; and
Colludes with drug traffickers for a multi-million dollar loan to finance his Presidential campaign.
Whereas the reviews for Hope Never Dies were as upbeat as the book itself, those of The Border reflect the novel’s mercilessly grim take on a war that can’t be won.
Los Angeles Times: “The Border is intricate, mean and swift, a sprawling canvass of characters including narco kingpins, a Guatemalan stowaway, a Staten Island heroin addict, a kinky hit woman, a barely veiled Donald Trump and DEA agent Art Keller, who….has been noble and merciless, a conflicted wanderer who makes America face the transgressions committed in its name.”
Rolling Stone: “Clocking in at over 700 pages, it is his most overtly political installment yet. He takes on the Trump administration directly, creating a fictional candidate, then president, who stokes racist fears of Mexicans, campaigns on ‘building the wall’ and, along with his venal son-in-law, gets caught up in a shady real estate deal involving Cartel money.”
NPR: “The Border becomes a book for our times. Like Shakespeare, it makes a three-act drama of our modern moment. Like Shakespeare’s plays, it shows us a world that is our own, a history that is our own, a burden that is our own, rendered out into the rhythm of scenes and arcs, chapters and parts.”
The signature slogan of Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign was: “Yes, We Can!” The slogan of Trump’s 2016 effort could have been: “No, You Can’t.”
Obama concentrated the full force of his attention on reforming American healthcare—by making it available to millions whose insurance refused to provide coverage.
Trump’s top priority is to separate the United States from Mexico with an impenetrable wall—and he has even diverted $3.6 billion from Pentagon funding to pay for it.
Like John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama will likely be positively remembered as much for what he tried to do as what he succeeded at doing.
Like Richard M. Nixon, Donald Trump will likely be remembered as a menacing stain on American history.
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A “SAND CURTAIN” FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on January 9, 2020 at 12:10 am
There can be peace—at least for the United States—in the Middle East.
But to achieve this, Western Europe and the United States will have to make radical changes in their approach to that part of the world.
First, the United States must embark on a crash program to develop alternatives to oil.
The Islamic world offers only one reason for American concern: oil.
Yet its consumption threatens the future of the world through global warming. And it keeps America tethered to regimes that are fundamentally unstable and hostile to the West.
Second, once the United States weans itself from its dependency on fossil fuels, it can safely end its relationship with such regimes.
That means putting an end to spending billions of dollars every year to prop up dictatorial regimes like those in Iraq and Egypt. And it also means stopping the supply of big-ticket military hardware (like fighter planes and missiles) to Islamic regimes.
When the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, he was probably the best-armed Islamic leader in the Middle East. His army and air force bristled with sophisticated American weaponry he had bought with billions of dollars in oil revenues.
But he had thoroughly alienated his people. Liberals thought him a tyrant, and conservatives thought him a traitor to Islam. So when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini flew to Iran from his self-exile in Paris, no one in the Shah’s army and air force raised a hand in his defense.
And all that sophisticated American weaponry fell into Khoemeini’s waiting hands.
Third, the United States should end its “Permanent Bodyguard” relationship with Israel.
Every nation—-including Israel—has the absolute right to defend itself from aggression.
But no nation—including Israel—has the right to expect another nation to act as its permanent bodyguard.
Millions of Americans believe they are morally obligated to defend Israel owing to the barbarism of the Holocaust. But America was never a party to this, and has nothing to atone for.
But there is another reason many Americans feel committed to Israel. And it has nothing to do with concern for the fates of Israelis.
It lies in the mythology of the Christian Right. Millions of fundamentalist Christians believe that before Jesus Christ can awaken from his 2,000-year slumber, Israel must first re-conquer every inch of territory it supposedly held during the reign of Kings David and Solomon.
Right-wing Christian fantasy: Dead man hovering
After Christ returns, they believe, the Jews will face a choice: Become Christians or go to hell. For evangelical Christians, Jews remain the eternal “Christ killers.”
And if Jews must assume temporary control of the Middle East to bring about the return of a man who died 2,000 years ago, so be it.
Many Right-wing members of the House of Representatives and Senate share this utterly irrational belief—thus proving their unfitness for public office.
Fourth, the United States and its Western European allies should erect a “Sand Curtain” around the Middle East.
For 44 years—1947 to 1991—the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a Cold War. Essentially, the United States drew a ring around the Soviet Union—including those nations its armies had seized following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
The United States said, in effect: “We can’t liberate the countries you’re now occupying”—because that would have triggered a nuclear World War III. “But we won’t allow you to occupy and enslave any other countries. And if you try to do so, it will mean total war.”
That’s why America did nothing to aid Hungarians when they overthrew their Soviet occupiers in 1956. That rebellion was quickly and brutally crushed.
And the United States stood by when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1968 after Czechoslovakia dared to relax controls over its citizens.
Fifth, a “Sand Curtain” around the Middle East would work as follows:
America would withdraw all of its forces from the Middle East—but keep a good portion stationed in Europe.
The President would then publicly announce: “From now on, you are the masters of your own destinies—so long as what you do affects only those of you living in the Middle East.
“We recognize that barbarism and violence have always been a part of life in the Middle East. And we don’t expect this to change.
“So go ahead and destroy as many of your own citizens as you wish—either because they’re Jewish or Christians, or because Sunni Muslims hate Shiite Muslims and Shiite Muslims hate Sunni Muslims.
“Just don’t do anything that poses a threat to those living outside your barbaric lands. In short: Western Europe and the United States are strictly off-limits to you.
“If you aim your aggression at either, we will consider this an act of war and use all the weapons at our disposal—including nuclear ones—to wipe you from the face of the Earth.“
The United States cannot enforce peace between Islamics and Israelis. Nor between Christians and Islamics. Nor between Islamics and Islamics.
But it can impose an embargo to confine such barbarism to only the Middle East.
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DONALD BEVIN’S REVENGE: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on January 8, 2020 at 12:35 am
For Donald Trump, becoming America’s “President-for-Life” is no joke—although he has often “joked” about doing just that. For example:
In March 2018, he told Republican donors during a closed-door speech at Mar-a-Lago:[Chinese President Xi Jinping] “is now President for life. President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.”
In May, 2019, Trump retweeted Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.’s suggestion that he’s owed “2 yrs added to his 1st term” due to distractions caused by the Robert Mueller investigation.
The ancient historian, Plutarch, warned in his biography of Alexander the Great:
“And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.”
Odysses [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D
And, in making these repeated statements, Trump has revealed his ultimate intention: To overthrow America’s constitutional government.
Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks offered a disturbing analysis of Trump’s character on the March 25, 2016 edition of The PBS Newshour:
“And so you really are seeing someone who just has an odd psychology unleavened by kindness and charity, but where it’s all winners and losers, beating and being beat. And that’s part of the authoritarian personality, but it comes out in his attitude toward women.”
Brooks’ analysis has been proven brilliantly accurate during the two years of Trump’s Presidency. He has attacked one person or institution after another—including officials within his own administration.
Repeatedly and viciously attacking the nation’s free press for daring to report his growing list of crimes and disasters, calling it “the enemy of the American people.”
Publicly siding with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against American Intelligence agencies (FBI, CIA, National Security Agency) which unanimously agreed that Russia had subverted the 2016 Presidential election.
Firing FBI Director James Comey for investigating that subversion.
Shutting down the Federal Government on December 22, 2018—because Democrats refused to fund his “border wall” between the United States and Mexico. An estimated 380,000 government employees were furloughed and another 420,000 were ordered to work without pay. This lasted until January 25, 2019, when Trump caved to public pressure.
Since childhood, Trump has had an overwhelming sense of entitlement and his own importance.
As a businessman, he demanded that his employees sign Non-Disclosure Agreements to prevent the outside world from learning of his crimes and follies. He has tried to continue that practice in the White House, even though it is flagrantly illegal.
More ominously, he identifies himself with the State—and thus deems anyone who disagrees with or opposes him as guilty of treason. And the penalty for treason has traditionally been death.
Furious that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) mocked him during a session of the House Intelligence Committee, Trump tweeted:
“His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason…..”
He judged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “every bit as guilty as Liddle’ Adam Schiff for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and even Treason.”
But now Trump faces a far greater threat than mere disagreement or criticism.
On December 18, 2019, the House of Representatives voted for two Articles of Impeachment to remove Trump from office: Abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The case has not yet been sent to the Senate, but that there will be a trial is a certainty.
Whenever Trump has been unable to buy or intimidate his way out of trouble, he has lashed out. And in Nancy Pelosi he faces an implacable foe and a master legislative tactician.
Desperate to avoid impeachment and the cascade of damning news as more of his crimes are revealed almost daily, he has hit upon the most powerful “remedy” of all: War.
What can be even more attention-grabbing than an expected trial of the President of the United States? A fullscale war between the United States and Iran, a country America has been at odds with since 1979.
Moreover, by going this route, he can take revenge, Matt Bevin-style, on those Americans who dared elect Democratic members of Congress to oppose him.
An all-out war between nuclear-armed America and an Iran now coming into its own as a nuclear power will last for years and leave untold numbers of hated “liberals” as incinerated or blasted corpses.
And just as he dodged the draft during the Vietnam war, Trump expects to dodge the calamity he is trying to unleash.
Surrounded by Secret Service agents, able to be whisked into heavily-fortified bunkers or onto a high-tech Air Force One, he stands an excellent chance of doing so.
With enough national carnage and confusion, he might live out his dream to become “President-for-Life”—simply because there won’t be any opposition capable of challenging him.
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Overfishing
Podcast: China and the global state of fish
Episode one of ‘1986’, a new podcast series by Sustainable Asia, explores the politics of overfishing.
Marcy Trent Long, Li-Ting Lin June 7, 2019
(Image: Irenadragan)
In 1986, China passed its Fisheries Law, privatising fishing vessels and unleashing a massive expansion in the fleet. Today one in four fishing vessels in the world is Chinese. Most are fishing off China’s coast, leading to a significant problem with overfishing. But the ocean, and the resources it holds, is shared by everyone. What is China’s place in the global network of policies regulating the world’s fisheries? And what is the country trying to do to break the cycle of overfishing?
Find the series on ITUNES | SOUNDCLOUD | SPOTIFY
Find out more on Sustainable Asia.
Margot Stiles, Oceana
Dr Yvonne Sadovy, The University of Hong Kong
John Mimikakis, Environmental Defense Fund
All episodes:
Marcy Trent Long: Hi! My name is Marcy Trent Long. Welcome to Sustainable Asia.
1986 is made in collaboration with chinadialogue. It’s a four-part podcast series about China, oceans and fish.
In our last two podcast seasons, we looked at different ways to stem the tide of plastic pollution going into our oceans from China and Asian countries. Now, we’re turning our lens to another ocean-related problem: overfishing. China is the largest exporter and importer of seafood products in the world. But it wasn’t always that way.
In 1986, China passed a Fisheries Law that privatised fishing vessels and moved China from a country of wooden boat fishing communes into the modern world of mechanised, commercial fishing trawlers. The reforms were so effective that it created a nearly catastrophic state of overfishing that China is now coming to terms with.
Vox Pop 1: I think overfishing is you keep hunting the fish and do not have a limit.
Marcy: That’s pretty much what happened in China over the last 30 years.
Vox Pop 2: It’s that the fishermen are overfishing and they catch all the fish in the sea and they cannot continue their reproduction.
Vox Pop 3: Overfishing is the phenomenon where the ecosystem of the fishes is disturbed, which reduces their populations dramatically.
Marcy: Here in Hong Kong, we’re one of the biggest consumers of seafood per capita in the world. Wealthy island and full of people that love all seafood imaginable. It’s encouraging that young people who I interviewed understand the problem of overfishing. But I’m not sure if any of us know what to do about it.
Margot Stiles: So the solution to overfishing initially seems quite simple. Basically, you have to count up the fish and estimate how many babies they have in a year and then make sure that you’re taking out fish at the same rate that they’re being produced, or a little bit less.
Marcy: Margot Stiles is chief of strategy at Oceana, an international organisation that works to save the oceans and feed the world. That’s a big task. But it gets broken down this way: Oceana works to make fisheries more productive, help protect the habitat for fish nurseries and reduce overfishing. Sounds challenging? It is.
Margot: Then the next step is to figure out and decide on a limit – a catch limit. So every year we’re going to catch 100 fish and not 200, or something like that. So after the government has figured out how many fish there are and decided how many to catch, then implementing it with all the different people that are participating; that can be kind of the hardest part. So almost all of that happens at a national level.
Marcy: OK, overfishing seems to be a national, country by country problem. But the ocean is shared by all of us.
Margot: Because fish swim all over the world, that’s where it gets really challenging. So I think there aren’t that many things that are shared globally, and there is certainly no other food that is traded globally, as much as seafood.
Fish, lobsters, crabs and other seafood crammed into Sai Kung market in Hong Kong (Image: ronniechua)
Marcy: Managing overfishing in the global oceans is actually a relatively recent phenomenon that started as fishing technology became more advanced and frighteningly efficient.
Yvonne Sadovy: My name is Yvonne Sadovy and I’ve been working at the University of Hong Kong in the Biology Department – I’ve been here for 25 years.
Marcy: Dr Sadovy initially worked in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, then found her home in Hong Kong. While most of us have really only thought about our impact on the ocean recently – with social media pictures of beached whales and Q-tip-laced seahorses – Dr Sadovy has spent her career researching marine issues. I tracked her down in her office to understand how different countries govern the use of the ocean.
Yvonne: We really started to industrialise fishing after the Second World War, I would say.
And as that fishing increased, I think countries began to recognise the need to have some way of defining how we use the ocean, and maybe what our obligations were towards the ocean, to protecting it, or to manage it, for example. So the United Nations developed over many years – it took a lot of debate – something called the Law of the Sea, which was ratified several decades ago – ratified being a lot of different countries had to agree to it to put it into place internationally. And that is now recognised internationally. And what that does is, it allows each country that has a coast jurisdiction out to 200 nautical miles. Lot of debate about that if you’ve got countries closer than 400 nautical miles of course, but the law is out to 200 nautical miles. And amongst many other things, there are two key components to this law. One is that each of those coastal countries has the right to exploit those resources out to their exclusive economic zone limit, the 200 mile zone, but they also have a commitment and an expectation that they will manage those resources sustainably. So it’s a right of access, but it’s also an expectation that you will look after those resources.
Marcy: China took part in the negotiations for the UN Law of the Sea Treaty from 1973-1982, which led to China’s first Fisheries Law in 1986. But China didn’t actually ratify the treaty until 1996.
Yvonne: So how do we manage resources inside the economic zone? There are regulations – each country will have its own regulations, its own legislation, its own laws… But there are some guiding principles, which have been developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and they were developed in 1995, so shortly after the Law of the Sea came into effect. And they’re very comprehensive. It’s a set of guidelines for how to conduct mariculture, or fish farming for example, how to manage your resources… And these guidelines can be adapted by different countries to fit their local circumstances. So we have now these guidelines and these international regulations, which really help to shape the way in which we can and should be managing these marine coastal resources.
Marcy: According to estimates, 85-90% of all fish that are caught in the open ocean are actually caught in the EEZ, the Exclusive Economic Zones of individual countries. So those great videos of trawlers out on the high seas catching massive volumes of fish? Those could easily have been taken from within the EEZs and been complying with local fishery laws.
So here’s a question: what happens to migratory fish that swim in and out of the EEZs?
Margot: What distinguishes them is how far the fish swim. So some fish like to stay at home and they basically have their rock, and they’re like, this is my rock and this is my home and I don’t go anywhere. So really, those kinds of fish, the people that live right near them are controlling whether they’re overfished or not. But then you have tuna, which basically will travel all over the planet. And so a tuna fish, that’s something that many countries have to agree on how many tuna and who’s going to get the tuna.
Marcy: Margot Stiles again.
Margot: I think there is a global overfishing problem, which is when you add up all the fisheries and all the different countries, many of them have a lot fewer fish than they had in the past. But then when you try and solve that problem, it quickly becomes more of a regional problem, not a country-specific problem.
Marcy: And China is discovering this as the battle for fishing rights in the South China Sea escalates. The overfishing dilemma inflames political tensions over who has fishing rights where the 200 [mile] EEZs intersect. China and Vietnam recently gathered to review the Vietnam-China Fisheries Cooperation Agreement, which defines how each country will protect, manage, use and exploit the natural resources of this overlapping EEZ in the South China Sea. But as large commercial fishing trawlers start to move away from their coastlines and EEZs in search of more fish, what happens?
Margot: Many countries, particularly China and Spain, Japan, Korea, have large international fleets. But those fleets are probably the most poorly regulated, because they are roving around in remote areas. And there’s not actually really good international governance on fisheries. All that space out in the middle of the ocean is basically neutral, it’s kind of a free for all. And human beings don’t tend to do well in that kind of regulatory environment.
Fishing season starts with a celebration in Xiangshan, Zheijiang province (Image: Shi Yi)
Marcy: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has created guidelines, but there’s still no formal agreement to managing the open ocean and its resources. And we are talking about fishing in this episode. But what about sharing the seabeds and mining in the open ocean? Antarctica? Clearly a subject for later seasons.
For migratory fish species, there are some international agreements that allocate each country’s rights to fish species like sharks, swordfish and all kinds of tuna. So what happens in Asia?
Yvonne: So if we just focus on the Asian region, and I guess I would have to say maybe we’re talking about Southeast Asia, the East China Sea, South Asia… So it’s a very large area. And this area is very productive from a fishery perspective. I think it’s sort of either the fourth or fifth most productive region in the world. So it’s very, very important. It’s incredibly important as a food source and a source of livelihood.
Marcy: Yvonne Sadovy again.
Yvonne: I would say that over the last two to three decades, there have been some big changes in the region and the condition of the fishery. And those changes have occurred because of a big increase in fishing. In other words, a lot more boats, a lot more horsepower, a lot more fishermen… fishing gears have become a lot more efficient, etc. So that has really intensified the fishing activity and increased the ability to remove fish. And the projection is that if nothing is done, we’re going to lose 50-60% of the food, of the livelihoods, all the income and benefits associated with these fisheries, which is very, very serious for the countries in the region. So there is a real need to do something – to do fishery management, to do fishery improvement in some kind of way – in the region, if we’re not to lose those benefits.
Marcy: There’s a movement to make fishing practices in the South China Sea more transparent. I earlier mentioned the Vietnam-China Fisheries Cooperation Agreement. Now the Philippines, China and Vietnam are also considering signing a common fishing agreement on the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. So that’s progress on clarifying limits and rules for fishing in the open sea. But more work needs to be done.
John Mimikakis: I’m an ocean conservationist at the Environmental Defense Fund. My name’s John Mimikakis and I lead our effort to make oceans sustainable in Asia.
Marcy: John now lives in Singapore and is helping reshape fishery policies throughout Asia. He’s become an expert advisor to China on fishery policies.
John: China’s leaders recognise that overfishing is a problem. They know that it’s undermining the country’s economic interests. And that’s why the last five year plan, the 13th Five Year Plan, calls for reforms in many of China’s natural resources, including its marine natural resources. Top leaders today in China are pushing for a number of improvements in managing fisheries sustainably. I think in my opinion, most interestingly, they’re also experimenting in trying to apply some of the best practices that other countries have developed in adapting those practices in the Chinese context.
Marcy: So China is not only working through overfishing issues with their neighbours in the South China Sea, they are also looking at the 1986 Fisheries Law and how to break the cycle of overfishing that it has unleashed in their traditional coastal fishing grounds. But as we discussed in the previous season of Eight Million, China often has solid environmental policies at the national government level, but implementing those policies all the way down through 23 provinces, over 1,300 counties and 1.4 billion people can be complicated.
In the next episode, we will look at the history of fishing in China from the Han Dynasty to present day. There is a reason why Chinese refer to the cradle of their civilisation as the home of fish and rice – fish is interwoven with the culture and livelihood of a people that count their origins back over 2,000 years. Next, on episode two of 1986.
Special thanks to our sponsors, the Swire Group Charitable Trust – creating positive change in education, marine and arts through supporting registered non-profit organisations, primarily in Hong Kong and mainland China.
1986 is produced by Sustainable Asia in collaboration with chinadialogue. The season was created and written by me, Marcy Trent Long. The assistant producer was Li-Ting Lin. Special thanks to Oscar Lee, John Mimikakis, Sam Bekemans, Jill Baxter and Zhang Chun. Carson and Kinsey Long created the 1986 graphic. And the intro and outro music is made from repurposed and recovered waste items by Alexander Mauboussin. Learn more about his music at kalelover.net.
Let’s not forget a warm thank you to our voice-overs: Kinsey Long, Annabat Martens, Ethan Chen and Andrew Suckley.
If you like what you hear, subscribe to the Sustainable Asia podcast. And please give us a rating.
ITUNES | SOUNDCLOUD | SPOTIFY
Marcy Trent Long
Marcy Trent Long is the founder of Sustainable Asia. She has a 15-year career in energy finance and environment policy roles in corporate and NGO capacity in Asia. Marcy is a Wharton and Carnegie-Mellon alumna.
Li-Ting Lin
Li-Ting Lin is currently studying for an MA in Journalism at Hong Kong University. She is an assistant producer with Sustainable Asia and her work has also appeared in China Daily and the Hong Kong Free Press.
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Place of Worship | Cover to Cover
2/25/2016 | Candace Mau
Kerri Fukui
Driving up Historic 25th Street in Ogden, there are more than a few cinematic landmarks to draw your eye. The stately Union Station standing sentinel at the westernmost end, a handful of darling shops boasting original signage, the Federal Building, Amphitheater, and enigmatic Ben Lomond Hotel. Further still, and surrounded by a few quiet, home-peppered streets, this commanding structure will effortlessly draw your eye. It's a perfect example of space contributing to an experience and facilitating a vast amount of possibilities: The Weber County Main Library. You remember the world before the internets. Before the days when you could type literally any word or phrase into a search bar and have the answer/definition/information you sought in mere seconds? In days of yore, should you wonder about the answer to a question, a field trip to the library may have been in order. You'd make your way to the very physical space wherein everyone was unconditionally welcome to ponder, read, and learn. And this particular library still exists just as it did then…in all her mid-century modern glory.
there is a softness in the severity, and the entire structure is a collection of curves.
Rather boldly designed, in its time, by one of Utah's preeminent architects, John L. Piers, it's one of this state's rare (and often-hidden) gems. For the Piers family, the celebration of space was a family affair. Throughout his entire childhood, John witnessed firsthand how form and structure can mold a city, and after being formally educated at Weber State University, he joined his father's firm. An original thinker, John L. Piers designed the building with extremely solid materials in mind: steel beams, brick pavers, and cement. The vast space of the interior is intersected by steel I-beams, somewhat resembling the outstretched arms of a freeway overpass.
The sheer weight of the structure is enough to be a potential engineering disaster, but somehow...it works. The simplicity in supporting the enormous collection of books without any pillars is a marvel, and it flawlessly facilitates the unobstructed flow of both thought and people. The library's original furnishings were designed by Charles and Ray Eames and produced by Herman Miller, adding to the distinction of the striking space. Piers' gift of intellectual and architectural thought was dedicated to the city on April 4th, 1968. All told, the structure was built from only $1,750,000 (which, when accounting for inflation and the unique details and incredible craftsmanship, would be a bargain at twice the price).
As ever, all are unconditionally welcome.
The Weber County Main Library is home to a reference collection, special collections, law library, an impressive periodicals department, an extensive movie and music collection, audio books, language classes, and a computer lab. If it's space you seek, you can find large rooms available for public or private functions. The library houses everything from a leisurely chess game to an old fashioned philosophical discussion, and new programs are frequently introduced. This beautifully--and thoughtfully--designed community space offers so much, both in refined style and in functionality. You'll find it at 2464 Jefferson Ave. As ever, all are unconditionally welcome.
Architecture has made this one of the most beloved buildings in the Ogden area.
We had a few questions for current director, Lynnda Wangsgard, about what it is that makes this space so undeniably special...
This building is certainly striking--especially given the surrounding area. What are most people's reaction to finding this structure? Architecture has made this one of the most beloved buildings in the Ogden area. There was a time when this architecture wasn't understood and largely not appreciated. But over the last 50 years there has been an overwhelming response from the community of support as evidenced by overwhelming support of the bond to preserve it.
"People can come alone but they meet and engage with others all facilitated by this space."
How do you plan to preserve it without sacrificing the beautiful simplicity that made it so groundbreaking? The only updates will be done through the ceiling. The ceiling will be removed to update the duct-work, heating/cooling systems, internet wiring, and electrical. All the light fixtures will be preserved and the unique architectural wood will remain. The craftsmanship isn't done the same anymore. The elegant 1960's new formalist style will remain. There will be some new modern accents to the classic design. The Herman Miller furnishings will also be returned, they have stood the test of time.
It's clear we're crazy for this space. What do you think makes the building special? The architecture absolutely make it special. I have worked here almost since it was built. I have seen it evolve from the old card catalog system through the modern library services. It's special because of it's ability to be flexible and home to 3 generations of users. This is truly an incredible space and designed to serve so many people, I have seen so many people work here to help facilitate just that. A grand building indeed. One of my favorite events is the open house at the end of the year, people come to hear storytelling, music, enjoy food. I have witnessed many community gatherings, seeing the economic and social diversity converge in one place, sharing different perspectives. People can come alone but they meet and engage with others all facilitated by this space. The library is for everyone, and always welcome.
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Home » climate and security » Climate Security In the U.S. Army’s Strategy 2025
Climate Security In the U.S. Army’s Strategy 2025
Army Gen. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army (IE&E), at a Tooele Army, Utah, renewable energy farm (Photo by D. Myles Cullen)
The U.S. Army’s Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment [OASA(IE&E)] released on Jan. 12, 2015 its “Strategy 2025.” According to the Army’s website, “OASA (IE&E) Strategy 2025 is important, as it serves to guide and shape the Army’s future and current actions related to Installations, Energy and Environment, as well as provide the strategic roadmap to achieve its vision.” Climate change is a part of this strategy.
Strategy 2025 lists three Key Business Drivers (KBD) for Installations, Energy, and Environment. KBDs are defined as:
…essential contributions to the Army. They encompass the processes, initiatives, information, and talent that enable our organization to accomplish its mission. These drivers are the guiding force in executing OASA(IE&E)’s strategy and are the key factors and influences that propel our organization’s success.
Under each KBD is a list of Major Objectives, defined as:
… the efforts and actions we will actively be involved in to reach our vision and accomplish our mission. These objectives are long-term organizational goals that convert our mission statement into more specific plans and projects. They set the major benchmarks for success and are used by leadership to guide decision-making.
References to climate change are listed under the KBD, Energy section, Major Objective 2.4:
Major Objective 2.4: Build resiliency. Advance the capability for systems, installations, personnel and units to respond to unforeseen disruptions and quickly recover while continuing critical activities.
2.4.3. Adapt to uncertain, changing conditions. Develop comprehensive energy, water, and land management practices, to include materiel and acquisition decisions that can adjust to evolving conditions such as climate change and increased need for defense support to civil authorities.
2.4.4. Adapt to climate change. Identify and assess the effects of climate change across the Army by collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. Integrate climate change considerations across four lines of effort: Plans and Operations; Training and Testing; Built and Natural Infrastructure; and Acquisition and Supply Chain.
Preparedness for climate change is just one part of the strategy to ensure the Army is prepared for the future, but an increasingly important one, especially in the context of the 2014 DoD Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (CCAR), which noted that climate change “poses immediate risks to national security.”
Great to see that the Army continues to take climate change risks seriously.
Tags: Energy and Environment, Installations, Strategy 2025, U.S. Army
By Caitlin Werrell and Francesco Femia in climate and security, national security, United States on January 13, 2015 .
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A History of The Center for Fiction
Founded in 1820 As The Mercantile Library of New York
by our Executive Director, Noreen Tomassi
The Nineteenth Century
When the Mercantile Library of New York opened its doors at 49 Fulton Street in February 1821, James Monroe had just begun his second term as president of the United States. New York City had either 123,000 or 152,000 inhabitants, depending on which census you believe, and the population of the entire United States numbered only 9.6 million. It was a year that marked the death of Napoleon, the coronation of George IV, and the entry of Missouri into the union as a slave state. American writer James Fenimore Cooper published The Spy while in England readers poured over Thomas de Quincey’s new book, Confessions of an Opium Eater. Keats died and Baudelaire was born.
On the streets of lower Manhattan, a sense of opportunity and the possibility for both financial and social advancement reigned. As Theodore Roosevelt wrote in New York, his short history of the city, “The distinguishing features of the life of the city between 1820 and 1860 were its steady and rapid growth in population, the introduction of an absolutely democratic system of government, the immense migration from abroad . . . and the great material prosperity, together with the vast fortunes made by many of the business men, usually of obscure and humble ancestry.”
Young men in the mercantile trade were no doubt inspired by the successes of men like John Jacob Astor, who had arrived in New York City penniless, the fourth son of a German butcher, and by 1820, had risen to be one of the richest men in America. The American dream seemed there for the taking for these young clerks who saw how DeWitt Clinton’s opening of the Erie Canal and the advent of the steamship had made New York a thriving commercial center. They eagerly responded to a notice placed by a Mr. William Wood in the Daily Advertiser announcing a meeting to be held at the Tontine Coffee House on November 9, 1820, “to consider the propriety of establishing a Library and Reading Room for merchant’s clerks.”
Wood was a native of Boston who had risen from simple beginnings to become a merchant with a thriving British-American trade. He had a great interest in young people and a desire to create future business leaders out of young men just beginning their careers. He was devoted to reading and to the education of mercantile tradesmen and established libraries aboard ships.
Wood was also one of the first Americans to expand upon and put to use Benjamin Franklin’s recommendations for the creation of lending libraries. Throughout his life, he spent a great deal of time and money in the establishment of such institutions. He founded a library for clerks in Liverpool, no doubt inspired by the grander Liverpool Athenaeum, and after his return to America, established in Boston the first institution of the kind in this country, a few months before the beginning of the Mercantile Library in New York. His plans for lending libraries were adopted in Philadelphia, Albany, New Orleans, and many other places, and in 1823 he founded The Apprentices Library Association of the Village of Brooklyn, afterward known as the Brooklyn Institute and Youths Free library.
Wood’s methods were somewhat unorthodox, and an amusing glimpse is given in Henry Stiles’ A History of the City of Brooklyn:
Wood called at the office of a Brooklyn newspaper one day to talk over his project of an Apprentices Library, and found the editor, Colonel Spooner, delighted with the idea. ‘Well,’ said Mr. Wood, ‘Lets begin at once,’ and with that he proceeded to select from the editor’s shelves all the volumes that were suitable for his purpose and to pile them up in a corner. It was several years before the society was rich enough to buy any books. All was done at first by begging, and it is related that the officers, at Wood’s urging, used to go around from house to house with a wheel-barrow to collect donations.
Nearly two hundred and fifty young men responded to Mr. Wood’s notice in the Daily Advertiser and attended the meeting at the Tontine Coffee House. This large and enthusiastic turnout clearly indicated that there was a need for a place where enterprising young men of the day could educate themselves. With Mr. C. C. Cambrelen acting as chairman of the meeting, Wood talked with the young men and filled a small group of them with enthusiasm for the scheme. A second meeting was held on the 27th of the same month, and a constitution was adopted and the first officers were chosen: Lucius Bull, President; George S. Robbins, Vice-President; and Allen Robbins, Secretary. Mr. Wood was elected a director.
The board lost no time in getting to work. Wood talked with a number of established merchants, convincing them that by investing a few hundred dollars, they could help to establish an institution that would keep their employees “away from the rum-shop and the billiard-room.” Other Board members solicited donations of books or bought volumes themselves. Within the month, the group had established the constitution for the Mercantile Library of New York, stating, “We the subscribers, Merchants Clerks of the City of New York, being desirous to adopt the most efficient means to facilitate mutual intercourse; to extend our information upon mercantile and other subjects of general utility; promote a spirit of useful inquiry; and qualify ourselves to discharge with dignity the duties of our profession and the social affairs of life, have associated ourselves for the purpose of establishing a Library and Reading Room, to be appropriated to the use of young men in mercantile pursuits.” Only merchant clerks were permitted to hold office and to vote in the Association.
On February 12, 1821, the library opened in a large room on an upper floor of 49 Fulton Street under the guidance of its first librarian, John Thompson. Dues were two dollars a year and there was a one-time initiation fee of one dollar. Thompson received $150 a year to oversee a library of 700 volumes, which was open to its members during the early evening hours. By the end of that year, the library association had grown to nearly 200 members and the library contained over 1,000 volumes.
Though the mission of the library was to educate young men for success in the mercantile trade, from the very beginning fiction was a popular part of the collection. The second annual report noted, “As the cultivation of a correct taste in reading was one of the first objects proposed in the establishment of the Library, it is gratifying to state that this has been in great measure effected. A few of the best imaginative works are permitted, and these were at first the oftenest called for by members, but the voice of wisdom has made itself heard, and many who were wont to devour pages of romance alone have become readers of history and lovers of science; and many we hope have there received the first impulse to faculties which would otherwise have laid dormant and neglected.”
In fact, the members’ love of fiction continued to defeat these laudable goals. As the Annual Report of 1825 recounted, the circulation of “works of fancy” continued to exceed that of all other categories. By 1836, after members staged a small demonstration the Board of Directors surrendered completely to the desire to read more fiction and the annual report of that year states: “The addition of works of fiction offers an inducement to seek for the acquirement of knowledge in the alluring fields of romance and the imagination.” What has early been seen as a diversion was now considered “a path to knowledge.”
Despite the core of young merchants’ clerks who were devoted members, in its first three years of its existence, the Library struggled to stay alive. Circumstances seemed to conspire against it in 1822 as the last of the major yellow fever epidemics in the Northeast struck. In that year’s annual report, Lucius Bull, the president of the Mercantile Library Association wrote, “In common with all classes, we, as a body, have suffered by its desolating influence; and the deserted apartments of our Institution have borne testimony to the prevalence of danger and death.” By December 1823, membership had dropped from a high of 308 in early 1822 to 189. Only a $250 gift from the Chamber of Commerce kept the doors from closing permanently.
Buoyed by this support, Lucius Bull called for prominent merchants in lower Manhattan to become involved. Members of the Board agreed to divide “the principal streets for business into suitable districts, to wait on the merchants at their counting rooms, in each district, for the purpose of making the advantages of this institution known to their fellow clerks [and] at the same time to solicit the influence of the merchants in aid to our endeavors and to accompany their good wishes for our prosperity with such donations in books or cash as they might be disposed to give.” In other words, the Library began its first organized fundraising campaign in 1826.
Through the efforts of these Board members, led by the indefatigable Mr. Wood, the prospects brightened to the extent that the officers hired a suite of rooms in the Harpers building on Cliff Street and started the reading room, which has continued to be an important part of the institution in all its successive homes. By 1828 the membership and collection had grown to such an extent that the need for the Mercantile Library to have a building of its own was apparent. As the president, Robert Brown, pointed out, “there are disadvantages attending our present location, which have served to deter some from becoming members. The library is too much retired from public notice. There are, doubtless, very many, who, if the situation were more public, would become attached to the association. We need a situation which should be central, spacious, and commanding, which should bring us more constantly before the eyes of the public, and at the same time, be better adapted for the convenience of the members.”
The collection now numbered 4,400 volumes and there were nearly 1,200 members. Merchants who had initially been skeptical about the library’s chances of success had been converted. The mayor of the City of New York, Philip Hone, was an enthusiastic supporter and a well-publicized and well-attended series of lectures at the library had heightened its profile. All conditions were favorable for a move to a new location.
It was at this point that the relationship between the merchants’ clerks who ran the library and the merchants who supported it became formalized. In 1828, a group of leading merchants and established businessmen that included John Jacob Astor had formed a group that they called the Clinton Hall Association, in honor of DeWitt Clinton, who was governor of New York at the time. Clinton had overseen the completion of the Erie Canal and encouraged the steamship trade that emanated from the port of New York northward and was therefore much beloved by merchants of the city, who felt they owed their financial success in part to him. The Clinton Hall Association was created in order to support cultural institutions in New York City; before entering into an agreement with the Mercantile Library, it first approached the New York Society Library, but was rebuffed. It was only after this rebuff that the Mercantile Library was considered. To the group, the idea of housing a Mercantile Library in a building called Clinton Hall began to seem especially appropriate.
The merchants agreed to become a permanent holding company with shares to be held only by themselves and their descendants. The idea was to have an organization of older, successful businessmen responsible for the financial wellbeing of the library and entirely separate from the association of clerks who ran its operations. The first shareholder to contribute to the fund to build the new library was John Jacob Astor, who purchased 10 shares in the association at $100 each. He was joined by other merchants, who together contributed $34,000. With these funds in hand, they decided to erect a building that would include more rooms than the library needed, and to rent out the additional rooms. The money received would be used first to clear any debt on the building and then to purchase books. The Mercantile Library Association members agreed in turn to pay, out of membership fees, any taxes which might be imposed, to keep the rooms in good repair, and to contribute an equitable portion of maintenance expenses. Land was purchased at Beekman and Nassau Streets.
When the new library building called Clinton Hall opened in November 1830, the library had 1,200 members and over 6,000 volumes and included not only a Reading Room, offices, stack space, and the rental rooms, but also ample space for writers to work. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first writers to occupy one of these spaces. The manuscript he was working on was probably Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, published in 1839 by Lea and Blanchard, but he may also have been working on The Conchologist’s First Book, an early and useful resource on sea animals with shells that has been the subject of some controversy. (It appears that Poe borrowed extensively from Thomas Wyatt’s Manual of Conchology.)
Over the next few years, in spite of some occasional financial difficulties and minor disagreements between the Clinton Hall Association and the Mercantile Library Association, the Library continued to thrive. Its debt on the building was very soon retired and the collection increased exponentially. In 1839 classes in chemistry, French, Spanish, and German as well as “The Art of Drawing” began. By 1850 lectures at the Mercantile Library were important events on New York’s cultural calendar, drawing standing-room-only crowds. That year, lectures were delivered by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard H. Dana and actress Fanny Kemble, who read from Shakespeare as part of a national tour that also included venues in Massachusetts, Michigan, Chicago, and Washington, DC. In 1852, Oliver Wendell Holmes was a featured speaker; in 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray came from England to deliver a talk entitled “English Humorous Writing in the Reign of Queen Anne.”
As New York City grew and moved uptown, so did the Mercantile Library. In 1854, the Clinton Hall Association purchased the Opera House at Astor Place and Lafayette Street. In its new home, membership was no longer limited to clerks, but was opened to all “people of good character,” including women. Columbia University and University of the City of New York both began to provide “scholarship memberships” to the library, and an ambitious schedule of classes and lectures that had been established at the first Clinton Hall downtown continued. Even today, as one exits the subway at the Astor Place stop, one sees not only the bas-relief beavers that decorate the station (a reference to the fur trade that created John Jacob Astor’s wealth), but also an arched, bricked-over doorway that reads “Clinton Hall” and once led directly from the subway platform into the Library. The Mercantile Library had clearly become a major New York City cultural institution.
By the early 1870s, the Mercantile Library was the fourth largest library in the country and the largest lending library in the United States. Only the Library of Congress, The Boston Public Library, and the Harvard University Library had larger collections. The reading room offered more than 400 magazines and newspapers, including a large number from around the world. The library contained over 120,000 volumes and there were nearly 13,000 members. A circulation of 1,000 books a day was the average in 1870, and this increased each year throughout the 1870s. By 1871, the Library was operating at three locations in Manhattan—the Clinton Hall building on Astor Place, at 149 Broadway, and at 598 Madison. There were also branches in ten neighboring towns including Jersey City, Elizabeth, and Paterson in New Jersey, Stamford and Norwalk in Connecticut, and Yonkers in New York. A home-delivery service was a popular and revenue-producing service. Over 11,000 books were delivered to homes in 1870. Initially this service utilized drop boxes throughout the city where members could deposit their book orders, but this system was soon replaced by a mail system. Blank orders, in the form of a square envelope imprinted with a U.S. two-cent postage stamp on the outside and a Mercantile Library five-sent stamp on the inside, were sold at the library for seven cents each. These blanks, when completed by the borrower with their request for books, could then be dropped in any U.S. Postal Service drop box, which—as the president of the Library noted—“were attached to almost every lamp-post with the city limits.” The orders were delivered to the library several times each day. The library had its own horses and wagons, which circulated throughout the city all day long delivering books to members. Often delivery took place within a few hours.
The library also remained committed to offering classes and lectures. Classes in French, German, elocution, phonography, and music were offered at Clinton Hall while lectures and readings were held at the new Steinway Hall on 14th Street. Opened in 1866 with a main auditorium of 2,000 seats, this hall became New York City’s artistic and cultural center and site of most of the Mercantile Library’s public lectures. It also housed the New York Philharmonic until Carnegie Hall opened in 1891. Frederick Douglass, the pre-eminent African American orator, abolitionist, and author, filled the house there in a Mercantile Library lecture on December 12, 1871. In December 1872, Bret Harte spoke on “The Argonauts of ’49,” and in January 1872, Henry Ward Beecher discussed “The Unconscious Influence of Democratic Principles.” The lecture there on January 24 by Samuel Clemens on Roughing It attracted one of the largest audiences ever assembled at a lecture in New York City. The New York Tribune described the event in its January 25 edition:
If there are those who fondly think that the popularity of the American humoristic school is on the decline, they would have been bravely undeceived by a visit to Steinway Hall last night. The most enormous audience ever collected at any lecture in New-York came together to listen to “Mark Twain’s” talk on “Roughing It.” Before the doors were opened $1,300 worth of tickets had been sold, and for some time before Mr. Clemens appeared the house was crammed in every part by an audience of over 2,000. A large number were turned away from the door, and after the close of the evening’s entertainment the officers of the Library Association warmly urged Mr. Clemens to repeat his lecture for the benefit of those who were disappointed.
The library clearly knew a winner when they saw one and brought Twain back for two talks in February 1873. These were held at the Academy of Music to accommodate the large crowds they drew, and both were sold out. These lectures added to the prestige of the Library as well as providing it with income, and membership continued to increase at a rapid pace.
By 1875, the Board of Directors was appealing to the Clinton Hall Association for more space. In 1879, Clinton Hall purchased four and half lots on the corner of Broadway and 37th Street for $180,000 with the idea that a new and larger building could be erected on this site. By 1889, however, the neighborhood surrounding the property no longer seemed appropriate for the library, and it was sold for $300,000. The Clinton Hall Association decided instead to remain on Astor Place and to demolish the building and erect a new fireproof structure with ample rental space that would bring income to the library. Finally, in 1890, the Library moved to temporary quarters at 67 Fifth Avenue and the old Opera House was razed. Construction was completed in March 1891 and the library opened on the sixth and seventh floors of the new building in November 1891. This structure remains there today with a Starbucks at its base and high-priced condominiums on its upper floors.
Membership had by this time declined to slightly over 5,000, although the library continued to be an important and respected force in New York cultural life. By 1893 circulation of fiction far outstripped circulation in all other categories: of the 169,627 books circulated, 92,374 were fiction.
A membership of 5,000 represented a sharp decline from the 13,000 members who had supported the Mercantile Library in 1870. In fact, by 1892 private libraries of all sizes were experiencing difficulties, including not only the Mercantile, but also both the Astor and Lenox libraries. In 1895, with the support of New York philanthropists led by attorney John Bigelow, the Astor and Lenox libraries joined with an entity called the Tilden Trust to create the New York Public Library. John Shaw Billings was named director of the new institution and a building was erected on the site of the Croton Reservoir on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets. When the cornerstone of the new building was laid in 1902, it marked the beginning of a new era for libraries in the city and the beginning of a profound change in the focus and aspirations of the Mercantile Library.
The Twentieth Century
The creation of the New York Public Library was not the only factor that affected the Library at the beginning of the twentieth century. The city had changed enormously in the last two decades. In 1880, horse-drawn trolleys and carriages carried New Yorkers through the city’s streets. By the 1890s, electric streetcars ran on the streets and in tunnels below ground. New York City’s first official subway system opened in Manhattan on October 27, 1904. By 1910, the streets were home to automobiles and bicyclists in great numbers on the surface as subways rumbled below. Nearly four-fifths of the city’s population was foreign-born or the children of foreign-born parents by the turn of the century, and many of these immigrant families were housed in four to six-story tenement buildings only a few blocks away the library on Astor Place. On the lower east side 500,000 people per square mile lived without indoor plumbing. Despite the emergence of this underclass, on many levels the city continued to thrive. The new models for city planning that were developed for the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 began to have an impact on cities across America, and building boomed in the early twentieth century as Otis’s elevator and steel beam construction made skyscrapers a reality. Not since Olmstead and Vaux’s design for Central Park in 1850 had anything had as profound an effect on life in New York as did the advent of the skyscraper. With the completion of the Woolworth Building in 1913, New York as we know it today began to take shape.
The annual reports of the library at the turn of the century give no indication of what exactly led to the startling declines in membership at that time, though surely the advent of the public library and the emergence of the modern city with its emphasis on speed and innovation must not have helped. Though the library could no longer be said to be one of the city’s most important cultural institutions (its collection was now dwarfed by the collection in excess of one million volumes that was installed into the new public library on Fifth Avenue), it continued to collect books, offer classes and lectures, and play an important part in the life of its members. The delivery service continued to be a popular and profitable service of the library and was discontinued in 1917 only because wartime conditions made personal delivery within the bustling city impossible. Mail delivery was instituted in place of hand delivery and was thought to account for the large drop in circulation from 100,000 in 1910 to 60,000 in 1920.
In 1920, the Astor Place building was sold to the Alexander Hamilton Institute. The library remained in the building, occupying the entire second floor. Because by this time only $80,000 remained on the mortgage, the Clinton Hall Association was able to create a sizeable endowment with the proceeds from the sale. However, the Board of Directors of the Mercantile Library was unhappy with the space that had been allotted them and vigorously lobbied for a new home devoted entirely to the Library. Finally, in 1932, having weathered the crash of the stock exchange relatively intact, the Clinton Hall Association agreed that it might indeed be prudent to invest in real estate. Through the efforts of the Head Librarian, the home of novelist F. Hopkinson Smith at 17 East 47th Street was purchased for a very good price. The building was razed and an eight-story “attractive, white marble, up-to-the-minute” modern structure was built.
The new building was designed by the architectural firm of Henry Otis Chapman, whose work included the Troy Public Library, the beautiful Hadley Library in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the Church of the Holy Trinity on 88th Street, and the Italianate apartment building at 952 Fifth Avenue. Half of the Clinton Hall Association’s funds were used to build the fireproof structure. It was built to contain 230,000 volumes and to be used only by the library. There was one stipulation, however. If the Mercantile Library Association encountered any financial difficulty, they were bound by the terms of their agreement with the Clinton Hall Association to turn over the seventh and eighth floors for use as rental space, with proceeds to support operations of the library. Despite the difficulties encountered by the library as the Great Depression dragged on, this clause was not implemented until 1980, when a long recession took its toll on membership and the rental income was necessary to preserve operations.
The Twenty-First Century
In 2001, after an examination of the needs of members and the shape the collection had organically taken over the library’s 180-year history, it became clear that in a city of major research libraries and special collections, the Mercantile Library could carve out a space as a home for fiction. With this decision, the acquisitions committee began to focus increasingly on strengthening what was already a strong fiction collection while also augmenting the mystery and suspense collection, which contained many first editions and rare early mysteries. Book groups focused on fiction became a mainstay and the Proust Society, founded by Harold Augenbraum, who was director at the time, attracted new members and created energy and enthusiasm that swept into other programs. Under Augenbraum, the library regained the firm financial footing it had lost in the early 1980s and began to be known for its strong Proust programming.
In 2005, with the advent of a new director, the Library moved to strengthen this new focus by renaming itself the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction and by working not only to serve its membership of readers, but also to showcase writers with a series of book launches, readings by contemporary novelists, and collaborations with literary magazines such as Fiction, Noon, and Granta.
Its annual awards, given each year in December, are an important part of the mission to promote the reading, writing, and enjoyment of fiction in the United States. The Annual Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Fiction, established in 2005, honors an editor, publisher, or agent who over the course of his or her career has discovered, nurtured, and championed writers of fiction in the United States. Perkins, of Charles Scribner’s Sons, was one of the most important editors in American literary history. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, and Ernest Hemingway are the best known of the many writers he nurtured and supported over his long career, and he is considered by many to be the most admired book editor in the world. The First Novel Prize, established in 2006, is awarded to the best first novel published in the United States. It carries with it a $10,000 cash award and each year the winning novel is selected by a committee of distinguished American writers. Short-listed writers receive $1,000.
These awards are all part of an effort to bring national recognition to the art of fiction and to respond to changing conditions in the country at large. The art and business of fiction were clearly facing enormous challenges in America when the library made the decision to become a Center for Fiction. A 2004 National Endowment for the Arts report on the state of reading in America, entitled Reading at Risk, found that the reading of fiction had declined significantly and that fewer than half of American adults were reading novels or short stories of any kind. As a consequence, publishers were less willing to take risks, especially with literary fiction. On average, only thirteen percent of the books published in the United States were fiction. In addition to these publishing woes, cable television, the Internet, Ipods, Netflix, and streaming video sites such as YouTube were all competing for readers’ attention. While the Library’s membership continued to be composed of devoted readers, it seemed clear to the Board that a non-profit literary center that could become a constructive advocate for fiction in the United States was very much needed.
Throughout the history of the Mercantile Library, time and time again in the annual reports one sees the importance of fiction in the lives of its members. Despite the best efforts of the board in the library’s early years to have clerks devote themselves to more serious subjects, almost from the beginning fiction or “works of fancy and the imagination” always had the largest circulation. Perhaps because the creation and telling of stories is fundamental to our lives as human beings, works of fiction answered some need, some basic human impulse, that non-fiction, however vigorously promoted, cannot address. The transformation of the Mercantile Library of New York into a nationally recognized Center for Fiction builds upon the institution’s history as a valuable fiction lending library with a long tradition in this city. It recognizes that libraries throughout the country are increasingly experiencing competition from the many forms of entertainment and enlightenment available to busy Americans. It also recognizes that, like many cultural institutions, the library needed to adapt in order to continue to be a vital force well into the twenty-first century.
As a literary center devoted to supporting and serving readers and writers of fiction, the Center for Fiction engages the reading public by providing a broad range of in-person and online discussion groups, seminars, workshops, book clubs, readings, and other opportunities designed to bring readers at all levels in closer contact with fiction and its writers and teachers. It supports emerging and mid-career writers by providing fellowships, awards, low-cost work space, writing workshops, and mentorships, as well as programs designed to help writers deal with the business of writing.
Perhaps most important, the creation of the Center for Fiction helps to spark a national conversation among readers, writers, educators, publishers, and technological innovators about the importance of fiction in our lives and the means to support and share it most broadly. Of course this new focus does not in any way diminish what has always been at the core of the Mercantile Library’s mission, to continue to develop and maintain an outstanding fiction lending library and to support and celebrate the idea that was so fundamental to the clerks that gathered at Tontine’s Coffee House in 1820—that books can open new worlds.
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Youth Voice in Philanthropy
The Visionaries
In the Headlines Archive
A Legacy of OpportunityA scholarship designed to help first-generation college students pursue their passions.
Eugene J. Andolsek Scholarship 2018 awardee Leandra Nealer.
Keera Frye is a communications intern with The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County and a student at Point Park University.
As a first-generation college student, Burrell Area High School senior Leandra Nealer had a long list of items to decipher on her own. The burden of SATs, ACTs, the Common Application, FAFSA, PHEAA, essays, deadlines, loans and scholarship applications, plus five Advanced Placement classes, left her feeling overwhelmed and a bit lost.
“Before I started applying to colleges and for scholarships, I never saw being a first-generation college student as a disadvantage. I didn’t really think about it at all,” said Nealer. “It’s odd how you don’t even see yourself as something until you check a box on an application. Then you realize that quality makes you eligible for something.”
Using The Pittsburgh Foundation’s online scholarship search, Nealer discovered that she qualified for the Eugene J. Andolsek Scholarship from The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County (CFWC). The scholarship was created in memory of Eugene Andolsek, who never received the college education he was promised by his father. Following his high school graduation, Eugene’s father told him that he would attend business school instead of pursuing his own passion at college.
“Eugene dreamed of going to college, but his father shattered that dream. And it lived with him forever,” said Andolsek’s first-cousin, Carole Beam, who established the scholarship fund in Eugene’s name. “Supporting students who want to be the first in their family to go to college and pursue their passion like Eugene wanted to is a great way to honor his memory.”
This year, Nealer became the third person to receive the Eugene J. Andolsek scholarship since the fund was established in 2009.
“The other scholarships I’ve received are strictly for academics, which makes the Andolsek scholarship unique because I’m being recognized for something else that has made my experience planning for college a little different,” Nealer says. “This scholarship is a recognition of a lot of hard work.”
Because two-thirds of today’s high school students have at least one parent who has attended college, most high school students have an adult at home who has experienced the complexity of the application process. However, first-generation students, like Nealer, don’t have that same resource. Instead, their resources include guidance counselors, teachers and themselves.
The guidance department at Burrell Area High School provides all students with the same resources and information to assist with college, scholarship and loan applications. But Guidance Counselor Sandra Oskin says many students disregard the information. Nealer listened and followed through.
“Leandra was remarkably independent,” said Oskin. “She never came to me with the expectation that I would lay everything out for her. Instead, she worked through the process herself, only coming to me for reassurance that she was doing everything correctly.”
Nealer’s parents encouraged her through the entire process and reminded her how proud they were. Her father also told Nealer about every scholarship he found for which he thought she should apply. Though her parents were supportive, they had little advice to offer. Nealer managed everything from researching schools to scheduling for the SAT to applying for financial aid on her own.
Knowledge of the application process isn’t the only barrier for students like Nealer. First-generation college students rely heavily on financial aid and scholarships to afford their education. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, 77 percent of first-generation college students come from households making less than $50,000 per year.
“Financially, it’s been very daunting,” said Nealer, who will attend the University of Chicago to pursue a degree in chemistry. “The University of Chicago was generous with financial aid and scholarships, but I was still struggling to figure out how I was going to afford this year and the next. I really wasn’t sure I was going to be able to go to my dream school even after I was accepted.”
Those fears are well founded. The U.S. Department of Education reports that 54 percent of first-generation college students leave before graduating because they run out of money. The Eugene J. Andolsek scholarship addresses this obstacle by dividing the scholarship and awarding it over four years as recipients continue pursuing their degree.
“This scholarship was designed to enable and encourage the recipients to receive it over four years as long as they continue to meet the criteria, because Eugene would have wanted to support these students as much as possible” said Beam.
As this year’s Eugene J. Andolsek scholarship recipient, Nealer will receive $3,000 annually over the next four years, totaling an award of $12,000.
“The Andolsek scholarship is allowing me to attend the university I’ve dreamed of, but it has also made me aware of the responsibility I have as a first-generation college student and a scholarship recipient,” said Nealer. “People like my parents and Eugene Andolsek have left a legacy for other people like me who otherwise wouldn’t have these opportunities.”
The Community Foundation
of Westmoreland County
951 Old Salem Road
© 2020 The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.
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For Good Measure
Plus, a raft of proposals for audit reform; Providence takes aim at poison pills; where the bankruptcies are; all aboard the junk-bond bandwagon; and more.
Cfostaff
CFOs are using what academics consider better measures in their capital-budgeting analysis. According to a recent survey, more than 85 percent say they use net present value (NPV) analysis in at least three out of four decisions.
"Finance textbooks have taught for years that NPV is superior, but this is the first known survey to show it's the preferred tool," says co-author Patricia A. Ryan, a professor of corporate finance at Colorado State University. NPV is favored because it allows reinvestment rates to better reflect external capital costs.
There's still room for improvement. Only 21.9 percent of the respondents said they frequently use modified IRR (internal rate of return), a purer analysis than IRR because it can accommodate differing reinvestment and financing rates. And fewer than 12 percent said they regularly use real options.
Of course, many CFOs don't limit themselves to a single measure. "It's situational," says Howard McLure, CFO of Caremark Rx Inc. While NPV alone is fine for in- vestments that don't directly create revenue for the prescription benefits management company, he says, "in a revenue-producing situation, I prefer to see both NPV and IRR." -- Alix Nyberg
Accounting Legislation
Pondering Audit Reform
Most everyone agrees the audit process should be improved, but hardly anyone agrees on how it should be done. The Financial Accounting Standards Board, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and both parties in Congress have their own agendas, so real reform seems to be a long way off.
The Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002, authored by Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio), would create a five-member public regulatory board answering to the Securities and Exchange Commission, to review and discipline accountants. The bill would also limit auditors' ability to provide certain additional services. It has already been passed by the House of Representatives, but it may have a harder time passing in the Senate, where the Democrats have a one-vote majority.
The Democrats are pushing for more-stringent reform. The Investor Confidence in Public Accounting Act of 2002, introduced by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), would also create an independent public accounting board, but would further limit auditors' ability to provide consulting services. House Democrats are proposing legislation to require companies to rotate auditors every four years.
"If the Democrats pass their bill in the Senate, it could be a showdown," says John Coffee Jr., a finance professor at Columbia University. Whether reform becomes law "will depend largely on if they can reach a compromise, and that can be tough in an election year," he adds. Coffee says if it does pass, there will need to be lots of concessions on both sides.
Accounting bodies and finance executives have criticized reform proposals by both parties. FASB, which supports reform, worries that some changes could jeopardize its independence. The AICPA favors public regulation of public-company auditors with SEC oversight. "We think that would go a long way in helping to restore confidence in public-company audits," says James Castellano, chairman of the AICPA. The institute also proposes a greater role for audit committees, more timely disclosure, and laws against misleading auditors.
Olivia Kirtley, chair of three audit committees and a former CFO, says the auditor-rotation requirement would be "the worst thing that could happen. The highest risk of failure is in the first or second year." Companies, she argues, need auditors that know their businesses. --Joseph McCafferty
They're Not Worthy
Moody's Investors Service reports that it downgraded the ratings of 159 corporations in the first quarter of 2002. The downgrades affected $314 billion of corporate debt.
49% of derivatives-trading companies have now implemented accounting standards FAS 133 or IAS 39, up from 25% in 2000.
Getting Out the Vote
Nine days before Aetna's annual meeting in April, institutional shareholders of the troubled insurance company were invited to attend or call in to an unusual conference in New York, where Providence Capital president Bert Denton urged them to elect a maverick director--handpicked by Providence--to Aetna's board.
At issue was Aetna's poison pill. Providence, a self-professed shareholder advocate, has been waging war on issues it considers signs of poor corporate governance. Although Denton's pick was defeated, he has successfully used the threat of a proxy battle to eliminate or modify poison pills at Footstar, Airborne, Alaska Air, Great Lakes Chemical, and Navistar.
"The issue isn't poison pills, it's corporate democracy," says Denton. "Now, because the concentration of institutional investors is so high, it allows those like us to wield great influence and power."
But Providence's activism is highly unusual. In theory, institutional investors have a lot of weight to throw around, but they often act more like 900-pound weaklings. Although institutional investors hold an average of 61 percent of shares, 60 percent of the CFOs and managing directors polled say these institutions either have no impact on corporate direction or are neutral, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers of 120 companies with institutional investors.
Together, those numbers suggest that investors place their bets on management, trusting it to do a good job. Richard S. Pzena, president of New York-based Pzena Investment Management, which holds 3.3 million shares of Aetna, says he voted to keep the existing directors even though he's no fan of poison pills. Still, he applauds Providence's effort. "It keeps pressure on companies to make sure their governance practices are in line with shareholder interests," he declares.
Pzena has a simpler approach. "I don't see why it is such a big deal to pick up the phone and call an outside director," he says. "We do it all the time." --Tim Reason
More than 50% of finance executives say their companies are not well prepared for a business interruption.
Credit Review
The Bankruptcy Belt
Amid signs the economy is coming out of the doldrums, there are still rough seas in some sectors. About 200 public companies are likely to file for bankruptcy by the end of 2002, according to "The Phoenix Forecast," a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Although that's fewer than the 257 public companies that filed for bankruptcy in 2001, it's still historically high.
Most of the bankruptcies are concentrated in a few industries: telecommunications, automotive, computer hardware, metals (steel), chemicals, and retail. "It's not time to get aggressive and extend new credit in these industries," says Carter Pate, author of the report. "This year will continue to be tough for them."
One of the biggest surprises, according to Pate, is that telecom is still one of the weakest industries. Many had expected the sector to recover by now, but Pate doesn't see that happening until late this year or early next year. "The 2002 telecom bankruptcies will include some surprises," he says. In April, Williams Communications Group Inc., a Tulsa-based network services provider, unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy. The company was considered more solid than its telecom peers.
Some industries on the list are already showing signs of life. Steel, for example, is beginning to rebound, helped by tariffs enacted earlier this year. "The industry dynamics have changed significantly since the start of the year," says Mark Parr, an analyst at Cleveland-based McDonald Investments Inc. "A supply shortage, especially in flat-rolled steel, has hastened a recovery," although additional bankruptcies are still possible at small suppliers of bar steel.
"What we are saying is that you need to keep a close, watchful eye on trade credit in these industries," says Pate. "When the salespeople are pounding the table and saying that it's time to pick up market share, you might want to be cautious." -- J.McC.
Tight Times
Public bankruptcies in 2001
Mining and construction 5
Transportation, communications, electric, gas 29
Wholesale and retail trade 37
Financial, insurance, real estate 6
Sources: New Generation Research Inc., Compustat, PWC LLP
Workplace injuries produced $40.1 billion in direct costs in 1999, according to the 2002 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.
The Junk-bond Bandwagon
Companies with low credit ratings can expect a warmer reception in the capital markets these days. That's because high-yield investors are more receptive to smaller, lower-rated companies than they have been in some time. Many companies with a high leverage ratio, a small revenue base, or a recent bankruptcy are getting a second chance.
The high-yield market is set to offer up approximately $100 billion this year, says Tim Conway, managing director for Fleet Capital Markets, largely to companies with some significant risk characteristics. By contrast, the $90 billion junk-bond market last year was "heavily weighted toward larger, more-frequent issuers," he says.
Indeed, single-B rated companies--small, highly leveraged, or first-time issuers--floated nearly $22 billion in high-yield bonds in the first quarter of 2002. That's up 28 percent from the fourth quarter of 2001, according to data gathered by Loan Pricing Corp. The trend was also evident in the leveraged-loan market, which ponied up $11 billion to single-B rated companies in the first quarter, up nearly 140 percent from the fourth quarter, even as investment-grade lending slowed.
Television broadcaster Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., for example, issued $300 million in single-B rated 10-year senior subordinated notes at 8 percent in mid-March to repay a portion of its bank loans, even as Standard & Poor's maintained its negative outlook on the Hunt Valley, Md.-based company. And Joy Global Inc., a mining equipment and service provider based in Milwaukee, floated $200 million in B+ rated 10-year notes at 8.75 percent in March, only 10 months after emerging from bankruptcy.
The trend portends brighter skies for all issuers. Why? Junk-bond investors tend to "look forward instead of in the rearview mirror," says Conway. Increased liquidity in the market reflects an expectation of lower future default rates and a healthier economy in general.
Investors do have their limits, though. Several triple-C rated companies have recently pulled plans to raise capital. Nashville-based televised home shopping service Shop At Home Inc., for instance, dropped a planned $135 million senior secured notes offering shortly after S&P affirmed its CCC+ rating on the company in March. Investors are ready to take more risks, but it will be a long time before they are giddy again. --A.N.
ROI of Outsourcing
CFOs who have measured the ROI of outsourcing say that in the past year they reduced pre-outsourcing expenses by an average 17%, reports Hewitt.
Nap Time at the Office
As companies look to trim costs, one particularly pricey benefit--work-site day care--appears to be weathering the storm. Although some companies closed on-site day-care centers this year (Honeywell International, for example, closed one), these are isolated instances. A survey by human-resources consultancy Hewitt Associates reveals that 12 percent of large employers currently provide on-site day care. That's up a notch from 11 percent in 1998.
One reason: according to the U.S. Census, women with children under the age of six are one of the fastest-growing segments of the workforce, and companies are trying to find ways to court them. "Infant and toddler care is at a premium--there is a lack of supply," notes David Lissy, CEO of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which provides work-site day care for corporations. The company opened 10 new centers and closed 2 in the first quarter of 2002.
Hewitt consultant Jon Van Cleve says that although few existing work-site child-care centers are closing, companies are being cautious about opening new ones. "On-site centers are certainly the most costly option," he says. "That can be a multi-million-dollar investment the first year, and some employers are shying away from that right now."
Other, less-costly alternatives are still popular, however. J.P. Morgan Chase offers flexible-spending accounts where employees can sock away pretax money for child care. The company also has 15 backup child-care centers--which provide parents with emergency child care free of charge when their usual arrangements fail--and plans to open 2 more this year. "Based on the cost of absenteeism alone, the centers pay for their operations in the first year," says Joy Bunson, senior vice president of human resources.
Better yet, backup centers can provide more bang for the buck than a full-time center. "With a backup center for 50 kids, we can serve 1,800 to 2,000 families a year," says Bunson. -- T.R.
Just-in-time purchasing is expected to increase at more than half (57%) of the companies surveyed by Thomas Register.
401(k) Administration
Handling Small Balances
This fall, the Department of Labor is likely to finalize regulations that will make it more expensive to dispose of small-balance ($1,000 to $5,000) 401(k) plans of ex-employees. But before the rules go into effect, many employers are busy cleaning out the small accounts while they still can do so on the cheap.
The new regulations will require companies to set up individual retirement accounts (IRAs) for 401(k) accounts they want to remove. According to Matt Hutcheson, a Portland, Oreg., pension consultant, that could be expensive. "It's nearly impossible to find an institution that is excited about receiving these small accounts," he says. Until the rules are passed, however, employers can jettison plans under $5,000 and avoid having to set up the IRAs. With the market decline, this category is growing. (Accounts with larger balances are required to stay in the plan if the employee chooses.)
The way some companies are cleaning out low-balance plans, though, has angered ex-employees and employee-benefit advocates. Some employers are simply mailing a check for the balance--minus a 20 percent withholding tax--to employees with little explanation. "Most of the participants who get a check spend it and pay a tax penalty," says Rick Meigs, president of 401khelpcenter.com. "They don't think it's enough to affect their retirement, but often it is."
Meigs advises companies to let ex-employees know about their options in writing. "Giving former employees one last shot at rolling the money into an IRA or new-employer plan is the best thing to do," he says. Better communication will also save employers the headache of receiving calls from former employees who don't know what to do with the check. "These small accounts can be an administrative nightmare," says Hutcheson.
Pay Plus Benefits Inc., a Kennewick, Wash.-based employee leasing company, has a process in place to deal with small-balance accounts. The company runs a monthly list of terminated employees, sends out a notice advising them of their options, and gives them 60 days to take action. "It's very easy for them to forget about the account," says controller Diana Minard. She adds that companies that let these accounts build up over time will have a hard time tracking down the former employees later. --J.McC.
A Hewitt survey found that 34% of respondents plan to decrease the proportion of employee compensation delivered by stock options or other forms of stock.
The Overfunded Defense
In a landmark decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that participants and beneficiaries can't sue the sponsor of an overfunded defined benefit plan, even if the plan's trustees breached their fiduciary duties by making bad investments.
The decision could be far-reaching. Forty-eight percent of corporate pension plans are overfunded, according to a 2002 survey by Plan Sponsor.
Plan participants filed the case against 3M Co. over losses the conglomerate's defined benefit plan suffered as a result of a $20 million investment in the hedge fund Granite Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in 1994. The plaintiffs contend that 3M did not properly investigate or monitor the fund, thereby breaching its fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The court ruled that because the plan was overfunded, the losses did not jeopardize its ability to provide retiree benefits to employees.
Critics of the ruling suggest the matter isn't settled. "It's hard to imagine that the decision will stand," says Sherwin Kaplan, counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Phelan Reid & Priest LLP. "The only technical issue decided in this case is who has standing to sue." He says the decision doesn't mean that sponsors of overfunded plans are off the hook: the Secretary of Labor and fiduciaries can still sue them. Kaplan argues that removing participants from the equation will only put more strain on the Department of Labor, which, due to budgetary and time constraints, relies on beneficiaries to bring suits in some cases.
For his part, plaintiffs' attorney Alan Sandals, of Philadelphia-based Sandals & Langer LLP, filed a petition for a rehearing. If that fails, he says, the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Lynn Dudley, vice president and senior counsel of the American Benefits Council, hailed the ruling, however. "The company did everything within the law it was allowed to do to protect the participants," she says. "Offering defined benefit plans is voluntary, and we should protect the fiduciary's right to select investments. Without that flexibility, employers won't offer the plans anymore." -- Joan Urdang
Hybrid pension plans are currently offered by 33% of the Fortune 100, up from 32% in 2000, according to Watson Wyatt.
Global Confidence Survey
Forecast: Breaking Clouds, Some Sun
CFOs are expecting brighter skies in the near future. With the fallout from Enron finally starting to diminish, first-quarter growth coming in at a robust 5.8 percent annual rate, and with productivity climbing, finance chiefs find reason to believe that the economy is poised for a sustained recovery. Indeed, CFOs are more confident in the short-term prospects of the U.S. economy than they have been in more than a year, according to our quarterly Global Confidence Survey of U.S. CFOs.
A full 46 percent of finance executives polled say their attitude toward the domestic economy is either confident or very optimistic, up from 33 percent in the last quarter. Respondents are basing the rosy outlook on expectations of healthy gains in profits and revenues at their own companies. Nearly 43 percent say they expect next quarter's profits to beat those of the same period last year by more than 10 percent, and the same number predict revenues will jump by more than 10 percent. Another 26 percent expect profits to grow, but at less than 10 percent.
If CFOs are hopeful for a rebound in the U.S. economy during the next year, they are even more sanguine about a resurgence in the next five years. In fact, 33 percent say they are very optimistic about the economy in the long term, compared with only 20 percent last quarter. Another 57 percent are confident, and only 9 percent say they have a neutral attitude about the long-term economy.
The economic recovery still has its naysayers, however. A modest 19 percent of respondents say they are concerned about the U.S. economy--an increase from 16 percent last quarter. To be sure, concerns about unemployment, tech spending, and fuel costs linger. And economists were quick to point out that more than half of the first-quarter growth came from businesses replenishing their inventories. Even more cautionary is the survey's finding that more CFOs plan to reduce capital spending next quarter--33 percent said they would make cuts, compared with 20 percent the last time the poll was taken. Capital spending plans for the fiscal year are much brighter; 63 percent plan to increase spending, compared with 40 percent in the last survey.
While survey respondents were encouraged by the economy in general, they still listed the economic downturn as one of their top three business concerns. Apparently, they're thinking, "It ain't over till it's over." Other high-ranking concerns include access to capital and increased competition. Despite relatively high unemployment, one in three surveyed cited attracting and retaining employees as a chief concern.
CFOs are also less optimistic when it comes to the global economy. Indeed, 26 percent say they are concerned about the global economy during the next year, and 48 percent say they are neutral. Again, they feel better about the long term, with 67 percent indicating that they are confident or very optimistic. -- J.McC.
A full 46 percent of finance executives polled say their attitude toward the domestic economy is either confident or very optimistic.
CFOGlobal Confidence Survey Results
Attitudes of U.S. CFOs in the next year:
Domestic economy Global economy
Very optimistic 7% n/a
Confident 39% 33%
Neutral 35% 41%
Concerned 19% 26%
Very pessimistic n/a n/a
Attitudes of U.S. CFOs in the next five years:
Very optimistic 33% 19%
Neutral 9% 26%
Concerned n/a 7%
Next quarter's performance predictions:
Profit Revenue
Increase 69% 67%
Decrease 20% 20%
No change 11% 13%
Capital Spending projections for next:
Quarter Fiscal year
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Emily McKnight
Owner/Lead Instructor
Emily’s Grandmother
Emily’s Mom
Emily is a third generation dancer, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother. While her family’s dance history began in 1934, Emily’s dance training began exactly 50 years later, in 1984.
Competitive Dance and Awards
By 1989, Emily had become a competitive dancer, traveling the southeast. From 1989 – 1998, Emily won awards at multiple dance competitions including Rising Star, Winners Talent Show Case, Dance Masters of America, American Dance Awards, American Dance Spectrum, Dance Educators of America, and Showstopper competitions.
Emily continued winning awards when, in 2016, Nexstar Talent recognized her work as a choreographer, and she was given both a “Top Performance Award” and “Choreography Award” for 2 dance numbers she created. She was recognized again in 2017 by Nexstar and given a “Top Performance Award.” Then in 2018 Emily was recognized for a third straight consecutive year, and given a “Choreography Award.” Also in 2018 Celebration Talent recognized Emily’s work, awarding her and her dancers with a “Judge’s Choice Award,” being selected from over 70 other numbers.
In addition to being a competitive dancer, Emily was selected to be a Georgia Dance Star and performed at the Georgia Olympic Games.
As for Emily’s teaching career, it began in 1996. At the age of 16, her dance instructor appointed her to teach classes throughout the summer. At the encouragement of her teacher, Emily also began choreographing musicals for her high school’s theater department and their production of “Oliver.” Emily continued with her involvement in theater when she became involved with Rome Little Theater in 2011. Between 2011 and 2014 Emily choreographed “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “The Sound of Music,” “Hairspray,” “Legally Blonde,” and portions of “The Rocky Horror Show.” At the 2012 RLT Gala, “The Sound of Music” was awarded to be the “Best Overall Show” of the season. In 2013, “Hairspray” was awarded “Best Musical” as well as “Best Overall Show” of the season, and in 2014 “The Rocky Horror Show” became the highest grossing show in the history of Rome Little Theater.
In addition to working with theater productions, Emily has had the joy of working with television personalities. In 2011 she provided back up dancers and choreographed a performance with musical group, Laughing Pizza, who could be seen regularly on GPTV. Then in 2013, two of Emily’s dancers attended auditions for Abby Lee Miller, and were seen on the Lifetime television show “Dance Moms.” Again, in 2016, Emily was called by producers and invited to have her dancers audition for the show
In May of 2020, Emily’s studio will celebrate their ninth annual recital. She continues providing instruction at Dance Works of Rome in genres including hip hop, ballet, jazz, tap, modern, and lyrical. Emily also continues to provide her dancers with the opportunity to compete, model, and audition in the dance industry. Dance Works of Rome is Rome’s first and only competitive dance studio.
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by cooleylawschoolblog | June 8, 2017 · 2:00 pm
Ontario Bar Association Interviews WMU-Cooley Professor Joseph Kimble for New Legal-Writing Series
The Ontario Bar Association recently interviewed Joseph Kimble, a distinguished professor emeritus at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, to kick off the first column of its new legal-writing series, titled “Choice Words.”
As part of the association’s legal magazine, JUST, “Choice Words” is a platform for legal writers to debate and educate one another about legal writing. In the interview, Kimble described good legal writing and why it matters, provided tips on how young lawyers can improve their writing, and addressed challenges that writers face.
When asked why plain language is needed in legal writing, Kimble responded, “Because lawyers think and write and speak for a living. And good communicators deliver their message as clearly and concisely and accurately as possible. That’s what plain language is all about.”
Kimble is the longtime editor of the “Plain Language” column in the Michigan Bar Journal and the senior editor of The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, published by Scribes (the American Society of Legal Writers). Kimble has published dozens of articles on legal writing and written two acclaimed books—Lifting the Fog of Legalese: Essays on Plain Language and Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law.
Kimble joined WMU-Cooley in 1984. He is a past president of Clarity, an international organization promoting plain legal language in law, and a founding director of the Center for Plain Language, which rewards clear communication and shames “complex, confusing or just plain bad writing and the companies that produce them.”
Filed under Faculty Scholarship, Knowledge, Uncategorized
by cooleylawschoolblog | May 26, 2017 · 10:00 am
Stigma Biggest Barrier: Mich. Lt. Gov. Calley Discusses State’s Mental Health Issues
“Stigma is still the biggest barrier that we have. It’s a barrier to living, getting out there and living life and being a part of the world because sometimes behaviors aren’t what we would consider to be normal or typical, and the weight of just being a part of the world in that situation can be enough to cause people to retreat.” – Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley
Lt. Gov. Calley recently joined community leaders from a variety of backgrounds including law, healthcare, courts, non-profit and corrections during WMU-Cooley Law Review’s Annual Symposium. The panel discussed the challenges present in Michigan’s system for treating and addressing mental health issues, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse, and what needs to happen to improve care and access to care. Calley raised concern about stigmas against persons with mental health, development disabilities, and substance abuse problems and the barriers that lack of acceptance present to every person’s right to experience a full life.
Calley began his remarks on a personal level, sharing his own daughter’s early autism diagnosis and the challenges he and his family faced in securing necessary treatment and services on her behalf. He said, “My experience with my daughter was one that really opened my eyes to just how the world works for people with disabilities. The conclusion that I came to at that point was that, if it was this difficult for somebody as well connected as I am to make all the things happen that need to happen, then the average person might have no chance at all.”
Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley speaks about mental health issues facing the state during WMU-Cooley’s Annual Law Review Symposium.
Because of his personal experiences, Calley said he became committed to advocating for change and improvement to Michigan’s health care system to better meet the needs of vulnerable populations. He has gone on to chair numerous work groups, think tanks, and boards, bringing all the necessary stakeholders to the table to discuss and propose necessary reforms, and effective management of healthcare funding for these important categories of care. Some of this work culminated in two final reports submitted to the Michigan legislature in January.
The panelists discussed and agreed that there is a negative impact and public prejudices against the disabled. They also spoke about the need for more sensitivity, understanding, and empathy towards these persons, who, if given the necessary support and opportunity, can successfully manage and overcome their challenges and live meaningful and productive lives.
Other panelists included Milton L. Mack, Jr., State Court Administrator and former Chief Judge of the Wayne County Probate Court; Corrections Major Sam Davis, Jail Administrator, Ingham County Sheriff’s Department; Mark Reinstein, President & CEO, Mental Health Association of Michigan; Lauren Rousseau: Associate Professor of Law, WMU-Cooley Law School; and Beverly Griffor, managing partner, Collis & Griffor, P.C.
Major Sam Davis of the Ingham Sheriff’s Department talks about incarceration rates of individuals suffering from mental illness.
Panelists pictured (seated, left –right) Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley; Major Sam Davis, Ingham County Sheriff’s Department; Beverly Griffor, managing partner, Collis & Griffor, P.C.; Milton L. Mack, Jr., court administrator for the Michigan Supreme Court; and Mark Reinstein, CEO of the Mental Health Association of Michigan.
Filed under Knowledge, Latest News and Updates
by cooleylawschoolblog | April 17, 2017 · 10:00 am
Distinguished Student and Leadership Awards Presented at Convocation
WMU- Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus held its Honors Convocation recently, recognizing students for top course grades, Dean’s List and Honor Roll designations, and for leadership and skills competition achievements.
Peter Mancini and Dr. Ryan McKennon received the Distinguished Student Award for their academic success, participation and leadership in student organizations, professionalism and service to the community.
The recipients of the Leadership Achievement Award were Monica Carson, Deirdre Armstrong, and Brandon Ferguson. The award acknowledges students who have consistently, comprehensively and effectively provided leadership in a variety of capacities.
Peter Mancini receives the Distinguished Student Award.
Dr. Ryan McKennon receives the Distinguished Student Award.
Left-right: Leadership Achievement Award recipients Monica Carson, Deirdre Armstrong, Brandon Ferguson.
Filed under Knowledge, Knowledge, Skills, Ethics, Student News, Student News, Achievements, Awards, Uncategorized
Preparing for the Multistate Bar Exam Just Got A Little Easier For Law Students
Preparing for and passing the bar exam is no easy task. Professors at WMU-Cooley Law School now have something new to help students do well on the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), a 200-question multiple-choice exam given in nearly every state.
“We take great pride in our students here at our Grand Rapids campus and how they have done on the Bar exam,” stated Associate Dean Nelson Miller, who leads that campus and its Bar Exam preparation. “We especially want every single student and graduate to do well on the Multistate Bar Examination component,” he asserts, “because comprehensive law knowledge is instrumental to practice success.”
To that end, Dean Miller and colleagues have recently published three new books on preparing for the Multistate Bar Examination. Volume I in the series offers four 100-question banks of specially designed practice questions, mixing all seven MBE subjects into each bank, just like the exam itself. The second volume offers seven 100-question banks separating each of the seven MBE subjects into its own bank, so that readers can practice each subject.
Beyond offering hundreds of new practice questions with answers and explanations for why each option is correct or incorrect, these two volumes have added value by being crafted in the same style as the MBE questions that test every topic and subtopic on the MBE.
“The examiners who draft the MBE publish a list of the exam’s roughly 350 topics,” explained Miller. “We figured, why not test every topic?”
In fact, the two volumes test every topic at least twice, keying each question, answer, and explanation to the MBE topics list. Those preparing for the MBE can now practice questions on every topic or on any topic on which they feel they need a test.
The effort didn’t stop there, though. Dean Miller explains, “In writing the hundreds of answer explanations, I realized that examinees might also benefit from a concise summary of the law on every MBE topic.”
So, the third volume in the series provides a summary page on each of the MBE’s approximately 350 topics.
“Law school, bar none, is the greatest intellectual exercise anyone can endeavor,” Miller contends. “Preparing for the Multistate Bar Examination is an extraordinary accomplishment and privilege. Anyone who does, deserves all of our support.”
The three legal preparation book volumes are available online at amazon.com and free in electronic form to any WMU-Cooley student or graduate.
Preparing for the Multistate Bar Examination: Multiple-Choice Strategies and Multiple-Choice Questions, Answers, and Explanations for Every MBE Topic and Subtopic (Volume I: All Subjects) (Crown Mgt. 2017) (authors Nelson P. Miller and Tonya Krause-Phelan);
Preparing for the Multistate Bar Examination: Multiple-Choice Strategies and Multiple-Choice Questions, Answers, and Explanations for Every MBE Topic and Subtopic (Volume II: The MBE Subjects Separated Into Seven 100-Question Banks) (Crown Mgt. 2017) (authors Nelson P. Miller and Tonya Krause-Phelan);
Preparing for the Multistate Bar Examination, Volume III: An Outline of Every MBE Topic and Subtopic (Crown Mgt. 2017) (author Nelson P. Miller).
Are you prepared to take the MBE? Make sure you give yourself every advantage!
Contracts quintessential first-year course: Law school professor makes his case
Blog author WMU-Cooley Distinguished Professor Emeritus Otto Stockmeyer presented a paper at the 2017 annual conference of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters, held March 10, 2017, on the campus of Western Michigan University. He titled his presentation “Reflections on Teaching the First Day of Contracts Class.” Professor Stockmeyer offered his thoughts on why he believes Contracts is the most significant course in the first-year curriculum, why the study of contract law should begin with the subject of remedies, and why Hawkins v. McGee (the “hairy hand” case made famous by the book and movie versions of The Paper Chase) makes an ideal starting point.
In my view, Contracts is the quintessential first-year course. It presents an excellent introduction to the common law and legal reasoning. The course is foundational to several upper-level courses, and the best predictor of law school success. Lawyers have reported that they use Contracts in their practice almost twice as much as any other law school subject.
Although traditionalists begin the course with offer and acceptance, there are both pedagogical and practical reasons to start with remedies. Studying remedies is not easy going for beginning students, who tend to hate working with numbers. But they tell me that they like difficult topics placed early in the term so they have longer to process the material.
The most important reason to start with remedies is the opportunity to begin the first day’s class with Hawkins v. McGee.
Here are my Top Ten reasons why:
10. The opinion immediately demonstrates to beginning students their need for a law dictionary. The first paragraph alone contains five legal terms.
9. The opinion shows how judges sometimes load their opinions with empty overstatements, such as “clearly” and “obviously” when the facts were neither.
8. The opinion demonstrates the process of analysis that courts employ when direct legal authority is lacking.
7. The opinion allows an early exploration of some distinctions between tort (medical malpractice) and contract (promise of 100 percent success) in a context readily understood by beginning students.
6. The opinion revolves around two of the central themes in Contract law: the objective theory of assent and the expectation objective of contract remedies.
5. The opinion is an excellent introduction to remedies and the difference between tort and contract damages.
4. The opinion illustrates that general principles are easier to state than to apply.
3. The opinion has more poignancy than the commercial disputes that will follow.
2. The case has a rich subsequent history that can be explored as time permits.
1. Three words: The Paper Chase. Many students will have read the book or rented the movie. They expect Contracts to begin with a study of the “hairy hand” case. Disappoint them the first day and they may question their choice of law schools.
The movie version of this law school classic contains two scenes that I’ve used in my class. The first is Professor Kingsfield’s ‘skull full of mush’ explanation of why law schools use the Socratic method. That needs to be addressed the first day.
The second is Kingsfield’s encounter with a student, Mr. Hart. After recapping the facts of Hawkins v. McGee, Kingsfield asks, ‘Now Mr. Hart, what sort of damages do you think the doctor should pay?’
I then would call on several students and ask whether Mr. Hart gave the right answer (no, he didn’t). The ice having been broken, another term of Contracts has been successfully launched.
Read the full text of Professor Stockmeyer’s paper on the Social Science Research Network.
Filed under Faculty Scholarship, Knowledge, The Value of a Legal Education, Uncategorized
by cooleylawschoolblog | March 22, 2017 · 3:00 pm
So, You Want to Be a Criminal Lawyer? Seven Things Your Law School Should Offer
Blog author WMU-Cooley Law School Auxiliary Dean and Professor Tonya Krause-Phelan teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Defending Battered Women, Criminal Sentencing, and Ethics in Criminal Cases. She coaches national mock trial and moot court teams with the West Michigan Defenders Clinic and frequently appears as a commentator on numerous radio, television, print, and internet media sources regarding criminal law and procedure issues.
When I attended law school in the late ’80s, becoming a criminal practitioner was probably the least desired career choice a law student could make. At that time, many law students, law professors, and practitioners alike thought that the only people who would “settle” for a job as a public defender or as a prosecutor were those who could not get a job with a mega-firm or as in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 company.
Because I knew when I went to law school I wanted to be a public defender, I followed my passion instead of conventional wisdom. I was fortunate enough to land a job right out of law school as a public defender. Eventually, I went into private practice, where I specialized in criminal defense. But, I never gave up my passion for indigent defense, and as a result, I continued to accept court-appointed cases. Throughout my many years of practice, criminal practitioners continued to be viewed as a sub-category of lawyers.
But, nothing could be further from the truth. Criminal practitioners are some of the most passionate, dedicated, and talented lawyers in the profession. After all, practicing in the area of criminal law is not for the faint of heart; it is one of the most demanding, challenging, and specialized areas of practice with clients’ lives and liberty literally hanging in the balance. With everything known today about DNA exoneration cases, mistaken identification cases, police shootings, and other systemic and ethical challenges facing the criminal justice system, people have changed their minds about public defenders, criminal defense lawyers, and prosecutors. Today people are actually deciding to attend law school for the specific purpose of becoming a criminal practitioner.
For those who want to become a criminal practitioner, they should look for a law school that does everything possible to adequately prepare its students for the rigors of a criminal practice. Whether a law school advertises itself as a “practice ready” school or not, several factors foretell a school’s pledge to preparing its students for criminal practice. Prospective law students interested in practicing criminal law should consider the following factors:
Experienced Faculty: Professors who have practiced in the field are uniquely qualified to provide students with a practical context in which to learn substantive criminal law. Learn whether the professors who teach Criminal Law and Procedure practiced criminal law prior to becoming full-time faculty members. Also, determine whether the school’s adjunct faculty are criminal practitioners. By hiring criminal law practitioners to serve as adjunct faculty, a law school demonstrates its dedication to keeping its curriculum current and relevant.
Criminal Law-based Clinics: Ensure the law school hosts a clinic that focuses on criminal law, usually public defender or prosecutor clinics. Because many states allow students to work under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney, this type of clinical experience provides students with the ability to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in the classroom to real-life, real-time clients.
Innocence Project: Several law schools run Innocence Project programs. In these programs students have the responsibility to investigate and process cases for individuals who have been wrongfully convicted. Nothing speaks louder about a law school’s commitment to the efficacy of the criminal justice system than its commitment to representing individuals who should not have been convicted and need assistance in gaining their freedom.
A Strong Skills-based Program: Law schools that are committed to developing strong criminal practitioners will also have a strong skills-based program. Look at the classes the law school requires students to complete. A curriculum that requires several research and writing, trial and appellate advocacy, and other skills-based courses demonstrates that the school is preparing its students for practice.
Community Collaboration and Engagement: Look to see if the law school regularly engages with community organizations and events. By hosting and participating in events that foster interaction with community organizations, local leaders, and members of the criminal justice system, a law school demonstrates a strong responsibility to fostering and improving an ethical and dedicated criminal justice system. Look to see if the law school has hosted or participated in round-table and panel discussions, town hall-style meetings, and lecture series that include such people as police officers, judges, criminal practitioners, and experts within the criminal justice system.
Proximity to Local Courthouses, Legal Community, and Organizations: If a law school is close to courthouses, law firms, and other legal entities, law students will more likely augment their educational opportunities by visiting local courthouse, watching trials and other legal proceedings, connect with members of the bar, and become student members of local bar organizations, events, and public service opportunities. Observing how lawyers conduct cases helps students develop their own skills.
Strong Alumni Base: Finally, many law schools provide prospective students with a list of alumni. Ask the law school to provide you with a list of alumni who are practicing criminal law and contact them. Not only can alumni answer questions about practicing criminal law, they can discuss whether the school adequately prepared them for criminal practice. Ask their advice regarding which elective classes to take, clinics or externships to apply for, and which extra-curricular activities most adequately prepared them for criminal practice.
Filed under Faculty Scholarship, Knowledge, Skills, Student Experiences, The Value of a Legal Education, Uncategorized
by cooleylawschoolblog | November 14, 2016 · 4:00 pm
Law Profs Offer Students a Dozen Guide Books
Law school is a transformative experience; a once-in-a-lifetime privilege to acquire hugely useful knowledge and skills. It also isn’t easy. To help students navigate the law curriculum for the best effect, and graduates enter fruitful careers, law professors gathered to write a dozen guide books.
Law professors are scholars. Yet they can also devote their writings to helping students and graduates where most needed.
For example, the first book Going to Law School: Preparing for a Transformative Experience helps students confirm their interest in law school, choose a school, and then prepare for the best start. A Law Graduate’s Guide: Navigating Law School’s Hidden Career & Professional-Development Curriculum then shows students how to shape their studies to connect with law careers.
Dear J.D.: What to Do with Your Law Degree helps students choose a practice field and law or law-related career. Preparing for the Bar Exam: A Comprehensive Guide to Plans, Programs, Content, Conditions, & Skills helps students and graduates pass the bar exam. How to Get a J-O-B: An Eight-Step Program for Lawyer Employment helps graduates with their job search.
Entrepreneurial Practice: Enterprise Skills for Lawyers Serving Emerging Client Populations shows graduates how to develop a law practice of their own, while Are You Legal? A Personal Legal Audit & Empowerment Tool shows graduates how to audit a client’s matters for opportunities to provide helpful law services.
How to Build a Practice with Pro Bono shows graduates how to help 10 disadvantaged populations, while Cross-Cultural Law Service: A Framework for a Lawyer’s Professional Skill shows graduates how to provide services to disadvantaged populations. Lawyer Finances: Principles & Practices for Personal & Professional Financial Success shows students and graduates how to manage finances as a lawyer and in a law firm.
Top 100 Questions Friends & Family Ask a Lawyer shows students and graduates how to answer the curious law questions of a family member or friend. And finally, The Faithful Lawyer: Flourishing from Law Study to Practice shows students and graduates how to integrate faith for a sound and balanced professional career.
Most of these books are free to students in online form. Professors also give away print copies, or anyone can order them online. While most of the books are priced at cost, professors donate any proceeds to the law school’s scholarship fund.
These resources, a decade in the making, show just how committed law professors can be to student success, not just in the classroom, but also outside the classroom in academic advising and career support.
Blog author Nelson Miller is the Associate Dean and Professor at WMU-Cooley’s Grand Rapids campus. He practiced civil litigation for 16 years before joining the WMU-Cooley faculty. He has argued cases before the Michigan Supreme Court, Michigan Court of Appeals, and United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and filed amicus and party briefs in the United States Supreme Court. He has has many published books, casebooks, book chapters, book reviews, and articles on legal education, law practice, torts, civil procedure, professional responsibility, damages, international law, constitutional law, university law, bioethics, and law history and philosophy. He also teaches law classes on the Kalamazoo, Michigan campus of Western Michigan University.
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Longbox Junk Two Shots Part 2: The Thing From Another World & The Trial of The Punisher
Longbox Junk - Two Shots Part 2: The Thing From Another World & The Trial of The Punisher
524 views • Apr 3, '17 • (0) Comments
I've got a couple of GREAT ones this time out, folks!
THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (Dark Horse)
Where to start? I found this first issue to be excellent in every way!
The story is a fast-paced direct sequel to John Carpenter's 1982 horror masterpiece "The Thing" and maintains the movie's tense atmosphere, but not so much as in a "We're all locked in here together with a THING!" way as in a "There's a THING and I have to prevent it from escaping!" way as a team of Navy SEALS investigate the ruins of Antarctic Outpost 31 and find MacReady the sole survivor admitting to killing everyone and babbling about aliens and infections.
Of course, the alien latches onto these new life forms and the SEAL team is decimated one by one until only MacReady and Erskine (the commander) are left.
The art is beautifully painted by John Higgins (Who I knew mostly as a colorist) and is hyper kinetic and gruesome. The colors on this book are FANTASTIC! The bright splashes really pop in the dull Antarctic scenery.
Overall, this comic should have been filmed as the sequel to the movie. It's that good. Well done, Dark Horse!
In the second issue, the stakes get even higher as MacReady, Childs, and Erskine go to a large Argentine base with hundreds of people. An infected Erskine escapes the base after calling a submarine for extraction, MacReady and Childs corner it as it decimates the submarine crew and Childs sacrifices himself so that MacReady can escape to tell the tale before the submarine is sunk and destroyed, once again leaving MacReady as the sole survivor.
The art remains impressive in every way as the bleak Antarctic landscape changes to the base buildings and submarine interior. One sequence of Childs on a rope in a crevasse with the alien below him lit with a flare was unbelievable, how good it was! I tell you, the colors really make this book.
Overall, two completely outstanding issues. If you love horror movies or horror comics, don't miss out on this little two-issue gem!
As I said above, if you are a fan of horror movies or horror comics, you owe it to youself to find this great little two shot from Dark Horse's early days! This story really delivers where other horror comics barely show up. Even if you don't really like horror comics and want to know what a sequel to the horror classic "The Thing" would have looked like, take a look at these comics and find out.
THE PUNISHER: TRIAL OF THE PUNISHER (Marvel)
What happens when The Punisher just walks into a police station with a dead assistant D.A. in a duffle bag and gives himself up? The trial of the century! Of course, nobody wonders WHY Frank Castle gave himself up and is willing to stand trial. . .everyone just assumes he's crazy and leaves it at that.
I really liked this first issue a lot. You KNOW that Punisher is doing it for a reason, and so does his Public Defender, but this is an interesting take on the Marvel Universe legal system, where it's just assumed every superhero and supervillain is insane in some way.
The art in this book is especially impressive. Probably one of the top 10 best looking Punisher books I've ever seen. It's dark, gritty, and super detailed in such a good way that every page is a true work of art!
Overall, this one's a winner in every way. Nicely done, Marvel!
So we get an artist switch on this second issue, which would normally be a red flag not being able to keep a team together for TWO lousy issues. . .but this time, I don't even care because the art on the second issue is even MORE impressive than on the first (and the first was good)! It's super-detailed and dark. . .almost like Tim Bradstreet's cover work. There's a 4 page scene flashing back to Daredevil and Punisher fighting that was a true standout in a book where EVERY page is a work of fantastic art.
Storywise, Punisher finally makes his move. It turns out that he had a target that was on the Federal Witness Protection list that he couldn't find, so he needed to be in the courthouse on the day of THAT trial, and he knew the security would be so tight that there was no way he was sneaking in. It really showed the strategic side of Frank Castle, but I still couldn't help but think that they would have had a lot tighter security on THE PUNISHER than some mob boss.
All in all, I really enjoyed this story, even if it DID seem to be a bit of an excuse to put The Punisher into a legal setting instead of his regular combat scenarios. It was really worth it for the art alone.
Despite wondering why they didn't have a lot more security on a man known for killing hundreds and constantly escaping the authorities, I really liked this unusual little Punisher story. The art was more than worth the admission price alone on this one. If you like The Punisher, you'll love this story. If you don't, then it's not going to do a thing to change your mind. In other words, very well done, but pretty much for fans only.
So there they are. . .two GREAT little two-shots! I highly suggest both of them.
The comic book adaptation of the movie sequel to a comic book adaptation movie.
Wait. Did I get that right?
The Crow: City of Angels. Be there or be square!
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December 7, 2019 Johanna Yen Press Manga Reviews Leave a comment
Fruits Basket Another Volume 1
Fruits Basket Another is the best most recent example I’ve seen of the benefits of brand extension.
I read a bunch of the original Fruits Basket series, although I quit long before the end. It’s considered a modern classic, though, with lots of awareness, so Yen Press republished it in the US beginning a few years back, along with this sequel series by the same author, Natsuki Takaya. I thought Fruits Basket Another might make a good starting point for dipping back into the world of the manga, but I was heavily disappointed.
Sawa is a nervous, shy schoolgirl who avoids other people for fear of disappointing them. She’s saved from a dressing-down by “an incredibly sparkly boy” with a powerful family, who keeps rescuing her. Because of him and another boy, she becomes part of the student council.
I don’t like any of the characters; most feel like plot devices, since we’re given very little about any of them. There are no interesting situations. The art is generic, with an odd fascination on panels showing feet or chins or knees.
The only reason I read this book was the title, and that appears to be of little relevance. As in the first series, a lonely little girl meets a welcoming family, but none of them turn into animals or Zodiac symbols, although they share the Sohma name. The title is nothing but an undeserved way to get attention in a crowded market. (The publisher provided a review copy.)
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Tag Archives: Olivia Cooke
June 24, 2018 by Rohit Jagadeesan
In the Fade (Germany, 2018) [IMDB: 7.1, Rotten Tomatoes: 75%, My Rating: 7.0]
From acclaimed director Fatih Akin comes an avenge drama which gives a glimpse of the struggles of the delicately balanced identity politics in Germany. Diane Kruger plays a mother caught in the crossfire of neo-Nazi extremism and an inept judicial system. It is with great horror that she sees the tables turned on her when the neo-Nazis who show no remorse for their actions get away scot-free. She decides to take matters into her own hands. The film which plays out as a thriller has a lot going for it but the highlight of the movie is the sterling performance by Diane Kruger who scooped up many awards, including one at Cannes, for her theatrics. For all the drama that unfolds during the course of the movie, it is the denouement which leaves much food for thought.
Thoroughbreds (2018) [IMDB: 6.9, Rotten Tomatoes: 86%, My Rating: 7.5]
Cory Finley is a director who offers copious amounts of promise in this stylish take on entitled millennials who cannot take no for an answer. Two friends reunite and in their cold emotionless thoughts develop a plan to kill. For them everything is dispensable and there is no concept of what is right or wrong. One of them revels in silence and the other reveals her inane thoughts by opening her mouth. They are always impeccably turned out. The director never lets the pace drop and shrewdly writes the dialogues which take the story forward without upsetting the tempo of the movie. The product is as high class as the the background of the protagonists of the movie.
Ali’s Wedding (2017) [IMDB: 6.8, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, My Rating: 7.0]
This Australian feature is a delight to watch. It is that rare cross between a colourful Bollywood flick and a thoughtful Hollywood drama. The movie tells the life of Ali whose one lie spirals out of control. Though ‘Ali’s Wedding’ does paper over some medieval practices vis-a-vis the treatment of women in Islam, it does not hold back when it shows the intricacies of the life in the Muslim community in Australia. Mostly, the results are hilarious and when they are not, they still do not bore you. A breezy watch with heart warming performances and an engaging screenplay, Ali is worth your time.
The Death of Stalin (2018) [IMDB: 7.2, Rotten Tomatoes: 96%, My Rating: 7.5]
This biting political satire is an unvarnished look at the fictional politics during the death of Stalin. There are two ways to look at the movie. The favourable way is to see it as an attempt at farce to bring out some key ideas relating to politics and power play in the erstwhile Soviet Union. The slightly less favourable way is to read it with the present animosity between Russia and Britain and a British filmmaker’s attempt to paint the Russians as scoundrels. Apparently, the Russian government agrees with the latter evaluation as it has banned the movie in Russia. From a neutral perspective, the setting and shenanigans of the movie could fit into any autocracy in the world. The viewer may watch the proceedings with slight bemusement. There are enough colourful characters in this movie to keep you engaged and their unpredictability brings enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Recommended.
A Quiet Place (2018) [IMDB: 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes: 95%, My Rating: 7.5]
‘A Quiet Place’ is set in a post apocalyptic world where aliens who respond to sound, kill and silence is golden. A corollary from the plot is that the movie has minimal dialogues. A family tries to survive and care for itself in seclusion. Their griefs and joys interspersed with violence form the crux of the movie. Though the film borrows heavily from other ventures which had sound in them, it finds its own place as one of the most well written movies to have come out in recent times. On a lighter note, the film shows you how to keep infants silent and how steaming or grilling is the best way to cook. Recommended.
The Mercy (2018) [IMDB: 6.1, Rotten Tomatoes: 71%, My Rating: 6.0]
The good thing with the movie is that it is based on a true event which had captured the imagination of the people for its scandalous nature. The bad thing about the movie is that there is no anticipation or excitement as the story is well known. To add to this, the director does not delve much into the character study and lets the events play out. The film which tells the story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst who went for broke as he decided to take up the challenge to be the first person to circumnavigate the earth non-stop. The performances of Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz add respectability to the movie. Ultimately, the movie is about a man who did not know what he was getting into and could never utter the word ‘no’ with conviction.
Revenge (2018) [IMDB: 6.3, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, My Rating: 7.5]
With with the ‘Me Too’ and ‘Time’s Up’ movements in the vogue, ‘Revenge’ is a timely movie which may at many levels be the defining movie of the aforementioned movements. Sophisticated and chic, ‘Revenge’ is a revenge drama with blood splashed all over it. For the ones who enjoy gore and violence, this movie may be music to ears and poetry in motion. With great performances and outstanding music complemented by beautiful cinematography which captures the brutal landscape, ‘Revenge’ does not fall into the trap of slasher films. It is often meditative and makes the audience root for the wronged heroine. ‘Revenge’ is not for the weak of heart and if you watch it you will understand that it was never meant to be.
Lust Stories (2018) [IMDB: 7.0, Rotten Tomatoes: 77%, My Rating: 5.0]
An anthology directed by four respectable filmmakers, ‘Lust Stories’ stays true to its title. Probably that is the best thing I can say about it. Many of them play out like short films made by film students to complete their coursework. Somehow, it is the final piece of the quartet directed by Karan Johar which gets naughty. Karan Johar has no qualms about ruining one of his popular songs and he relishes the chance to do something different from the syrupy brainless movies he normally dishes out. It is in this setting that the high brow directors like Anurag Basu, Zoya Akhtar and Dibankar Banerjee fail to get out of their comfort zone. The pieces by the Basu and Akhtar are particularly tedious. The low cost of production is also evident in their work. Overall, the lust part is strong but the story part is particularly weak in ‘Lust Stories’.
The Kissing Booth (2018) [IMDB: 6.4, Rotten Tomatoes: 70%, My Rating: 5.5]
Some movies question your judgment as you watch them. In this case, my judgement of having chosen to watch ‘The Kissing Booth’. Based on a book developed on Wattpad (the warning signs were there, you see) and apparently loved by the millennials, the movie does justice to its source material. That’s not saying much though. The story is about a girl who falls for her friend’s brother but that is a taboo as per the regulations and rules governing their friendship. There are decidedly positive outcomes in this bleak scenario. For one, the movie works if you have are not bothered too much by the concept of logic and sense. ‘The Kissing Booth’ in fact, gives a good name to chick flicks.
The Week Of (2018) [IMDB: 5.0, Rotten Tomatoes: 36%, My Rating: 5.5]
The problem with ‘The Week Of’ is that I enjoyed it for a large part of its running time. Even when I was laughing at an outrageous joke or set piece. Even when I knew that what I saw did not make sense. Some of the jokes are so bad that they are good. As the setting of two families getting together for a wedding played out, one could not miss the fact that Adam Sandler was now the father of the bride. Adam Sandler is also one of the writers of the script. That is when I realized that Sandler is not going to go away anytime soon. Maybe it is a good thing. Maybe not.
Faces Places (2017) [IMDB: 7.9, Rotten Tomatoes: 99% , My Rating: 8.0]
A quirky duo set off on a road trip. They bring joy to people in small towns in France. An uplifting documentary which was crowdfunded.
Eagerly waiting for: ‘BlacKkKlansaman’ directed by Spike Lee
Did you know: ‘In the Fade’ is only the second time in her 47 acting credits where Diane Kruger speaks German.
Tagged Adam Sandler, Agnès Varda, Amaury Bossy, Anton Yelchin, Anya Taylor-Joy, Armando Iannucci, Bhumi Pednekar, Caitlyn de Abrue, Chris Rock, Colin Firth, Coralie Fargeat, Cory Finley, David Schneider, David Thewlis, Denis Moschitto, Diane Kruger, Dibakar Banerjee, Don Hany, Emily Blunt, Fatih Akin, Helana Sawires, James Marsh, Jean-Paul Beaujon, Jeffrey Tambor, Jeffrey Walker, John Krasinski, JR, Kevin Janssens, Lincoln Pearson, Manisha Koirala, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Megan du Plessis, Millicent Simmonds, Numan Acar, Olivia Cooke, Osamah Sami, Rachel Weisz, Radhika Apte, Robert Smigel, Scott Z. Burns, Simon Russell Beale, Steve Buscemi, Vince Marcello, Vincent Colombe, Yves Boulen, Zoya Akhtar
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Category Archives: lgbt family
On Tuesday, November 13, Hawaii’s State Senate put its final approval on the marriage equality bill. The Senate passed the bill 19-4, and it awaits the Governor’s signature, expected today.
In the many days of debate in the Hawaii House, I was particularly moved by House Member, Representative Kaniela Ing:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of Senate Bill 1, relating to equal rights.
Thank you, a couple days ago I spoke to young mainstream Christians, today I have a broader message. In 1998, my parents voted on a constitutional amendment to “reserve marriage between one woman and one man.”
I remember commercials: vote “yes” for “traditional marriage,” our family liked that one, and vote “no” on the constitutional amendment, that one was bad.
You see, like most 9 year olds, morality was a very black and white concept–there’s right, and then there’s wrong. I carried a due north/ due south moral compass oriented primarily on what my incredibly loving parents, hi mom, taught me. And they along with my church taught me gay was bad.
But in October 1998, a few weeks before that vote, something happened that shook and recalibrated my young conscience. Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager going to college in Wyoming, was inhumanely tortured and murdered by straight classmates–a hate crime that made national news. He was tied to a fence, and beat with a pistol and left to bleed to death.
I remember discussing this with a friend of mine from church, and my friend said, “Good for him, God says he is evil.” But I knew, in my young heart, that no one deserved that kind of brutality, no one. This is where my convictions began.
You see, if we want to understand the gay rights issue, we need to understand the LGBT experience.
Many of us just can’t grasp what it would be like. Until college, like many of the testifiers here, I thought being gay was a lifestyle choice that went against nature. But when you actually hear from the LGBT community, as we have witnessed, it is clearly not a choice.
In fact, many gay people who testified last week, proclaimed that as teenagers, they fought who they are, and tried to force themselves straight. Many faced self-loathing and torment because of this, and thank God that unlike the thousands of gay teenagers that take their own lives every year, these brave people persevered, and they were able to be here today– in front of an less-than-friendly crowd–to stand up like champions for equal rights for all.
For those opponents who say this isn’t about civil rights, I challenge you to tell that with a clear conscience to Alan Spector, who had the love of his life deported back to South America because his post-doctoral research funding expired.
I challenge you to tell that to Kimberly Allen, who was not allowed to see her life-partner in the hospital during the last hours of her life,
I challenge you to tell that Tambry Young who had to reconsider adoption and delay forming the family she desires because of the costs without the rights and benefits of marriage
…tell that to Bart Zobel, a soldier fighting for his freedom who was called a flaming homo mistake by a rank-and-file superior,
…tell that to Jeremy White who slipped into depression trying to force or pray himself straight…
…I challenge you to tell the parents of Matthew Shepard, that the suffering and tragic death that their own son that they experienced is not sufficient to call this is civil rights issue.
Tell these people hold on until the majority is ready. Tell them they must continue to suffer inequality and hate, because other people are not ready to grant them full equality. Can you do that with a clear conscience?
Some testifiers have spoken about this bill ushering in an onslaught of the gay lifestyle. And they challenged your committee members, Mr. Speaker, would you wish homosexuality upon your own kids?
So I really thought about this.
…If the gay lifestyle they speak of pertains to the highly successful physicians, attorneys, economists, the world renowned microbiologists and psychologists that we’ve seen testify.
…If this gay lifestyle is the inspiringly committed couples who have been together for decades, yet are still viewed as strangers in the eyes of their government.
…If this gay lifestyle is boldly standing up in the face of hate to fight for equal rights for all
…If that’s what the gay agenda will bring…If that’s how gay children will be like. Then hey, sign me up. I’ll take three.
And please don’t write scripts for your kids to tell me children need a mother and a father in order to be raised right—when my father passed away when I was a young child, and just like our junior U.S. Senator, and just like our Hawaii-born president of the united states, I come from a single parent home. Don’t tell me that I, and my brothers and sisters who are exceling in sports, academics, and art—that we are any lesser than your child.
Especially in Hawaii, where hanai adoption is enshrined in tradition, where multi-generation families are valued as much as our kupuna are, and where diversity is the hallmark of our aloha spirit. We need to embrace empirical evidence stating that the nuclear family is no better off than other familial structures. Our children need to continue to learn that in Hawaii, we’re all equals, no matter your sexual orientation, and no matter how your family is structured.
You see, I live in Kihei, with one of the largest gay populations in the State and with a majority of my constituents in support, but for my colleagues who have the majority in their districts in opposition, let me leave you with this.
In high school, my friends just like most kids in high school, we used gay as an insult, or as the great Philosopher Mackelmore said, “As synonymous with the lesser.” We hurled it at each other to make fun of each other, one day a gay classmate of mine was walking to band class, he tripped and he dropped a glass jar that was full of colorful paper stars, my friends started laughing at him. I felt bad, so I went over there and helped him, and that didn’t make me very cool, as a matter of fact every time we walked by that guy later on, my friends would say “hey there goes your boyfriend.” But, I did it not because it was the popular thing to do, but because it was the right thing to do. Standing up for this individual did not make me popular, but it was the right thing to do.
Just because the numerical majority is in one place, it does not mean they are in the right place. We are in a position right now, that we must lead our state to the right place. Sometimes the right thing to do, goes against the popular thing to do.
While I cannot take back my parents 1998 vote back, the people placed me in a position where I can help correct an injustice here in Hawaii. And I am prepared to face the consequences of my vote. To me this bill is about love and acceptance, in Hawaii we call that Aloha. One person in the audience stated that it’s the wrong love, I don’t agree, again I agree with Macklemore, “It’s the same love.” I have one last question, how many more gay people must God create until we realize that he wants them here? How many more gay people must God create until we realize that he wants them here?
Mr Speaker, let the people decide…who they marry
Posted in Hawai'i, LGBT Equality, lgbt family, LGBT History, marriage equality
Gov. Abercrombie: Democrats Make A Difference
Pat Gozemba
On February 23rd, Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) signed the civil unions bill for his state. Karen Kahn and I, who are married in Massachusetts, now feel as if we can move to Hawai’i one day and be protected with the same rights and benefits as all other married couples in Hawai’i.
“For me, this bill represents equal rights for everyone in Hawaii–everyone who comes here,” Abercrombie said. “This is, to me, the essence of the aloha spirit.”
Posted in civil unions, Hawai'i, lgbt family
Tambry makes a long-distance proposal to Suzanne
Tambry arrived in Massachusetts from Honolulu, HI, a week ago to help out with Maine’s “No on 1” campaign. Then she realized, she could do more than fight for the right to marriage—she could marry her partner of 28 years here in Massachusetts. So an elaborate proposal was put together long-distance, that included the above photograph. Suzanne said “yes”—and on Saturday, November 7, Suzane and Tambry will marry in Salem, MA, with many of our Courting Equality friends there as witnesses. Suzanne and daughter, Shylar, fly in on November 4 to begin the festivities! Everybody wish them well!
Posted in Hawai'i, lgbt family, Maine, marriage equality, Massachusetts, Uncategorized
Married in Massachusetts… Not in Hawaii …
Kath Sands, former professor of religion at UMass-Boston, and her partner Linda Krieger, an attorney, have a marriage license in Massachusetts. But last year, they moved to Honolulu, where they both teach at the university–Kath in American Studies, and Linda at the Richardson School of Law. Linda grew up in Hawaii, and so it was a homecoming of sorts. But here in Hawaii, their marriage isn’t recognized. Like us, they have joined the struggle to pass a civil unions bill this legislative session.
This week’s Honolulu Weekly, features Kath and Linda in an extraodinarily moving story by the paper’s editor Ragnar Carlson. There haven’t been many stories that cover the challenges for married Massachusetts couples who leave our state–and with few exceptions–have to leave the legal recognition of their relationships behind as well. As Carlson says, “For Kreiger and Sands, who had preiously enjoyed equal status under the law, the transition was rough.” Read the full story.
Posted in civil rights, civil unions, DOMA, family rights, Gays and Religion, Hawai'i, lgbt family, marriage equality, Massachusetts, religion
GLAD Challenges DOMA
On March 3, 2009, GLAD, with Mary Bonauto acting as lead attorney, opened the first salvo in the battle to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In particular, GLAD is challenging Section 3 of the law, which denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples. Here’s what The Progress Report, from the Center for America Progress, had to say:
 LAWSUIT TO OVERTURN DOMA: During the campaign, Obama promised to repeal DOMA, noting that “federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does.” Today, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) filed the first concerted, multi-plaintiff legal challenge to Section 3 of DOMA. GLAD is representing a group of gay plaintiffs who have been harmed by the federal refusal to recognize their marital rights. Under Section 3, legally married same-sex couples are excluded from any federal law or program that benefits other married individuals. The consequence of Section 3 is that gays and lesbians have been denied spousal protections in Social Security, federal income tax, federal employees’ and retirees’ benefits, and in the issuance of passports. In fact, according to a forthcoming Center for American Progress study by Ben Furnas and Josh Rosenthal, the average same-sex couple “will be denied over $8,000 a year in Social Security survivor benefits upon the death of the higher-earning spouse after retirement.” In Gill et al. v. Office of Personnel Management — filed in federal District Court in Boston — GLAD is arguing that Section 3 is unconstitutional because it violates the federal constitutional guarantee of equal protection and that it is “an unprecedented intrusion by the federal government into marriage law.” “I think one way of looking at it is it’s about change and accepting diversity, and I believe that I’m no different than anybody else,” one plaintiff in the case explained. “I should get the same benefits as any other spouse of a federal employee for 27 years. I think our relationship may look different but it’s ultimately the same.” GLAD believes the suit “may ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which would mark the first time the nation’s highest court heard a major DOMA challenge.”
Posted in civil rights, DOMA, gay marriage, GLAD, lgbt family, marriage equality, Mary Bonauto, Massachusetts
Please, No Gay Divorcees
On March 5th the California Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Opponents of marriage equality will have the infamous Ken Starr representing them and arguing in essence that the 18,000 same-sex couples married in California must divorce. The Courage Campaign brings us a touching video on what Starr’s assault on marriage will mean.
Hey Finally somebody in California got the idea that putting real gay people in the public relations materials might be a good idea. Dianne Feinstein, the Governator, and the rest of the abstract blatherers about our civil rights didn’t work. Now some folks with courage and common sense are presenting the gay and lesbian families whose civil rights have been voted on by the majority. And whose civil rights have been taken away by a slim plurality.
Posted in california, lgbt family, marriage equality, Proposition 8
The Obama Family Supports LGBT Families
Posted on January 21, 2009 | 3 comments
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The Obama Family is not threatened by our families. Now we have partners to work with. Finally, LGBT families are gaining credibility and respectability at the level of the White House.
At the very moment that Barack Obama legally became president, 12:01 p.m. on January 20th (even before the swearing in), the Obama administration website went live. Support for our families is there.
So as Rick Warren prepared for his moment in the sun, the Obama administration was demonstrating real support for us. It’s worth checking out the White House site, but here are some highlights:
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
• Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
• Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
Now it’s time for us to keep up the pressure and get the rights our families deserve. We’ve never had a better friend in the White House. We should not give up the struggle for full marriage equality. For now, it’s important to achieve social and economic justice.
Posted in family rights, lgbt family
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HomeColorado WaterS. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act
Report: Five Case Studies on the Effects of the SWANCC and Rapanos Supreme Court Rulings on Colorado Wetlands and Streams
February 10, 2010 February 10, 2010 Coyote Gulch Climate Change, Colorado Water, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act
While national politicians argue and do nothing about the recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have muddied enforcement of the Clean Water Act, Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Federation have been doing the science around the issue(s) here in Colorado. Here’s a report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
“These are islands of moisture,” said Dennis Buechler, author of the report released Tuesday (pdf) by the National Wildlife Federation, Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited. The wetlands are important to wildlife. While covering less than 2 percent of the land, they are home to 75 percent of the state’s wildlife species. “A lot of these little streams are ephemeral (flowing intermittently) and off the radar. I like to call them the Rodney Dangerfields of the aquatic world. They don’t get enough respect.”
Buechler, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife employee who now is a wetlands consultant, looked at five types of wetlands in the South Platte watershed to see how regulatory confusion has set back preservation. The Corps has authority over projects on streams, rivers and lakes in the United States under Section 404 of the 1972 Clean Water Act.
Conflicting U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 cases have led to regulatory confusion. “The result was the effective removal of regulatory oversight and protection of the fish and wildlife habitat and other important functions on 20 million acres of so-called geographically isolated wetlands in the lower 48 states,” Buechler wrote in the report. Under one interpretation, the Corps has jurisdiction only in “navigable waters” or tributaries. That leaves fens (mountain bogs), playas (shallow basins) and intermittent streams at risk, Buechler said.
The groups support federal legislation, S.787, which was introduced last year to clarify the Corps role in enforcing the Clean Water Act, said Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation. The bill, as introduced, would give the Corps permit authority over habitats like those of concern to the wildlife groups…
Buechler looked at fens near Fairplay, a lake in a residential development in Westminster, a playa wetland in Washington County, a dry creek subject to flooding near Broomfield and a creek with urban and industrial encroachment near Aurora…
“We all live downstream. Watersheds are connected systems, and if degradation of wetlands and discharge of pollutants and fill material are allowed in headwater areas, those impacts will over time migrate downstream to mainstream reaches and effect drinking water as well as fish and wildlife habitat,” Buechler wrote in the report.
More S.787 coverage here and here.
Congressional mining reform legislation update
January 4, 2010 Coyote Gulch Colorado Water, General Mining Act of 1872, S. 1777: Good Samaritan Cleanup of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2009, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act, S.796, Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009, Water Pollution
From the Associated Press via the San Jose Mercury News:
Among proposals to reform the 1872 Mining Law are plans to implement royalties on mining profits for the first time and reclamation fees for cleaning up abandoned mines. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had testified to a Senate committee in July 2009 that he wanted reform that protects mining, protects the environment and provides for the cleanup of such mines. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the New Mexico Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is shepherding the broadest plan, which calls for an adjusted 2 percent to 5 percent royalty after transportation and processing costs are taken out. It also gives the Interior Department more discretion on environmental matters and calls for the money raised under the bill to be used for reclaiming abandoned mine lands. The proposal has the support of a number of conservation groups, including the Washington D.C.-based Earthworks. Cathy Carlson, an adviser to Earthworks, said Bingaman told conservationists who recently met with him that he hoped to move the bill out of committee in April…
Republican Reps. Doug Lamborn, of Colorado, and Rob Bishop, of Utah, have introduced a good Samaritan bill that allows mining companies and nonprofit organizations to clean up old mines without liability for old environmental damage. Bills introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., also focus on abandoned mine provisions. Carlson said Udall’s bill, which reduces cleanup liability under the Clean Water Act, has “broad support.”[…]
Lamborn and Bishop’s proposal calls for a 2 percent net proceeds royalty on new mines on public land, an approach that leaders of the National Mining Association believe is a better fit with mining industry interests. Eklund-Brown said she emphasized in NBC interview yet to air that any royalty must be industry-specific and not compared with those paid by industries such as oil and gas.
More General Mining Act of 1872 coverage here, S.1777 coverage here, S.787 coverage here and S.796 coverage here.
ASARCO parent Grupo Mexico ponies up $1.79 billion for mining cleanup
December 11, 2009 Coyote Gulch California Gulch, Colorado Water, General Mining Act of 1872, S. 1417 and H.R. 3123, Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Remediation Act of 2009, S. 1777: Good Samaritan Cleanup of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2009, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act, S.796, Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009, Superfund
From the Environmental News Service:
ASARCO LLC is a mining, smelting, and refining company based in Tucson, Arizona that mines and processes primarily copper. Parent corporation Grupo Mexico is providing the $1.79 billion to resolve the ASARCO’s environmental liabilities from operations that contaminated land, water and wildlife resources on federal, state, tribal and private land in 19 states. “Through this historic settlement, the American public is compensated for the damage and loss of natural resources resulting from ASARCO’s past mining, smelting and refining operations,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Were it not for this agreement, these injured resources would either remain impaired for future generations or require taxpayer expenditures to achieve environmental restoration.” The money from environmental settlements in the bankruptcy will be used to pay for past and future costs incurred by federal and state agencies at the more than 80 sites contaminated by mining operations in 19 states, said federal officials…
The contaminated Superfund sites are in Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
More superfund coverage here.
S. 787: Clean Water Restoration Act
November 12, 2009 November 12, 2009 Coyote Gulch Arkansas Basin, Climate Change, Colorado Water, IBCC -- Basin Roundtables, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“What we’ve offered is a compromise position on legislation governing the jurisdictional waters of the United States. The question is: What type of projects need a 404 permit?” Aurora Water Director Mark Pifher told the Arkansas Basin Roundtable on Wednesday. Pifher has worked for the Colorado Water Congress and the Western Urban Water Coalition on proposed legislation by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., and Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., which attempts to restore Clean Water Act guidelines to policies that were in place prior to a pair of United States Supreme Court decisions. The controversy centers on the definition of “navigable waters” and which federal laws need to be considered in issuing permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.
The Supreme Court cases are Rapanos v. the United States, decided in 2006, which involved filling in wetlands near ditches in Wisconsin; and the 2001 decision in the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which centered on the city’s plans to create landfills on old gravel pits the government deemed wetlands. The effect of both decisions was to muddy the distinction of whether water projects in areas marginally connected to a watershed required a 404 permit. “After the decisions, Congress said, ‘We’re going to fix it,’ ” Pifher said.
The first attempt at fixing it caused an uproar because of a lengthy series of findings that some felt expanded the Clean Water Act into land use authority, international treaties and other areas of federal jurisdiction. Others objected to the removal of “navigable waters” from the language of the law, saying it broadened the federal authority…
“The Western Urban Water Coalition drafted a compromise that leaves in navigable waters, but defines what they are,” Pifher said. It also included exemptions for both municipal and agricultural systems in the West, and protects administration of water rights according to state laws.
More S. 787 coverage here.
Groups hope to get U.S. Representative Markey to introduce companion to U.S. Senate Clean Water Restoration Act in the U.S. House of Representatives
October 29, 2009 Coyote Gulch Climate Change, Colorado Water, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act, Water Pollution
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Bobby Magill):
Colorado Trout Unlimited and Clean Water Action say they fear pollution could threaten trout habitat and drinking water for cities along the Front Range because some of the region’s water supply originates in streams that may be unregulated because the streams can’t be navigated by boat and are dry some of the year. Some of those streams may be in the Poudre River watershed, the National Wildlife Federation and the Izaak Walton League said in early October. The concern stems from a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the kinds of streams that can be protected under the Clean Water Act. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, only those rivers and streams that affect interstate commerce – streams navigable by boat or are connected to such streams – are protected under the act. Some of those streams that might have lost protection could be polluted by mining and other development. In response to the 2006 decision and another ruling earlier in the decade also limiting the Clean Water Act, a bill was introduced in the Senate in April to restore some of the lost protections. The Clean Water Restoration Act is now in committee in the Senate.
But local groups are hoping Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., will support a House version of the bill. “We’re trying to get back to where we were before the two Supreme Court decisions,” said Melinda Kassen of Trout Unlimited. “It is going to take the word ‘navigable’ from the act. Technically, the only navigable river is (the Colorado River) from Grand Junction to the state line.” Trout Unlimited wants to ensure that wetlands and high mountain streams that are trout spawning grounds but are dry some of the year are protected from pollution under the Clean Water Act, she said, adding that she hopes a bill can be introduced next month.
More Clean Water Restoration Act coverage here and here.
October 8, 2009 Coyote Gulch Climate Change, Colorado Water, Poudre River Watershed, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act, South Platte Basin, Water Pollution
The groups, including the Izaak Walton League of America and the National Wildlife Federation said Wednesday such unregulated pollution could contaminate drinking water for more than 620,000 people living in Larimer, Weld and Boulder counties. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agrees water contamination from future mining and development could go unregulated in the headwaters of some streams in the region. Pollution could threaten drinking water here because most of the county’s water supply comes from rivers fed by streams that can’t be regulated because they can’t be navigated by boat, the groups said.
Scott Kovarovics of the Izaak Walton League said if someone wants to pollute a dry stream, the law might allow that. The concern stems from a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the kinds of streams that can be protected under the Clean Water Act. According to the EPA, only those rivers and streams that affect interstate commerce – those people that can navigate by boat or are connected to such streams – are protected by the act. Excluded from protection are streams, possibly including some high in the mountains, that flow less than a few months each year and exist on private land or don’t flow into a stream that people can navigate with a boat. “We should be concerned about those (streams) because those areas are where we have a lot of our snowmelt,” said Dick Clark, wetland coordinator for the EPA in Denver…
Generally, Clark said, streams on public land are protected, and so are high mountain streams that either flow all year long or most of the year. Unregulated contamination could flow downstream from private land being mined high in the mountains, he said…
The number of streams that aren’t regulated in Larimer County aren’t known because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which determines whether federal regulations apply to certain streams, doesn’t keep track of them, said Tim Carey, chief of the Corps’ Denver regulatory office. Only two streams in Colorado have ever been determined not to fall under the Clean Water Act, Carey said. One was in the plains of eastern Douglas County, where the stream disappears into the sand, he said…
Despite the concern, the Poudre is likely to remain uncontaminated because there is little development potential in its watershed, Gertig said. “Since the Poudre is a wild and scenic river, protection of that designation may be more powerful than anything else,” he said.
New York Times series: Toxic waters
September 16, 2009 September 16, 2009 Coyote Gulch Climate Change, Colorado Water, Groundwater, S. 787 Clean Water Restoration Act, Water Pollution
The New York Times is running a series on the worsening problem of water pollution in the U.S. Here’s the link to the series. Here’s last Saturday’s installment (Charles Duhigg). From the article:
Almost four decades ago, Congress passed the Clean Water Act to force polluters to disclose the toxins they dump into waterways and to give regulators the power to fine or jail offenders. States have passed pollution statutes of their own. But in recent years, violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the nation, an extensive review of water pollution records by The New York Times found. In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses. However, the vast majority of those polluters have escaped punishment. State officials have repeatedly ignored obvious illegal dumping, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which can prosecute polluters when states fail to act, has often declined to intervene…
Records analyzed by The Times indicate that the Clean Water Act has been violated more than 506,000 times since 2004, by more than 23,000 companies and other facilities, according to reports submitted by polluters themselves. Companies sometimes test what they are dumping only once a quarter, so the actual number of days when they broke the law is often far higher. And some companies illegally avoid reporting their emissions, say officials, so infractions go unrecorded. Environmental groups say the number of Clean Water Act violations has increased significantly in the last decade. Comprehensive data go back only five years but show that the number of facilities violating the Clean Water Act grew more than 16 percent from 2004 to 2007, the most recent year with complete data…
…the Times’s research shows that fewer than 3 percent of Clean Water Act violations resulted in fines or other significant punishments by state officials. And the E.P.A. has often declined to prosecute polluters or force states to strengthen their enforcement by threatening to withhold federal money or take away powers the agency has delegated to state officials…
Enforcement lapses were particularly bad under the administration of President George W. Bush, employees say. “For the last eight years, my hands have been tied,” said one E.P.A. official who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. “We were told to take our clean water and clean air cases, put them in a box, and lock it shut. Everyone knew polluters were getting away with murder. But these polluters are some of the biggest campaign contributors in town, so no one really cared if they were dumping poisons into streams.” The E.P.A. administrators during the last eight years — Christine Todd Whitman, Michael O. Leavitt and Stephen L. Johnson — all declined to comment.
Here’s a look at the series from a Colorado perspective, from David O. Williams writing for Real Vail. From the article:
Thirty-nine states provided information requested by the New York Times as part of its series on Clean Water Act violations called “Toxic Waters: A series about the worsening pollution in American water and regulators’ response.” Colorado wasn’t one of them. Instead, here’s what Ann Hause of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reportedly told the Times when asked to provide information or verify the Times’s reporting on Colorado’s enforcement, or lack thereof, of the Clean Water Act: “We cannot verify the accuracy of this data because we cannot duplicate the ECHO query or survey used to generate this data. Also, the time period in question and the criteria used for specifying compliance are not stated. With respect to the remaining questions, as they are fairly resource-intensive, the Department is not able to provide answers within any predictable time frame.”
Colorado Ethics Watch, a nonprofit political watchdog group, found that response woefully inadequate and now plans to file its own Colorado Open Records Act request. “This is an unacceptable response. How can the Department not know whether or not it is enforcing the Clean Water Act? And more importantly, how are Coloradoans supposed to know whether the Department is adequately protecting them from environmental harms?” said Ethics Watch director Chantell Taylor. “Taxpayers deserve prompt, accurate information on such important matters of public safety and we intend to follow up with the Department to see if we can get just that.”
Meanwhile the Las Animas County Commissioners are worried about language in S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act, according to a report from Randy Woock writing for The Trinidad Times Independent. From the article:
The new language in the federal bill, proposed by U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, would amend the Clean Water Act of 1972 by replacing the words “navigable waters” in the bill with the term “waters of the United States.” That change in the bill would define the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) area of jurisdiction to include, according to the bill’s official congressional summary, “…all waters subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, the territorial seas, and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including lakes, rivers, streams, mud flats, sand flats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, lakes, natural ponds…to the fullest extent that these waters, or activities affecting them, are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution.” As recently reported by environmental group Clean Water Action, a March 2008 memorandum from the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance claimed that “hundreds” of Clean Water Act enforcement cases had recently been either dropped or made lower priorities due to concerns about whether various rivers, streams, wetlands or other waters were protected from pollution by the Clean Water Act. The agency memo claimed that between 2006 and 2007 the agency chose to not pursue the enforcement of more than 300 violations due to the jurisdictional uncertainties. Clean Water Action reported that in 2001 the Supreme Court held that non-navigable intrastate waters were not protected by the Clean Water Act because they could serve as habitat for migratory birds. Clean Water Action claimed that it, “…gave polluters an opening to ramp up a decades-long effort to pressure the EPA and the Corps of Engineers to weaken their rules…
The county’s board of commissioners has also voiced concern about the proposed changes in the Clean Water Restoration Act. “I understand that there are probably some things (needing regulating), but why would we want everyone under those rules?” Las Animas County Commissioner Gary Hill said. “There’s ranchers, cities…what are we going to do when every drop of water that falls is sooner or later contaminated with a little drop of oil? Who’s going to pay for that?” Hill added, “Worse than that, when you get into a ranch or farm and you’re not having the public paying for it (EPA violations), then it’s just individuals…I don’t want anybody in control of our water; there’s enough regulations already.” Hill also said that the coalition of state counties, Colorado Counties, Inc., had drafted a letter in opposition to the bill, though it was not available for examination at press time.
Fellow County Commissioner Jim Vigil also voiced concern about the level of control over local waters that the bill could give federal agencies. “From an agricultural concern, the way that bill is proposed…the feds would have control over stock ponds, irrigation ditches, dry arroyos that run once a year when it rains, and that just makes it onerous on ranchers, farmers and, in general, the western U.S.,” Vigil said. “The EPA or Army Corps of Engineers could come in every time you wanted to clean out a stock pond or build a new stock pond or put in a new watering system.”
More water pollution coverage here.
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New York Times Article on High Demand for Computer Science Professors
January 24, 2019 /In: Featured Announcements, People /
Today’s New York Times features an article “The Hard Part of Computer Science? Getting Into Class.” The story explores how the increasing student demand for computer science courses is outstripping the supply of professors. The article cites CRA Taulbee data and quotes several current and former CRA board members.
On campuses across the country, from major state universities to small private colleges, the surge in student demand for computer science courses is far outstripping the supply of professors, as the tech industry snaps up talent. At some schools, the shortage is creating an undergraduate divide of computing haves and have-nots — potentially narrowing a path for some minority and female students to an industry that has struggled with diversity.
The number of undergraduates majoring in the subject more than doubled from 2013 to 2017, to over 106,000, while tenure-track faculty ranks rose about 17 percent, according to the Computing Research Association, a nonprofit that gathers data from about 200 universities.
Former CRA board member Maria Klawe commented on its impact on underrepresented groups in computing.
“When you put any kind of barrier in place in terms of access to computer science majors, it tends to reduce the number of women and students of color in the program,” said Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, a private college in Claremont, Calif., that has become a national model for diversity in computer science.
Former CRA Board Member Tracy Camp described how her university is managing the situation.
Likewise, Tracy Camp, head of the computer science department at the Colorado School of Mines — a public university where the number of computer science majors has more than doubled in recent years — said she was determined not to put in deterrents like capping the major. Instead, she said, class sizes had sharply increased.
“I don’t want to tell a student already at Mines, ‘You can’t major in computer science,’” Professor Camp said.
Camp also chaired the CRA Enrollments Committee, which published the Generation CS report on the CS Undergraduate Enrollments Surge Since 2006. This report details the results of an enrollment survey designed to measure, assess, and better understand enrollment trends and their impact on computer science units, diversity, and more. The National Academies also published a report, “Assessing and Responding to the Growth of Computer Science Undergraduate Enrollments“.
CRA Board Secretary Greg Morrisett commented on how academia faces competition with industry for talent.
In addition, tech giants and other companies have been poaching professors and hiring new Ph.D.s.
“I had a faculty member who came in with an offer from a bank, and they were told that, with their expertise, the starting salary would be $1 million to $4 million,” said Greg Morrisett, dean of computing and information science at Cornell University. “There’s no way a university, no matter how well off, could compete with that.”
Finally, former CRA Board member Ed Lazowska shared how joint appointments can offer a solution.
To stem the tide of professors decamping for industry, universities are turning to dual appointments. Last year Amazon hired Siddhartha Srinivasa, a world-renowned robotics expert who is a computer science professor at the University of Washington. He now splits his time between the two.
Ed Lazowska, a computer science professor at the university, said such arrangements gave faculty members access to resources, like giant computing power and tremendous data sets, that could help further their research and benefit their students.
“What better place could there be than Amazon to put your robot to work?” Professor Lazowska said.
Click here to view the full New York Times article. Visit the CRA website for more information on the Taulbee Survey and the Generation CS Report. In addition, CRA’s Data Buddies project collects longitudinal data on students, which can be used to gauge the impact of increasing demands on computing courses and faculty. Visit the CERP website to learn more about how to get involved with Data Buddies.
2019 Nominees for CRA Board; Petition Nominees Sought CRA Board Member Highlight: James Allan
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Arizonans to make the trek for Pope Francis’ first visit to border
By Mauricio Casillas, Cronkite News | Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016
Parishoners at St. Mary’s Basilica in downtown Phoenix gather for the noon mass on Feb. 2. (Photo by Mauricio Casillas/Cronkite News)
Auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Phoenix Eduardo Nevares will be making the trip to Ciudad Juárez to see Pope Francis on Feb. 17. (Photo by Chloe Nordquist/Cronkite News)
Sergio Siller was tired of hearing about bad news coming out of his Mexican hometown of Ciudad Juárez. That’s why when the Phoenix resident received the news in late November that Pope Francis was visiting Juárez, he was overjoyed.
“I was just so happy,” Siller said. “Juárez has suffered a lot with the violence. I have friends and family that have passed. Francis is going to help heal the wounds of the city.”
StoryMap: Past papal visits to the U.S.
Siller is one of hundreds of Arizonan Catholics making the trip south of the border to see Francis, who begins his Feb. 12-17 historic pilgrimage in Mexico City. Francis’ last stop will be in Ciudad Juárez, just steps away from the Rio Grande. The visit to the border will be the closest a pope has been to Phoenix since John Paul II held a mass in Sun Devil Stadium in September 1987.
Auxiliary Bishop for the Catholic Roman Diocese of Phoenix Eduardo Nevares will lead the Arizona delegation, making the 444-mile trek from the Valley to Juárez. The bishop hopes to have a five-minute reunion with Francis in which he plans to send “the greetings of the people of Arizona to him and let him know of our love and prayer,” he said, adding that he hopes Francis’ message to the people of Mexico will resonate with those across the United States and beyond.
“The Holy Father will ask the people of the United States and the people of Mexico and the whole world to have consideration for the migrants,” Nevares said. “We know that these are people that leave their home country, their environment, their customs. The pope will be talking about the need to be welcoming to the migrant.”
At least three Catholic parishes from Phoenix and several more from throughout Arizona are headed for Mexico City or Ciudad Juárez.
Patricia Marquez, a parishioner of Our Mother of Sorrows church in Tucson, will also be driving down to the border to see Francis. She said she feels an extra connection with Francis because he is the first Latino pope.
“I like the fact that he’s Latino,” Marquez said. “In Mexico, they loved Pope John Paul II. There really was a special place for him in Mexico. I think the people of Mexico will embrace Francisco like they embraced John Paul II.”
St. Mary’s Basilica parishioner Elvira Espinoza has already seen Francis four times, including his visit to Philadelphia in September. Espinoza, a native of Mexico City, said the country knows how to welcome the pope. John Paul II’s visit to Mexico City is what motivated her to convert from Baptist to Catholic.
“I was living in Mexico City when John Paul II went there,” she said. “I can tell you that the way they received the pope — nobody in other countries has been able to replicate that. It was a really beautiful moment. I was not Catholic back then, but when I saw the people feeling that way, I felt touched.”
More than anything, Siller hopes the papal visit will help unify the community where he grew up. He said the city and its U.S. neighbor, El Paso, drifted apart at the height of drug violence in 2010.
“I’m from the 1980s, so everyone was going back and forth between El Paso and Juárez,” said Siller, who moved to Phoenix in 1988. “When the violence started, the cities split. There was a split in the border. I think he wants to reconcile the two cities and bring them back together. … I think the pope will bring us together.”
Pope BorderlandsInfographic
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Darkness Is Faster Than the Speed of Light
Written by Reuben Westmaas
Nothing's faster than the speed of light. Except the speed of dark. That might sound like the tagline of a grim and gritty movie that's trying way too hard, but it also happens to be true.
Shadow Racing
This is a little hard to wrap your head around, but shadows can move faster than the speed of light, even though nothing can move faster than the speed of light. In a second, we'll explain how exactly that's possible without breaking the most fundamental law of physics. But first, this thought experiment might make things clearer.
Imagine you have a light that's powerful enough to reach the planet Jupiter. Imagine also that it casts that beam in a cone that's broad enough to cover the entire diameter of the planet. When you pass your finger over the lens, the shadow will cross the entire diameter of the planet — a distance of 86,881 miles (139,821 kilometers). The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second (299,338 kilometers per second). So if it takes you less than half a second to move your hand that distance, then that shadow will have "broken" the speed of light.
Shining a Light on the Subject
So, remember how we said that nothing can move faster than the speed of light? Well, that's the key. Shadows aren't anything. Shadows are the absence of something — specifically, photons, or particles of light. Since there's nothing that's actually traveling the distance, the only thing that's "moving" is an area where photons aren't. There's no information that's being transmitted faster than light, only a blockage of information. That means your interplanetary shadow-puppet show doesn't break any physical laws — only the hearts of your interplanetary audience.
Get stories like this one in your inbox each morning. Sign up for our daily email here.
For more answers to the weird questions of physics, check out Carlo Rovelli's international bestseller "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics." We handpick reading recommendations we think you may like. If you choose to make a purchase, Curiosity will get a share of the sale.
What Is the Speed of Dark?
– Vsauce
Optophobia is the fear of opening your eyes. 00:08
If the sun is less than six degrees below the horizon, it is civil twilight. 04:45
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a novice overestimating their knowledge and abilities in an area because they don't even know how little they know. 09:25
Related Video: The Speed of Light Is Not About Light
Written by Reuben Westmaas January 26, 2018
Optical Computers Run At The Speed Of Light—Literally
The Center of the Milky Way Is Home to a Massive Fountain That Spews Antimatter
Light Physics
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A Conversation With A Zionist
With Gaza under fire from “gods chosen ones” here is a reblogged post that demonstrates the mind set of zionists.
They believe they are gods chosen BUT are humble? They believe they are “semitic” ,just like Ali-G believes he is black!(COS ITS I IS SEMITIC!) They believe that they have the right to own the Levant ,dispite the fact that people have been living there for THOUSANDS OF YEARS!……But of coarse its everyone else who is to blame because we are anti-semitic ,jew haters and all love Arab terrorists and jews never do anything wrong because they are humble and beloved of god?!?!?!
WHEN IN FACT THEY BELIEVE ABSURDITIES AND COMMIT ATROCITIES!!
HERE IS A COMMENTRY BETWEEN A ZIONIST AND MYSELF
I THOUGHT ORIGINALY WE HAD AN OPEN MINDED HUMANE BEING WHO WAS CUTURALLY JEWISH
UNFORTUNATELY IT TURNED OUT TO BE A ZIONIST RACE SUPREMECIST AND AN APOLOGIST FOR GENOCIDE
IT WAS RECENTLY BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT HE THEN DELETED HALF MY COMMENTS AND ALL OF MY LINKS ON HIS POST
SO HERE IS THE DISCOURSE REPOSTED IN BRIEF
http://moshesharon.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/the-religion-distinction-g-d-is-not-a-religion/
GOD IS NOT A RELIGION
RELIGION IS A DELSUIONAL BELIEF, AT BEST,ITS A SIMPLISTIC HUMAN MODEL THAT REFLECTS THE WORLD AROUND HIM OR HER
GOD IS A SIDE EFFECT OF RELIGION ,
IT IS MANS ATTEMPT TO BARGIN APPEASE OR INFLUENCE THE WORLD AROUND HIM
FROM SNAKE GODS TO MESOPOTAMIAN AND EGYPTIAN GODS TO THE GREECO-ROMAN GODS TO THE ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISTIC GOD OF TODAY
ALL JUST TEMPORARY ILLUSIONS OF A DELUSIONAL BELIEF
GOD CHANGES WITH HUMAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE
Leave a Comment » | CURRENT AFFAIRS | Permalink
The Invention of Judaism
In honor of “gods chosen ones” as they believe absurdities and commit attrocities in the Levant.
Here is the REAL story behind the INVENTION OF JUDAISM using archeology , DNA and original texts. We discover Judaism was Egyptian Set worship expelled from Egypt into Canaan, where they where converted to Zoroastrianism by Cyrus the Great ,thier messiah and temple builder!
Today they still plan on bringing ancient primitive barbarism to the modern 21st century.
Zionism and its goals….
Zionists are just Nazis without foreskins. Greater Germany meets Greater Israel
“The Israeli Dream”: The Criminal Roadmap Towards “Greater Israel”?
Ethnic Cleansing Planned in the Middle East? History, Legality Ignored
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-israeli-dream-the-criminal-roadmap-towards-greater-israel/5391839
ALL Abrahamic monotheism (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) is an invention to control hearts and minds and can be traced back to a man and a motive.
Cyrus the Great and Aryan monotheistic Zoroastrainism for Judaism.
Originally “Judaism” was a fertility cult (Baal/El, Set/Amen) coverted to Zoraostrianism by Cyrus the Great.He invented a fanatical religious warrior to defend his zoroastrian monotheistic Persian empire.
Constantine the Great invented “christianity” it was Aryan monotheistic sun worship,(Sol Invictus/Mithras)
which got officially converted to messianic Judaism c.787AD. Constantine invented the religious institution.
Othman the Third Caliph for Islam. Originally it was Semitic polythestic moon worship which was converted to nestorian messianic Judaism.
ALL These conversions where done by FORCE!!
Abrahamic monothisms stories are myths taken from ancient Aryan beliefs.Beliefs that can be traced back 18,000 years.
But there are even older beliefs like snake worship beliefs that can be…
View original post 53,619 more words
Did the Kiev Neo Nazis shoot down Malaysian flight then try to blame the Russians?
A division of Buk missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was, according to Pravda, deployed to the Donetsk Oblast on July 15, two days before the downing of the Malaysian airlines MH17 flight. The Buk missile system has the capabilities of downing an aircraft flying at 35,000 feet.
While the Pravda report remains to be confirmed, Russian Defense sources confirm the presence of several missile batteries in the Donesk oblast operated by the Ukraine armed forces:
‘The Ukrainian military has several batteries of Buk surface-to-air missile systems with at least 27 launchers, capable of bringing down high-flying jets, in the Donetsk region where the Malaysian passenger plane crashed, Russian Defense Ministry said”(RT, July 17, 2014)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/was-ukraines-ministry-of-interior-behind-the-downing-of-malaysian-airlines-mh17/5391909
Very few mainstream outlets, however, are even considering the possibility that it was the Ukrainian military that shot down the Malaysian plane. This is simply because the goal of this whole ordeal, in addition to overshadowing the genocide taking place in Gaza, is to drum up international hostility toward Russia and the separatists that it supports.
It is also important to point out that nowhere in the mainstream press are there any suggestions of the possibility that it was not a missile that brought down the plane. That is, there is no suggestion of this possibility unless it can be blamed on Russia.
What is notable is the fact that there are emerging reports that the Malaysian flight was actually being escorted by Ukrainian military jets only 3 minutes before it crashed.
This report, released by E Turbo News, a global travel news agency, suggested that, not only was the plane being escorted by Ukrainian military jets but that air traffic records were immediately confiscated after the plane went down. The report suggests that internal communication acknowledged that the Ukrainian military was involved but shed no light on where the shootdown orders came from. Speculation ranging from a simple and tragic accident to an attempted coup by Timoshenko forces against the Presidency of Poroshenko have since arisen.
As E Turbo News reports,
ETN received information from an air traffic controller in Kiev on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
This Kiev air traffic controller is a citizen of Spain and was working in the Ukraine. He was taken off duty as a civil air-traffic controller along with other foreigners immediately after a Malaysia Airlines passenger aircraft was shot down over the Eastern Ukraine killing 295 passengers and crew on board.
The air traffic controller suggested in a private evaluation and basing it on military sources in Kiev, that the Ukrainian military was behind this shoot down. Radar records were immediately confiscated after it became clear a passenger jet was shot down.
Military air traffic controllers in internal communication acknowledged the military was involved, and some military chatter said they did not know where the order to shoot down the plane originated from.
Obviously it happened after a series of errors, since the very same plane was escorted by two Ukrainian fighter jets until 3 minutes before it disappeared from radar.
Radar screen shots also show an unexplained change of course of the Malaysian Boeing. The change of course took the aircraft directly over the Eastern Ukraine conflict region.
Some tweets received suggest this may have been a secret military uprising against the current Ukrainian president under the direction of formerly-jailed Prime Minister Timoshenko.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/western-media-deception-new-information-and-questions-about-malaysian-flight-mh-17/5392095
TWA 800 ,MH370 AND MH17 COINCIDENCES
The flight 17 crash shares an anniversary with the demise of TWA 800, which AT’s own Jack Cashill has compellingly argued was, in fact, brought down by a missile on July 17, 1996 and subsequently covered up by the US government. And, the maiden flight of flight 17 occurred in 1997 on the date of, you guessed it, July 17.
So “17s” are everywhere. To be sure, though, each of the items in the last paragraph is easily ranged under the heading “coincidence.”
And yet, the evidence presented in this article suggests that MH 370 and MH 17 are linked in ways that might not be due to chance. Both MH 370 and MH 17 appear to have lost communicative contact, and both appear to have veered off course on very unusual routes. How many aircraft of other airlines have done so in recent months, never mind how many of the 55 aircraft over Donetsk did so on July 17? How many aircraft other than MH 17 had their inaugural voyage on the date of July 17?
These considerations suggest that, in fact, in the cases of MH 370 and MH 17 we might not be dealing with a “fair coin.”
MH 17 ALSO LEFT FROM AMSTERDAM, WHERE THE UNDERPANTS BOMBER TOOK OFF FROM!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/malaysian-airlines-mh370-and-mh17-a-criminologist-questions-what-are-the-probabilities-is-it-a-mere-coincidence/5392265
Regardless of the true causes of the crash of Malaysian flight 777, it is clear that the world oligarchy is, at the very least, not letting a good crisis go to waste. The ability to distract from Western-backed genocides occurring simultaneously across the world as well as domestic issues and the world economic depression has been conveniently provided by the Malaysian flight shootdown.
But who ever is responsible ,it still means 295 people where murdered in cold blood for some ones delusional ideology and thier mad grasp for control of the centralised authority in the Ukraine.
If we let this get out of control it could mean WWIII and countless more deaths!
2 Comments | CURRENT AFFAIRS, POLITICS, War On Terror | Permalink
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 Downed Over Warzone Ukraine.Cui Bono NATO AND ISRAEL!
Flying over warzone Ukraine, The probable and Convenient Happens
JUST LIKE THE UNDERPANTS BOMBER THIS FLIGHT LEFT FROM AMSTERDAM
THE PREVIOUS UNDERPANTS BOMBER WAS A CIA ASSET AND WAS LET THROUGHT AMSTERDAM SECURITY BY A MOSSAD AGENT!
Airport security in Amsterdam is contracted to an Israeli company with the most sophisticated technologies who had developed the concept of security profiling
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/the-second-coming-in-underpants-but-was-it-premature/
OBVIOUSLY THIS ISRAELLI SECURITY COMPANY AND TECHNOLOGY IS COMPLETELY USELESS…OR THEY ARE AIDING AND ABETTING THE TERRORISTS
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border. MH17 had 295 people on board — 280 passengers and 15 crew members. Western media has gone into overdrive mode in reporting that the plane was deliberately shot down. Salivating over the story, self-acclaimed pundits are putting the blame on anti-coup Ukrainians and even pointing the finger at Russia even as the crash has not been investigated yet.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/mh17-versus-iran-air-655-malaysian-airlines-boeing-777-downed-over-ukraine-kiev-regime-accuses-putin-of-sponsoring-terrorists/5391859
At no juncture during the Ukrainian crisis could the downing of Malaysian Boeing 777 flight MH17 have been more convenient for NATO and its proxy regime in Kiev.
Russia and the fighters operating in eastern Ukraine have nothing to gain by downing a civilian airliner, but absolutely everything to lose – thus pointing the finger in another direction – that of NATO and their proxy regime in Kiev. That the downed aircraft is yet another Malaysian Boeing 777 – the second one this year to be lost under extraordinary circumstances –(apparently the US’s global military satelite surveylance system cannot find a Boeing 777 when it transponder goes off?!) has serendipitously gained maximum attention for propagandists across the West. They have the world’s full and undivided attention with which to pin the blame on Russia and anti-Kiev fighters in eastern Ukraine.
The impetus necessary to unite Europe and other Western allies behind NATO and the US for a more direct intervention in Ukraine where the West is currently floundering is now consuming headlines around the world. If the downing of MH17 was not a case of tragic misidentification, then answering the first question of any investigation, cui bono – or to whose benefit – is answered resoundingly with, “NATO.”
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ea9_1405620477
So far Russia has denied involvement.
From the reports I’ve read Russia and the Ukraine are the only nations in the region that have the capability to shoot down a plane traveling at 30,000ft.
Regardless of who caused it, I’m sure all our thoughts are with the families of the 295 people on board the flight. So far no survivors have been reported.
ISRAEL ALSO BENEFITS
IT ALSO TAKES OUR ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE ISRAELLI WAR CRIMES CURRENTLY BEING INFLICTED IN GAZA
On the ground in Gaza: Batsh family decimated in Israeli air strike
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/israellis-your-land-is-mine/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/israellis-are-the-invented-people-and-anti-semitic/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/a-conversation-with-a-zionist/
PRO ISRAELLIS RUN THE KIEV REGIME AND THEY ARE POINTING THE FINGER AT RUSSIA…WITH NO EVIDENCE AND A VERY FLIMSY STORY
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/ukraines-democratic-coup-detat-killing-civilians-as-a-pretext-for-regime-change-a-zio-nazi-plot-thickens/
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, said on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, reported Interfax, a Ukranian news agency.
PREVIOUSLY WE FOUND OUT IT WAS KIEV’S NEO NAZI REGIME SHOOTING ITS OWN PEOPLE AND BLAMING THE RUSSIANS
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-u-s-has-installed-a-neo-nazi-government-in-ukraine/5371554
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/cia-agent-captured-in-ukraine-helping-protesters/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/exposed-ukrainian-protesters-backed-by-kony-2012-style-scam/
IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO PULL THE SAME TRICK…THIS TIME WITH ISRAELLI AND NATO BLESSING
Russia’s strongest card thus far has been its restraint and NATO’s inability to implicate it in the chaos NATO itself started by backing armed Neo-Nazis during the “Euromaidan” of late 2013-early 2014. Russia surely would not throw that card away to pass along weapon systems to fighters that were already successfully downing Ukrainian military aircraft with man-portable missiles.
Unfortunately, even if Russia was arming fighters in eastern Ukraine, it would not be with Buk systems that would be traced directly back to Moscow during their first use regardless of what they fired at.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/malaysian-airlines-flight-mh17-downed-over-warzone-ukraine-who-was-behind-it-cui-bono/5391840
A person might think that revulsion in “the world community” against Washington’s wanton slaughter of civilians in eight countries would have led to War Crimes Tribunal warrants issued for the arrest of presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama and many officials in their regimes. But the vocal part of “the world community”–the West–has become inured to Washington’s crimes against humanity and doesn’t bother to protest. Indeed, many of these governments are complicit in Washington’s crimes, and there could just as well be arrest warrants for members of European governments.
The one exception is Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has published a White Book on violations of human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine. Propagandized Americans think that all the violations in Ukraine are made by Russians. The White Book carefully and accurately documents reported violations that occurred in Ukraine for four months from December 2013 through March 2014.
The White Book is available here
http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/ns-dgpch.nsf/03c344d01162d351442579510044415b/38fa8597760acc2144257ccf002beeb8/$FILE/White%20Book.pdf
You will not hear much or anything about it from the presstitute US media, and it is unlikely to receive much coverage in Europe. The facts are so greatly at odds with the West’s position that the White Book is a huge embarrassment to the West.
The slaughter of Ukrainians on Washington’s orders by Washington’s stooge government in Kiev has worsened considerably in the past three months, producing more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing into Russia for protection from strikes against civilian housing from the air, artillery, and tanks. Every effort by the Russian government to involve Washington, the European Union, and Kiev in negotiations to find a peaceful settlement has failed.
Washington is not interested in a settlement. Disturbed by its NATO vassals’ dependence on Russian energy and the growing economic relationships between Russia and Europe, Washington is at work through its Kiev proxy murdering citizens in eastern and southern parts of present-day Ukraine that once were part of Russia.
Washington has declared these civilians to be “terrorists” and is trying to force Russia to intervene militarily in order to protect them. Russia’s protective intervention would then be denounced byWashington as “invasion and annexation.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/washingtons-war-crimes-spread-from-africa-and-the-middle-east-to-ukraine/5389768
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/death-squads-for-democracy-on-tour-coming-to-a-city-near-you/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/twat-us-terrorists-beating-the-drums-of-war-against-secular-socialism-human-rights-and-direct-democracy/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/george-osbourne-would-bailout-a-neo-nazi-ukraine-but-not-an-independent-scotland-scotland-are-these-the-leaders-you-want/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/ukraine-protests-carefully-orchestrated-the-role-of-canvas-us-financed-color-revolution-training-group/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/us-to-provide-military-aid-to-al-quada-and-other-war-criminalsas-the-war-against-secular-socialism-continues/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/false-flags-flying-over-yemen/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/war-on-terror-near-end-we-got-the-man-that-made-the-hummus/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/77-bomber-released-to-silencewhile-lockerbie-bomber-released-to-outrage/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/false-flags-and-patsysthis-twat-the-war-against-terror-is-useless/
1 Comment | 911, CURRENT AFFAIRS, POLITICS, War On Terror | Permalink
Israellis ,Your Land is Mine!
HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE LET THIS DELUSIONAL BLOODBATH CONTINUE?
People from different countries across the world have participated in anti-Israel demonstrations to condemn Tel Aviv’s atrocities against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
http://presstv.com/detail/2014/07/18/371743/antiisrael-demos-held-across-globe/
ISRAEL, MODERN OR ANCIENT HAS NO RIGHT TO EXIST IN A MODERN 21ST CENTURY CIVILISATION
ISRALLI CLAIMS FOUND TO BE COMPLETELY FALSE!!
ORIGINAL INHABITANTS FOUND!!
SORRY ISRALLIS BUT THIS LAND IS MINE
YES ISRAELLIS THE HOLY LAND BELONGS TO ARYAN CELTS!
LOOK AT THE TEMPLE BUILT 12,000BC
AND CHECK THE DNA OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLES
ITS ARYAN CELT DNA
WE CELTS WHERE THIER 10,000 YEARS BEFORE YOU
THE GODS CHOSE TO GIVE THE LEVANT TO US
THE GODS MADE THE ARYAN CELTS THIER CHILDREN AND THIER CHOOSEN ONES
Also known as Eynan (Hebrew) or Mallaha (Arabic), this Natufian village was colonized in three phases. The first two phases were comprised of massive stone-built structures with smaller ones in the third phase. The phases occurred from 12,000 to 9600 BCE.Hundreds of Natufian graves have been excavated in Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.In 2008, the grave of a Natufian ‘priestess’ was discovered (in most media reports referred to as a shaman or witch doctor ). The burial contained complete shells of 50 tortoises, which are thought to have been brought to the site and eaten during the funeral feast
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081104-israel-shaman-missions.html
This temple site is the oldest known man-made place of worship.Through the radiocarbon method, the end of stratum III could be determined at circa 9,000 BC ; its beginnings are estimated to 11,000 BC or earlier. Stratum II dates to about 8,000 BC.But the construction of the Göbekli Tepe complex implies organisation of a degree of complexity not hitherto associated with pre-Neolithic societies. The archaeologists estimate that up to 500 persons were required to extract the 10-20 ton pillars (in fact, some weigh up to 50 tons)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe
SO ISRAELLIS YOU WILL BE MOVING OUT NOW TO LET THE ARYAN CELTS HAVE OUR PROMISED LAND BACK?
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS JEWISH DNA!
JUST AS THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CHRISTIAN OR ISLAMIC DNA
THESE ARE JUST DELUSIONAL BELIEFS NOT RACES OF PEOPLE
FYI YOU CAN MOST DEFINATELY FIND ARAB DNA JUST LIKE YOU CAN FIND CELTIC DNA.
…SO SURELY THIS MEANS ITS THE JEWS THAT ARE THE INVENTED PEOPLE
Meanwhile in reality……
Most modern Israellis are just delusional Eastern Europeans who have had thier foreskins stolen and are now persecuting the descendants of the ancient hebrews ,most of which converted to Islam a thousand years ago!
I am sick and tired of watching war crime after war crime being inflicted on civilian populations and hearing about Jewish percecutions and land rights.
I am NOT Jewish or Middle Eastern so how this is resolved is none of my business
THIS ABRAHAMIC DELUSIONAL BARBARISM IS THREATENING TO ENGULF THE WHOLE WORLD.
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/only-mad-dogs-and-the-israel-lobby-go-out-in-the-middle-east-sun/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/uk-government-does-what-its-israelli-masters-tell-it-again/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/malice-through-the-looking-glass-the-abomination-of-israel/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/the-israel-lobby-the-elephant-in-the-room-and-its-drenched-in-blood/
PLEASE ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISTS(JEWS ,CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS)
IT IS THE 21ST CENTURY AD NOT THE 21ST CENTURY BC!
STOP BRING ANCIENT PRIMITIVE BARABARIC BELIEFS AND PROMOTING THEM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
THE MODERN WORLD DOES NOT NEED YOUR BARBARIC DELUSIONAL BELIEFS
THE HOLY LAND? DRENCHED IN BLOOD ,IGNORANCE AND BIGOTRY!
USING DNA ,PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AND ORIGINAL TEXTS
ALL THINGS THAT WOULD CONDEM YOU IN A COURT OF LAW
EVEN IF YOU DENIED THE CHARGES!!!!
WE KNOW ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISM IS A LIE!
ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISM(Judaism, Christianity, Islam) IS JUST ORIGINAL FASCISM
ONE GOD ,ONE EMPIRE ,ONE EMPEROR
PLEASE ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISTS
SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE!!
There is no such thing as Jewish DNA(Judaism is a belief NOT a race)
We now know there was never a Unifed Israelli Empire(archeology has NO DOUBT on this)
There never was a Kingdom of Solomon or a temple of Solomon or even Solomon(Solomon and his proverbs are stolen from Amenhotep III)
The Exodus from Egypt was the Expulsion of SET from Egypt.(All documented in Egyptian records, you will even find Moses in these records)
Invented by Cyrus the Great
He took enslaved Canaanite male fertility worshippers(Set/Amen Baal/El) and converted them to Zoroastraianism. He made himself thier messiah and built a new temple for them to worship HIS god in.He created a fanatical religious warrior to defend his Persian Empire.
Invented by Constantine the Great
Monotheistic Aryan sun worship officially converted to messianic Judaism in 787AD by the Byzantine Empire.Jesus Christ was voted into existance at the 1st council of Niceaea 161 to 157 ,it was a close call.He was an amulgum god,a combination of Druidic Hesus and Vedic Krishna ,given the aspects of Mithras ,Zeus and many other pagan gods.This was Constantines monotheism,and Constantinople was his city and the New Testamonies his book(not Rome OR the bible!)
http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/
Invented by the 3rd Caliph.Tribal moon worship converted to Nestorianism. Nestorianism was a version of messianic Judaism that lost the Byzantine power struggle.Nestorians left the Byzantine Empire and spread thier beliefs throughout the Arab tribes.Local power blocks saw it as a useful tool, the Koran was written 19 years after Mohammads death.
CAN WE PLEASE STOP MASSACRING EACH OTHER FOR TALKING SNAKES ,IMMACULANT CONCEPTIONS ,GODS MADE FROM CRACKERS AND WINE,THAT COLLECT FORSKINS AND DO REAL ESTATE DEALS, AND WORSHIP OF MOON(ISLAM) , STARS(JUDAISM) AND TORTURE DEVICES(CHRISTIANITY)
DO YOU THINK SLAUGHTERING EACH OTHER IN THE NAME OF A “GOD OF LOVE” MAKES ANY SENSE WHAT SO EVER?
A BELIEF IN GOD OR GODS IS IRRELEVENT
IT WOULD BE A GODS BELIEF IN YOU, THAT WOULD BE RELEVENT!
IF YOU THINK THE WORLD IS A DARK AND SMELLY PLACE
IT IS BECAUSE YOU HAVE YOUR HEAD SHOVED UP YOUR ASS
PLEASE PULL IT OUT AND SEE THE WORLD FOR WHAT IT IS
WE ARE STAR STUFF ,HARVESTING STAR LIGHT
A SPECK OF DUST SUSPENDED IN A SUN BEAM
WE ARE A FINITE PIECE OF INFINITE POSSIBLITY….UNLESS YOU PRIMITIVE DELUSIONAL BARBARIC FUCKWITS BLOW IT UP!
ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISTS FUCK YOU AND YOUR INVENTED GOD!
FUCK YOUR DELUSIONAL IGNORANCE AND YOUR ARRONGANCE
YOU WILL PROBABLY BE THE DEATH OF US ALL
…TRYING TO BRING “YOUR GOD” TO EARTH ON HIS WHITE HORSE ,SO YOU CAN RULE BY HIS SIDE….A GREAT PLOT FOR CONAN THE BARBARIAN……A VERY BAD IDEA TO BASE A SERIOUS RELIGION ON!
NEVER HEARD OF A SELF FULLFILLING PROPHECY?
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy
THE REST OF THE WORLD IS REALLY NOT IMPRESSED WITH YOUR BELIEFS OR YOUR BEHAVIOUR
MOST MODERN CULTURES HAVE MANAGED TO STOP BELIEVING THIER PRIMITIVE INVENTED GODS CHOSE THEM AS DIVINE RULERS!
ABRAHAMIC MONOTHEISTS PLEASE GROW UP!!
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/the-greatest-hoax-ever-abrahamic-monotheism-is-it-really-just-satanism/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/atheism-the-oldest-most-popular-diverse-and-beneficial-belief-in-the-world/
Leave a Comment » | CURRENT AFFAIRS, POLITICS, RELIGION, War On Terror | Permalink
Maggie Thatcher and her Pedophile party
the Spitting image of Thatcher
THE BRITISH PEOPLE ,SCOTTISH ,ENGLISH ,WELSH AND IRISH,(NORTH AND THE REPUBLIC),ARE DECENT PEOPLE
THEY DESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIFE ,LIBERTY AND SELF DETERMINATION
THEY DO NOT DESERVE A CENTRALISED DICTORIAL AUTHORITY CONTROLLING THEM
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/albert-einstein-a-foolish-faith-in-authority-is-the-worst-enemy-of-the-truth/
THIS CENTRALISED AUTHORITY ATTRACTS AND PROTECTS THE CORRUPT AND POWER HUNGRY
IT LETS MONSTERS RUN OUR LIVES
IT LETS MONSTERS COMMIT WAR CRIMES
IT LETS MONSTERS PREY ON OUR CHILDREN
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/representative-governments-are-just-terrorists-drug-dealers-murders-paedophileswar-criminalsthieves-psychopaths-traitors-and-liars-with-a-couple-of-useful-idiots-thrown-in-for-window-dressi/
THESE MONSTERS HAVE BEEN IN POWER FOR A LONG TIME AND NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO STOP THEM
BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN RUNNING THE BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT FOR A LONG TIME.
THIS IS ONE REASON ,OF MANY COUNTLESS REASONS, WHY I WOULD BE VOTING FOR SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE
WE HAVE A CHANCE TO GET OUT OF THIS HOPELESSLY CORRUPT AND FINANCIALLY BANKRUPT CENTRALISED AUTHORITY
THATCHERS REAL LEGACY
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/thatchers-real-legacy/
DEBT SLAVERY AND PEDOPHILE POLITICS
Tory child abuse whistleblower: ‘I supplied underage rent boys for Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet ministers’
Whistleblower and former Conservative party activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he provided child prostitutes for a sex and drugs party with top politicians
Senior Tory cabinet ministers were supplied with underage boys for sex parties, it is sensationally claimed.
Former Conservative activist Anthony Gilberthorpe said he told Margaret Thatcher 25 years ago about what he had witnessed and gave her names of those involved.
His allegations that he saw top Tories having sex with boys comes after David Cameron launched a Government inquiry into claims of a cover-up.
Anthony, 52, said: “I am prepared to speak to the inquiry. I believe I am a key witness.”
Trawling seedy streets during a Tory conference, Gilberthorpe says he was asked to find underage rent boys for a private sex party at a top hotel.
Today, more than three decades later, he claims he was acting on the orders of some of the most senior figures of Margaret Thatcher’s government.
Anthony says he was a full-time political activist when he helped procure the “youngest and prettiest” boys for several cabinet ministers after being told to find “entertainment”.
In a series of explosive claims about conferences at Blackpool and Brighton in the 1980s, he alleges boys as young as 15 indulged in alcohol and cocaine before they had sex with the powerful politicians.
He says one person who attended a party is a current serving minister.
Others said to be present at the parties included Keith Joseph, Rhodes Boyson, Dr Alistair Smith and Michael Havers
As a young aspiring politician, Mr Gilberthorpe admits being in awe of the men, but now insists: “They manipulated and groomed me to do their bidding.”
He said: “I was just 17 when I first went to a conference in Brighton in 1978. I couldn’t believe I was rubbing shoulders with all these important people and I couldn’t believe that they were taking such a keen interest in me. I would have done anything for them because I was so desperate to make it in politics.
“During the years I was attending conferences between 1978 and 1985, I was a full-time political activist. At the same time I was running for office in district and county council elections.”
Cabinet Minister: Former Education Secretary Keith Joseph
Mr Gilberthorpe claims that at the 1983 Blackpool conference he was asked by Dr Alistair Smith – the Tory Party Chairman in Scotland – to arrange for young rent boys to have sex with two high-profile cabinet ministers, who we are not naming today.
Other MPs at that party were said to include Rhodes Boyson and Keith Joseph.
In that week he presented the then-Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher with a cake to mark her 58th birthday. But he says he also had a more sordid role – using his young looks to find these underage boys for her ministers.
At the time, the age of consent made it illegal to have gay sex with anyone under 21-years-old.
He said: “Dr Smith, who I looked up to at the time and was the most important Tory in Scotland, told me to go and fetch some ‘entertainment’, which was code for young boys and handed me a handful of bank notes. There was about £120.”
Mr Gilber-thorpe claims he was not shocked by the request.
He said: “It was a norm and an open secret that these older members of the Tory party, like
Dr Alistair Smith, paid for young men to join them at sex parties.
“It was the first time I was asked to fetch them but it was hardly surprising as I was becoming one of their trusted people. There was a well known and used cruising area close to the Imperial Hotel, which was a conference hotel. The hotel was not open to the public.
“I was expected to find the youngest and prettiest boys. It was what those men wanted.
“In fact it was all they wanted.
“So myself and another Tory candidate walked down there and sat on some benches underneath an archway in the Pavilion area of Blackpool and waited.”
Attorney General: Lord Michael Havers
He said they were approached within minutes by a “guy aged about 20” called James. He went on: “I asked him if he wanted to come back to the hotel and he said ‘yes’.
We asked if he had any mates and he went away and came back with two boys who were aged about 15 and no older.
“It was a surreal situation as we were dressed in suits and ties and they were wearing jeans.
“We said we would make it worth their while and the older one held out his hand and I passed him the money to share out. I promised him there would be plentiful amounts of free booze.”
Mr Gilberthorpe claims he then asked hotel security to contact a man inside who worked at the Conservative Party Central Office to arrange for the three rent boys to be given security clearance and special badges that would allow them to enter the Imperial.
He said: “All MPs, members of the National Executive and chosen delegates were given name badges that allowed you access to the conference hotel.
“Some of them had a small Oscar sign in the corner which was a code to allow others to know you were allowed into these secret parties.” He claimed the Hollywood-style Oscar symbol was actually in honour of gay writer and poet Oscar Wilde.
Once inside the Imperial, he says the group walked up several flights of stairs to a room where politicians were waiting for them, along with a table of cocaine
In attendance: Rhodes Boyson at the Conservative party conference in Blackpool, 1987
He said: “We took them straight upstairs and into a room where Dr Smith and other MPs were waiting for them at the party. They were given drinks and cocaine to snort and then they were all moved into the centre of the room.”
Mr Gilberthorpe said he witnessed two senior Tories having sex with the boys. He said: “A couple of other MPs were in the room. I can clearly remember seeing one politician, who is now a serving Tory MP, standing there and watching.”
Mr Gilberthorpe also claims that two years earlier in 1981 he saw Sir Michael Havers – then Attorney General – at a swimming pool party at the Tory conference in Blackpool, where underage boys were encouraged to perform sex acts on several politicians, who we are also not naming today.
He recalled: “In 1981 I was invited back to the Imperial Hotel by a Conservative councillor.
“He was a big player in the notorious right-wing group the Monday Club.
“We arrived at around midnight and I was led down some stairs to a door where two men were stood as security.
“We were allowed to enter and I was led through a tiled changing room where there were piles of clothes strewn across the floor. We then walked into an area where there was a large pool and lots of men either stood around naked or simply wrapped in towels.
“Among the MPs I recognised in there were Keith Joseph and Rhodes Boyson. I saw the Attorney General Michael Havers down there as well.
“There were a couple of glass tables set up as a mini bar with bottles of spirits on them and there was cocaine on several tables. I saw several boys who were clearly aged between 15 and 16 down there and I saw that a few were performing sex acts on MPs.
“Other young men were acting as waiters walking around with little black bow ties on. I was completely shocked by it because I was still only 20 and I had never seen anything like it.”
He added: “I stayed for a couple of hours but was tired because a conference was always a boozy affair where mainly spirits were drunk in large quantities from about 5pm onwards.”
Dr-Edward-Alistair-Smith-CBE
Request: Smith ‘asked for young boys’
Mr Gilberthorpe, now 52, says he also attended a sex party at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservatives’ 1984 conference.
On the night before the seafront hotel was hit by an IRA bomb attack, he claims he saw senior MPs engaging in sex acts with boys below the age of consent at a “corridor party” held in a row of rooms on the fourth floor.
He said: “There were two guys on the door at the end of the corridor and because we were in the group I was allowed to enter. Several doors were left open and others were closed.
“There were several men walking from one room to another and enjoying sex acts with other naked men, including boys who were clearly only about 15 or 16 years old. I saw Keith Joseph there and a politician who is now still a serving MP.
“It was held on the night before the bomb went off and afterwards one MP crudely joked that it was a good job it was, or there would have been rent boys falling through the floor.”
Mr Gilberthorpe, who decided to finally break his silence because he fears an Establishment cover-up, also claims that in the aftermath of the bombing, in which five people were killed, he was asked to look after two rent boys.
He said: “I rushed over there from my hotel after I heard the blast and saw Keith Joseph stood outside in a blanket.”
Yesterday he said: “I was a teenager when I first met these men and they manipulated me and groomed me to do their bidding.
“Because they were the most powerful men in the land, I was led to believe it was all OK. In truth they were abusers and once they had tired of me they simply discarded me. It is time this came to light before anyone else is abused.
“They didn’t think they were doing anything wrong and it was the norm then. They felt untouchable.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-child-abuse-whistleblower-i-3848987
Tory child abuse whistleblower: ‘Margaret Thatcher knew all about underage sex ring among ministers’
Former activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he sent Thatcher a 40-page dossier in 1989 accusing Cabinet members of abusing underage boys
Thatcher and Gilberthorpe
Her former Parliamentary Private Secretary Sir Peter Morrison has already been named in connection with a probe into the Bryn Estyn children’s home in Wrexham where Jimmy Savile allegedly molested boys.
Mrs Thatcher lobbied for Savile to be given a knighthood and he visited her at Chequers on at least 11 occasions.
The late MP Geoffrey Dickens also passed a list of names of prominent government figures involved in child sex abuse to Mrs Thatcher’s Home Secretary Leon Brittan. The list was “lost” by the Home Office.
Former High Court judge Baroness Butler-Sloss
Details of Mr Gilberthorpe’s evidence emerged as retired judge Baroness Butler-Sloss came under growing pressure to stand down as head of the Westminster child abuse inquiry.
She is accused of keeping allegations about a bishop out of a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she “cared about the church.”
Now, she faces fresh criticism over her admission of the key role of Lord Havers in the Cleveland child sex abuse inquiry in 1987 which she led.
Asked who instigated the Cleveland inquiry in 2003 Lady Butler-Sloss replied: “I think it was my brother actually as Lord Chancellor.”
A key part of the Thatcher era was her emphasis on “family values” and personal morality.
at around the same time the former PM’s Parliamentary Private secretary, the late sir Peter Morrison, was indulging his sexual appetite for boys as young as 15.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-child-abuse-whistleblower-margaret-3849172
Margaret Thatcher ‘personally covered up’ child abuse allegations against senior ministers
The Tory Prime Minister is said to have held a meeting with a rising star, who was tipped for promotion, and told him: “You have to clean up your sexual act”
Margaret Thatcher personally covered up child abuse allegations made against one of her senior ministers, according to explosive new claims.
The Sunday People reports Tory Prime Minister is said to have held a high-powered meeting with the rising star, who was being tipped for promotion, and told him: “You have to clean up your sexual act.”
It followed an allegation that the minister had sexually abused young boys at the home of one of his political allies in 1982.
However the minister apparently ignored the warnings.
It is claimed that four years later he was spotted by police seeking young boys for sex at Victoria railway station in London.
But no action was taken.
The extraordinary claims – made to the Sunday People by a source with inside knowledge of Scotland Yard in the early 1980s – are now expected to be put before the
Westminster child abuse inquiry announced last week by the Prime Minister.
They go to the very heart of claims that there was an Establishment cover-up to protect politicians , judges and police officers involved in a sick paedophile network.
According to the source, the minister’s alleged interest in abusing young boys first came to light after he stayed at the home of a constituency agent.
The agent, responsible for securing local election success for the Tory MP, is believed to have alerted authorities.
A high-level meeting involving then Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher, Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw, a senior policeman and an MI5 officer was held to discuss his alleged behaviour.
The minister, according to the source, was then summoned to 10 Downing Street.
But, instead of being disciplined or sacked, the minister was warned about his future behaviour and the matter was swept under the carpet.
Four years later, fresh allegations surfaced
In 1986, the politician was alleged to have been found seeking rent boys in the men’s toilets at Victoria railway station in central London Alec Marnoch, a highly respected police officer and Operations Commander of the Yard’s No 8 Area which covers Westminster and the West End.
Mr Marnoch, who died aged 58 in 1999 soon after his retirement, also intimated to the source that police working in Piccadilly Circus had got a report of the same politician importuning at one of London’s most notorious rent-boy haunts – the “chicken rack”.
The “chicken rack” was a set of metal railings close to Piccadilly underground station which was a vice hotspot in the 1980s.
Boys as young as 13 waited there to be picked up by men for sex – often VIPs such as politicians, TV stars or even policemen
The Sunday People has been leading the way since Mr Watson first stunned Parliament and PM David Cameron in October 2012 with claims of a high-profile paedophile network with links to 10 Downing Street.
Since breaking the story, we have produced a string of exclusives about the alleged VIP paedophile ring and reveal how far it reached.
We first revealed the existence of the “Dickens dossier” which was handed to then Home Secretary Leon Brittan.
Its disappearance has prompted the Butler-Sloss inquiry.
The dossier, compiled by now-dead MP Geoffrey Dickens , contained information that would blow the lid off a secret VIP paedophile network, according to Mr Dickens’s son Barry.
He says that in the weeks after his father submitted the dossier, the family’s home was twice “professionally” burgled.
The Home Office admits there is no trace of the dossier and that 114 “potentially relevant files” have been destroyed or lost.
The Home Office was forced to defend Baroness Butler-Sloss, 80, after it was claimed she buried allegations about a bishop from a child-abuse review in 2011.
She reportedly told a victim she did not want to include the allegations in a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she “cared about the Church” and “the Press would love a bishop”.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatcher-personally-covered-up-3848836
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/paedophiles-in-panic-timebomb-at-elm-guest-house-pop-stars-a-bishop-and-a-top-politician-appear-on-a-list-seized-by-police-investigating-child-abuse-at-the-london-hotel-in-the1980s/
TONY BLAIR COVERED FOR CHILD MOLESTORS AS WELL
Tony Blair War Criminal and pedophile protector
HAS ANYTHING BEEN DONE ABOUT THESE CHILD MOLESTORS?
IN FACT A ROLLING COMMITTEE WAS SET UP TO PROTECT THESE MOLESTORS
The Sunday Times is reported to have obtained an FBI list of Labour MPs who have used credit cards to pay for internet child pornography, and Blair has responded by imposing a massive news blackout, failing however to stop the arrest of one of his most important aides, Phillip Lyon.The controversy [was] certain to topple the Blair government, which has already issued a D-Notice to gag the press from revealing the names of known paedophiles within the British executive, including at least two senior ministers; and the case highlights the government’s antipathy toward the Sunday Herald and its brand of independent journalism that has, among other things, exposed the role played by the domestic security agency, MI5, in helping the IRA to carry out terrorist atrocities. Also revealed by the Sunday Herald’s Home Affairs Editor, Neil Mackay, the British intelligence services are actively engaged in preventing any further child sex revelations that could incite further hostility to an already unpopular Prime Minister and destroy the morale of troops set to invade Iraq. An intelligence officer told Mackay that “a ‘rolling’ Cabinet committee had been set up to work out how to deal with the potentially ruinous fall-out for both Tony Blair and the government if arrests occur.
THE ROLLING CABINET COMMITTEE CONTINUES
IN FACT DAVID CAMERON CONTINUES TO WORK WITH AND PROTECT CHILD MOLESTORS
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/david-cameron-is-covering-for-paedophiles-again/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/british-establishment-paedophile-rings-and-their-global-partners/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/here-is-a-list-of-100-paedophile-councillors-or-uk-political-party-affiliated-members-they-are-among-the-people-who-help-run-our-country/
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/11/child-sex-rings-reveal-worst-of-power.html
BUT THE BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT DO HAVE THE ECUDORIAN EMBASSY SURROUNDED JUST IN CASE JULIAN ASSANGE DECIDES TO TRY AND HAVE CONSENTUAL SEX WITH ANOTHER MATURE SWEDISH WOMAN!
IT COULD BE THAT JULIAN ASSANGE SETUP WIKILEAKS WHICH THREATENS TO EXPOSE THE VERY DARKEST SECRETS OF THE BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT!
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced Tuesday that his government is considering suing the British government in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for denying Wikileaks founder Julian Assange safe passage to Ecuador. Assange has been forced to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since he was granted asylum by the South American country in June last year.
http://www.support-julian-assange.com/tag/ecuadorian-embassy-london/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/police-states-theirs-and-ours/
SCOTLAND HAS THE CHANCE TO START THE LIBERATION OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE!
VOTE YES ON SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE
SCOTLAND CAN START AS A NEW 21ST CENTURY DIRECT DEMOCRACY
Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy, is a form of democracy and a theory of civics in which sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. Depending on the particular system, this assembly might pass executive motions, make laws, elect or dismiss officials, and conduct trials. Direct democracy stands in contrast to representative democracy, (UK,EU system)where sovereignty is exercised by a subset of the people, usually on the basis of election.
Our subset of the people , all have the same financial backers and lobby groups, and are therefore a one-party-system of elected dictatorship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/direct-democracy-vs-representative-democracy-or-pure-democracy-vs-elected-dictatorship-the-real-root-of-todays-global-destruction/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/the-great-government-hoax-of-public-safety/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/global-government-an-ongoing-disaster/
WE CAN ROOT OUT AND ARREST THE MOLESTORS AND THE WAR CRIMINALS
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/burger-eating-war-monkeys-and-thier-track-record/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/the-insanity-of-war-is-the-insanity-of-government-people-we-can-stop-the-war-machine/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/america-is-running-the-worlds-largest-terrorist-operation-experts-on-the-left-and-the-right-agree/
WE CAN END THE ODIOUS DEBT AS WELL
In international law, odious debt, also known as illegitimate debt, is a legal theory that holds that the national debt incurred by a regime for purposes that do not serve the best interests of the nation, should not be enforceable. Such debts are, thus, considered by this doctrine to be personal debts of the regime that incurred them and not debts of the state. In some respects, the concept is analogous to the invalidity of contracts signed under coercion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odious_debt
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/independent-scotland-could-be-debt-free-if-westminster-maintains-current-stance/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/do-we-even-need-a-banking-sector-not-any-more/
WE CAN SHOW THE WAY FOR THE ENGLISH ,WELSH AND IRISH AND HOPEFULLY BE AN INSPIRATION TO THE WHOLE WORLD
PLEASE VOTE YES IN SEPTEMBER
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/you-and-scottish-independence/
…AND MAYBE ONE DAY WE WILL ALL BE PROUD TO CALL OURSELVES BRITONS AGAIN
…AND NOT JUST BRIT”ISH”
5 Comments | CURRENT AFFAIRS, FINANCIAL INDUSTRY, POLITICS, Scotland, SCOTTISH INDEPENDANCE, War On Terror | Permalink
Scottish Independence Positively YES or Negatively NO?
With choice of British nationalist or Scottish nationalist as a political identity for Scotland,there is a lot of lies and propaganda going on. Mainly from the “Doomed ,Doomed we’re all doomed” people in the “Bitter Together” camp which campaigns for the NO vote and British nationalism.
These people believe that Scotland cannot run itself,which is borderline racism in my book, and that Scotland is economically better of being British.This is a complete and obvious LIE.
Unionist Economists have turned Britain into a Debtor Nation
UNIONIST ECONOMISTS LIE
181ST IS LAST PLACE!!!
NOTICE THE 4 BIGGEST DEBTOR NATIONS WHERE THE NATIONS THAT GOT LIED INTO ILLEGAL WARS!
THEY ALL HAVE MAJOR ELITE PAEDOPHILE RINGS AS WELL…WHERE DID THOSE IRAQI WMD’S DISAPPEAR TOO?
Please notice Switzerland ,Norway and the Netherlands are NOT DEBTOR NATIONS!!
This is why I would be voting YES
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/the-15-trillion-dollar-man-exposes-political-and-financial-fraud-and-corruption-on-a-galactic-scale/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/british-economic-strength-or-im-forever-blowing-bubbles/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/would-an-independent-scotland-be-financially-sound/
UNIONISTS ARGUE WE SHOULD PROSTITUTE OUR CULTURE TO SUPPORT BRITISH NATIONALISM AND NEO NAZIS
These very same people think a greater British union is good ,but a greater European union is bad.Surely if Scotland should give up soverignty for promised money ,influence or economic wealth ,then this arguement must be sound for Britain to give up her soverignty to a greater European union for promised money ,influence and economic weealth.But apparently British unionists are not European Unionists.
British unionists DO support Ukrainian Neo Nazis but not Scottish Independence or greater European unionising?
UNIONISTS ARE FULL OF WAR CRIMINALS THEIVES AND PAEDOPHILES
The truth is ,is that the British establishment is corrupt to the core and full of mad power sociopaths, paedophiles ,war criminals ,thevies ,profiteers and blackmailers and the blackmailed, that there is just no hope for it.
This is why I would be voting YES!!!
These are the people that do War Crimes and fund Islamic terrorists
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/bush-and-blair-guilty-as-charged-and-added-to-the-war-criminals-register/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/all-wars-are-bankers-wars-politions-are-just-thier-cheerleaders/
IT HAS TO GO!
This is why I would be voting YES!
Britain and British as geo-cultural designation will still exist, just as Scandic and Scandinavian does for Sweden ,Norway and Denmark. I support the British and Irish Lions rugby team ,there is more chance of there being a British and Irish Lions Football team after independence.So do not worry about loosing your Britishness,its preserving your Scottishness that is important.We where Britons long before that Act of Union, we will still be Britons long after Scottish Independence.
This is not about the SNP and Alex Salmond, this is about Scotland and its future.This is not about David Cameron or the Tories ,who will continue to run Scotland from Westminster with a NO vote! So a vote for NO is a vote for Westminster and a vote for Tory rule and more of the status quo.
As for Europe ,not even Europe wants to be in Europe at the momment.
SCOTLAND CAN RESCUE ITSELF FROM THIS BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FINANCIAL MUPPET SHOW WITH A YES VOTE!
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/02/14/euro-britsh-pound-or-scottish-pound-british-nationalist-or-scottish-nationalist-dependency-or-self-reliance-democracy-or-centralised-authority-scotland-the-choice-is-yours/
If you expect things to get better after a NO vote ,then you are clinically insane.To repeat an action and expect a different result is a clinical definition of insanity.IF you think this is the best Scotland can do then you have a very low opinion of Scots.Only a YES vote can change things.
I believe in a 21ST CENTURY Direct Democracy Scotland ,not another outdated Elected Dictatorship
and a Libertarian Socialist Scotland
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/beware-fake-libertarians-and-false-prophets-for-virtual-profits/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/when-left-and-right-unite-the-future-will-be-bright-things-we-all-agree-on/
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/libertarian-socialists-the-original-and-real-libertarians/
SCOTLAND ITS TIME TO MAKE HISTORY
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/scotland-its-time-to-change-the-european-map-again/
PLEASE VOTE YES 2014
PLEASE VOTE FOR SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE!!
https://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/yes-yes-yes-the-2014-scottish-independence-campaign-has-officially-started/
2 Comments | CURRENT AFFAIRS, POLITICS, Scotland, SCOTTISH INDEPENDANCE, SNP | Tagged: British nationalism, European union, Norway, Scotland, scottish independence, Scottish nationalist | Permalink
You are currently browsing the Cuthulan's Blog blog archives for July, 2014.
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Aston Martin, English
The V8 Vantage story – AMV8 prototype
12/04/2019 04/10/2019 Jose Valdés
Thanks to the financial support of a large automotive group such as Ford Motor Co. and under the direction of Dr. Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin set out to expand the range of models to reach a wider audience. The development project of a new sports car was aimed at settling in the market niche reserved until then to the Porsche 911.
The Aston Martin AMV8 Vantage will allow us to access a larger market. Aston Martin will never become a large volume manufacturer, but this model will allow more customers to enjoy the Aston Martin experience.
The AMV8 Vantage is a really important model for us, as it will allow Aston Martin to become a serious contender in the global sports car market.
– Dr. Ulrich Bez
In 2000 Aston Martin started to consider the assault on a new market niche with a younger target audience. For this, the company would develop a hatchback two-seater coupe, something that Aston Martin hadn’t done since the DB2.
The initial idea was to create a mid-rear engine car, which Dr. Bez rejected in autumn 2000, in favor of a mid-front engine schema.
In September 2001, after Henrik Fisker had joined the company as Design Director, work began on the project with internal code AM305.
The AM305 project was conceived as the first Aston Martin to use the VH platform (horizontal vertical). This platform is the mechanical basis of all Aston Martin models (with the exception of the One-77) until the DB11 was unveiled in 2016. The DB11 would use the evolution of this platform, called VH2.
Much of the technology that has been developed with the Aston Martin Vanquish will be adopted in the production of the AMV8 Vantage
– Jeremy Main
The power plant adopts a transaxle configuration, where the engine is located behind the front axle, connected to the gearbox through a transmission tube made out of carbon fiber. This configuration provides the vehicle with an almost perfect weight distribution.
This first work after Fisker’s enrollment in Aston Martin continues with the design language developed by the previous Chief Designer, Ian Callum, responsible for the DB7 and Vanquish.
Compared to the Vanquish, it’s surfaces are much simpler, dynamic and full of tension.
– Henrik Fisker
Fisker worked independently during these early stages of the project and soon developed the basic idea on which his concept would be based: Proportions of a classic coupe with long bonnet, driver sitting close to the rear axle, wide body, muscular shapes and soft lines.
Fisker would say that, although it was inspired by the classic designs of the company, such as the DB4, the design is contemporary and advanced, evolving the bases established with the DB7.
I was inspired by the DB4: sporty, elegant, with a simple and refined side section. However, I didn’t want to create a retro design. This is a modern design in which we show our technology more than ever: the headlights, taillights and switches are unique and advanced.
The AMV8 Vantage has many of the design cues that have become the basic DNA of Aston Martin. It is important to ensure that the design of the car is pure, clean and modern, but at the same time identifiable as an Aston Martin.
Soon the team in charge of the AM305 project grew with the incorporation of Ivan Lampkin and Sarah Maynard, both enrolled to work on the interior design.
After the 1: 1 scale sketches were reviewed, the direction that the design would follow was definitely established. That lead the team to directly work on the real scale clay model.
In February 2002 both clay models of the body and interior were ready to be reviewed by the management board. New refinements in the design emerged from this revision, resulting in smoother shapes for the bodywork.
Special attention was paid to parts such as the bumpers or exhaust outlets to achieve a completely integrated design in the set.
After a second revision in April that same year, the design was definitely approved and the decision was made to build a functional prototype to be shown in the Detroit Auto Show.
Our cars must be full of character. One of the main reasons for buying an Aston Martin is its imposing design.
I wanted to create unique rear lights, easily identifiable in the future.
The aim of the front design is to increase the prominence of the grille, which is the hallmark of the company. It has become a sharper element, with greater emphasis on the concave part under the headlights. The prominence of the grill is increased, also, because all the panels part from it.
This is a good example of visual craftsmanship, since the manufacture of the panels would be unthinkable for a large series vehicle. Similarly, the side outlet and the tension line on the side need to be handcrafted to achieve such a finish quality when working with aluminium.
The work on this project would see its tipping point during the presentation at the Detroit Motor Show on January 6, 2003 of the AMV8 Vantage prototype, 5 years after having unveiled the V12 Vanquish in the same room.
astonmartins.com
cardesignnews.com
Aston Martin: Power, Beauty and Soul, David Dowsey, 2010
Definitive Guide to New Gaydon Era Aston Martin, Grant Neal, 2017
Aston Martin, Richard Loveys, 2015
Etiquetado AMV8, Aston, Henrik Fisker, Martin, V8, Vantage
Entrada anteriorLocost Seven: Parte 4 – Herramientas necesarias
Entrada siguientePrueba – Jaguar E-Type 4.2 Series 1
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Profanity Can Also Be a Controversial Issue in the Workplace
Posted on January 17, 2018 June 2, 2019 by Robert G. Chadwick, Jr.
Political controversies, such as President Trump’s alleged use of the term “sh**hole” in reference to third-world countries, serve as a reminder to private employers that profanity in the workplace can also be a controversial issue. There is no federal law which expressly addresses profanity in the workplace, but profanity can still be at the heart of a legal dispute under applicable employment laws.
Protected Profanity?
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), for instance, has said that concerted activities for the mutual aid or protection of employees can be legally protected under the National Labor Relations Act even if laced with profanity. Several decisions show just how far the NLRB has gone to protect employee speech rights.
On May 19, 2014, an administrative law judge of the NLRB in Hooters of Ontario Mills found that a Hooters’ franchise had unlawfully fired an employee for shouting “you’re a f***ing b**ch” within earshot of customers during a bikini contest. The judge opined that the profanity was tied to a protected complaint that the contest was rigged. The employee was ordered to be reinstated.
On May 28, 2014, in Plaza Auto Center, Inc., the NLRB held that a business owner unlawfully discharged an employee who called him a “f***ing mother f***ing”, a “f***ing crook”, and an a**hole.” The NLRB said these statements were made during a meeting in which the employee lodged a protected complaint as to the calculation of sales commissions. The employee was ordered to be reinstated.
On March 31, 2015, in Pier Sixty, LLC, the NLRB again held that an employer unlawfully terminated an employee for the following Facebook post about his supervisor during a union organizing campaign: “Bob is such a NASTY MOTHER F***ER don’t know how to talk to people!!!!!! F*** his mother and his entire f***ing family!!!! What a LOSER!!! Vote YES for the UNION.” The NLRB opined that the Facebook comments were directed at the supervisor’s asserted mistreatment of employees, and sought redress through the upcoming election, and thus constituted protected, concerted and union activity. The employee was ordered to be reinstated.
Unlawful Profanity?
Under certain circumstances, moreover, workplace profanity may provide the basis for a claim of harassment under federal discrimination laws. Indeed, some decisions have found that severe and pervasive profanity can be the entire basis of a harassment claim.
On October 25, 2013, in Griffin v. City of Portland, an Oregon federal court decided the city’s motion for summary judgment as to a religious discrimination suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) and Oregon law. The employee, a devout Christian, alleged frequent profanity in the workplace, including the use of God’s and Jesus Christ’s name as curse words. The court found genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether the employee was subjected to a hostile work environment because of her religion.
On April 28, 2008, in Reeves v. C.H. Robinson Worldwide, the Eleventh Circuit decided a summary judgment motion as to a Title VII claim of sexual harassment. Unique to the fact pattern in this case was the existence of gender specific vulgarities which were not targeted or directed at women. The plaintiff specifically complained that sexually offensive language, such as “f**k”, “whore”, “b**ch”, “c*nt” and “d**k”, from multiple coworkers permeated the work environment every day. The court denied summary judgment for the employer.
Takeaway for Employers
As with many workplace issues, employers can face a legal tightrope when it comes to profanity in the workplace. An overly broad or aggressive approach can trigger an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB. Ignoring or tolerating profanity altogether can trigger a harassment complaint. To traverse this legal tightrope, it is imperative that managers and supervisors be trained as to how to lead by example and how to respond to cursing employees. The risk of not doing so can be dire.
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SMARTgirls: Voices from Cambodia
This month, Degrees is sharing stories from participants in SMARTgirl, an FHI 360-led program aimed at preventing and mitigating the impact of HIV among entertainment workers living in Cambodia. The program provides peer education and social support, and improves access to HIV and reproductive health services. SMARTgirl treats entertainment workers respectfully and celebrates their positive qualities. SMARTgirl is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Somany’s struggles
Twenty-three-year-old Somany is a transgender entertainment worker who has HIV. Social stigma from the community and ostracism from her family leave Somany with a deep sense of loneliness and isolation. Speaking candidly to a SMARTgirl support group, she related how every day feels like a...
Lang’s secret
My name is Lang. My parents and friends back in my hometown don't know what I'm really doing here in Phnom Penh. They think I'm studying English and training in a wedding reception center...
Sopheap’s strength
Sopheap was born male but, at age 10, realized she identified as a girl. Because Sopheap’s parents feared other people’s responses, she wore boys’ clothing until age 17 “because I had to go to school and my parents didn’t like me wearing girls’ clothes.” Since then, Sopheap’s parents have...
Sineng’s diagnosis
Sineng, 21, works in a beer hall in Phnom Penh, where her job is to serve and entertain men. Sometimes she sells sex to make extra money. In the last month, she was diagnosed with HIV. Sineng fears how the virus will affect her health, her relationships and her job. Afraid and timid, she stood...
Nguyen’s Day
Twenty-six-year-old Nguyen's1 husband is a shoemaker, but his income of approximately 40 U.S. dollars a month is not enough to support them and their two children. To help make ends meet — including paying the monthly rent of 30 dollars on their one-room home — Nguyen supplements the household...
Kimthy’s Story
My name is Kimthy1 and I’m living far from home, where my son and mother are. I’m selling sex in Phnom Penh, and it’s a lifestyle I want to keep quiet about. My hometown community already dislikes me, so I’m not going to tell them what I do or that I’m HIV positive...
Celebrating International Women’s Day all month
Today is International Women’s Day. Rather than celebrate it for just one day, FHI 360 will pay tribute to women throughout the month of March by sharing stories from participants in the SMARTgirl program...
Cambodia, Featured, HIV, sexual health, SMARTgirl
One Response to “SMARTgirls: Voices from Cambodia”
Ruth Butcher on April 13th, 2012 - 10:11am
I feel privileged to read these testimonials;
privileged that these young people have been courageous enough to share their stories &
privileged to gain a better understanding of these issues because of the work of FHI (USAID)
I hope this work will continue to grow in strength, support & with even greater results.
Congratulations for your efforts & for the positive change you are making possible for these young people.
Gender Equality and Development
For girls and women, change is here
Is Education Overlooking the Needs of Boys?
Increasing transparency and participation in the 2012 Senegalese Presidential Election
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Rachel — like #YesAllGirls — is determined to go to school
Rachel Daniel, 4 Pillars PLUS student, Government Secondary School Federal Housing Estate, Nigeria
Hannah Orenstein, Digital Manager, Malala Fund
Photo Credit: Dooshima Orjime, 4 Pillars PLUS project
In the beginning of September, Malala challenged girls around the world to show their support for refugee girls by sharing a #YesAllGirls photo — just like she did with her classmates.
Girls (and boys!) from all over posted picture after inspiring picture, with each group seemingly larger than the last. One of our favorite photos came from the students at JSS Government Secondary School Federal Housing Estate in Calabar, Nigeria.
Rachel, a 13-year-old student enrolled in the Cross River State school, shared her story.
“After my dad married my mum, they had my sister and I. My father did not care for my mum because he gave her only female children. He kept late nights and had other women. My mum left after she couldn’t take it anymore. She also left us at a tender age with our grandmother. My father married another woman, who had male children for him. My step mum told my dad to send us out of the house which he did. My sister was serious about writing her Senior Secondary Exams; but due to lack of parental guidance and care on the part of both my mum and dad, my sister failed her exams. This has made life more depressing for her. Anytime I see my sister I cry, because her education has ended from the lack of concern on the part of my father, it makes me sad. I pray for my sister and don’t want her life stagnated or her education ending just like that.
Equity in education: Evidence for investments in the SDG era
Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360
Nothing has inspired me more than the sacrifices I have seen African parents make to send their children to school. In Swaziland in the 1990s, I calculated that a typical rural family spent over 60 percent of its disposable income to pay for school fees, books and uniforms. The reason families are willing to devote so much to educate their children was summed up by the pioneering American educator Horace Mann in 1848, when he wrote, “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.”
As our world has become more interconnected and technology-dependent, the role of education as the primary pathway to social and economic mobility has grown stronger. We now live in the most prosperous era in the history of mankind, but one where a quality education is the price of admission into the 21st century knowledge economy.
As more countries have prospered, the gap between the haves and the have nots — which, in most low- and lower-middle income countries, is the gap between the well-educated and the undereducated — has become a potentially destabilizing factor. Lack of education decreases life opportunities and increases political marginalization, perpetuating and exacerbating social and economic inequality. In an increasingly uncertain and volatile world, educational inequality not only is a main component of the poverty trap, but is also a tripwire for social strife and conflict.
Armed conflict and education inequality: What do we know?
Charlie Gale, Research Associate, FHI 360
What do Ethiopia, Nepal, Niger and the Philippines have in common? Each country had episodes of conflict in the 1990s, and each bucked the global trend of declining education inequalities in a subsequent time period. Researchers have long puzzled over the relationship between inequality and civil conflict: Do grievances over a lack of access to resources or social capital actually lead people to go to war? For some academics, the question is met with skepticism, as empirical research has often led to inconclusive results. Recent changes in the way inequality is conceptualized and measured have changed the way people think about this connection.
Read the full blog.
How do we promote equity in education? A new research initiative
Carina Omoeva, Director for Research and Evaluation, Global Education, FHI 360
Eric Eversmann, Senior Director for Basic Education, Save the Children
Rising inequality is one of the greatest challenges facing the global community today – and equity is rightly at the heart of the new development agenda, reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Education 2030 Incheon Declaration. Nowhere is the challenge of equity more salient than in education, with its potential to positively shape life outcomes – or further exacerbate societal disparities.
How prepared are we in the education community to address this challenge? Do we have the right tools, metrics, and interventions to track our progress in educational equity? While we have gathered gender-disaggregated data for decades, our collective practice in tracking equity across other dimensions has been far from deliberate. Just as quality proved a blind spot in the early years of the previous goals period, there is a risk that inequality in education outcomes and resources will go unmeasured, unreported, and unaddressed. Without attention to equity now, we may soon find ourselves scrambling to address the equity gap, just as we scrambled to address the learning gap that emerged under the focus on access.
Read the full blog here.
Developing girls’ mathematics identity through teacher education
Felicia Moore Mensah, Professor of Science and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
A disturbing trend has developed showing that decreasing numbers of girls and women are majoring and entering careers in science, mathematics, engineering, technology and computer science (STEM-CS). Some of this decline is attributed to how math is taught in schools. If students do not find math interesting, if the teaching of math is described as boring or not fun, and if students do not see the relevancy or application of math in their personal lives, then students and girls particularly are not going to be interested in or pursue careers in mathematics or any of the other STEM-CS fields.
Since math and science both suffer from teacher and student low self-efficacy, it is extremely important to make these subjects interesting and relevant. Thus, much of my role as a science teacher educator working with preservice and in-service elementary teachers is to begin building a foundation for them to become reacquainted with math and science and to excite an interest of learning these areas, so that they can do the same for their students. Below I outline a few ways teacher education can support the development of girls’ math identity. A first step is to encourage a math and science identity with teachers during their teacher preparation with the hope that they will foster math and science identity with their students.
The power of ICT to catalyze learning
Rebecca Potts, Program Officer, Global Learning Business Unit, FHI 360
One effective way of improving the quality of education in low- and middle-income countries is to invest in information and communications technology (ICT).
Providing schools with internet access and computer hardware opens doors to an abundance of information that teachers and students can use to make lessons more relevant and effective. Teachers can use online portals to connect with each other and to share lesson plans and best practices, while students can use ICT to access online libraries and to master new technologies.
Many of FHI 360’s education projects use ICT as a tool to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, encourage community participation in education and increase school access. Bringing ICT to middle school classrooms in Senegal was a critical part of FHI 360’s Education de Base project. This project, which was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and reached more than 93,000 students and 4,500 teachers in Senegal, won the Innovating Secondary Education Skills Enhancement Prize from the group Results for Development. The prize was awarded, in large part, because of its effective use of ICT.
Math identity is the key to girls’ math success
Merle Froschl, Co-Director, Educational Equity, FHI 360
Barbara Sprung, Co-Director, Educational Equity, FHI 360
Photo: Jessica Scranton/FHI 360
Girls get the message — from the toys they play with, the TV shows they watch and the attitudes of their parents, teachers and peers — that math is NOT for them! From an early age, girls are taught that math success is about an innate ability that they lack and that being feminine and being good at math are mutually exclusive.
As a result, girls do not develop a positive math identity — an identity that research tells us is key to their interest, participation and persistence in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and careers. Without a solid background in math, girls will not develop the critical STEM skills that will be required for 60 percent of the new jobs that will become available in the 21st century.
There are two pillars of a positive math identity: the belief that you can do math and the belief that you belong. Identity is fluid and dynamic. It is developed through social practice, and it is through social practice that learners develop a sense of who they are. There is no such thing as a “math gene” or a “math brain,” but the myth is perpetuated, and it is particularly harmful to girls and students of color. Teachers and parents often unconsciously convey stereotyped messages that girls do not need to be good in math.
A successful project keeps girls in school in Kenya
Ahlam Kays, Project Director, Gender Department, FHI 360
In most primary and secondary schools in sub-Saharan Africa, girls and boys learn math, science, language, art and history along with other subjects. Seldom do they receive the critical information they need to keep them safe, healthy and able to withstand the challenges that threaten their well-being and basic right to education. Completing a full cycle of education can become little more than a dream.
Turning the dream of education into a reality was the driving force behind the Four Pillars PLUS project. With funding from the GE Foundation, FHI 360 launched this robust girls’ education, mentoring and empowerment project in the counties of Kisumu and Siaya in Kenya.
Taking a student-based approach to youth development
Elizabeth Buckner, Research Associate, Education Policy and Data Center
How do we best meet the needs of adolescents, recognizing that the world they are entering is rapidly changing?
Youth programming should focus on the successful transition from adolescence to adulthood, rather than on the reduction of behavioral problems, a past trend. Such programming ensures adolescents’ mental and physical health, as well as provides opportunities to develop positive social values, human and social capital, a sense of well-being and an ability to make sound choices.
Unfortunately, donor-funded discourse on secondary education reform is still dominated by a dialogue on expanding access and improving quality in education. Youth development and large-scale secondary school reform usually operate on parallel tracks, with youth development approached through afterschool, extracurricular or nonformal programming.
Research points to the power of educational equity in reducing civil conflict
Carina Omoeva, Director, Education Policy and Data Center, FHI 360
Unequal educational opportunity often lies at the heart of deep inequities in economic productivity, social well-being and participation in democratic institutions. Key livelihood statistics show that across the globe, individuals with lower levels of education are more likely to earn less, have poorer health outcomes and are less likely to enter leadership positions. For this reason, efforts to improve equity must start with education.
A soon-to-be released study, completed by the FHI 360 Education Policy and Data Center (EPDC) and commissioned by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme, indicates that ensuring equitable access to educational resources may be more than just a moral right: It may also contribute to reducing the likelihood of civil conflict.
Using an innovative methodology that captures disparities in educational attainment among ethnic and religious groups, as well as among subnational regions within countries, we found that violent civil conflict is more likely in countries with high levels of disparity among groups. Preliminary results showed that the difference in the odds of conflict between highly unequal and more equal countries was large in magnitude and held true even after accounting for the countries’ differences in economic development, political systems, populations and income inequalities.
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Charter Member Dinner
TIE Denver International Summit 2019
This conference is designed to bring together Entrepreneurs, Executives, Investors, Leadership Teams and local, regional, and global Business Owners, including women entrepreneurs and startups focused on market expansion, taking their business over $ 1M+. Conference theme is Global Political and Economic impacts on small companies and startups in Colorado| Opportunities and Challenges
Our speakers are joining from around the US and the globe to bring their perspectives to our interactive conversations.
Day 1: Includes a Pitch competition followed by Charter member, Investor, Speaker and Sponsor reception and Dinner
Day 2: The Consulate General of India is flying into Denver and will be a delivering a KeyNote on the current change in India and Asia both economically and politically that are impacting and creating opportunities ( and challenges) for US companies both small and large.
Surendra Adhana is a career diplomat, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2010. Entry into this Service is through a highly competitive selection procedure, probably the most rigorous in the world.
He received his early education in National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering.
After training at the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi, he chose Russian as his language of specialisation. Before moving to Moscow, he joined the Ministry of External Affairs for familiarization with Russian related affairs.
Subsequently, he was posted at the Indian Embassy in Moscow (2012-2016), where he was attached to the political wing of the Embassy. There he worked as the India-Russia bilateral relations specialist during the period of former Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh and the current Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant 1&2 and the work to jointly manufacture Ka-226T helicopters began during his tenure in Moscow. He was engaged in the formalization of the first ever cooperation mechanism in the field of disaster management between the two countries. He was also part of a team that worked towards India becoming a full member of SCO. He also involved on India’s engagement with multilateral entities like Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral dialogue and BRICS under Russian presidency. During this period, he also focussed on Russia’s relations with the West in the aftermath of Ukrainian crisis.
He joined the Consulate General of India in Houston in December 2016. Currently, he is focussed on providing the best consular services, forging strong economic & political ties, and deepening India’s cultural footprint, and transforming the outlook of the Consulate.
He is fluent in Hindi, English and Russian; and understands Punjabi. He has a deep interest in yoga and meditation.
He is married to Dr Rajyashree Singh, who is a psychiatrist, and they have a son.
Join us to find out how you can expand regionally, and internationally faster than you may be aware. Participants are eligible for upcoming trade mission to India
Not yet a member? Save $200 on registration. JOIN HERE and then complete registration at the member rate.
Hear from companies who have already bridged these gaps in Manufacturing, Heath care, Technology, Hospitality and Entertainment .
9 interactive sessions, 3 keynotes and lots of facilitated networking.
9:00 – 9:45 Political & Economic Impacts of US, UK, Middle East, Asian on Colorado and US companies
Ginny Castleberry – Director Of Business Development David Fein – CEO/President Balan Nair – CEO Surendra Adhana, Deputy Consul General Patrice Barber, Managing Partner
GA Thorpe Consulting Solutions, LLC
Valusource & Key ValueData Liberty Latin America Indian Foreign Service TMS-Colorado
Ginny’s newest Project is Whiskey! Helping a craft spirits distillery startup re-imagine what the experience could be for the new spirits market. Branding, go-to-market strategy, setting up operations: She brought to life the first-ever TiE Denver four-city conference. It was amazing! Over 60 keynotes & panelists for two packed days at DU. Curated for entrepreneurs to have meaningful networking experiences and learn a thing or two about what’s happening in the world of startups and innovation. She loves managing projects, connecting people and businesses, brainstorming solutions. Whether it is how to attract new customers, formulate that business plan, or get a new program started– it all comes together in successful strategies. I am an entrepreneur, world traveler and adventurer. At 16, I was the second-youngest person ever to set foot on the South Pole. At the pole I flew an American flag to present to President Carter in the White House. To put myself through college, I started and managed a sailboat charter business. At the age of 25, and fulfilling a long-time dream, I sailed across the Pacific to Tahiti on a 34-foot sailboat. In 1986 I co-founded ValuSource and became ValuSource’s president. My wife Michelle and I co-founded Kids Express, an alternative K-9 school, which focused on academic excellence, self-awareness, interpersonal communication and personal responsibility. Balan is the Manager of Technology, Product Development and Operations. He is involved in Multi-Billion dollar M&A and leads a Technology Venture fund. He is a seasoned Executive with deep expertise in all facets of the telecom industry, but feels there is always more to learn. He drives innovation and culture change in his company. Balan loves Excel and tolerates Powerpoints. Mr. Nair turely beleives all success is based on hard work, honesty, respect, great colleagues and luck. Surendra Adhana is a career diplomat, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2010. Entry into this Service is through a highly competitive selection procedure, probably the most rigorous in the world. He received his early education in National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. After training at the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi, he chose Russian as his language of specialisation. Before moving to Moscow, he joined the Ministry of External Affairs for familiarization with Russian related affairs.
With over 25 years’ experience in both Fortune 500 positions and in building and selling multiple startup operations she has had 3 successful exits, 2 sold to partners, 1 that generated over $5M in 18 months. Verticals spanning Enterprise ERP implementations; Financial services; and SMB CRM implementations focused on digital marketing creating communities with over 10,000 engaged members. She learned first -hand what to delegate, what to automate, and how technology simplifies business. Her experience in team development in both domestic and international markets makes her an indispensable leader.
10:00 – 10:45 Makers and Manufacturing in Colorado, Latin America, Asia and Europe
Suraya Yahaya _ COO Catherine Poirier – CEO Jaime Velasco – CFO Beth Scott – Co-Founder Luka Powanga
OTG Consulting
Body Bark Global Finance Boost LLC
AD RescueWear
Suraya continually surpasses and meets aggressive goals for growth, profit, product launch, operational support, market entry, marketing, and engineering; deliver $billion global strategies that produce $M’s in profits YOY. She is an expertise in outlining and rapidly delivering repeatable, scalable strategies, roadmaps, and operating models for new technologies across new and global markets. She is known as a leader in driving company-wide operating efficiency realignment and hiring/mentoring/structuring high-performing global teams who deliver record-breaking revenues and growth. She has repeatedly recruited/promoted to define, plan, and execute $multimillion enterprise growth and expansion initiatives. I am the President, Founder and Designer of Body Bark, an apparel company offering
fashionable, luxurious, feminine tops that are Made in the USA from sustainable fiber. My mission is to help women feel fabulous in their clothing. When we FEEL GOOD, we LOOK GOOD and FEEL CONFIDENT. I pride myself in my ability to manage and train sales representatives and warehouse staff, lead website and marketing initiatives, collaborate with PR/Marketing consultants and Ecommerce fulfillment partners, and oversee all financial operations and production. Jaime Velasco is a finance executive with international experience in companies ranging from $5 million in revenue to Fortune 100 companies. He has served as divisional CFO for a 70,000+ employee international organization, helped raise seed and venture capital and led a number of companies to successful exits. He is an innovative problem solver who has demonstrated a track record of organizing teams, optimizing productivity and creating efficiencies. With more than 20 years of progressive experience, Jaime’s background includes working with companies facilitating their expansion, as well as providing strategic direction to achieve long-term financial results. AD RescueWear is the 1st and only U.S. company to manufacture and sell ready to wear wet wraptherapy products for the treatment of Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema) in children. These products arealso great as a dry wrap for Atopic Dermatitis (Eczema) over creams and emollients and as aprotective second skin for healing skin. These products are a breakthrough for parents, doctors andnurses who struggle with wet and dry wrapping children with skin diseases. Dr. Powanga, a professor of Economics and Finance at Regis University has over 35 years of executive management experience at local and international levels in international trade, finance, economic development, mineral processing and entrepreneurship. He consults with companies in international investments, energy project development and investments, capacity training and development. He chairs and delivers key note speeches at international conferences such as the Sustainability conference at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada in addition to being on the advisory board for a consortium of universities and organizations that includes IBM.
10:00 – 10:45 Higher Profit with Social Impact: Applying social good into your business model
Shelley Ford – Financial Advisor Wendi Burkhardt – CEO Praful Shah – Chairman Christopher Leach – President
Morgan Stanley Silvernest 3-lines Venture Capital Contract Furnishings, Inc.
Shelley Ford began her career as a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley in May of 2011 (Series 7, 66 and 31) and joined the Pelican Bay Group at Morgan Stanley in January 2014. Prior to her career with Morgan Stanley, Shelley had fifteen years of business development experience assisting small to mid-sized companies. Her experience as a chief marketing officer helped her transition successfully into helping fundraising efforts as an independent consultant and investment banker/broker. Her experience as an investment banker now allows her to take a more broad-minded approach to financial services offered to business owners and CEOs. Wendi has more than 25 years of technology experience working with venture start-ups, emerging technology offerings, rapid-growth tech firms and Fortune 500 corporations. Her history also includes a year spent working with Home Instead, a $1B in-home, senior care corporation as a key client. She is a seasoned entrepreneur as well as a mentor and coach to social ventures. Wendi holds a degree in International Trade & Finance from Louisiana State University, and has completed an executive education program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Praful Shah, an angel investor, and advisor to Principium Consulting, addresses the misconception that impact investing isn’t profitable. Impact investing is of course the act of investing in a for-profit enterprise that also produces some form of social good. Shah describes some of the amazing investment opportunities he has been a part of, from a soccer ball that generates 3 hours of electricity after a 30 minute game, to needle free injections that prevent disease and a tea company that works to empower women and girls. Contract Furnishings, Inc. offers a unique office environment designed specifically for your needs. With both new and used furniture, an extensive in-stock inventory, rental options and custom-design capabilities, we can accommodate any office, any style and any budget. Space planning and design. Delivery and Installation. Move management. From consultation to installation, think of us as your full-service office furniture solution company.
11:00 – 11:45 OEDIT and DEDO:Bringing Business to Colorado and Doing business in Asia, Canada, Mexico, Europe, India
Doug Tisdale – Chariman of the Board
Timothy Martinez – Administrator
Conner Murphy – Diplomacy Manager Max Nathanson – Global Businesss Development Manager Stephanie Garnica- Director of Global Business Development for Denver’s Economic Development & Opportunity Office
Reginoal Transportation District DEDO OEDIT OEDIT University of Colorado at Denver
Globally-experienced attorney, facilitator, problem-solver and champion of causes, promoting economic development and business expansion. Vast experience leading and counseling nonprofit and for-profit organizations, including complex commercial civil litigation matters, arbitrations and transactional matters. Exceptionally skilled at creating strong and sustainable financial models for companies. Successful leader in civic, charitable, cultural, educational, governmental, healthcare and corporate environments. Skilled at building positive relationships and development opportunities for large and small companies and governments in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Former clients include governments, numerous money center banks and financial institutions, international real estate developers, large diversified corporations, NGOs and nonprofits. Outstanding corporate spokesperson and advocate. Tim is very passionate about the Denver Metro Area. He is very focused on promoting all the benefits of living in our community. Tim maintains a solid network of like-minded individuals. He has a deep understanding of how sustainability-based thinking can drive innovation and competitive advantage, both in companies and communities. If you’re interested in the relationship between sustainability and economic development, Tim is someone you should know. Tim’s was instrumental in founding the Mile High Business Alliance. He served on the founding board of directors for MHBA and has continued his support by connecting MHBA with local businesses. I am currently the Diplomacy Manager at the Colorado Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and am foreign economic affairs liaison for Governor Jared Polis. I advise the governor, state leadership, and Colorado business representatives on diplomatic protocol, trade relations, foreign policy issues, and foreign direct investment. I also manage inbound and outbound trade missions for OEDIT and the Governor’s office. I am incredibly passionate about the power of trade and economic cooperation in helping to bring people, businesses, and cultures together, and am excited to play a role in increasing Colorado’s international footprint. Max os skilled in community organizing, research, public policy, business development, and photojournalism. His content interests include sustainable development, the state, climate finance, and infrastructure systems. His regional expertise include: Latin America and Caribbean, Europe, Chinese foreign engagement (geopolitics and finance). Academic and social educations around the world have instilled in me a zest for travel, a love of learning, and a passion for multicultural collaboration. My working languages include English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Stephanie Garnica (M.S.I.B., University of Colorado at Denver) is the Director of Global Business Development for Denver’s Economic Development & Opportunity Office where she promotes Denver as a global hub of economic activity and attracts international business to the city. Prior to her current position, she worked for Denver International Airport, the World Trade Center Denver and the State of Colorado at the Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Her various roles have all had an international focus allowing for global connections and understandings to be made.
11:00 – 11:45 Digital Health and Health Care Solutions: Investors Vs. Operators
Pramod Goel –
Kirstan Vandersluis –
Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Arlen Meyers – CEO Amy Beckley – CEO
PlacidWay Medical Tourism ConnetixHealth Society of Physician Entrepreneurs MFB Fertility
Pramod Goel is CEO and Founder of PlacidWay, an internationally recognized industry leader in medical and wellness tourism. He is a global thought leader, speaker, author and a success entrepreneur. He is an author of book Evolution of Medical Tourism: from Cottage Industry to Corporate World. PlacidWay is a U.S.-based global medical tourism company with 1000s of renowned medical and wellness centers from over 40 countries and over 250 cities worldwide. PlacidWay’s global presence includes patient access from all continents including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, CIS, Africa, and Asia. I’m currently the founder and CTO of ConnetixHealth, where we are building the next generation Personal Health Record application called mCharts. This application works like Mint.com to automatically download health records from each of your providers into a secure cloud environment, then display your data in easy-to-understand views like a human body map and Facebook-like time line. mCharts is integrated with other health service networks like GoodRx and MedlinePlus. The result is a PHR that helps you save money, be more knowledgeable about health conditions, and be an engaged partner in care for yourself and your family members. I’m a professor emeritus of otolaryngology, dentistry, and engineering at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Colorado School of Public Health and President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs at www.sopenet.org . I have created several medical device and digital health companies.Most of them failed. Some are on life support. My primary research centers around biomedical and health innovation and entrepreneurship and life science technology commercialization. Amy earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology at UC San Diego in 2001. She then worked as a Research Associate at Celgene, Inc. studying small molecule drug targets in blood cancers. She earned a PhD in Pharmacology in 2007 at CU Denver. She left her faculty position in 2015 to start a company in Colorado after her own struggles with infertility. Her company, MFB Fertility, Inc. has created a diagnostic tool that improves in-home ovulation monitoring, empowering women to know more about their fertility.
12:00 – 12:45 Lunch – 7 habits of High Performing Entrepreneur: Building Relationships at The Speed of Trust
Jeff Carney – Managing Director David Fein – CEO/President
Franklin Covey Valusource & KeyValueData
Jeff Carney has been a Managing Partner with Franklin Covey for 32 years. He was instrumental in starting and continues to support the Colorado statewide 7 Habits on the Inside for prisons, which has significantly reduced recidivism and changed lives for the over 10,000 inmates that have been through the program. He currently leads Franklin Covey’s corrections efforts nationally. Jeff helps individuals and businesses break through barriers and reach their potential through teaching Franklin Covey workshops that include the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the 5 Choices of Productivity, the Speed of Trust, the 6 Critical Practices of Leading a Team, Leadership Foundations and the 4 Disciplines of Execution. I am an entrepreneur, world traveler and adventurer. At 16, I was the second-youngest person ever to set foot on the South Pole. At the pole I flew an American flag to present to President Carter in the White House. To put myself through college, I started and managed a sailboat charter business. At the age of 25, and fulfilling a long-time dream, I sailed across the Pacific to Tahiti on a 34-foot sailboat. In 1986 I co-founded ValuSource and became ValuSource’s president. My wife Michelle and I co-founded Kids Express, an alternative K-9 school, which focused on academic excellence, self-awareness, interpersonal communication and personal responsibility. .
1:00 – 1:45 Employment 2020: Global advantages applied to Colorado Companies
Diane Hernandez – Attorney Glen Thorpe – Founder Judy Kennelley – Founder Bryan Taylor- International Development Advisor
Hall Estill Glen Thorpe Consulting Solutions LLC
Integrity Network
Velocity Global
Diane Hernandez, a Denver native attorney based in Hall Estill’s Denver office, concentrates her practice in the area of employment and immigration law. An active member of the Colorado Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, she offers sound advice and legal services to companies looking to sponsor foreign workers for temporary or permanent employment in the United States. Within her practice, she files temporary visa applications for those in specialty occupations (H-1B visa), for intra-company transfers (L-1 visa), and for individuals with extraordinary ability in their fields of endeavor (O visa).
Coupling my experience in human resources, contract negotiation, and risk management I work with business leaders, anticipating and mitigating risk exposure vital to their business success. Taking a global look across an organization, I assess and identify potential threats and pinpoint areas of exposure prior to becoming serious. Having a depth of understanding of business management, I am able to work across departments to address a full range of business needs. Collaborating with internal and external resources, I drive solutions through decisive leadership and represent my clients’ interests, always focused on delivering strategically sound results. I offer a comprehensive solution to your administrative start-up need. I spent the first 5 years of my career working for Mobil Oil Corp. as a Reservoir Engineer. During that time, Mobil asked me to run their college recruiting program where I fell in love with recruiting. After five years as an engineer, I decided to pursue my true calling – executive recruiting. (Yes it was a very roundabout way of getting there!). I spent my first three years working for a small search firm and then broke off to launch Integrity Network in 1991. We work with amazing technology companies and we have grown Integrity Network to be one of the top executive recruiting firms in Colorado. Bryan Taylor is responsible for strategic international growth initiatives for clients and prospective clients around the globe. As an International Development Advisor for Velocity Global, the leading provider of global expansion business solutions, Bryan provides end-to-end services to clients looking to expand globally. Prior to his role at Velocity Global, Bryan served as CEO and held executive positions for organizations within the private equity and insurance and financial services industries. His understanding of organizations’ challenges, risk tolerance, and strategies makes him a knowledgeable advisor for clients who want to take their business overseas.
1:00 – 1:45 Funding strategies: Angels and Alternatives
Jeff Schell – Principal Justin Cruz – Partner Shelly Ford – Financial Advisor Lauren Kloock – Marketing & Communications Professional
Think Perpetual Michael Best Morgan Stanley
Colorado Lending Source
Jeff’s mission is to transform innovative concepts into extraordinary companies. After building one of the most successful patent law practices in Colorado, he raised several million dollars to acquire medical device company TranS1’s IP assets. Within a few years of rebuilding TranS1 as CEO, ColoradoBiz Magazine named TranS1 one of the top 250 companies in Colorado by revenue. Under Jeff’s leadership, Orthopedics This Week awarded TranS1 the 2017 Spine Technology Award. In addition to building intellectual property strategies with the Rocky Mountain Patent (now part of Hall Estill) team, Jeff now advises, operates and invests in multiple companies. Justin assists clients in achieving their business goals by obtaining protection of their intellectual property rights and developing strategies to enforce them. Justin has extensive experience resolving IP related disputes through litigation. He has achieved positive results on behalf of his clients in cases involving utility patents, design patents, trade dress, copyrights, as well as challenging the validity of patents through Post-Grant Proceedings before the United States Patent Office (USPTO). He has experience across industries including medical devices, software systems, IoT, agricultural, mining, and oil and gas. Additionally, Justin’s experience includes application of distributed ledger technology in contexts in addition to cryptocurrencies. Shelley Ford began her career as a Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley in May of 2011 (Series 7, 66 and 31) and joined the Pelican Bay Group at Morgan Stanley in January 2014. Prior to her career with Morgan Stanley, Shelley had fifteen years of business development experience assisting small to mid-sized companies. Her experience as a chief marketing officer helped her transition successfully into helping fundraising efforts as an independent consultant and investment banker/broker. Her experience as an investment banker now allows her to take a more broad-minded approach to financial services offered to business owners and CEOs.
With over six years of marketing and communications experience, I’ve found that strategic branding is essential for the success of any organization or startup. My background lies in creative storytelling to engage with current or potential customers that builds trust and support, while strategically sharing through various channels. I also believe in the importance of developing strong partnerships, planning engaging events, and creating thoughtful marketing campaigns to help further a brand’s value. I consider myself a marketing generalist specializing in multidisciplinary functions including digital, social, email, PR, product positioning, storytelling, design, and campaign management.
2:00 – 2:45 Smart Cities: Giving you the city you need
Phil Bowermaster – Founder Thomas Frey – Futurist Flo Raitano – Director of Partnership Development and Innovation Nate Greundemann – Entrepreneur,
Speculist Media Davinci Institute Denver Regional Council of Governments Challenger Financial Services
Strategist, Analyst, Consultant, Writer, Speaker with a proven track record in global deployment of web and software products / lines of business in support of aggressive growth and revenue objectives. More than two decades of comprehensive analytic, product, and content marketing experience. Expertise in Telecommunications, B2B / B2C Solutions, Data Management & Analytics. Thomas Frey is the Executive Director and Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, a Certified Speaking Professional, and currently Google’s top-rated futurist speakerAs part of the celebrity speaking circuit, Tom continually pushes the envelope of understanding, creating fascinating images of the world to come. His keynote talks on futurist topics have captivated people ranging from high level government officials to executives in Fortune 100 companies including NASA, IBM, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, First Data, Boeing, Capital One, Bell Canada, Visa, Ford Motor Company, Qwest, Allied Signal, Hunter Douglas, Direct TV, International Council of Shopping Centers, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Times of India, and many more. With almost 40 years of experience working in, with and for government, large and small, rural and urban, local state and federal, I am creating a capstone career at DRCOG, mentoring younger staff, pushing for innovation in the government sector and creating connections between and amongst the myriad of contacts I have developed in that timeframe, across various, and what some would say are completely unrelated sectors. I have always loved what I was doing, but this is the most rewarding, if not challenging adventure I have undertaken! I believe financial opportunity should be available to everyone. I create financial products and services to level the playing field. In housing, Board buys homes for people that need a mortgage. In banking and cash management, Challenger’s mission is to make sure an economic crisis like 2008 can never happen again.
2:00 – 2:45 Martech and Ecomm: Driving Your local growth to International Markets
Robert Smith – CEO Melodie Reagan – CEO Todd Cameron – VP Mareting Tony Brian
Axcelerate Crazy Good Marketing Explicity
Artist, Entrepreneur
Robert is the “Master Practitioner” of Disruptive Marketing. He has achieved what he calls “WOW” success for SMB’s in more than 200 major industries using unconventional disruptive marketing and is positioned as one of America’s Top Marketers. His Genimation™ based marketing programs have added over $ 750 million dollars for his SMB “Clients” at higher profits than they ever thought possible. Robert used to be a “Professional Consultant.” He is now a wildly driven successful entrepreneur, idea guy, innovator, speaker, trainer, story teller, and loves Disney and Looney Tunes. Robert also loves kids and climbing high places in the mountains. Melodie is the Owner of both i2i Workforce (i2i) and Crazy Good Marketing (CGM). i2i is an innovative national contract staffing, recruitment, and training & coaching firm serving companies of all sizes. CGM is a cutting-edge marketing agency of freelancers that works with small to mid-sized businesses to drive more customers, better customers, faster. Value at its best. Her teams help businesses stay ahead of the market and focus on growth and performance. Melodie leads from experience, having personally worked with numerous clients to create top performing, 21st century workforces, and build top brands, and she has assumed interim leadership roles in sales, marketing and product. Outcome focused executive with experience in content strategy, demand marketing, digital branding, data analysis, and integrated execution. 10+ years in leadership roles with tech firms and 15+ years with Fortune 100 technology, CPG, and entertainment companies. Influential, authentic communicator highly effective in building strategic partnerships with agencies and vendors and promoting corporate mission and vision with all internal and external stakeholders. Exceptional presentation and negotiation skills. Visionary, resilient problem-solver with deep and broad business acumen as well as organizational leadership skills needed to translate strategic vision into achievable tactical plans. I believe that the way you give is the way you live. Thats why I am passionate about helping others grow their ability to give through the mediums that best communicate their highest expression. Tony Brian Bratsch is an Artist and Serial Entrepreneur who specializes in the Art of Social Influence and expanding human potential. In 2011 he joined the U.S. Army, became a U.S. Army Ranger, and served in Afghanistan while assigned to 3rd and 1st Ranger Battalion. During his term he made his way through the ranks and graduated Ranger School, the Army’s premier leadership school, and served as a fire team leader until his term ended.
3:00 – 3:45 Startup Success Factors: Techstars and RVC Top performers
Jeff Schell – Principal Peter Adams – Managing Partner David Brown – Founder
Think Perpetual Rockies Impact Fund
Jeff’s mission is to transform innovative concepts into extraordinary companies. After building one of the most successful patent law practices in Colorado, he raised several million dollars to acquire medical device company TranS1’s IP assets. Within a few years of rebuilding TranS1 as CEO, ColoradoBiz Magazine named TranS1 one of the top 250 companies in Colorado by revenue. Under Jeff’s leadership, Orthopedics This Week awarded TranS1 the 2017 Spine Technology Award. In addition to building intellectual property strategies with the Rocky Mountain Patent (now part of Hall Estill) team, Jeff now advises, operates and invests in multiple companies. CEO of the Year Finalist – CoBiz Magazine 2014
2013 Denver Business Journal Power Book Finalist – C-level executives who have “made the cut”. These power players are Denver’s most influential business leaders, making the news in Colorado. Speaker on Venture Capital, Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship, Impact Investing Colorado Public Radio (CPR), KRCN Radio, National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA), University of Denver, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado State University, Flatirons Network, Digital Health Summit, Healthcare Unbound Conference, Startup Meetup, Esprit Entrepreneur (Boulder Chamber of Commerce). Expert Witness in legal cases regarding venture capital, angel investment, startups and related legal issues. Experienced in deposition and courtroom testimony. David Brown is a founder and co-CEO of Techstars. David is a serial entrepreneur who has founded three startups and been involved with two others. He is one of the original founders of Pinpoint Technologies, Inc. which is now part of ZOLL Medical Corporation and provides solutions to the emergency medical services market. He was President of the company from founding through over $50M per year in revenue and over 250 people. David later co-founded Techstars along with David Cohen, Brad Feld, and Jared Polis. He has been an investor and advisor to Techstars since inception. In 2013, he joined Techstars in a more active role, overseeing global operations.
Voting is open Until August 22nd
OUR SPONSORS /Let’s Give A Shout Out!
Introduction to TiE Organizations
Showcase to Colorado Community
Non Profit Contribution
Access Entrepreneurs
Panel Participation
Custom Infomercial
Introduction to Keynote Speakers
Network with Colorado Executives
Bhawnesh Mathur – TiE Denver Board
Magnolia Movido – TiE Denver Conference Committee Chair
Ginny Castleberry– TiE Denver Committee Chair
GP Saxena – TiE Denver Board Angel Alliance Investor Chair
Jeff Schell– TiE Denver Board Community Partner Chair
Keith Larson– TiE Global Board Trustee & Liaison
Nitin Rai– TIE Portland President
Patrice Barber– TiE Denver Board President
Steve Bradley– TiE Denver Board Economic Development Chair
ACCOMMODATIONS /Where To Stay
The conference will be held at the prestigious University of Denver, Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management (2101 S University Blvd, Denver, CO 80210)
The Curtis A DoubleTree By Hilton
We would love for you to stay happy with us at the Curtis Hotel: Denver’s coolest pop-culture themed hotel.
♦ Hilton Honors Participation
♦ 336 guest rooms including two signature suites
♦ 13 hyper-themed rooms
♦ Complimentary Wi-Fi
♦ The Corner Office Restaurant + Martini Bar
On-site dining and room service
♦ 24-hour business center
♦ 24-hour fitness center
♦ Indoor garage for valet or self-parking
Holiday Inn Cherry Creek
Step inside our full-service Holiday Inn and be pleasantly surprised as flagstone walkways and dark wood accents lend a modern, mountain lodge feel, while newly redesigned rooms invite guests in with custom furnishings.
Our upscale Cherry Creek location puts you steps from the shopping district and the scenic Cherry Creek Trail.
Enjoy the effortless exploration of Denver’s hot spots with our free city shuttle, then return to unwind, swim in our indoor pool, or head to our own Flagstone’s restaurant for top craft beers and local delicacies.
455 South Colorado Boulevard , Denver, Colorado 80246
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Conjunctival:Conjunctivits Conjunctival:Symblepharon Eyelid:Blepharitis Eyelid:Chalazion Eyelid:Dermatitis Eyelid:Rosacea Orbital:Pseudotumor Orbital:Lymphangioma
Dermatitis is a blanket term meaning any "inflammation of the skin" (e.g. rashes, etc.). There are several different types of dermatitis. The different kinds usually have in common an allergic reaction to specific allergens. The term could be used to refer to eczema, which is may also be called dermatitis eczema or eczematous dermatitis. A diagnosis of eczema often implies childhood or atopic dermatitis, but without proper context, it means nothing more than a "rash".
Contact dermatitis is skin inflammation resulting from contact with an allergen. Rashes from contact dermatitis are typically decently large in size, and in some cases could remain for weeks, although several days could be sufficient time for them to heal. Contact dermatitis could be acute, but it is also possible for chronic contact dermatitis to develop in an individual.
Babies, infants, and the elderly could be severely affected by contact dermatitis. Diaper dermatitis is a common form of irritant contact dermatitis in infants. In the elderly, topical medications are a common cause of allergic contact dermatitis.
Contact dermatitis could be classified as any of the following types:
Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD)
Contact urticaria
Irritant contact dermatitis (ICD)
Photodermatitis (photoallergic dermatitis and phototoxic dermatitis)
Causes and risk factors:
Contact dermatitis is caused by exposure to certain allergens. The following are some that could cause this condition:
Highly alkaline products
Paraphenylenediamine
Poison sumac
Toxicodendron plants
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McCanns want to return to television
McCann’s : Escape from Portugal – September 2007
With little over a month to go for the second anniversary of the disappearance of Maddie, the little English girl that went missing in Praia da Luz on the 3rd of May 2007, her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, are once again negotiating a television interview, during which they expect to launch a new public appeal, according to a source close to the couple.
According to the same source, the McCann couple’s interview would be recorded in England, but equally broadcast in our country, as there are contacts with a Portuguese television channel which, as usual, would be prepared to make a financial contribution to the fund that was created after Madeleine’s alleged abduction.
Kate and Gerry McCann – as 24Horas had already reported – are equally considering the possibility of travelling into our country, to the Algarve, to mark the second anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance and to reinforce the campaign that is presently being carried out in the area of Praia da Luz and its surroundings.
The announcement of a television interview with the couple has even surprised the British professionals in the sector, as earlier this month, Madeleine’s father had issued violent criticism against the work of English and Portuguese journalists, in front of a parliamentary commission.
After refusing to cooperate with the PJ in the official inquest into their daughter’s disappearance, Kate and Gerry, already as arguidos, abandoned Portugal with the assistance of diplomatic representatives of the United Kingdom in our country. An escape that was recorded and broadcast live by various television channels.
The McCanns stopped being arguidos when the Public Ministry decided to archive the process, which currently awaits better evidence, after Gonçalo Amaral left and the process was handed over to Paulo Rebelo, who did nothing to pursue the line of inquiry that had been opened in the first months of the investigation, as the PJ’s final report proves.
Several diligences remained to be carried out, including the reconstitution of the gestures and movements of the nine English adults who accompanied Maddie in Praia da Luz and who, according to their own statements to Portuguese and British authorities, were always very contradictory. Several Spanish, English and Irish witnesses were never heard in the process.
Filed under: Madeleine McCann, Portugal, Clarence Mitchell, Duarte Levy, Gerry McCann, Jane Tanner, Maddie, Madeleine McCann
McCann querem voltar à televisão « Duarte Levy… says:
[…] READ IN ENGLISH […]
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The spider who couldn't hide
Narrative voice is another name for a person telling a story. The narrative voice adds clarification and can better explain what is going on in a scene -- it's even an insight into a character's thoughts. Take, for example, this spider who couldn't hide!
About TED-Ed Best of Web
TED-Ed Best of Web are exceptional, user-created lessons that are carefully selected by volunteer teachers and TED-Ed staff.
Video created by Chad-Michael Simon
Lesson Plan created by justin vaughn
Narrative Voice is another name for a person telling a story. The Narrative voice adds clarification and can better explain what is going on in a scene and even an insight into a character's thoughts.
First Person Point of View: Narrator is also a character. It is used as a way to directly convey the deeply internal thoughts that allow insight into what is happening in the mind of a charater. Uses words like "I" and "we."
Second Person Point of View: The least commonly used POV in litterature. The narrator refers to the reader as "you", therefore making the audience member feel as if he or she is a character within the story. Refers to audience/readers as "you."
Third Person Point of View: This is the most commonly used POV because it provides the greatest flexibility to the author. Each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they."
Click here for a deeper definition and explanation of points of view and narrative voice.
The spider in this video seems to be ferocious by its scientific description. "Sicarius is a genus of spider, the best known being the six-eyed sand spider of southern Africa. It is also commonly known as assassin spiders for the relatively quick catching and killing of their prey" (from Wikipedia). Adding a narrative voice may confirm your assumptions or change your perceptions. Consider this rhetorical question, "How can our internal narrative voice confirm our assumptions or change our perceptions of the people and circumstances around us?"
Next Section »
Create a video on any subject and narrate the scene.
justin vaughn
More from The Writer's Workshop
How many verb tenses are there in English?
How to make your writing suspenseful
What makes a poem … a poem?
How to make your writing funnier
Your name and responses will be shared with justin vaughn.
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The example below is a policy document from the fictional country of Michland. How many examples of gender insensitive language does it contain? Where are they?
Precarious employment is arguably man's greatest challenge in the modern age. Michland is still recovering from the effects of the recent economic crisis, but the benefits have not been equally shared amongst her citizens. Although unemployment has begun to fall, the rise of low-pay, insecure jobs is threatening the ability of families to make ends meet. More and more families are facing poverty and insecurity, through no fault of their own. This development is wreaking havoc on workers from all occupations–from builders and policemen through to teachers and even waitresses.
On 1 November 2000, a spokesman for the President stated:
"The failures of the last government have left many families struggling. Our social inclusion strategy embodies the virile action needed to overcome the spectre of precarious employment and give everyone a decent chance in life"
This strategy aims to ensure that:
Every employee has sufficient income and social protection to protect himself from poverty;
There are adequate measures to support the work-life balance of women;
Early years interventions are in place for parents and children at risk of poverty;
Boys and girls everywhere have access to a decent education, regardless of their income
In total, there are 7 examples of clear gender bias (circled red below) and 2 examples (circled yellow) that could be classed as such. We explain below next to the red arrows why the author may wish to change his/her language.
The text below shows the same policy document, this time with the language improved to be more gender-sensitive and inclusive.
Precarious employment is arguably humanity’s greatest challenge in the modern age. Michland is still recovering from the effects of the recent economic crisis, but the benefits have not been equally shared amongst its citizens. Although unemployment has begun to fall, the rise of low-pay, insecure jobs is threatening the ability of families to make ends meet. More and more families
are facing poverty and insecurity, through no fault of their own. This development is wreaking havoc on workers from all occupations – from builders and police officers through to teachers and even waiting staff.
On 1 November 2000, a spokesperson for the President stated:
"The failures of the last government have left many families struggling. Our social inclusion strategy embodies the strong action needed to overcome the spectre of precarious employment and give everyone a decent chance in life"
All employees has sufficient income and social protection to protect themselves from poverty;
There are adequate measures to support the reconciliation of family and professional responsibilities of parents with young children, and particularly to support new mothers, who continue to bear the majority of caring responsibilities
Girls and boys everywhere have access to a decent education, regardless of their income
Download the toolkit on gender-sensitive communication EN (528 KB)
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European Journal of Legal Studies
AN OPEN ACCESS INITIATIVE BY EUI LEGAL RESEARCHERS
Home »Issues»Autumn 2017 – Volume 10 – Issue 1
Autumn 2017 – Volume 10 – Issue 1
Posted on 22nd September 2017 6th December 2019 AuthorEJLS
Catalogue no.: QM-AZ-19-020-EN-N
Download full issue pdf
Managing a Student-Run Peer-Reviewed Legal Journal: Ten Years of Bridging Research and Experience
By: Elias Deutscher, Raphaële Xenidis, Birte Böök
Of Victims and Villains in the Fight against International Terrorism
By: Marina Aksenova
Producing a satisfactory international definition of terrorism requires the resolution of a number of problems. I argue that one of the biggest challenges stems from the incompatibility of the offence of terrorism and the traditional roles assigned by the criminal justice system to victims, offenders and mediators. The usual paradigm embodies values formed over time and collectively shared by society. As a result, offenders are the ‘villains’ in the eyes of the community for violating the agreed norms, victims suffer evident harm on an individual basis and courts together with the law enforcement agencies serve as legitimate mediators in the conflict by administering justice on behalf of the public. These roles are, however, often reversed or mixed up in the fight against terrorism. Because of the preventative focus of the laws tackling the problem, terrorist suspects become the new ‘victims’ if they are tortured, banned from entering a country or mistreated in other ways, executive agencies sanctioning these practices become the new ‘villains’, and those harmed by the attacks involuntarily become the new ‘mediators’ because their suffering is intended to transmit a certain message to the rest of the world. The uncertainty about the roles within domestic law, in turn, reduces the possibility of creating a viable international formula defining terrorism.
The Validity of Treaties Concluded under Coercion of the State: Sketching a TWAIL Critique
By: Guilherme Del Negro
The invalidity of treaties based on non-military coercion remains one of the biggest unresolved problems within the law of treaties. It paradoxically combines great certainty and clarity on the side of soft law with uncertainty and indeterminacy on the side of hard law. Unfortunately, the codification undertaken at the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) not only did not solve the hard law uncertainties, but also enlarged the cleavage between the perspectives of weak and strong States regarding international relations. By combining legal positivism with Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), this paper suggests that (i) the way Article 52 of the VCLT was drafted had the effect of undermining the concept of consent and paving the way for the entrenchment of power politics, and (ii) that there is some elbow room for trying to consolidate a wider interpretation of the Article. Such an interpretation would allow us to condemn economic and political pressures that amount to true coercion as illegal strategies in treaty negotiations, safeguarding weaker States.
An Analysis of the Diplomatic Crisis between Turkey and the Netherlands in Light of the Existing International Legal Framework Governing Diplomatic and Consular Relations
By: Francesca Capone, Andrea de Guttry
Some of the most heated events related to the 2017 Turkish referendum, which significantly amended the country’s constitution, did not take place in Turkey but in several European countries where a large number of Turkish citizens reside. The tension escalated when the Netherlands barred a plane carrying the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs from landing on Dutch soil and then prevented the Turkish Family and Social Policies Minister from accessing the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam. This triggered what has been described as an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between two NATO allies. Turkey vigorously claimed that the Netherlands’ behaviour breached the law of diplomatic and consular relations. The Netherlands, in turn, defended its actions, stating that they did not amount to a violation of international law. The present article will first provide an overview of these events and introduce the claims that were made by each side. Secondly, this article will briefly analyse the relevant treaty provisions and customary rules to ascertain whether Foreign Ministers enjoy a special status while visiting a third country and whether consular premises can legitimately be used to carry out political activities, ultimately challenging Turkey’s claims that the Netherlands violated international law.
The Application of the EU-Turkey Agreement: A Critical Analysis of the Decisions of the Greek Appeals Committees
By: Mariana Gkliati
The article discusses the first case law issued on the EU-Turkey deal that authoritatively answers the question whether Turkey constitutes a safe third country for refugees. In 390 out of 393 decisions, Greek Asylum Appeals Committees ruled that the safe third country requirements are not fulfilled with respect to Turkey, essentially impeding the application of the EU-Turkey deal. The purpose of this article is, on the first level, through empirical research, to shed light on the reasoning of the decisions of the Appeals Committees and investigate the impact of the EU-Turkey agreement upon them. On a second level, it focuses on evaluating from the perspective of effective legal protection the legislative amendment, subsequent to these decisions, which modifies their composition. The analysis is of significant societal relevance, as it aspires to inform further law, policy, and jurisprudence in the field, especially since it provides access to sources that due to language and other practical barriers would remain far from the reach of legal and policy experts.
National Parliaments’ Third Yellow Card and the Struggle over the Revision of the Posted Workers Directive
By: Diane Fromage, Valentin Kreilinger
The Treaty of Lisbon strengthened the role of national parliaments in the EU legislative process by creating the Early Warning System. This procedure offers them the possibility to send reasoned opinions to the European Commission if they have subsidiarity concerns about a legislative proposal. Since 2009 the necessary threshold (i.e. one third of the total number of votes) has only been reached three times. The most recent of these ‘yellow cards’ was triggered by the Commission’s proposal to revise the Posted Workers Directive, an event that allows us to shed some light on how national parliaments use this mechanism and how the European Commission has reacted. The subsidiarity concerns were rejected by the Commission and the legislative process continues despite deep divisions between old and new Member States over the controversial policy issue of revising the Posted Workers Directive.
Party Polarization and its Consequences for Judicial Power and Judicial Independence
By: Benjamin Bricker
In this article, I reconsider the party-level forces affecting the establishment of judicial review and judicial independence. Though most current theory examines the competitiveness of the party system, I argue instead that the level of party polarization should lead to demonstrable effects on the establishment of judicial review and judicial independence rules. Using data on party polarization from the Manifesto Project, I test this theory on 38 (mostly European) countries. Results indicate a robust relationship between polarization and the presence of strong judicial independence protections, and also reinforce the importance of party competition for the establishment of judicial review. These results have important implications for constitutional design and the development of judicial power, as well as practical implications for the ability of polarized societies to develop institutions that mediate conflict.
Montesquieu and Judicial Review of Proportionality in Administrative Law: Rethinking the Separation of Powers in the Neoliberal Era
By: Lukas van den Berge
The present era has seen an unprecedented fragmentation of the public sphere, a breakup of public imperium into separate pieces, not only left in the hands of supranational or subnational authorities, but also entrusted to private actors. With the abandonment of previously undisputed notions of strict legal verticality and the undivided general interest, the separation of powers doctrine as applied in most European systems of administrative law is in need of serious rethinking. Current debates on the judicial control of governmental discretion are still hampered by a discursive language and a legal grammar that tend to draw sharp lines between law and policy, awarding each of the three branches of government its own well-defined domain. Contrary to widespread belief, the trias politica as an ideology of disjointed powers and separate spheres cannot be traced back to Montesquieu’s theory of law, but only from its philosophical rebuttal and inaccurate reception in subsequent times. Ironically, a proper analysis of Montesquieu’s theory may indicate a viable way forward for a system of review of government actions that attunes to its modern social and institutional context.
Rethinking the Structure of Free Movement Law: The Centralisation of Proportionality in the Internal Market
By: Barend van Leeuwen
This article analyses three important developments in EU free movement law from the perspective of the structure of free movement law. Each of these developments – market access, horizontal direct effect and the assimilation of justifications – is caused by structural changes in the application of the free movement provisions. Firstly, the Court of Justice of the European Union has used ‘backwards reasoning’, which means that the Court no longer maintains the consecutive order of the structure. Moreover, the Court has increasingly merged what were previously distinct stages of inquiry in free movement cases. The result is that the proportionality test has become the most likely tool to solve free movement cases. This process of centralisation can be explained by the Court’s aim to guarantee the effet utile of the free movement provisions. However, the centralisation of proportionality has a number of important consequences. Ultimately, the (almost) exclusive reliance on proportionality to solve free movement cases does not improve the functioning of the internal market. Therefore, the Court should also develop and rely on the other pillars of the structure of free movement law.
Tackling Diversity Inside WTO: The GATT Moral Clause after Colombia – Textiles
By: Silvia Nuzzo
After lying dormant for more than five decades, WTO ‘public morals’ exceptions have been more frequently invoked in recent times. During the last fifteen years, the number of disputes settled through the application of GATT 1994 Art. XX(a) and the homologue GATS Art. XIV has gone from zero to four – and it is likely to keep growing. This could be partially due to WTO expanding membership which facilitates trade connections between countries with different, sometimes opposite cultural and social backgrounds. The interpretation and application of the moral clause entail difficult challenges for WTO Panels and for the Appellate Body (AB). They are called to find a balance not only between trade and non-trade values, but also and most of all between WTO Members’ regulatory autonomy and their standard of review. However, WTO case law shows an ongoing struggle to find the best way to accomplish this task. Moving on from the analysis of the Colombia – Textiles dispute, this article will discuss the judicial application of the ‘moral clause’. It will compare Colombia – Textiles with the former case law, paying particular attention to some crucial aspects of the AB’s legal reasoning in Colombia – Textiles and their potential implications for future case law.
Book Review: Barbara Havelková, Gender Equality in Law: Uncovering the Legacies of Czech State Socialism (Hart Publishing 2017)
By: Elena Brodeală
Book Review: Geoffrey Samuel, A Short Introduction to Judging and to Legal Reasoning (Edward Elgar Publishing 2016)
By: Rūta Liepiņa
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The Figure Four - ALL Things ECW-WWF-NJPW-TNA-ROH-AEW
By TK, May 30, 2006 in The Tailgate
Island Boy
The Starter
OK gibbs you just left out MR ECW in my opinion........."The Franchise" Shane Douglas!!!
Titaw
The Playmaker
Yes!!! Rhino & Raven were BEASTS in ECW also!
And to name a few of my other favs that havnt been mentioned yet:
Mike Awesome
Pit Bull 1 & 2
Perry Saturn and John Kronus
Lance Storm
Kid Kash
praise_gibbs
Ring of Fame
You just answered your own reply.. In your opinion.
I do not like him.. his attitude, his character.
What about the "Angry Amish Chicken Plucker" Roadkill! :rotflmao: :laugh:
LMAO :laugh: Yea he is rumored to be coming back too.
Shane was the man!!!!
Yes, yes.. I did forget Rhino and Raven.. but, I said just to name a few incase something like this happened. :laugh:
Kid Kash was boring.. not my type of character.
Perry Saturn and the whole crew associated with Raven were awesome.
Lance Storm.. I liked him more in WCW. He is not 'Extreme' enough for ECW.. IMO.
Mike Awesome.. the same as Lance Storm.. he was made for WCW.
Pit Bull 1 & 2 were beasts but, I did not follow them.
TOTAL ELIMINATION!!!!
BayouBrave86
The Cover Corner
Doesn't seem like it'll be quite the same as it was. However, if you saw tonights RAW, then you know Kurt Angle has gone to ECW. Funny thing about that is, Heyman tried to sign Angle before Vince did & Angle was a guest at an ECW event & walked out on them.
Yeah because of a certain thing where one of the guys got crucified at the show, Angle became displeased and walked out. At least thats what one of my buddies told me who is a big fan of the wrestling a few years ago.
Raven 'crucified' Sandman after a match. Complete with a crown of barbwire. You can see it on that Rise & Fall of ECW dvd.
skinfan2k
well wwe owns ecw.. and wwe has messed up wrestling for about 6 yrs now
http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/onsfans
The passion returns
By Louie Dee
During the existence of ECW, the promotion’s fan base became known as perhaps the most rabidly loyal group of fans in wrestling history. Last year’s ECW One Night Stand undoubtedly proved that theory, and tonight, thousands of those fanatics will pack the Hammerstein Ballroom for another taste of extreme.
Not surprisingly, tickets for the show sold out almost instantly, and fans from all around the world have descended on New York City tonight. Many in attendance were also at last year’s One Night Stand and they were eager to share their thoughts on the event.
“I’ve been looking forward to this since last year; when I heard they were going to do it (ECW One Night Stand) again, I couldn’t wait,” said ECW fan Charlie Adamo.
Fellow fan Mike Faddoul agreed, saying that ECW One Night Stand “was the best show of last year in my opinion, and I couldn’t wait for another one to happen. I got my tickets on Ticketmaster the minute they went on sale and I was lucky to get a third row seat.”
The majority of the fans polled said that it was hard to choose which match they were looking forward to most, but there were good arguments made for almost all of them. Of course, the thought of Rob Van Dam or Sabu bringing home some gold was a very popular one among the crowd.
“I’m looking forward to Van Dam vs. Cena,” said Brandon Tolle. “It’s been a long time coming for RVD, and I think tonight is the night.” Adamo agreed, saying “I hope one of the ECW guys wins a World Championship; if that happens, the crowd is going to go ballistic.”
Sean Carlucci has no doubt that Adamo’s wish will come true. “RVD will win the WWE Championship tonight; Cena doesn’t stand a chance.”
It’s no secret that Cena is not a favorite of the ECW crowd; so what’s in store for the WWE Champion when he enters the Hammerstein Ballroom?
“That man doesn’t know what he’s in for; these aren’t the WWE fans, these are the ECW fans,” Carlucci continued. “They’re going to be cursing him out.” Faddoul took it one step further saying that “if Cena does win tonight, I think there’s going to be a riot.”
It’s hard to deny that the ECW fans are extremely passionate. When One Night Stand goes live at 8 p.m. ET tonight, the world will get to see the passion once again. And if you haven’t already, order the pay-per-view or the webcast and see it for yourself.
TheREALJBird
I'm so tempted to order it....eh I might have to catch a replay of it:mad:
http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/2893922
Legend Killer looks to add to his list
By Brett Hoffman
Tonight at the Hammerstein Ballroom, the intense rivalry between ECW’s Kurt Angle and RAW’s Randy Orton will reach its boiling point. Two months ago, Kurt Angle broke Orton’s ankle during the opening round of the King of the Ring Tournament. The injury forced the young “Legend Killer” out of action to allow his injury time to heal, but now that he’s back, Orton has revenge on the mind. WWE.com caught up with Orton earlier today to get his thoughts on meeting the Wrestling Machine tonight at One Night Stand.
A focused Orton is clearly still upset over Angle’s actions at the King of the Ring. “I’m a man of my word. If I’m going to face someone in the ring, I’m going to do it the right way. I’m not going to do anything dirty or underhanded. Kurt Angle may be an Olympic hero and all that, but that day in the ring, he proved that he was not a man of his word, he didn’t fight fair. You don’t take pleasure in hurting another man.”
On Wednesday night at Head to Head, Angle warned Orton that at One Night Stand, he was coming for more than just his ankle. “This Sunday night, not only am I gonna break your ankle, I’m gonna break your arms and I’m gonna break your legs. In fact, when I’m done with you, you’ll be crawling out of the Hammerstein Ballroom with a broken freakin’ neck.”
With Angle being labeled as the new face of ECW, Orton sees the contest as more than just himself vs. Kurt. “Everyone is saying that Kurt Angle is going to be the new face of ECW, that’s he’s going to be the No. 1 guy. I believe it. Actually, I’m counting on it. Because tonight, I have the opportunity to take out Kurt Angle, and at the same time, kill the legend of ECW.”
The Legend Killer will get his opportunity tonight for revenge that is two months in the making. What will happen when the Legend Killer enters the raucous environment at the Hammerstein Ballroom? It all happens tonight, and the only way to see the extreme action is by ordering the event on pay-per-view.
http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/arenahammerstein
Arena Report - Hammerstein Ballroom
Tonight, Extreme Championship Wrestling returns to the historic Hammerstein Ballroom in the heart of New York City for the second edition of ECW One Night Stand. The ballroom was a favorite destination of ECW in the late 90s, serving as a base for several pay-per-view and TV broadcasts.
The famous venue, which is located literally just feet away from Madison Square Garden was the site of several ECW television broadcasts, including the last three pay-per-views. The most recent of those was last year’s One Night Stand, which was one of the more memorable evenings in wrestling history. Together for the first time in close to five years, the ECW wrestlers gave fans a night they would never forget. Among the matches on the show was a classic pure wrestling display from Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, an all-out brawl between Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka and a hardcore war between the team of Tommy Dreamer & The Sandman and The Dudleys.
In January 2001, Hammerstein Ballroom was the site of the Guilty as Charged pay-per-view. On that night, Tommy Dreamer beat C.W. Anderson in an “I Quit” match and Rhyno defeated The Sandman to capture the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
A month earlier in December ‘00, the ballroom hosted ECW’s Massacre on 34th Street. On that show, Danny Doring & Roadkill won the ECW Tag Team Championship when they knocked off the F.B.I.’s Tony Mamaluke and Little Guido. Later, Steve Corino retained the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in a Three Way Dance with Jerry Lynn and Justin Credible.
Tonight, the Hammerstein Ballroom will be jam packed with close to 3000 rabid ECW fans. If you can’t be one of the lucky fans in the building, the only way to witness the history, is to order the event live on pay-per-view.
http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/reysabuprev
Prepared for anything
On Sunday, World Champion Rey Mysterio will enter a world he hasn’t visited in close to a decade. At One Night Stand, Mysterio will defend his World Championship in what many are calling a dream match against Sabu in front of a hostile gathering of ECW fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
Despite the sneak attack from the hardcore legend on SmackDown, Mysterio admits that he is actually excited to finally face the man known as Sabu. “I’m very excited. I was always a fan of ECW, and I’ve always been a fan of Sabu. Now, I actually get the opportunity to step in the ring with him and face him for the World Championship, so there is a lot of excitement running through my veins.”
Rey knows that there is immense pressure on him to win the match and hold on to the World Championship, which has a long and storied history as the most prestigious title in wrestling. If Rey loses, he will forever be known as the man who lost the Championship to ECW. Rey admits that he has considered the ramifications. “I’ve thought about it and it scares me to think of what could happen if I lose on Sunday. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am today, so it just makes me want to go out there and be the toughest competitor I can be. I’m going to give everything I have to retain the Championship and keep it on SmackDown because that’s what I represent. I represent SmackDown, I represent WWE, so I’m not going to just let Sabu walk in and take the Championship away from me. Who knows what could happen if the Championship ends up in ECW. That is why I am going to stick up for it, and bring it back to SmackDown where it belongs.
Having at one time competed in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Rey knows that in an ECW environment, anything can happen. “I know that physically, I have to be prepared for anything. Sabu is one crazy dude. He will use anything he can get his hands on and put it all on the line, and I expect him to do just that at One Night Stand. Whether it’s tables, chairs or anything else, he’s going to use it against me to try and get the victory. Unfortunately for him, I’m not going to let that happen.”
At One Night Stand, the dream match will finally happen. Unless you’re at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Sunday, the only way to see it is to order the event, which is live on pay-per-view.
Watch Sabu attack Mysterio
http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/hardcorewar
Hardcore war
The idea of “hardcore” means different things to different people. On Sunday night, two different versions of hardcore will clash when self-proclaimed co-Hardcore Champions Edge & Mick Foley take on two of the forefathers of the hardcore ECW revolution, Terry Funk & Tommy Dreamer.
It is acknowledged that Foley himself is one of the forefathers of hardcore. Having spent time in ECW, Foley was notorious for his worldwide rivalry with Funk that saw them throw chairs, blow each other up and make each other bleed on numerous occasions. Whether it was in ECW, Japan or elsewhere, Foley and Funk were never afraid to destroy each other with anything they could get their hands on.
But Foley’s attitude has changed. After his Hardcore Match with Edge at WrestleMania 22, something snapped. On an early May edition of RAW, the two men formed an alliance at the expense of Dreamer. The following week, Funk was a victim of their hardcore alliance, and it wasn’t long before Paul Heyman goaded them into a match against the ECW pair at One Night Stand.
Heading into the battle, all four men understand the importance of winning the war. To Dreamer, however, it could be the most important match of his career. “It’s probably going to be viewed by the most amount of people that (have ever) watched ECW,” said the Innovator of Violence. Dreamer also said that one of his biggest problems is that Foley seems to have forgotten where he comes from. “I looked up to Mick Foley like a brother and a mentor. The thing that really gets me, and with a lot of athletes today, they forget their roots. Mick Foley crapped on every single thing that the fans supported him for. I’ve never forgotten my roots and the ECW fans have never forgotten their roots.”
Wednesday night at WWE vs. ECW Head to Head, the four men went at it when Edge took on Dreamer in an Extreme Rules Match. While the Rated-R Superstar won the match, Funk made Foley bleed on the outside of the ring; the Hardcore Legend later gave an impassioned speech in the ring, telling the fans exactly why he had “turned his back” on ECW.
“You think I loved ECW? I loved ECW, but they didn’t love me back,” Foley told the crowd. “She was like the girl I couldn’t let go of, but the one that makes me sick upon seeing her. She wanted too much blood, too much of my heart, too much of my life, so I left and I found fame and fortune in WWE.” In that same speech, Foley said he was ready for One Night Stand. “Edge and I are prepared to take the beatings of our lives, and I will do that to exercise the sick, twisted whore that is ECW. I want her out of my life. You’ve seen me thrown off cells, slammed into tacks, put through burning tables. It is nothing compared to the horrors I will unleash on Dreamer and Funk at ECW (One Night Stand). You stepped on my soul. You took everything I worked for and through it all away. When I walk into the Hammerstein Ballroom as a WWE Legend, you Terry Funk and you Tommy Dreamer will learn about loss.”
Foley later said that he wasn’t worried about heading into what will now be an extremely hostile environment on Sunday. “I think I will thrive on the hostile environment,” he said. “If I didn’t think that I would thrive on it I wouldn’t have help create it.”
But what happens if they don’t thrive, and Funk and Dreamer are victorious in front of their home crowd? “It would be a little bit embarrassing (if we lose), but a poor performance would be a lot worse,” Foley said. “I haven’t made my reputation on a stellar win-loss record, (I made it) by going out there and leaving everything that I have in front of that audience. Win, lose or draw, that’s what I plan to do.”
While the ECW team will definitely have the home-crowd advantage, Edge & Foley’s success may harbor on the presence of Lita at ringside. An extra hand outside the ring is always helpful, and Lita has never been shy about getting involved. Should that happen, however, Dreamer will be ready. “I pretty much helped find Lita; she came up through ECW, (but) a lot of people don’t know that,” he said. “She’s another person who crapped on everything. You never forget your roots; I’m one person who doesn’t, and on Sunday I’m going to make them remember their roots.”
At One Night Stand, someone will win in the name of hardcore. But will it be the old guard or the new guard?
fdarugar
The Bruiser
New Jack was insane.
Just caught the add on In Demand for WWE Vengeance announcing a re-united DX.
@SkinsGoldPants
Who's in it?
I liked the DX with the Outlaws, and X-Pax being all stupid.
Heidenreich
The Gadget Play
I think just HBK & HHH are going to be in the new DX
I hope tonight's show is good. I always liked ECW.
They should bring back the "shah" he was the best when you were at the arena. Everytime he punched somebody, the entire crowd would yell "SHAH!" Every time he got hit, the entire crowd wold yell ****!
They were running old footage of HHH & Shawn. I saw it on Cox cables In Demand channel. Comcast may or may not be running it as well. :whoknows:
How I've missed the ECW crowd chants.
Overheard during Angle vs Orton:
Orton sucks ****
Orton swallows
You can't wrestle
You got ****slapped
**** you Orton
Break his ankle
You suck ****
You tapped out
*ussy
Get the **** out
And of course E-C-Dub!
After FBI defeated Super Crazy & Tajiri, Big Show came to the ring and destroyed Big Guido, Little Guido, Tony Mamaluke, Tajiri and Super Crazy.
Sabu and Rey Mysterio battled to a no contest.
jbooma
wrestling has gone downhill since WWE bought everyone
You're not watching the Foley/Edge vs Funk & Dreamer match then.
then i will take your word for it and give it another chance
skinz1972
ECW, fake? Maybe - but i'd challenge you to do HALF of the stuff those guys did to their bodies.
I just hope they return to the bingo halls - small crowds + anything goes = best wrestling in the world. I used to love thursday nights.
i dare you let the undertaker throw you off the top of a 30-40ft steel cage.
Go To Topic Listing The Tailgate
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Oldbury Nuclear Power Station
Location of Oldbury Nuclear Power Station
51°38′56″N 2°34′15″W / 51.648889°N 2.570833°W / 51.648889; -2.570833Coordinates: 51°38′56″N 2°34′15″W / 51.648889°N 2.570833°W / 51.648889; -2.570833
Commission date
Decommission date
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Magnox Limited
Reactor information
Reactors operational
1 × 217 MWe (net), (230 MWe gross)
Power generation information
217 MWe (net)
600 MWe (design, net)
Oldbury nuclear power station is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. It is operated by Magnox North Limited, on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Oldbury is one of four stations located close to the mouth of the River Severn and the Bristol Channel, the others being Berkeley, Hinkley Point A and Hinkley Point B.
3 The power station silt lagoons
4 Future nuclear plant plans
Opened in 1967, it had two Magnox reactors producing 424 megawatts (MWe) in total[1][2] – enough electricity on a typical day to serve an urban area twice the size of Bristol. Reactor 1 went critical on 18th September 1967 and first generated electricity on 9th November 1967, Reactor 2 started generating electricity in April of 1968.[3]
The construction was undertaken by a consortium known as The Nuclear Power Group ('TNPG').[4] The reactors were supplied by TNPG and the turbines by AEI and C. A. Parsons & Co.[2] The main civil engineering contractor was Alfred McAlpine.[2] Construction on site began in 1961.[3]
Oldbury was the first nuclear power station in the UK to use prestressed concrete pressure vessels, earlier Magnox reactors having used steel pressure vessels more suited to smaller reactors.[5]
The design net power output of the station was 600 MWe, but due to steel corrosion problems from the hot carbon dioxide coolant within the reactor, operating temperature had to be reduced soon after operation started causing a large drop in power output. Initially power output was set at 424 MWe, dropping to 400MWe by 1973. Then as remedial measures were adopted power was progressively increased to 434 MWe by 1983 with a gas outlet temperature of 365°C, compared to the 412°C design temperature, which was maintained as the normal operational output.[6][1]
The station was originally to be decommissioned at the end of 2008, however the reactors continued use has been licensed in various stages for an additional two and a half years in the case of reactor 2 (now shutdown) and 4 years for reactor 1. [7][8][9][10]
Reactor 2 ceased operating permanently on 30 June 2011.[11] Reactor 1 will cease operating from February 2012.[12]
On 30 May 2007, only a few days after reopening after safety checks, the power station was shut down as part of standard emergency procedure when a fire broke out on one of the generator transformer HV bushings. No-one was injured in the fire and no radiation was released. Information suggests an insulator overheated causing it to fail. Minor damage ensued resulting in a standard shutdown. This area is a significant distance from any reactor or material that could be considered any risk. All emergency procedures were commenced and by 11:30am the situation was stabilised.[13][14] The power station resumed production for a few days in June then shut down again. Production eventually resumed on 24 August 2007, at which point it had only produced electricity for eight days since August 2006.[15]
On 17 Mar 2011 at 10:40, Reactor 2 was automatically shut down after an electrical problem.[16] Magnox stated that workers had been carrying out routine maintenance when a small relay overheated (this failure caused the turbine to shut down). Their spokesman went on to say "Because the turbine tripped the steam produced in the boilers couldn’t be sent to the turbine as it would normally and so was released through relief valves on top of the building." and "To reduce the amount of steam being produced, and in accordance with expectations, the reactor automatically tripped and was safely shut down."[17]
On 14 July 2011, Reactor 1 was automatically shut down after 'problems with the refuelling machinery.' Large plumes of steam could be seen rising from the power station, concerning near-by residents. The incident came a week after the number 2 reactor was permanently shut down after its 43-year life because it had 'reached the end of its operational life'. Number 1 reactor is expected to be back on line within three weeks of the incident and to continue operating until the end of 2012.[18]
The power station silt lagoons
The silt lagoons at Oldbury power station are used as a high tide roosting site by birds which feed on the Severn Estuary. Between 1979 and 2005, 199 bird species were recorded at the site.[19] This included a number of vagrants: a Green-winged Teal in January 2001, a Ring-necked Duck in April and May 2000, a Black-winged Stilt in May 1997, a Kentish Plover in August 1993, a Semipalmated Sandpiper in August 1990, a Temminck's Stint in April 1984, a Pectoral Sandpiper in September 1989, a Broad-billed Sandpiper in August 1983, a Ring-billed Gull in October 1994, and a Richard's Pipit in October 1996.[19]
Future nuclear plant plans
Horizon Nuclear Power, an E.ON and RWE joint venture, announced in 2009 intentions to install up to 3,300 MWe of new nuclear plant at Oldbury. Horizon is considering building up to either two 1,650 MWe Areva EPR reactors, or three 1,100 MWe Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. As the Severn estuary water supply would be inadequate to cool these larger reactors, cooling towers would be built.[20][21]
On 18 October 2010 the British government announced that Oldbury was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations.[22]
Oldbury was used as a filming location for the Doctor Who serial, The Hand of Fear. Filming at Oldbury took place in 1976. On one occasion, long running music show Top of the Pops was even filmed inside one of the reactor buildings.[3] The power station also appeared in several episodes of Blake's Seven [1].
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
Energy policy of the United Kingdom
Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
^ a b "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Nuclear Power Reactors". PRIS database. International Atomic Energy Agency. 22 May 2010. http://www.iaea.org/cgi-bin/db.page.pl/pris.powrea.htm?country=GB. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
^ a b c Nuclear Power Plants in the UK
^ a b c http://www.mythornbury.co.uk/oldbury_power_station
^ The UK Magnox and AGR Power Station Projects
^ Walter C. Patterson (1985). Going Critical: An Unofficial History of British Nuclear Power. Paladin. ISBN 0-586-08516-5. http://www.waltpatterson.org/goingcritical.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
^ Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (September 2000). Report by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate on the results of Magnox Long Term Safety Reviews (LTSRs) and Periodic Safety Reviews (PSRs) (Report). Health and Safety Executive. p. 27 (Table 3). http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/magnox.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
^ "Oldbury powers on into 2009". NDA. 18 December 2008. http://www.nda.gov.uk/news/oldbury-power.cfm. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
^ Schaps, Karolin (23 August 2010). "Magnox aims to run UK Oldbury reactor until mid-2012". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/08/23/britain-nuclear-oldbury-idUKLDE67M0TE20100823. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
^ Schaps, Karolin (9 February 2011). "Oldbury 2 nuclear unit can run until June - Magnox". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/09/uk-britain-nuclear-oldbury-idUKTRE7182A920110209. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
^ "Oldbury 1 nuclear reactor gets 2012 extension". Reuters. 22 June 2011. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/uk-energy-uk-nuclear-idUKTRE75L3LJ20110622. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
^ "Oldbury nuclear power station Reactor 1 shut down". BBC. 14 July 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14161129. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
^ "Oldbury Power Station to stop generating electricity". BBC. 21 October 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-15408460. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
^ "Nuclear reactor set to re-start". BBC News. 18 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6669703.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
^ "Fire closes nuclear power station". BBC News. 30 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6705243.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
^ "Power is back on at nuclear plant". BBC News. 24 August 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6962494.stm. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
^ Schaps, Karolin (17 March 2011). "Oldbury 2 nuclear unit shuts after electrical problem". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/uk-oldbury-2-nuclear-unit-shuts-after-el-idUKTRE72G44M20110317. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
^ "Nuclear bosses give assurances after steam is seen coming from reactor at Oldbury". gazetteseries.co.uk. 24 March 2011. http://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/8926487.print/. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
^ "Oldbury nuclear power station reactor 1 shut down". BBC.co.uk. 14 July 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14161129. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
^ a b Middleton, A. J., D. H. Payne and J. D. R. Vernon (2007) The Birds of Olbury Power Station Silt Lagoons Bristol Ornithology 28: 3-40
^ James Murray (30 April 2009). "RWE/E.ON and EDF win nuclear auction". BusinessGreen. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1803109/rwe-eon-edf-win-nuclear-auction. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
^ "FAQs: OLDBURY". Horizon Nuclear Power. http://www.horizonnuclearpower.com/faq_oldbury.php. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
^ "Nuclear power: Eight sites identified for future plants". BBC News (BBC). 18 October 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11564152. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
British Nuclear Group - Oldbury
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - Oldbury
Oldbury Site Stakeholder Group
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Buildings and structures in South Gloucestershire
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Oldbury nuclear power station — is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury on Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. It is operated by British Nuclear Group, a subsidiary of BNFL.Opened in 1967, Oldbury has two… … Wikipedia
Dungeness Nuclear Power Station — Dungeness A Nuclear Power Station Dungeness A … Wikipedia
Chapelcross nuclear power station — Chapelcross nuclear power station, prior to demolition of the cooling towers Country Scotland Coordinates … Wikipedia
Wylfa nuclear power station — Wylfa is a nuclear power station situated just west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, north Wales. Its location on the coast provides an excellent cooling source for its operation.It houses two 490 MW Magnox nuclear reactors, Wylfa 1 and… … Wikipedia
Berkeley nuclear power station — Infobox NPP Picture = BerkeleyPowerStation.jpg Pic des = Aerial picture of Berkeley nuclear power station taken in 1981. Country = United Kingdom Utility = Built = 1956 Start = 1962 End = 1989 Reactor = 2 Capacity = 276 S Reactor = El Prod = for… … Wikipedia
Hinkley Point A nuclear power station — Infobox UK power station static static image caption=Hinkley Point A twin reactors on the left. Hinkley Point B on the right os grid reference=ST211460 latitude=51.208739 longitude= 3.133743 country=England region=South West England shire… … Wikipedia
Hinkley Point B nuclear power station — Infobox UK power station static static image caption=Hinkley Point B seen from the beach os grid reference=ST211460 latitude=51.209034 longitude= 3.127477 country=England region=South West England shire county=Somerset fuel=Nuclear… … Wikipedia
Nuclear power in the United Kingdom — United Kingdom energy related articles Government energy policy Energy use and conservation Nuclear power Solar power Wind power Energy efficiency in … Wikipedia
List of nuclear power plants of Europe and CIS — This is a list of nuclear power plants of Europe and CIS.European UnionAustria*Zwentendorf was completed in 1978 but after a public vote it was never filled with nuclear fuel and never started upBelgium* Mol (BR 3) PWR reactor (shut down) *… … Wikipedia
Oldbury-on-Severn — is a small village near the mouth of the River Severn in South Gloucestershire. It is home to the nearby Oldbury nuclear power station, a Magnox power station which opened in 1967 and is due to cease operation in 2011. The area has been… … Wikipedia
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E4 (channel)
Infobox TV channel
name = E4
logofile = E4.svg
logosize = 80px
logoalt = E4 logo
launch = 18 January, 2001
share = 1.5% (0.6% for E4+1)
share as of = July 2008
share source = [http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/monthreports.cfm?report=monthgmulti BARB]
owner = Channel 4 Television Corporation
country = flagicon|UKUnited Kingdom
flagicon|Ireland Ireland
picture format = 16:9/4:3, 576i (SDTV)
timeshift names = E4+1
sister names = Channel 4, More4, Film4, 4Music
web = [http://www.e4.com www.e4.com]
terr serv 1 = Freeview
terr chan 1 = Channel 29
Channel 30 (+1)
sat serv 1 = Freesat
sat chan 1 = Channel 122
Channel 123 (+1)
sat serv 2 = Sky Digital
sat serv 3 = Astra 2D
sat chan 3 = 10729V 22000 5/6
cable serv 1 = Virgin Media
cable chan 1 = Channel 144
cable serv 2 = UPC Ireland
adsl serv 1 = Tiscali TV
adsl chan 1 = Channel 14
E4 is a digital television channel in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for "entertainment", and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15 - 35 age group. Programming includes US imports such as "Friends", "ER", "The O.C.", "Smallville", "The Sopranos", "What About Brian?", "Desperate Housewives", "Gilmore Girls", "One Tree Hill", "Scrubs", and British dramas such as "Shameless", "Hollyoaks", "Skins" and "Nearly Famous". Some of the imports, e.g. "The O.C.", "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives", are screened on E4 up to one week ahead of their Channel 4 broadcasts.
When the "Big Brother" reality show is being transmitted E4 devotes much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the "Big Brother" house; interactive features that give access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted. The channel also allows "Big Brother" voting options and "Big Brother" repeats. "Big Brother" coverage is among the highest-rating programming on the channel, and comes at a time when most of the year's American imports have ended.
On 16 December 2004, Channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would launch on digital terrestrial television. It was a part of the Top Up TV subscription scheme until 27 May 2005, when the channel became available on Freeview, with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience.
E4 was also available as part of the basic Sky Digital satellite subscription channel package, due to a long term contract with BSkyB due to expire in 2008. However, on 6 May 2008 the channel went Free-to-Air along with more4 as part of the launch of Freesat.
In May 2005 E4 introduced "First Look", showing episodes of popular programmes such as "Hollyoaks" and drama series such as "Lost" and "Invasion" in advance of transmission on Channel 4.
In August 2005 E4 became a 24-hour channel with the introduction of E4 Music. It transmits from 6 a.m. (7am on E4+1) unless Big Brother or other reality shows are in progress.
In October 2005 More4 was launched to complement Channel 4's digital channels. "The West Wing" has since been moved exclusively to More4.
E4 launched a Republic of Ireland service in June 2002 which has become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel in Ireland with 1.1% of the audience; Sky1 is the most popular. [http://www.medialive.ie/Television/chshare.html] .
Since 2006 E4 has sponsored the E4 UdderBELLY venue (part of Underbelly) at the Edinburgh Fringe and Brighton Festival. The venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of E4's logo.
In July 2007 it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio .The station will be launched in July 2008 and will be aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6276076.stm BBC NEWS | Business | E4 Radio to be first new network ] ]
E4 has become somewhat notorious for its strange promotion campaigns, narrated by the infamous ‘voice of E4’, the late Patrick Allen. Since Allen's death in 2006, the similar voice of Peter Dickson has been used. Trailers often make use of dry humour and phrases which, at first, do not appear to make any sense. Past examples include:
* “Big shiny films in your dinky little home!”
* “Second chance Sunday — not just a bunch of repeats, honest.”
Programme trailers sometimes have the narrator repeating things that characters have said, such as, in a trailer for "Ugly Betty" that includes one character asking Betty "Why are you crying in the bathroom?", the narrator immediately asks "Why "is" Betty crying in the bathroom?!". And on another occasion he says "Oh No! Kerry Katona must be double booked." commenting on a cameo by Victoria Beckham. Sometimes the narrator appears to interact with the characters of the programme, especially notable in recent trailers for "Miss Match" and "What About Brian".
Films are usually gently ridiculed in their promotion, such as with the voice of E4 telling viewers they "probably will" guess the ending of "She's All That" and naming actress Kim Cattrall as "That slaggy one from "Sex and the City" when advertising an old film she was in. There is also quite heavy use of British words which have generally fallen out of circulation, such as ‘ruddy’ and ‘gaff’.
Occasionally, the E4 narrator narrates for trailers which will show on More4, ending with him being caught off guard that he's narrating for a "different" channel.
E4's continuity sends up the channel's "Friends"-reliant schedule - while in the past, announcements would generally be the same for example "Now it's time to relax with Friends", more recently the announcers have been more inventive with phrases such as "....after an episode of Friends we've shown so many times the tape's gone a bit wobbly" before a Series 1 episode which indeed had a distorted soundtrack. The "Next" DOG which runs towards the end of programmes on the channel parodies the schedule with phrases such as "Next: The One with Jennifer Aniston". Another example of using "Friends" to get ratings was via promotion for the sitcom "The Class"; the show was continuously billed as being from one of the creators of "Friends", David Crane. When a late schedule change meant an edition of "Big Brother's Big Mouth" was moved to Channel 4 in a bid to up ratings, the E4 announcer, Dominic O'Shea said: "Instead, well, I dunno, we'll probably just show another Friends or something." There have only been a handful of days since the creation of E4 when Friends hasn't been shown, after the previous day's editions, the continuity announcers have been heard to say things like, 'Hell must have frozen over because there's no Friends on tomorrow.'
On one occasion when a playout-error caused part of an episode of "Desperate Housewives" to be repeated, the announcer said, "I know we repeat ourselves a lot on E4 but that was of course a technical fault. Hopefully we'll have it fixed by the time it's repeated on Sunday," [http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showpost.php?p=8153306&postcount=28] playing on the fact that many of E4's imported American drama programmes are shown at least twice for each episode.
* [http://www.e4.com/ E4.com] official site
Nuisance lawsuit
Rista Vukanović
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Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs - Farrah Gray
/ Current Affairs / World News
World News Current Affairs (Page : 8)
UN blacklists Nigeria's Islamist terror outfit Boko Haram
UN Security Council has put the Nigerian terror group 'Boko Haram' under the so-called 'UN's 1267 (al Qaeda) sanctions list'. The notorious list featu
Thailand comes under Army rule
So finally, Thailand is once again - for the 12th time since 1932 - in the grip of its powerful Army. General Prayuth has assumed control of the count
India languishes at 134th place in 'Ease of Doing Business’ ranking 2014
The latest World Bank’s ranking on the ease of ‘Doing Business’ for 2014 reflects the gloomy business enviornment of the country, India. However
China-Vietnam at loggerheads over oil exploration in South China Sea
China will stop at nothing short of having exclusive control over all of South China Sea. This is a message well conveyed by the emerging su
Donetsk and Luhansk vote for secession from Ukraine
Two of the regions of Eastern Ukraine namely Donetsk and Luhansk have overwhelmingly voted in favour of secession from the mother country in a referendum&n
Zuma gets another term as South Africa President
It does not come as a surprise to know that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has continued its winning run by securing almost 62 percent of the votes
US gets 10-year lease extension on Djibouti military base
US has struck a deal with Horn of Africa nation Djibouti to renew the lease on 'Camp Lemonnier' for another 10 years. The Deal Under the new term of en
Panama presidential elections 2014
Panama has chosen a new president in Juan Carlos Varela. The incumbent Vice-president will step into the new role come July 1. The Results He was decla
Freedom of the press 2014: A Glance
The recently (May 2014) released Freedom of the press 2014 report paints a grim picture of the world. As per the survey, the overall global press freedom h
Know the most expensive countries to live in the world?
Switzerland and Norway are the most expensive countries to live in the world. Bermuda, Australia and Denmark round out the top 5 most expensive countries a
World News Tidbits ( May 02, 2014 - May 24, 2014 )
May 24, 2014 UN blacklists Nigeria's Islamist terror outfit Boko Haram. - read more
May 23, 2014 Thailand comes under Army rule. - read more
May 23, 2014 European Parliament elections 2014 gets going; Britain and Netherlands are first two of the 28 Euro countries to ballot.
The 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, is spread over four days (May 22-25) where 400 million Europeans are eligible to vote.
Its for the first time that the pan-European political parties are fielding candidates to elect the president of the European Commission - EU's executive body.
May 22, 2014 China and Russia signs a $400 billion gas deal.
China is looking to tap into the vast energy reserves of Russia to reduce its dependence on Coal that result in heavy pollution.
Pollution is emerging as one of the most fatal health hazard in the country that is home to few of the most polluted cities worldover.
This is also expected to boost sluggish Russian economy marred by sanctions imposed by the west over Ukraine Crisis.
May 22, 2014 Half of the world's newborn death occurs in 5 countries every year; India tops the list
India (779,000)
Nigeria (276,000)
Pakistan (202,400)
China (157,000)
Democratic Republic of Congo (118,000)
More than 5.5 million babies are born and die each year without a birth or death certificate.
Fatalism, poor care and lack of investment have been dubbed as the major causes for this calamity.
Three million of them are newborns while 2.6 million babies are stillborn.
Nearly all the deaths are preventable, with half occurring during labour.
The whopping number of deaths is more than that from AIDS which was just around 2.3 million in the peak year of 2005.
May 21, 2014 The Plenary Session of the 67th World Health Assembly concludes in Geneva, Switzerland.
The theme for general discussion this year was “The link between climate and health”.
Dr Roberto Ojeda is the current President of the World Health Assembly, 2014.
May 21, 2014 Malawi holds Presidential election.
Analysts rank incumbent President Joyce Banda (People's Party) as favourite because of her popularity in rural areas where she has been rolling out development projects and farm subsidies.
Her main challenger is Lazarus Chakwera, leader of the Malawi Congress Party.
May 20, 2014 India languishes at 134th place in 'Ease of Doing Business’ ranking 2014 - read more
May 20, 2014 China on course to build infrastructure connecting it to neighbouring countries; sets up a 10 billion Yuan (10000 crore in Rs) fund as part of “maritime silk road plan”.
The emerging superpower plans to construct ports and boost maritime connectivity with Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean littoral countries.
May 20, 2014 Thailand Army imposes martial law in the country.
The decision has been taken in order to tackle the deteriorating law and order amidst political upheavel.
Earlier, Thailand caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was forced out by the constitutional court after being found guilty of abusing power as interim PM.
The reins of the interim government (to be there until July elections) was passed on to Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan; A move which resulted into massive nationwide protest.
It is noteworthy that Thailand Army has so far staged 11 coups since 1932 – the last of them being the 2006 ouster of Thaksin Shinawatra (brother of Yingluck Shinawatra).
May 17, 2014 17th May : UN observes "World Telecommunication and Information Society Day"
Purpose : to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.
Theme for 2014 : Broadband for Sustainable Development
Why : to mark the anniversary of the signing of the "first International Telegraph Convention" in 1865 and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union.
May 16, 2014 Palestinians observes Nakba Day ("Day of the Catastrophe")
generally commemorated on 15 May, it is also the day of Israeli independence and is observed to mark the displacement of millions of Palestinians from present day Israel following 1948 Palestinian War (Israeli Declaration of Independence)
these displaced people took refuge (and still lives here only) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
May 16, 2014 Anti-Chinese riots spreads in Vietnam following towing of an oil rig into disputed waters of South China sea claimed by both countries. - read more
May 15, 2014 Nationwide protests erupt in Turkey a day after a deadly explosion in a coal mine killed at least 274 people.
May 15, 2014 Donetsk and Luhansk unilaterally announce independence from Ukraine following the referendum that overwhelmingly voted in favour of secession.
Now, both the region will not be participating in the upcoming Ukraine’s presidential election to be held on May 25, 2014.
May 14, 2014 China-Vietnam at loggerheads over oil exploration in South China Sea. - read more
May 14, 2014 Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to six-year imprisonment for bribery.
Its the first ever criminal conviction of a former head of government in Israel.
He had taken bribes over property deal when he was serving as the mayor of Jerusalem.
Its notable that he was forced to step down as PM in 2008 in the backdrop of many corruption allegations.
May 12, 2014 Donetsk and Luhansk vote for secession from Ukraine. - read more
May 12, 2014 South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel army leader Riek Machar inks a peace agreement in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
The pact calls for immediate ceasefire, formation of a transitional government ahead of the drafting of a new constitution and new elections.
The civil war broke out when President Kiir dismissed Vice President, Machar, accusing him of plotting a coup. Since then, Machar is leading a rebel army named South Sudan Democrativ Movement/ Army (SSDM) Cobra faction to overthrow the government.
The conflict has left thousands dead and nearly five million people displaced.
May 10, 2014 Historian and political scientist Luis Guillermo Solis has been sworn in as 47th President of Costa Rica.
He beats Johnny Araya in run-off election with astounding 78 percent approval.
Costa Rica is a tiny Central American country with population of just 4.5 million.
He succeeds Laura Chinchilla as such.
May 09, 2014 Jacob Zuma gets another term as South Africa President. - read more
May 09, 2014 US to induct 12000 Chinese railroad workers into Hall of Honour.
The workers were responsible for building trans-pacific railroad between 1865 and 1869.
Asian-Americans are receiving this tribute for the first time since the Hall was introduced in 1988.
May 09, 2014 Forbes 11th annual global list of most powerful 2000 public companies is out.
Total 54 Indian companies are included in the world’s 2000 largest and most powerful public companies.
Reliance Industries placed globally at 135th is the most powerful Indian company in the list.
It is followed by State Bank of India (155th), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (176th), ICICI Bank (304th), Tata Motors (332nd), Indian Oil (416th), HDFC Bank (422nd), Coal India (428th), Larsen & Toubro (500th) among top 500 companies.
US retains its hegemony with 564 companies followed by Japan with 225.
Surprisingly the top 3 spots have been captured by China.
The top 5 companies in the list are...
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China – Banking
China Construction Bank, China – Banking
Agricultural Bank of China, China – Banking
JPMorgan Chase, United States – Banking
Berkshire Hathaway, United States – Conglomerate
May 07, 2014 US gets 10-year lease extension on Djibouti military base - read more
May 06, 2014 Ahmed Maiteeg has been elected as Libya’s new Prime Minister after receiving 121 votes in the 200-member parliament.
He won in the 2nd round of voting against political analyst Omar al-Hassi as the earlier session failed to give him the mandatory 120 votes.
May 05, 2014 Panama has chosen a new president in Juan Carlos Varela. - read more
May 03, 2014 India gets 3rd rank in the US Green Building Council (USGBC) list preceded by Canada and China respectively.
The index list countries outside US for constructing energy efficient green buildings.
May 03, 2014 India slides to 78th place in Freedom of the press ranking for 2014. - read more
Heroin: The hazard
The Global Information Technology Report 2014
Hamas and Fatah come together to form united national government
A dam of contention
Jul 11, 2016 Lewis Hamilton wins British Grand Prix 2016
British Formula One racing driver Lewis Hamilton has won the 2016 British Grand Prix title of Formula One.
It was his third successive victory at Silverstone and the fourth overall after winning it in 2008, 2014 and 2015.
Prior to this he has won Monaco Grand Prix (May 2016), Canadian Grand Prix (June 2016) and Austrian Grand Prix (July 2016).
Latest ranking after 2016 Austrian Grand Prix :
Lewis Hamilton (Britain) of Mercedes : 1st position
Max Verstappen (Netherlands) of Red Bull : 2nd position
Nico Rosberg (Germany) of Mercedes : 3rd position
Daniel Ricardo (Australia) of Red Bull : 4th position
Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) of Ferrari : 5th position
Sergio Perez (Mexico) of Force India : 6th position
Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) of Force India : 7th position
Top Teams: Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and Force India.
Jul 11, 2016 Tathagata Roy sworn-in as acting Governor of Arunachal Pradesh
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy has been sworn in as acting Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
He has been given the additional charge of Governor of Arunachal Pradesh during the leave of absence of incumbent Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa.
Roy was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, Justice Ajit Singh as per the provisions of Article 159 of Constitution of India. He is the 18th Governor to be sworn in as Governor of this Himalayan State.
About Tathagata Roy :
Tathagata Roy born on 14 September 1945 in Kolkata, West Bengal is politician, engineer and author. He studied Civil Engineering in Bengal Engineering College Sibpur and joined Indian Railways Service of Engineers.
He took voluntary retirement in 1990 and Jadavpur University as professor and founder head of the Department of Construction Engineering. He was attracted towards Hindutva and became a Swayamsevak in 1986. After leaving government service he joined the BJP in 1990.
He has authored two books :
The Life and Times of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
My People, Uprooted: A Saga of the Hindus of Eastern Bengal.
Constitutional provisions of Governor :
Article 153: There shall be a Governor for each State. The 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 provides that nothing in this article shall prevent the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more States.
Article 156: The Governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. The Governor may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office. Governor is appointed by President and hold office during the pleasure of President.
Jul 11, 2016 DRDO inks pact with IITs for Centre for Propulsion Technology
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with IIT-Bombay and Madras to establish a bi-nodal ‘Centre of Propulsion Technology’ (CoPT) at the two institutions.
The initiative is aimed at achieving synergy between DRDO and Indian Institutes of Technology for channelising the research efforts towards developing products and related critical aerospace technologies.
CoPT will evolve mechanisms to facilitate execution of programs related to propulsion technology and will engage the primary Research Nodes (IIT Bombay and IIT Madras) and other research institutions.
It will facilitate and undertake multidisciplinary directed research in the focused areas of futuristic aero engines, hypersonic propulsion for long duration flight.
Jul 11, 2016 Captain Radhika Menon: First woman to receive Exceptional Bravery award at Sea
Captain Radhika Menon, first woman captain of the Indian Merchant Navy recently became the first woman in the world to receive the Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea for the year 2016 from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
The award was bestowed upon her for her role in the dramatic rescue of seven fishermen from a sinking fishing boat in tumultuous seas in the Bay of Bengal in June last year.
She rescued all seven fishermen from the fishing boat Durgamma, which was adrift following engine failure and loss of anchor in severe weather. For this bravery she was nominated for the award by the Government of India.
Facts about Radhika Menon :
She is the first Indian women captain of a merchant navy ship. She joined the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) as a trainee radio officer in 1991. Her job in navy was to look after the communication system of the ship.
She continued appearing for exams and kept excelling in her career. She cleared her master's certificate exam in 2010 and sailed in MT Suvarna Swarajya twice before she took charge of the ship as captain.
It is very difficult to find successful women in merchant navy as despite being good in their jobs women usually have to quit their jobs as they need to take of their families but Radhika Menon is an exception.
Jul 11, 2016 Bornean orangutan now 'critically endangered': IUCN
The Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is now critically endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The declaration was based on IUCN assessment which considers past, current and future rates of species loss.
The combined impacts of habitat loss, habitat degradation and illegal hunting equate to an 86 per cent population reduction between 1973 and 2025.
Observing the the current human behaviour toward wildlife it has been predicted that population will further decline to 47,000 animals by 2025.
Facts about Bornean orangutan :
The Bornean orangutan is a species of orangutan native to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia.
Like the other great apes, orangutans are highly intelligent, displaying advanced tool use and distinct cultural patterns in the wild. Orangutans share approximately 97 per cent of their DNA with humans.
Cause of decline in Population :
Deforestation: About 40 per cent of Borneo’s forests has been lost due to palm oil plantations and cutting down of trees for furniture. Threats to wild orangutan populations include poaching, habitat destruction, and the illegal pet trade.
Slow Breeding: They are slow breeders as females only reproduce once every six to eight years (the longest birth interval of any land mammal).
Jul 11, 2016 Nimi Sunil kumar wins Gourmand World Cookbook Award
Nimi Sunilkumar, cookbook author and food blogger, has won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for 2015-16. Her book 4 o’clock Temptations of Kerala has been chosen for the award in the ‘Best Indian Cuisine Cookbook’ section.
The cookbook is enriched with photos and details of 54 recipes from Kerala and each of these recipes are said to be specific to each district. She has won the award for the second time, earlier she had won the award in 2013.
Her Lip-smacking Dishes of Kerala was selected third ‘Best Local Cuisine Book in the World’ in 2013. She is a culinary teacher and dietician at Tata High Range School, Munnar.
Gourmand World Cookbook Award:
The award was founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau. It is free competition and open to publishers in all languages and countries. The Gourmand Awards celebrate global cookbook and wine book publishing and feature many world-renowned chefs each year.
Jul 11, 2016 SC ends impunity for armed forces
A Bench of Supreme Court led by Justices Madan B. Lokur and U.U. Lalit said in an 85-page judgment that "every death caused by the armed forces in a disturbed area, whether the victim is a dreaded criminal or a militant or a terrorist or an insurgent, should be thoroughly enquired into." This is to address any allegation of use of excessive or retaliatory force beyond the call of duty.
The judgment came on a plea by hundreds of families in the north-eastern State of Manipur for a probe by a Special Investigation Team into 1,528 cases of alleged fake encounters involving the Army and the police.
This judgment of Supreme Court is a blow to the immunity enjoyed by security personnel under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) against criminal action for acts committed in disturbed areas.
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The “Canadian Revolution,” the Early American Republic, and … Slavery?
Maxime Dagenais
We all know the story of the Upper and Lower Canadian Rebellions: we know about the patriotes of Lower Canada and the reformers of Upper Canada; we know about the victories and defeats, expulsions and executions; we know about the social, political, and economic implications in Canada, and their consequences on our history. In general, in Canada, we view the Rebellions as an important Canadian event. However, the Rebellions were also an American event, with major consequences in the United States.
In this post, I will briefly explain the research that I am currently conducting as a postdoctoral fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and how my time in Philadelphia has changed the overall aim of my project.
Whether they wanted it or not, Americans were dragged into this conflict. In the wake of the failed 1837 Canadian Rebellions, several rebel leaders sought refuge in American border towns like Burlington and Watertown, where they sought assistance from Americans. They met with local leaders and politicians and travelled to major cities such as Boston and Philadelphia seeking financial and military support. Though they failed to secure the assistance of the Federal government—which even sent troops to the border to ensure “American neutrality”—they had more success at the local level. Throughout Michigan, Vermont, and New York, Americans living in the borderland expressed sympathy for the Canadian rebels and joined secret societies, known as Hunter’s Lodges. By the thousands, they pledged to free Canada from the yoke of British imperialism and assist the rebels in a “Canadian Revolution.”
The Rebellions were especially important since they coincided with a momentous period in American history. The United States was in the midst of the Jacksonian democracy; the Panic of 1837 and the broader economic transformations that some historians have called the “Market Revolution” were causing acute economic anxiety; Texas had seceded from Mexico; American territorial expansion was well underway; and debates regarding slavery raged on. In this critical context, Canada’s Rebellions played a major role. They became a source of conflict and debate. Like the Texas Revolution and the creation of the Republic of Texas, there were important social, political, and economic stakes with the “Canadian Revolution” and the prospects of two independent Canadian Republics.
Though the rebellions have been the subject of numerous studies in Canada, the American perspective remains underappreciated. Most Canadian scholars have considered the event from a local and Canadian perspective. The Rebellions’ causes and consequences remain generally rooted in Canadian context and historiography, focusing on the longstanding Canadian struggle for nascent nationalism. The studies of the event from an American perspective limit themselves to the Hunters’ Lodges and their general involvement in the conflict. They do not explain what social, political, or economic factors pushed Americans to oppose or support the Rebellions.[1] And though there have been numerous studies on the momentous changes that defined this period, they overlook the impact of Canada’s Rebellions on the transformative events that were taking place to the south.
My project investigates the place of the Rebellions in the United States. Based on the works of transnational historians, like Daniel Rodgers, David Thelen, Michel Ducharme, and Alan Taylor, historians that have shown the importance of studying regional events from a transnational perspective, my overall project takes the Rebellions out of their Canadian context and places them in a North American one. It investigates how the American social, political, and economic context (as described above) shaped their responses to it, and argues that this Canadian conflict had a significant impact in the United States.
When I first imagined this project, I initially planned to use the “borderlands” framework. This framework made sense: borderlanders were geographically closest to Canada, and had more to gain and lose from the Rebellions. Frequent exchanges with Canadians, along with contacts with rebel refugees, would have made borderlanders more familiar with the issues at play. However, after more than a year in Philadelphia, my plans have changed. As I began searching through newspapers and archival material, I saw that my initial hypothesis—that borderlanders were more interested in the event—was not the case. Borderlanders were not the only ones that had much to gain or lose with the Rebellions. Americans from the south, from the slave states, also had much to gain (or in this case lose) with the Rebellions. Southern newspaper editors, for example, worried that if the rebels succeeded and the Canadas became independent republics, they would be annexed to the United States as free states (as opposed to slave states); a prospect that would have serious ramifications on debates regarding slavery. They feared that the balance of power would tip towards the free states.[2] More importantly, southern slaveholders exercised such a heavy influence over foreign policy in Washington—as recently demonstrated by historian Matthew Karp—that the editor of the Public Ledger advised the rebels (in an open letter) that if they wanted the support of the Federal government, they had to declare both Canadas as “slave states.”[3]
Map of the states and territories of the United States showing which areas of the United States did and did not allow slavery between January 1837 and March 1837. Wikimedia Commons.
Did slaveholders use their influence in Washington to prevent any attempt to free Canada from the yoke of British imperialism in order to prevent its independence and subsequent integration in the United States? Did slaveholding interests shape American official neutrality? This is where my time in Philadelphia and at the McNeil Center has pushed my research. It has refocused my more general examination of the United States and the Rebellions around the issue of slavery. It has pushed me to consider the Rebellions and Canada’s place in the slave debates that were dividing the United States and how slavery in the United States—a subject that is of little concern to most Canadian historians—influenced the course of one of the most important events in Canadian history. More importantly, it has led me to consider how the Rebellions in Canada—a subject that is of little concern to historians of slavery in the United States—shaped the slave debates in the United States. As such, I hope to follow in the footsteps of historians like Caleb McDaniel and look at the slave debates in America as a transnational phenomenon that involved Canada and the Rebellions.[4]
Maxime Dagenais (PhD, 2011, University of Ottawa) is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and studies the American reaction to the Canadian Rebellions in the context of the slave debates. He is currently coediting a collection on the subject scheduled for publication in 2017 with Early American Studies, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
[1] One of the only published studies to make an explicit link between Jacksonian ideology and the Rebellions is Andrew Bonthius’ “The Patriot War of 1837-1838: Locofocoism With a Gun?” His article suggests that concerns over capitalism and the disappearance of traditional socio-economic values were present amongst some supporters of the Rebellions in Ohio. Andrew Bonthius, “The Patriot War of 1837-1838: Locofocoism With a Gun?” Labour 52 (Fall 2003): 9-43.
[2] For example, see Charleston Mercury, 3 & 8 & 19 January 1838.
[3] Matthew Karp, “This Vast Southern Empire: The South and the Foreign Policy of Slavery, 1833-1861.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2011 and The Public Ledger, 13 December 1838.
[4] Caleb McDaniel, The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionists and Transatlantic Reform (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2013).
Image: “The American Steam Packet Caroline Descending the Great Falls of Niagara after being set on fire by the British, Dec. 29, 1837.” After W. R. Callington, 1838, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Creative Commons License.
Historiography 43
1837-38 Rebellions 10
Borderland history 17
Early American History 54
Maxime Dagenais 6
slavery 6
transnational history 30
Upper Canada 14
Pingback: The “Canadian Revolution,” the Early American Republic, and … Slavery? | ActiveHistory.ca
Chris Raible says:
A most valuable introduction to an important topic – the influence of the Rebellions on US policies and politics. This thoughtful piece might, however, have made some reference to William Lyon Mackenzie, whose newspaper in support of the cause of Canadian independence, soon found itself mired in US politics. Indeed, WLM, as a “rebel leader” who “sought refuge” in the “American border towns” of Buffalo and (later) Rochester. Also his son, James Mackenzie, edited a “Hunter Lodge” newspaper for six months in Lockport.
maxdagenais says:
Thanks for your comment and for reading my post, Chris. William Lyon MacKenzie is indeed a very important figure in the Canadian Rebellions and one I am very familiar with. I’ve had the pleasure of reading his newspaper, Mackenzie’s Gazette. However, for this project, he plays a secondary role, like all of the other rebel leaders like Louis-Joseph Papineau, Robert Nelson, and Edmund B. O’Callaghan, to name a few. Though MacKenzie is present in my more general project (he had some contacts with abolitionists), I am not interested in *his* or the *Canadian* perspective per se. I am interested in the American perspective and more particularly that of American slaveholders that had little to no contact with rebel leaders. Thanks again for reading and stay tuned!
Pingback: Good Fences, Good Neighbours? Building Peaceful Relations Amidst Political Unrest in the Canada-US Borderland | Borealia
Pingback: The Wilson Institute for Canadian History: Introduction and Vision of Canadian History | Borealia
Pingback: Jacksonian America and the Canadian Rebellion – A Review by Stephen R. I. Smith | Borealia
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Walter Arm
Birthday: May 01, 1944 City: Bonham State/Prov.: TX Occupation: retired Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 2
Send Walter a Message
Birthday: July 04, 1944 City: New Harmony State/Prov.: UT Occupation: commercial artist / horse trainer Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 4
From Gloria: During these past 50 years I have worked at Gillham Advertising as a commercial artist, and enjoyed raising, training and showing horses.
I have been married 40 years to my wonderful husband, Richard. We have 4 children, 10 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
I have also enjoyed fising, hunting, and traveling.
I still have my 1962 T-bird convertible.
We live in New Harmony, Utah and have 12 horses, 3 dogs and 4 cats on our ranch. Send Gloria a Message
City: Cincinnati State/Prov.: Ohio Occupation: Retired Speech Language Pathologist Marital Status: Divorced No. of Children: 1
From Nedra: Hi! After graduation from East High, I went to BYU one year, and then returned to University of Utah to graduate in Speech Pathology. I spent the next year in Ogden, Utah, interning as a teacher of the hearing impaired, in pursuit of my MS degree. My mom died suddenly after heart surgery, and I set out to Connecticut to teach deaf kids, one year in Mystic, Connecticut and a year in Pennsylvania. Then I ventured to Australia for 2 years to teach at a school for deaf boys in Sydney.
On Valentine's Day, 1970, I met my future husband, who was an Army pilot on R and R from Viet Nam. I returned to Texas, where we were married, and I worked as a speech langugae pathologist in the schools. With him, I spent 3 years in Hawaii and 6 years in Alabama, where I had my one and only son, Jeff. I was divorced when he was 5 years old and stayed down South for 9 more years, before relocating to Cincinnati, Ohio. I received my doctorate degree in Literacy at the University of Cincinnati in 2000. I continued working as a speech language pathologist in the schools, until retirement in 2010, after 42 years of teaching.
I love retirement and am doing some private tutoring,consulting, and traveling and just enjoying life. I am eagerly awaiting my son to meet his mate and get married and have some grandkids. I have a grandpuppy, Bohdi. a boxer who is 3 years old. This will be my first trip back to Utah since 2000, and I am really looking forward to this, my first reunion. Send Nedra a Message
Birthday: April 03, 1944 City: Olympia State/Prov.: WA Occupation: retired physician Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 1
From Owen: After graduating from the University of Utah in mathematics, I attended medical school at the University of California in San Francisco, then completed my training as a nephrologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I met my wife there and, after completing our trainng programs, we moved to Olympia, Washington, where we remain.
I established a kidney dialysis unit and practiced as a nephrologist until my clinic of 100 physicians dissolved in 2000. I completed my career in the adminstration of the Western Institutional Review Board, an organization established under Federal Law to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects.
Since retiring in 2009, I have enjoyed traveling, gardening, caring for our two grandsons and playing duplicate bridge. I have also returned to playing golf and try to walk the course at least twice each week. Life is good! Send Owen a Message
Ardith (Ardie) Bowdle (Brown)
Birthday: October 01, 1943 City: Murray State/Prov.: UT Occupation: Systems Analyst (retired) Marital Status: Single Again No. of Children: 2
Send Ardith (Ardie) a Message
From Suzanne:
Hi Everyone! My life has taken long and winding roads since I left East High. I have had many different vocations, most have them were following a better paycheck in order to support my children. My son, Forrest, was born when I was still a teenager and my daughter, Wendy, is ten years younger than her brother. It is hard to believe they are now 41 and 51 years of age! My efforts have been rewarded as my children have been a wonderful support and are enjoyable, responsible adults who have given me three grandchildren… all cute and above average (naturally). My first jobs were not memorable but led me from making hats and hairpieces at Makoff’s and Auerback’s to working in doctor’s offices and then in laboratories. I was fortunate to be able to do almost anything and was taught advanced technical skills at an early age. When companies started hiring women in jobs that had previously only been given to men, I was already experienced and was hired to run chemical tests and learn state of the art instruments. I worked at the University of Utah and later at Hercules where I did research and development for 14 years. I was one of the first women to work with hazardous materials. Later this research group worked on the Space Shuttle Challenger. After the Challengers tragedy, hundreds of people were laid off as funding for space discovery was cut to the bone. I was caught in the wave and decided try something new. I returned to school to complete a degree in Graphic Design and was again hired at the U of U to do work for the Eccles Health and Science Library… this time doing graphics for their “Slice of Life” program. Eventually I was hired by the Newspaper Agency to do advertisement and illustration. During this time I also contracted with card companies to do fine art and illustration. I am semi-retired now but still paint and sell my work. I have been married to Michael Fletcher for 22 years. We are living happily ever after in a home we share with our big black Bouvier des Flanders dog in the historic district of the Avenues in Salt Lake City. We like to travel, bike and spend time with friends and family.
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Send Suzanne a Message
Birthday: August 23, 1944 City: Midvale State/Prov.: UT Occupation: retired Marital Status: Widowed No. of Children: 3
Send Bonnie a Message
Stephen G. Stoker
Birthday: June 28, 1944 City: Salt Lake City State/Prov.: UT Occupation: Attorney Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 7
From Stephen G.: After graduating from East High School in 1962, I attended the University of Utah, served for six months in basic and medic training as part of the 144 Evacuation Hospital Unit of the Utah National Guard, served a 2 1/2 year mission for the LDS Church in North Germany, returned to the U of U where I met and married Tricia Henriksen in 1968 (a 1965 Skyline High School graduate) and received a degree in history in 1969. I attended law school at the U of U College of Law. After receiving a law degree in 1972, Tricia and I moved to Washington D.C. where I worked for two years as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission.
In 1974 we returned to Salt Lake City, where I joined the law firm of Strong, Poelman and Fox. In 1987, that firm dissolved (then known as Fox, Edwards, Gardiner & Brown) and I began practicing in the two person law firm of Stoker & Thomas. David B. Thomas was my partner in that law firm. In 1991, David left private law practice to become an in house attorney at BYU, and I began pracitcing with Jeffrey C. Swinton in the law firm of Stoker & Swinton, where I continue to practice law. Over the years my law practice has included work on all aspects of real estate development, general civil litigation and, during difficult economic times, Chapter 11 reorganizations.
Tricia and I live in the East Mill Creek area of Salt Lake City. We have seven children, six girls and one boy, all of whom are married. We have 22 grandchildren and one on the way. Six of our children and their families live in Utah, and one lives in Denver with her family. Send Stephen G. a Message
Carter Cornwall
Birthday: March 07, 1944 City: Belmont State/Prov.: MA Occupation: College professor Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 3
From Carter:
I and my wife irene have lived in Belmont, Massachusetts since 1973. We have three children, I am a Professor of Bipohysics at Boston University Scholl of Medicine where I teach and do research. We are actrive in Church (LDS) and our local community. We spend summers in the Uintah mountains in Utah.
Send Carter a Message
City: Knoxville State/Prov.: TN Marital Status: Married No. of Children: 4
Send LaNeal a Message
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Protests greet Turkish president’s ‘football diplomacy’
Filed under: Latest, Politics News — Tags: 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks, 1915 never again, Abdullah, Abdullah Gul, Abdullah Gul arrived in Armenia to watch a Turkey vs. A, Abkhazia, Add new tag, airport, alarm, ancestors, Armenia, Armenian, Armenian communities, Armenians, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Bush, capital Yerevan, Caucasus, cold war, diplomatic, diplomatic thaw, English, ex-Soviet nation, first ever visit by a Turkish leader, first genocide of the 20th century, football, genocide, George W Bush, Georgia, Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazi, Greece, Gul, historic visit to Armenia, Karabakh, Kurds, massacres, motorcade, Nagorno, Nagorno-Karabakh region, NATO, Ottoman, Ottoman Empire, Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians, peace in the Caucasus, President George W Bush, President Serge Sarkisian, presidential motorcade, Protests, Protests greet Turkish president's 'football diplomacy', regional stability, Relations, Russia, Sarkisian, Serge, Serge Sarkisian, South Ossetia, strategic energy pipelines that connect Azerbaijan to T, Syria, trategic energy pipelines that connect Azerbaijan to Tu, Turk admit your guilt, Turkey, Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, Turkey's opposition to Armenia's occupation of the Nago, Turkish ally, Turkish president, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Turkish president's 'football diplomacy', U.S. Congress, victims of civil war and unrest, visit, We want justice, World Cup, World Cup qualifier game, World War I, YEREVAN — expressyoureself @ 4:30 am
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Thousands of Armenians lined the streets of the capital Yerevan Saturday, protesting the Turkish president who drove past in the first ever visit by a Turkish leader. Many held placards demanding justice for massacres that took place nearly 100 years ago.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul boards a plane at Ankara before departing on an historic visit to Armenia.
Abdullah Gul arrived in Armenia to watch a Turkey vs. Armenia football World Cup qualifier game with President Serge Sarkisian that many hope will help the two countries overcome decades of antagonism rooted in Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians.
Gul is the first Turkish leader to set foot in Armenia since the ex-Soviet nation declared independence in 1991. The two neighbors have no diplomatic ties and their border has been closed since 1993.
Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
Ties have also suffered from Turkey’s opposition to Armenia‘s occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, a close Turkish ally.
As Gul left the airport, the presidential motorcade drove along streets lined with thousands of people holding up placards, mostly in English and Armenian, that read: “We want justice,” “Turk admit your guilt,” and “1915 never again.”
Others held up names of places in Turkey from which their ancestors were forced to leave as the Ottoman Empire uprooted Armenian communities between 1915 and 1922.
Little progress is expected on the genocide issue or on Nagorno-Karabakh when Gul meets Sarkisian for talks just before the game — which Turkey is favored to win.
Still, the visit is a sign of a diplomatic thaw.
“I hope that (the visit) will help lift the obstacles that stand in the way of rapprochement between the two peoples and contribute to regional friendship and peace,” Gul said before his departure.
Gul’s decision to accept Armenia’s invitation to the match is linked to Turkey’s desire to carve out a regional peacemaker role amid tensions sparked by Russia’s invasion of neighboring Georgia.
Turkey, a NATO member, has cause for alarm about how Russia’s recognition of the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia might inspire its own separatist Kurds, or provoke Armenia to boost support for separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the wake of the Georgia conflict, Turkey proposed a regional grouping for stability in the Caucasus that would include Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“About a month ago, we all saw how conflicts that have remained unresolved threatened regional stability and peace in the Caucasus,” Gul said in reference to the Georgia crisis.
Armenia is the last of Turkey‘s neighbors with whom Ankara has failed to mend ties since the end of the Cold War. Turkey has gradually improved relations with old foes such as Greece, Bulgaria and Syria.
Improved ties with Armenia are likely to help lift strains on Turkey’s relations with other countries that have or plan to formally recognize the massacres as genocide.
In October, a measure that would have declared the Armenian deaths as genocide in the U.S. Congress was stopped after President George W. Bush’s administration warned relations with strategic ally Turkey would be damaged.
On the plane, Gul paid tribute to the Armenian president.
“President Sarkisian was brave in taking the opportunity of inviting me to this game,” he said.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Muslim ally of Ankara, in order to pressure Yerevan into ending the conflict. he move has hurt the economy of tiny, landlocked Armenia.
Armenia’s bitter ties with Azerbaijan and Turkey have resulted in the tiny country being excluded from strategic energy pipelines that connect Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia.
Armenians, supported by numerous scholars, claim an organized genocide was carried out in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire and are pushing for the killings to be recognized as among history’s worst atrocities.
Turkey contends the 1.5 million death toll is wildly inflated. It also says the Armenians were killed or displaced in civil unrest during the chaos that surrounded the empire’s collapse.
Turkey has called for the establishment of a committee of scholars to study the WWI events in a bid to improve ties, but Armenia has declined to consider this until relations are forged.
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http://fna.ir/ddr4n7
Sat Dec 07, 2019 6:5
Iraqis Condemn US Sanctions against Hashd Al-Shaabi Leaders
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraq's political figures and groups deplored the US Treasury Department for imposing sanctions on Hashd al-Shaabi (popular forces) leaders, describing the move as clear interference in Iraq's internal affairs.
"We see the move as a flagrant violation of our national sovereignty and meddling in Iraq's internal affairs," Hekmat Fraction said in a statement on Saturday.
Also, Mohammed al-Rubai'e, the spokesman of al-Sadeqoun fraction's political bureau affiliated to Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq group, described the sanctions as a futile move.
"The sanctions are in vain. We did not and will not have any foreign accounts," he wrote on his twitter page on Saturday, adding that the Iraqi popular forces are like thorns in the eyes of the hegemonic powers and will stand against them.
The US has slapped sanctions on a number of Iraqi leaders over allegations they were involved in the abuse of protesters.
Among those targeted by the sanctions is Qais al-Khazali, the head of the powerful Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) group.
Also targeted were Khazali's brother Laith al-Khazali, and Hussein Falih al-Lami, the security chief of the Hashd al-Shaabi, the umbrella grouping which includes AAH.
Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi group has denied any role in the deaths of protesters, who have demonstrated against the government for more than two months.
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Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign
The 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, was announced on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois.[1] After winning a majority of delegates in the Democratic primaries of 2008, on August 23, leading up to the convention, the campaign announced that Senator Joe Biden of Delaware would be the vice presidential nominee.[2] At the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 27, Barack Obama was formally selected as the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 2008.[3] He was the first African American in history to be nominated on a major party ticket.[4]
Obama for America
2008 Obama–Biden campaign logo
2008 Democratic primaries
U.S. Senator from Illinois
U.S. Senator from Delaware
Announced: February 10, 2007
Presumptive nominee: June 3, 2008
Nominated: August 27, 2008
Won election: November 4, 2008
David Plouffe (Manager)
Penny Pritzker (Finance)
David Axelrod (Media)
Michael Slaby (Chief Technology Officer)
Robert Gibbs (Communications)
Bill Burton (Spokesman)
Henry De Sio (Chief Operating Officer)
Claire McCaskill (Co-Chair)
Tim Kaine (Co-Chair)
Paul Hodes (Co-Chair)
US$670.7 million (November 24, 2008)
www.barackobama.com
On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, making him the President-elect and the first African American elected President.[5][6] He was the third sitting U.S. Senator, after Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy, to be elected president. Upon the vote of the Electoral College on December 15, 2008, and the subsequent certification thereof by a Joint Session of the United States Congress on January 8, 2009, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and Joe Biden Vice President of the United States, with 365 of 538 electors.[7][8]
1 End of the primaries
2 Running mate
3.1 Middle Eastern and European tour
3.2 Presidential debates
3.3 Saddleback Civil Forum
3.4 Victory speech
4.1 Chronology
5 Branding
5.2 Slogan
5.3 Hope poster
5.4 Typefaces
5.5 Campaign songs
6.2 MyBo
6.3 NationalField
6.4 Voter Data
7 Media campaign
7.1 Online advertising
7.2 Television advertisements
7.3 Infomercial
7.4 Other Initiatives
7.4.1 Fight the Smears
7.4.2 Israel for Obama
8 Political positions
9 Opinion polling
10 Election day
11 Certification of the electoral votes
End of the primariesEdit
Further information: Barack Obama 2008 presidential primary campaign
On June 3, 2008, after the Montana and South Dakota primaries, he secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States.[4] His opponent in the general election, Republican John McCain, passed the delegate threshold to become the apparent nominee of his party on March 4.[9] On June 7, Hillary Clinton, Obama's remaining opponent in the quest for the Democratic nomination, conceded defeat and urged her supporters to back Obama.[10] After a June 26 dinner at which Obama encouraged his fundraisers to donate to Clinton's debt-saddled campaign,[11] Obama and Clinton ran their first post-primary event together in Unity, New Hampshire, on June 27.[12] Over the first two weeks of July, the campaign ran a heavier schedule of fundraising events, drawing from former donors to Clinton's campaign.[13] Obama strategically had pictures made with financial experts Warren Buffett and Paul Volcker so the public would perceive him as having inside knowledge of Wall Street.[14]
Running mateEdit
Main articles: 2008 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection and Joe Biden 2008 presidential campaign
Wikinews has related news: Barack Obama chooses Senator Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate for 2008
Obama's vice presidential running mate had been a subject of speculation since the end of the primaries. As of August 2008, some of the most popular choices for vice president included, but were not limited to, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and retired General Wesley Clark.
On August 21, 2008, Obama announced that he had made a selection for his running mate, but would not reveal until August 23 who it was.[15] Obama's campaign encouraged supporters to sign up for a text messaging system that would alert them the moment he announced his choice.
Joe Biden and Barack Obama after the presentation of Biden as the vice presidential running mate in Springfield, Illinois
Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden and Joe Biden at the Vice Presidential announcement on August 23, 2008 in Springfield, Illinois
On August 22, KMBC News of Kansas City spotted bumper stickers of an "Obama/Bayh '08" ticket that were being printed in Lenexa, Kansas. Three sources close to a local printing plant reported that such material was being produced.[16] The image of the bumper sticker circulated on the internet. However, NBC News later quoted sources stating that Bayh had been informed by Obama's campaign that he was not the pick.[17] According to an Associated Press report that same evening, Joe Biden was selected as Obama's candidate.[18] The Associated Press report was confirmed several hours later, on August 23, on his official campaign website and by a mass text message to supporters.[2] Obama selected Biden to be vice president for three reasons: he could relate to blue-collar Americans (i.e. he is originally from Pennsylvania—arguably a blue-collar state); he has a multitude of connections on Capitol Hill; and he has more personal connections in foreign policy than Obama.[19]
Major eventsEdit
Middle Eastern and European tourEdit
In July 2008 Obama traveled to Kuwait, Afghanistan,[20] Iraq,[21] Jordan,[22] the West Bank,[23] Israel, Germany, France, and Britain. During the course of this trip he met with assorted international leaders, including President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan,[24] Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Olmert, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France,[25] and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Conservative opposition leader David Cameron.[26]
On July 24, 2008, he gave a speech at the Victory Column in Berlin before a crowd of estimated 200,000 to 240,000 people.[27][28][29]
Presidential debatesEdit
Main article: 2008 United States presidential debates
There were three presidential debates between Obama and McCain. No third party candidates or Independent candidates were offered an invitation to join in any of the debates,[30] as Obama and McCain were the only candidates on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Commission on Presidential Debates proposed, and the candidates agreed, that two of three 90-minute debates would be in an informal, seated, talk show format, while the third would be in a town hall format that allowed both candidates to walk around.[31]
The first presidential debate was held on Friday, September 26, 2008, at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi. This debate was held in a traditional debate format.
The second presidential debate was held on Tuesday, October 7, 2008, at Belmont University, in Nashville, Tennessee. This debate was held in the town hall format.
The third presidential debate was held on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York. This debate was held in a seated, talk show format.
On June 4, John McCain proposed a series of ten joint town hall meetings with Obama, at which the two could engage each other.[32] Obama first agreed in principle to the notion,[33] but later rejected McCain's proposal, offering instead one town-hall event on the Independence Day holiday and four traditional debate-style joint appearances.[34][35] Hank Paulson, President Bush's Treasury Secretary, said Obama's comprehension of the financial crisis compared to McCain's was as broad as "night and day". McCain's confidence vastly lowered when Obama questioned his ideas on the financial crisis in a meeting on September 25 at the White House with Bush and other congressmen. McCain did not have suggestions regarding what he would do to fix the economy, particularly Henry Paulson's $700 billion three-page bank recovery plan (TARP). Neither McCain nor Bush had read it. Obama's confidence escalated from that point. This was the turning point of the campaign.[36] That stock market loss was subsequently exceeded by an even larger −7.0% plunge on September 29, 2008.
On September 24, 2008, after the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, McCain announced that he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington to help craft a $700 billion bailout package for the troubled financial industry, and he stated that he would not debate Obama until Congress passed the bailout bill.[37] Despite this decision, McCain was portrayed as not playing a significant role in the negotiations for the first version of the bill, which fell short of passage in the House. He eventually decided to attend the first presidential debate on September 26, despite Congress' lack of immediate action on the bill. His ineffectiveness in the negotiations and his reversal in decision to attend the debates were seized upon to portray McCain as erratic in his response to the economy. Days later, a second version of the original bailout bill was passed by both the House and Senate, with Obama, his vice presidential running mate Joe Biden, and McCain all voting for the measure (Hillary Clinton would as well).[38]
Saddleback Civil ForumEdit
Main article: Civil Forum on the Presidency
The Civil Forum on the Presidency was the venue of back-to-back interviews of U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama by pastor Rick Warren on August 16, 2008, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
Victory speechEdit
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."
—Barack Obama, November 4, 2008
Wikinews has related news: Barack Obama wins U.S. Presidency
Main article: Barack Obama 2008 presidential election victory speech
Following his victory, Obama gave his victory speech[39] at Grant Park in his home city of Chicago[40] on November 4, 2008, before an estimated crowd of 240,000.[41][42] Viewed on television and the Internet by millions of people around the globe, Obama's speech focused on the major issues facing the United States and the world, all echoed through his campaign slogan of change.[43] He also mentioned his grandmother, who had died two nights earlier.
FundraisingEdit
Obama (far right) participates in a bipartisan meeting with President Bush and Senator McCain, and House and Senate party leaders regarding the economy, September 25, 2008
See also: Fundraising for the 2008 United States presidential election
The Obama campaign's fundraising broke previous records for presidential primary and general campaigns, and has changed expectations for future presidential elections. The campaign avoided using public campaign funds, raising all of its money privately from individual donors. By the general election the campaign committee raised more than $650 million for itself, and coordinated with both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and at least 18 state-level Democratic committees to create a joint-fundraising committee to raise and split tens of millions of dollars more.[44][45][46]
Post-election fundraising continued for the separate transition administration, called the Obama-Biden Transition Project, and also the separate inaugural ceremonies and celebrations committee.[44]
ChronologyEdit
According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Obama's campaign raised more money in the first quarter of 2008 ($133,549,000)[47] than it had raised in all of 2007 ($103,802,537). The campaign had a relatively small total of $21.9 million in May, but went on to raise $52 million in June, after Obama had secured the nomination.[48]
On June 19, Obama was the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing for a general election campaign since the system was created in the aftermath of Watergate.[49][50] Obama was expected to raise $265 million between the time of the announcement and election day.[51]
By rejecting the funds in favor of private donations, the campaign was in a position to outspend John McCain prior to the election. Had he signed on to the plan, the campaign would only have been able to spend $84.1 million between the party convention in August and the general election in November.[52]
Obama explained his decision to opt out of the public financing system, saying, "public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system."[50] Critics of the decision argued that the decision contradicted earlier statements that he would attempt to reach agreement with McCain to obtain public financing,[51][53] and asserted that Obama's campaign was receiving as much support from unregulated 527 groups as McCain's.[54]
On September 4, 2008, the Obama campaign announced they raised $10 million in the 24-hour period after Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. The RNC reported raising $1 million in the same period.[55]
On October 19, 2008, Obama's campaign announced a record fundraising total of $150 million for September 2008. This exceeded the campaign's single-month record ($66 million) for August 2008.[56]
The campaign raised much of its cash in small donations over the internet, with about half of its intake coming in increments of less than $200.[57] Both major party campaigns screened regularly for patterns of abuse and returned or rejected donations in excess of legal limits, from overseas, from untraceable addresses, or from fraudulent names.[58] After some criticism of the Obama campaign on conservative blogs, the Republican National Committee asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate the Obama campaign's screening practices.[59]
BrandingEdit
LogoEdit
See also: Obama logo
A 3rd Generation Mercury Sable station wagon with Barack Obama bumper sticker visible on rear bumper
A campaign sign in a window in Arlington, Virginia
Obama's campaign is notable for its extensive use of a logo. The logo, consisting of a circle, with the center suggesting a sun rising over fields in the colors of the American flag, was designed by a team at Chicago design firm Sender LLC. "We were looking at the "o" of his name and had the idea of a rising sun and a new day," according to Sol Sender, now a strategist at VSA Partners. "The sun rising over the horizon intended to evoked a new sense of hope."[60]
SloganEdit
Obama's campaign used the slogan "Change we can believe in" and the chant "Yes We Can". The latter slogan is shared with the United Farm Workers and associated with its founder César Chávez and is well known amongst Latinos in its Spanish form Sí se puede. The "Change we can believe in" has been used in parodies both during and since the campaign. John McCain attempted to criticize Obama by enumerating various controversial policy positions he allegedly took and proclaiming "that's not change we can believe in" alongside a banner proclaiming McCain as "a leader we can believe in".[61] Since the campaign it has been used to parody campaigns against incumbents as being "change you can't believe in" such as by British blog LeftFootForward against David Cameron[62] or by the Economist against the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan.[63]
Hope posterEdit
See also: Barack Obama "Hope" poster
The "hope" poster was an iconic image of Barack Obama designed by artist Shepard Fairey.[64] It consisted of a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, white (actually beige) and (pastel and dark) blue. Either the words "progress", "hope", or "change" were under the image of Obama (in some versions other words were used). It was created and distributed widely—as a digital image, on posters and other paraphernalia—during the 2008 election season. Initially it was distributed independently but with the approval of the official Obama campaign. The image became one of the most widely recognized symbols of Obama's campaign message, spawning many variations and imitations, including some commissioned by the campaign itself. In January 2009, after Obama had won the election, Fairey's mixed-media stenciled portrait version of the image was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for its National Portrait Gallery.
TypefacesEdit
The signature campaign typeface was Gotham, typically using capital letters with occasional use of the script Snell Roundhand. Gotham was designed in 2000 by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, originally for GQ magazine. Prior to Gotham, the campaign used the typeface Gill Sans in upper case and lower case.[65] Another Hoefler and Frere-Jones font, Requiem, was used for the campaign logo.[66]
Campaign songsEdit
U2's "City of Blinding Lights" was often played in anticipation of Obama's speeches during campaign events.[67] Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" was also played heavily during his campaign rallies.[68] Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" was frequently played immediately after Obama's speeches.[69] Barack Obama personally asked Joss Stone in August to write and record his presidential campaign song, reportedly due to the fact that she appeals across racial boundaries.[70] Ben Harper's "Better Way" was also played at a few events throughout the campaign.[71] Furthermore, Obama's candidacy inspired artists to create more unsolicited music and music videos than any other candidate in American political history.[72] Examples include "Yes We Can" by will.i.am, of the band The Black Eyed Peas; "Make it to the Sun"[73] by Ruwanga Samath and Maxwell D; "Barack Obama" by JFC; and "Unite the Nation" by the Greek-American hip hop group Misa/Misa.[74]
TechnologyEdit
See also: Barack Obama on social media
An "Obama 08" campaign office in Arlington, Virginia, photographed November 1, 2008
Obama was particularly noted for his use of the Internet to rally supporters and make his policies known. He is the first U.S. President to have effectively used the internet and social media for successful political outcomes. His successful presidential campaign raised the bar and are now presidential standards.
"The integration of technology into the process of field organizing … is the success of the Obama campaign," says Sanford Dickert, who worked as John Kerry’s chief technology officer for the 2004 campaign. "But the use of technology was not the end-all and be-all in this cycle. Technology has been a partner, an enabler for the Obama campaign, bringing the efficiencies of the internet into the real-world problems of organizing people in a distributed, trusted fashion."[75]
Obama's campaign was further strengthened by his opponent John McCain’s comparatively limited use of the Internet. McCain did not have the organization of Obama’s campaign, nor did he spend a comparable amount of money on this portion of the campaign. Both opportune timing and usage of online campaigning gave Obama significant advantage over McCain.[75]
Social MediaEdit
Through forums and social websites such as MySpace and Facebook, Obama built relationships with his supporters, and would-be supporters. He developed an upfront, personable and face-to-face quality that gave his supporters a sense of security and trust, which inspired them to rally others in their local communities. The supporters of Obama themselves formed a nationwide community.
All of his policies were made available online, and updates were sent to the subscribers of his political party via email and text message, ultimately making him the most technologically savvy candidate to date, increasing his popularity among young voters.
MyBoEdit
In early 2007, the Obama campaign launched a social-networking site called my.barackobama.com, or MyBO for short, and recruited 24-year-old Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes to help develop the platform and their social networking strategy.[76][77] MyBo became the hub of the campaign's online efforts to organize supporters.[78]
The nationwide community provided useful and effective tools, such as the Neighbor-to-Neighbor tool, allowing supporters to reach a large number of people in a short time in their own community, which in turn led to campaign rallying for more Obama support. An unprecedented communication strategy was the "online call tool". Over one million calls were made from residential, personal laptops and desktops.[19] Online communication led to Obama supporters engaging in social activities such as signmaking and door-to-door petitioning for Obama support, as well as simply discussing their opinions about policies and issues they supported along with Obama.[79][80] As described by campaign adviser Steve Spinner, the campaign grew "from zero to 700 employees in a year and raised $200 million. That’s a super-high-growth, fast-charging operation."
NationalFieldEdit
In 2008, campaign staffers stationed in the long-shot battle ground state of Georgia, reinvented the tedious, messy process of reporting and aggregating nightly data and intelligence upward through the campaign apparatus—making the organizing work of vast Obama field infrastructure more immediately measurable.[81][82] NationalField became an internal social network within the field organization, used to monitor the daily activities of the sprawling grassroots effort.[83] It allowed staff to share what they were working on and benchmark themselves against other staffers. Unlike a standard social graph, where all users have access to all information, NationalField was based on a hierarchical social graph where the higher level you were in the organization, the broader your view of the information below you.[84]
The platform closely reflected the team-building model of the Obama Campaign, often associated with organizer and Harvard professor Marshall Ganz in that it was an intensely structured a social network.[82][81]
Voter DataEdit
After trailing Republicans for many election cycles in their use of micro-targeting, the 2008 Obama campaign was the first Democratic presidential campaign to benefit from the existence of a national voter file. In 2007, DNC chairman Howard Dean centralized data collection and management by hiring the Voter Activation Network and creating the database Votebuilder.[76] Votebuilder created a web-based interface for the database and permitted the Obama campaign to give neighborhood-level volunteers access to the registered voter list for their area of responsibility.[85]
Media campaignEdit
In October 2008, Obama was voted Advertising Age magazine's "Marketer of the Year" by members of the Association of National Advertisers for the campaign, surpassing Apple and Zappos.com.[86] In a post-election analysis of the campaign, the magazine lauded its "understanding of ground-level marketing strategies and tactics, everything from audience segmentation and database management to the creation and maintenance of online communities."[87]
Online advertisingEdit
The Obama web campaign used consumer marketing to target individuals with customized information to their predicted interests. Political communication to viewers was based on data collected about them. This data was collected by volunteers, surveys on the website and records of consumption habits. Website surveys took a short amount of time to fill out[88] and the company used A/B testing to determine which forms converted most effectively, led by the team's Director of Analytics Dan Siroker.[89][90] More detailed surveys were requested and received through email. Records of consumption habits helped the campaign make predictions about people based on statistical models.[88] People received messages tailored close to their beliefs.[88] Marketing based on consumer data also enabled effective grassroots organizing through the website. Data gathered from the website indicated who the most dedicated constituents were; the website tracked how often a person visited and when.[88] The campaign team then targeted and encouraged activists in contested, winnable areas, such as through the website program Neighbor-to-neighbor.
Television advertisementsEdit
Soon after becoming the presumptive nominee, Obama began a biographical commercial campaign emphasizing his patriotism.[91] The advertisements ran in 18 states, including traditionally Republican Alaska and North Carolina.[92] Between June 6 and July 26, Obama's campaign spent $27 million on advertisements, against McCain and Republican National Committee's combined total of $24.6 million.[93]
In a September 15, 2008 interview with Good Morning America, Obama stated, "If we're going to ask questions about, you know, who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily." What he apparently meant was that McCain had put out more negative ads.[94]
InfomercialEdit
On October 29 at 8:00 pm EDT, the Obama campaign's 30-minute infomercial "American Stories, American Solutions" was simulcast on NBC, CBS, Fox, Univision, MSNBC, BET and TV One, focusing on a wide range of issues including health care and taxation. The infomercial then showed an Obama speech live from Florida.[95] Fox asked for the second part of Game Five of the 2008 World Series to be delayed by 15 minutes in order to show the commercial, and that request was granted.[96] ABC was the only major US network not to show the ad after being indecisive during the initial approach and the Obama campaign later declined the offer. The Obama ad got 30.1 million viewers across networks compared to ABC's Pushing Daisies which garnered 6.3 million viewers.[97] Prior to this, the last presidential candidate to purchase a half-hour ad was H. Ross Perot, who ran as an independent candidate in 1992.[98] The Obama campaign also bought a channel on Dish Network to screen Obama ads 24/7.[99] Wyatt Andrews reported on a "Reality Check" on the CBS Evening News the next day with doubts over the factual accuracy of some of the promises Obama made in the advertisement, given the government's enormous financial deficit.[100]
Other InitiativesEdit
Fight the SmearsEdit
Obama's birth certificate
On June 12, 2008, the Obama campaign launched a website to counter what the campaign described as smears by his opponents.[101] The site provided responses to issues brought up about the candidate,[102] such as:
Claims that he is not a natural-born citizen of the United States.[103]
Portrayals of his relationship with Bill Ayers.[104][105]
Claims that he is a Muslim and not a Christian.[106]
Israel for ObamaEdit
Originally started by American-Israelis in late May, the "Israel for Obama" campaign aimed to refute the allegations made against Obama concerning Israel and the Jewish community. This was done by gaining endorsements from Israel.[107] When he took a Middle East trip from Afghanistan to Iraq, Jordan and finally to Israel, they organized a small "Israel for Obama" rally for him.[108][109][110]
Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council stated that "The Democratic operation in the Jewish community was more extensive than I've seen in 35 years,"[111] The chairman of the campaign in Israel, Yeshiyah Amariel,[112][113][114] and others such as the Jewish Alliance for Change and the Jewish Council for Education & Research used YouTube to release video endorsements from officials and normal people in Israel for Obama and his positions (such as "Israelis for Obama"[115] and "right man for the job.")[116] In the closing weeks of the election the campaign used support from Israelis to fight the smears spread online by bloggers. Its success caused the polls of Jewish support for Obama to increase so that by the time of the Nov. 4 election, according to exit polls, 77% of the voting American Jewish community voted for Obama over the 23% that were for John McCain.[117][118]
Political positionsEdit
Main articles: Political positions of Barack Obama and Comparison of United States presidential candidates, 2008
Obama has taken positions on many national, political, economic and social issues, either through public comments or his senatorial voting record. Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama emphasized withdrawing American troops from Iraq, increasing energy independence (that includes New Energy For America plan[119]), decreasing the influence of lobbyists, and promoting universal health care as top national priorities.
Opinion pollingEdit
Further information: Nationwide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008 and Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008
Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election up to November 3, 2008.[120]
>10% Obama lead
4%–10% Obama lead
1%–4% Obama lead
1%–4% McCain lead
4%–10% McCain lead
>10% McCain lead
The day after Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Obama's Republican opponent, Arizona Senator John McCain, announced his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.[121] Almost immediately, the Obama/Biden ticket plunged in the polls: in a Gallup poll of likely voters, the McCain/Palin ticket gained a 10-point lead.[122] The erosion of support for the Obama/Biden ticket was especially pronounced among white women who had previously shown strong support for Hillary Clinton.[123] However, Obama regained and maintained the national poll average after September 19.[124]
A RealClearPolitics average of 14 national polls taken between October 29 and November 2 showed an average 7.3% lead for Obama over McCain. Obama's highest support in the polling average was 8.2% on October 14. Among individual polls tracked by RealClearPolitics, Obama's highest support was recorded in a Newsweek poll conducted between June 18 and June 19 and a Pew Research poll conducted between October 23 and October 26 showing a 15% lead.[124]
Gallup conducted weekly polls of registered voters to measure support among the candidates. The final poll conducted between October 27 and November 2 showed 24% of pure Independents supporting Obama, trailing the 32% who favored McCain. Obama's Independent support peaked at 33% the week of October 6–12.[125]
A RealClearPolitics average of four national polls measuring favorable/unfavorable opinions taken between October 28 and November 2 showed an average 55.5% favorable rating and 39.8% unfavorable rating. Obama's highest ratings in the polling average were 61.2% favorable and 32.5% unfavorable on July 8.[126]
As of November 3, 2008, one day before the election, the RealClearPolitics electoral map excluding toss up states showed 278 electoral votes for Obama/Biden, an electoral majority, and 132 electoral votes for opponents McCain/Palin.[127] Including toss up states, the Obama/Biden ticket led with 338 votes.[128]
Election dayEdit
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States, sparking many celebrations in the United States and around the world. He gained almost 53% of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes. The popular vote percentage was the best showing for any presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988. His 365 electoral votes was the best showing since Bill Clinton had 379 in 1996. He won Colorado, Nevada, Virginia, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina, all states that were won by President George W. Bush in 2004. In addition, he became the first Democratic candidate to win one of Nebraska's electoral votes since the state decided to split their electoral votes. He was the first candidate to be elected president without winning Missouri since 1956. Obama also received more total votes than any presidential candidate in history, totaling well over 69 million votes.
63% of Americans who met the voting requirements voted, the highest percentage in fifty years. Obama won the moderate vote 60–39 and the independent vote 52–44.[19]
Joe Biden also made history by becoming the first Roman Catholic to be elected vice president. In addition, he is the longest-serving Senator to become Vice President, having served in the United States Senate for the 36 years prior to the election. Biden also won reelection to the Senate, but served only briefly in the 111th Congress before resigning to take his place as vice president.
Certification of the electoral votesEdit
On January 8, 2009, the joint session of the U.S. Congress, chaired by Vice President Cheney as President of the Senate and Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, announced and certified the votes of the Electoral College for the 2008 presidential election. From the electoral votes of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Vice President Cheney declared 365 electoral votes for both Barack Obama of the state of Illinois and Joseph Biden of the state of Delaware and 173 electoral votes for both John McCain of the state of Arizona and Sarah Palin of the state of Alaska. Based on the results of the electoral vote count, Vice President Cheney declared officially that Obama was elected as President of the United States and Biden was elected as Vice President of the United States.[7]
Over 25% of the electorate was of a race besides Caucasian, a first for America.[19]
2008 Democratic Party presidential candidates
2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries
List of Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign endorsements
Republican and conservative support for Barack Obama in 2008
Campaign rhetoric of Barack Obama
First inauguration of Barack Obama
Iowa Electronic Market
Presidential transition of Barack Obama
Barack Obama assassination plot in Denver and Tennessee
John McCain 2008 presidential campaign
Barack Obama 2008 presidential election victory speech
List of African-American United States presidential and vice presidential candidates
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^ "Microsoft Word – Fact Sheet Energy Speech 082508 FINAL.doc" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2008. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
^ States are colored according to the average from at least the last three poll results from Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008. Washington, D.C. is presumed heavy Democrat. If there have been more than 3 polls taken within a month of the latest poll, then these are averaged.
^ "McCain taps Alaska Gov. Palin as vice president pick". CNN. August 29, 2008. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2008.
^ Cook, Charlie (September 9, 2008). "Time to Reassess the White House Race". NBC News. Retrieved September 13, 2008.
^ MacAskill, Ewan (September 10, 2008). "The Palin effect: white women now deserting Obama, says survey". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2008.
^ a b General Election: McCain vs. Obama, RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
^ Candidate Support by Political Party and Ideology Retrieved November 3, 2008.
^ Obama: Favorable/Unfavorable, RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
^ RealClearPolitics Electoral College: RealClear Electoral Count, RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
^ RealClearPolitics Electoral College: No Toss Up States, RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
Official campaign website
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008.
Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign at Curlie
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C. R. Hagen
Carl Richard Hagen (/ˈheɪɡən/; born 2 February 1937) is a professor of particle physics at the University of Rochester. He is most noted for his contributions to the Standard Model and Symmetry breaking as well as the 1964 co-discovery of the Higgs mechanism and Higgs boson with Gerald Guralnik and Tom Kibble (GHK).[2][3][4][5][6] As part of Physical Review Letters 50th anniversary celebration, the journal recognized this discovery as one of the milestone papers in PRL history.[7] While widely considered to have authored the most complete of the early papers on the Higgs theory, GHK were controversially not included in the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Carl Richard Hagen
(1937-02-02) February 2, 1937 (age 82)
MIT (BS, MS, PhD)
Luther North High School - Chicago
Quantum field theory, Standard Model, Symmetry breaking, Higgs boson, Higgs mechanism, Galilean relativity, Special relativity, Chern–Simons, Aharonov–Bohm effect, Casimir effect, Mathematical physics
Sakurai Prize (2010), APS Fellow
Scientific career
International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Kenneth A. Johnson, MIT[1]
In 2010, Hagen was awarded The American Physical Society's J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics for the "elucidation of the properties of spontaneous symmetry breaking in four-dimensional relativistic gauge theory and of the mechanism for the consistent generation of vector boson masses".[16][17][18][19][20]
Professor Hagen's research interests are in the field of theoretical high-energy physics, primarily in the area of quantum field theory. This includes the formulation and quantization of higher spin field theories within the context of Galilean relativity as well as that of Special relativity. Work in recent years has been concerned with such topics as the soluble two-dimensional theories, Chern–Simons field theory, the Aharonov–Bohm effect, and the Casimir effect. In 2015, Hagen authored a paper that found the classic 17th century Wallis formula for π while calculating energy levels of the Hydrogen atom – the first paper to derive π from physics and quantum mechanics.[21][22][23]
Born and raised in Chicago, Hagen received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[24] At MIT, his doctoral thesis topic was in quantum electrodynamics. He has been a professor of physics at the University of Rochester since 1963. Professor Hagen won the Award for Excellence in Teaching, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester twice (in 1996 and 1999). Hagen is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was named Outstanding Referee by APS in 2008.[25][26] Valparaiso University awarded Hagen the degree Honorary Doctor of Science in 2012 for his significant contributions to particle physics and the theory of mass generation.[27][28]
J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics
Higgs mechanism
Spontaneous symmetry breaking
1964 PRL symmetry breaking papers
MIT Physics Department
Norwegian Americans
Tevatron
Wallis product
The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?, a popular science book by Leon M. Lederman
^ "Professor Kenneth A. Johnson dies at 67; taught physics at MIT for 40 years." MIT News (February 12, 1999)
^ Guralnik, G.; Hagen, C.; Kibble, T. (1964). "Global Conservation Laws and Massless Particles". Physical Review Letters. 13 (20): 585–587. Bibcode:1964PhRvL..13..585G. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.585.
^ Guralnik, G.; Hagen, C.; Kibble, T. (1964). "Global Conservation Laws and Massless Particles" (PDF). Physical Review Letters. 13 (20): 585–587. Bibcode:1964PhRvL..13..585G. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.13.585.
^ Guralnik, Gerald S. (2009). "The History of the Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble development of the Theory of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Gauge Particles". International Journal of Modern Physics. A24 (14): 2601–2627. arXiv:0907.3466. Bibcode:2009IJMPA..24.2601G. doi:10.1142/S0217751X09045431.
^ "Guralnik, G S; Hagen, C R and Kibble, T W B (1967). Broken Symmetries and the Goldstone Theorem. Advances in Physics, vol. 2" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-09-16.
^ "4 July 2012: A Day to Remember," CERN Courier, 23 August 2012
^ Physical Review Letters - 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers
^ APS News - 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics and Landmark Papers in PRL History(October 8, 2013)
^ "Nobel committee’s 'Rule of Three’ means some Higgs boson scientists were left out." Washington Post (October 8, 2013)
^ "The 2013 Nobel prizes. Higgs’s bosuns." Economist (October 12, 2013)
^ "Why are some scientists unhappy with the Nobel prizes?" Economist (October 9, 2013)
^ "House of dreams. Scientists race to explain why the Higgs boson matters." Economist (March 3, 2012)
^ Guralnik, G. S; Hagen, C. R (2014). "Where have all the Goldstone bosons gone?". Modern Physics Letters A. 29 (9): 1450046. arXiv:1401.6924. Bibcode:2014MPLA...2950046G. doi:10.1142/S0217732314500461.
^ "Gerald Guralnik, 77, a 'God Particle' Pioneer, Dies". The New York Times. May 3, 2014.
^ "Tom Kibble, Physicist Who Helped Discover the Higgs Mechanism, Dies at 83". The New York Times. July 19, 2016.
^ University of Rochester Physics - C.R. Hagen Wins 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics
^ University of Rochester 2010 Sakurai Prize Press Release
^ American Physical Society - J. J. Sakurai Prize Winners
^ C. Richard Hagen - 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize Winner
^ 2010 Sakurai Prize Videos
^ Friedmann, Tamar; Hagen, Carl Richard (2015). "Quantum mechanical derivation of the Wallis formula for π". Journal of Mathematical Physics. 56 (11): 112101. arXiv:1510.07813. Bibcode:2015JMP....56k2101F. doi:10.1063/1.4930800.
^ "New Derivation of Pi Links Quantum Physics and Pure Math | American Institute of Physics". www.aip.org. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
^ "Revealing the hidden connection between pi and Bohr's hydrogen model". Physics World. 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
^ MIT Technology Review - Hagen and Guralnik’s award-winning physics work began during undergraduate days, Spring 2010
^ American Physical Society Fellows
^ American Physical Society Outstanding Referees Archived 2012-03-18 at the National and University Library of Iceland
^ Valparaiso University 2012 Honorary Degree Press Release
^ Valparaiso University 2012 Commencement (video) on YouTube
Wikinews has news related to:
2010 Sakurai Prize awarded for 1964 Higgs Boson theory work
Prospective Nobel Prize for Higgs boson work disputed (2010)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to C. R. Hagen.
C.R. Hagen Faculty Page
Papers written by C.R. Hagen on Google Scholar
Papers written by C.R. Hagen on Spires abstract service
Physical Review Letters - 50th Anniversary Milestone Papers
Steven Weinberg Praises C.R. Hagen and Collaborators for Higgs Boson Theory
University of Rochester Physics - C.R. Hagen Wins 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics
University of Rochester Sakurai Prize Press Release
C. Richard Hagen - 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize Winner
Video of C.R. Hagen at CERN (July 2012) on YouTube
Video of C.R. Hagen at CERN - Goldstone Comments (July 2012) on YouTube
Video of Higgs Original Theorists at CERN (July 2012) on YouTube
Best of Higgs Field Theory physicists? (CERNTV) on YouTube
"Has the God Particle Been Discovered?" Hagen's Keynote Presentation at Luther North Hall of Fame on YouTube
"Scientists relish possible 'God particle' find." USA Today (July 3, 2012)
Hagen Calls CERN Findings a ‘Remarkable Achievement’ but Says More Work Is Needed
WXXI Rochester - Hagen, Demina, and Bodek interview[permanent dead link]
Hagen awaits Nobel Prize decision (October 7, 2013)
Hagen Considered For Nobel Prize (October 7, 2013)
Hagen disappointed in Nobel Prize decision (October 8, 2013)
Nobel Prize Eludes Hagen (October 8, 2013)
Economist on 2013 Nobel Prizes and GHK paper (October 12, 2013)
Englert-Brout-Higgs-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble Mechanism on Scholarpedia
History of Englert-Brout-Higgs-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble Mechanism on Scholarpedia
UR prof and Nobel candidate to speak at Rochester Museum & Science Center
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Home » Parliamentary Diplomacy » Conference on Palestine
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Parliamentary Conference on Support for People of Palestine
In line with the goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran establishment to support the people of Palestine, the Islamic Parliament of Iran has held six parliamentary conferences in support for people of Palestine since its third term.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in February 1979, in light of the ideals promoted by the Leader of the Revolution, the late Imam Khomeini, the slogans chanted by Iranian revolutionaries in their combats in favor of and in solidarity with liberation and anti-colonialism struggles in other oppressed nations, glimmers of hope were radiated into the hearts of revolutionary and freedom fighters across the globe, particularly Muslim and struggling Palestinian people.
The oppressed Palestinians felt disillusioned with bombastic pan-Arabist slogans and a shadow of disenchantment was weighing heavy on combatants after years of almost fruitless struggle and the then Egyptian regime’s treacherous compromise with Israel (Camp David Treaty). Now the victory of the Islamic Revolution had brought fresh blood into their struggles. In the very heady days of the Islamic Revolution, the late leader of Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat travelled to Tehran and met with Imam Khomeini. Concurrent with this event, the slogan of “Today Iran, Tomorrow Palestine” reverberated across the occupied territories and Palestinian refugee camps.
This sacred cause of the late imam and the Islamic Revolution was enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran under titles “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Brotherly Commitment to All Muslims and Unflinching Support for the Oppressed in the World”, “Defending the Sovereign Rights of All Muslims” and “Supporting the Rightful Struggle of the Oppressed Against Arrogant Powers Anywhere in the World”.[1]
Although Iran’s material and spiritual support for liberation movements, particularly Palestine’s liberation movement, continued incessantly despite eight years of imposed war, after the end of the conflict, focus on international developments related to the Muslim world became more evident in the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. To that effect, the 3rdIslamic Parliament of Iran (Majlis) adopted the “Law on the Islamic Revolution’s Support of People of Palestine” on May 9, 1990.
While announcing support by Iranian people and the Islamic Republic of Iran for the oppressed, homeless and struggling Palestinians until they regain their sovereign rights, the Law tasks the Presiding Board of the Islamic Parliament of Iran to “deepen and broaden this support through different methods and convenes representatives of Muslim countries and pundits on appropriate occasions.”[2]
Following this Law, the Islamic Parliament of Iran has so far organized six international conferences attended by parliamentary speakers and MPs as well as political, cultural and scientific figures from across the globe.
-First Conference: First Conference: “International Conference on Support for the Islamic Revolution of People of Palestine", Tehran: October 19-22, 1991
-Second Conference: “International Conference on Supporting Palestinian Intifada”Tehran, April 24-25, 2001
-Third Conference: “International Conference on Quds and Supporting Palestinians’ Rights”Tehran, April 14-16, 2006
-Fourth Conference: “International Conference on Palestine, Symbol of Resistance; Gaza, Victim of Crime”, Tehran, March 4-5, 2009
-Fifth Conference: “Fifth International Conference on Supporting Palestinian Intifada”Tehran, October 1-2, 2011
- 6th Conference; Tehran February 21-22, 2017
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PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc tells G20 int’l cooperation vital to climate change fight
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered a strong plea for international cooperation in fighting climate change while addressing a panel discussion of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7.
VNA Saturday, July 08, 2017 14:53
Vietnam, Germany seek to raise trade to 20 bln USD
Friday, July 07, 2017 10:10
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc talks with German counterpart
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrives in Frankfurt, begins Germany tour
Wednesday, July 05, 2017 14:48
APEC, G20 cooperate in handling global economic issues
Vietnam attends G20 Sherpa Meeting in Germany
Sunday, May 21, 2017 16:12
Leaders of G20, guest countries and international organisations pose for a photo (Photo: VNA)
Hamburg (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered a strong plea for international cooperation in fighting climate change while addressing a panel discussion of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7.
The Vietnamese leader was the keynote speaker of the discussion on sustainable development, climate change, and energy.
He stressed Vietnam is one of the countries to be most vulnerable to climate change and negative impacts of unsustainable exploitation of water resources of the Mekong River.
He reaffirmed the country’s commitment to early achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, adding that the priorities would be reducing poverty, addressing inequality, improving education, promoting renewable energy and coping with climate change.
"Vietnam has been continuing to integrate climate change preparedness into its development planning, and is fully committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent by 2030, and even upwards of 25 percent if the country receives necessary support from the international community," he said.
As the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2017, Vietnam has pushed the agenda for sustainable development, climate change response and efficient energy use. It is cooperating with APEC member economies to promote inclusive development, he noted.
The PM applauded G20 for its unanimous commitment to responsible and efficient management and use of water resources. He also asked G20 members and the international community at large for more financial and technological support to developing countries in achieving the SDGs.
Vietnam is participating in the G20 Summit as the host of APEC 2017. This is the third time it has taken part in a G20 Summit. In 2010, it was present at the summits in Canada and the Republic of Korea as the chair of ASEAN.
The 2017 G20 Summit in Hamburg draws leaders of the G20 members and the guest countries of Vietnam, Singapore, Spain, Norway, Guinea (the chair of the African Union), and Senegal (the chair of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development). It is also attended by leaders of leading international organisations such as the UN, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Themed “Shaping an interconnected world”, the summit discussed an array of important issues of global economy such as growth, trade, investment, international finance, sustainable development, climate change, energy, support to Africa, migration, health care, employment, digitalisation, and women.-VNA
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc international cooperation in fighting climate change G20 Summit Hamburg sustainable development climate change Sustainable Development Goals APEC Shaping an interconnected world Vietnam news updated Vietnam news Vietnamplus Vietnam News Agency
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung hosted a reception for Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo in Hanoi on January 21.
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister pays Tet visit to Long An
Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh attends 50th WEF meeting in Davos
Vietnam, Middle East-African nations boost relations
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has said Vietnam pays special attention to its relations with Middle East and African countries, which have progressed in various areas over the past years.
Argentina’s party leader highlights significance of CPV’s foundation
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Argentina (PCA) Victor Kot has affirmed the significance of the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) 90 years ago to not only Vietnam but also the revolutionary movement around the world.
Chilean Vice Minister’s visit boosts ties with Vietnam, ASEAN
Chilean Vice Minister of Trade Rodrigo Yáñez has said his Vietnam visit aims to further boost the Vietnam – Chile ties and expand cooperation within the framework of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) signed in 2011, especially in investment and services.
Congratulations to Japanese Communist Party on 28th congress
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam has offered congratulations to the Japanese Communist Party on the latter’s 28th congress.
Vietnam, Thailand hold 7th political consultation in Hanoi
Vietnam and Thailand held the seventh political consultation under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung and Permanent Secretary of the Thai Foreign Ministry Busaya Mathelin in Hanoi on January 20.
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Exercise as it relates to Disease/Benefits of physical exercise in older people with Parkinson's
Benefits of Physical Exercise in Older People with Parkinson's
This Wikibooks fact sheet summarises, critiques and discusses the article, "Benefits of Physical Exercise on Executive Functions in Older People with Parkinson’s Disease" [1].
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the control and function of motor and non-motor features [2]. The disease is the second most common progressive neurological disorder, after Alzheimer’s, and affects approximately 0.5-1% of 65-69 years of age and rises to 1-3% of those 80 years and older [3]. Parkinson’s disease affects motor functions, but it has also been found through observation to exhibit cognitive and behavioural impairments. [1].
The study explores the affect PD has on executive function (EF) in the body and how exercise can slow down or even reverse some of the effects of the disease. Executive function is generalised as the understanding of one’s conscious control of their thought and action [4]. The research is conducted through using an aerobic multimodal exercise program to see if it influences executive function with those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease.
The study was carried out at the Sao Paulo State University in Rio Claro, Brazil. The institution is Brazils most prestigious University and is amongst the top 100 universities in the world. The authors involved in the study were from:
- UNESP, Sao Paulo State University at Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
- Psychopharmacology Research Support Association (AFIP), SP, Brazil
- Clinic in Geriatric Psychiatry, UNICAMP, State University of Campinas, SP, Brazil
The authors have been involved in many studies linked to Parkinson’s disease and have shown no evident conflicts of interest. There are no signs of bias in the study as the funding was from a third-party source run by the Brazilian government that is linked with the University. Although the study only focused on Brazilian patients, the research is still very relevant as Parkinson’s disease affects people from all over the world.
The study was a random controlled trial (RCT) that was clinically run to observe the improvements of quality of life through exercise in Parkinson’s disease patients. The study split the sample into two groups – the trained group and the control group.
The study involved 20 older people (mean age of 65.4 years) with Parkinson’s Disease; who were encouraged to participate in the study by neurologists, gerontologists, psychiatrists and other physicians. To qualify for the sample, participants had to conform to the following[1]:
a) Present clinical diagnosis of PD in early stages [5]
b) No current signs of dementia
c) Not been attending any other physical exercise program
d) Minimum of 70% attendance to training sessions
The sample was then separated into two groups, a trained group (TG) and a control group (CG). The trained group was required to partake in the following; 60-minute sessions, three times a week for six months with progression every 12 sessions (1 month). The methodology may not have been the best approach in relation to using exercise. Heart rate was not measured because the exercise was said to have not reached the anaerobic threshold. This limits the ability to judge the intensity heavily, as patients were only monitored by three professionals. Without an actual statistical value, it makes it hard to judge 10 patients in one session with great accuracy.
The results were interpreted through analysis of variance (ANOVA), as it provides a statistical test stating whether the groups are equal or not.
All tests showed no difference between the two groups for all the variables tested in the pre-intervention.
The post-intervention presented the following:
- The exercise intervention was able to improve executive function in the patients as assessed in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), with the statistical analysis showing significant difference between the controlled and trained group.
- The ‘Categories Completed’ and the ‘Preservative Errors’ observed a significant improvement in the trained group where the ‘Failure to Maintain Set’ displayed no benefits of exercise.
The results in relation to executive function are consistent with the method and the objectives of the study. The three other tests explained in the method; concentrated attention, anxiety and depressive symptoms were not discussed in the results. Thus, decreasing their importance to the outcome of the study.
The generalised physical exercise program was able to maintain or improve executive function in patients with PD. Although multiple other studies, to name a few ("A Review of the Effects of Physical Activity and Exercise on Cognitive and Brain Functions in Older Adults" [6]. and "Ageing, fitness and neurocognitive function" [7].), provide physical training; this program still demands aerobic metabolism which is a safer and more practical form of exercise for this age group and the brutality of the disease.
As concentrated attention, anxiety and depressive symptoms play such a major role in the function of the brain. These three results and their direct link to executive function should have been discussed more.
Exercise as a whole, physical and mental, will benefit the quality of life of those who suffer from PD [8].
Parkinson’s disease can be challenging to diagnose as there is no definitive test, only clinical criteria [2]. This makes it difficult to have consistency in observing the different stages of the disease and where the patient is at in relation. [5].
A study providing more specific stages and the optimal exercise intervention at that time of the disease would give the study more practical use.
The meta-analysis, "A Review of the Effects of Physical Activity and Exercise on Cognitive and Brain Functions in Older Adults"[8] , provides a good source to gain ideas about what exercise would be needed in a patient. It discusses fourteen random controlled trials covering; physical functioning, health‐related quality of life, strength, balance and gait speed for people. This assists by showing the many benefits of exercise in PD patients rather than just executive function.
Warning should also be made that no cure is being trialled, just the aim of improving the quality of life.
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) used to observe executive function can be recorded using,"Wisconsin Card Sorting Test™: Computer Version 4"
Other very helpful resources:
"Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Function in Parkinson Disease: A Case Series"
"Exercise and Parkinson’s: benefits for cognition and quality of life"
"Understanding Parkinson's Treatments"
↑ a b c " Tanaka K, Quadros A, Santos R, Stella F, Gobbi L, Gobbi S. Benefits of physical exercise on executive functions in older people with Parkinson’s disease. Brain and Cognition. 2009;69(2):435-441.
↑ a b " Jankovic J. Parkinson's disease: clinical features and diagnosis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 2008;79(4):368-376.
↑ Nussbaum R, Ellis C. Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2003;348(14):1356-1364.
↑ Zelazo P, Moscovitch M, Thompson E. The Cambridge handbook of consciousness. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press; 2007.
↑ a b " Goetz C, Poewe W, Rascol O, Sampaio C, Stebbins G, Counsell C et al. MovementDisorder Society Task Force report on the Hoehn and Yahr staging scale: Status and recommendations The Movement Disorder Society Task Force on rating scales for Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders. 2004;19(9):1020-1028.
↑ Bherer L, Erickson K, Liu-Ambrose T. A Review of the Effects of Physical Activity and Exercise on Cognitive and Brain Functions in Older Adults. Journal of Aging Research. 2013;2013:1-8.
↑ Kramer A, Hahn S, Cohen N, Banich M, McAuley E, Harrison C et al. Ageing, fitness and neurocognitive function. Nature. 1999;400(6743):418-419.
↑ a b " Goodwin V, Richards S, Taylor R, Taylor A, Campbell J. The effectiveness of exercise interventions for people with Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Movement Disorders. 2008;23(5):631-640.
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Russ Columbo
Ruggiero Eugenio di Rodolpho Colombo
Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
September 2, 1934(1934-09-02) (aged 26)
Jazz, popular music
Occupation(s)
Actor, singer, violinist
Violin, baritone voice
Ruggiero Eugenio di Rodolfo Colombo (January 14, 1908 – September 2, 1934), known as Russ Columbo, was an American baritone, songwriter, violinist and actor. He is famous for romantic ballads such as his signature tune "You Call It Madness, But I Call It Love" and his own compositions "Prisoner of Love" and "Too Beautiful For Words."
2.2 Musician
Columbo was born in Camden, New Jersey, the twelfth child of Italian immigrant parents, Nicola and Giulia (Julia) Colombo. He attended Everett Grammar School and started playing the violin at a very young age and debuted professionally at the age of 13. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 16, and he attended Belmont High School there, left high school at age 17 to study violin under Calmon Luvovski and travel with various bands around the country. He sang and played violin in numerous nightclubs.
Career[edit]
By 1928, at the age of 20, Columbo began to participate in motion pictures, including a Vitaphone short in which Columbo appeared as a member of Gus Arnheim and His Orchestra. Eventually, he did obtain some feature work in front of the camera, but he slowed down his activities in cinema to pursue other interests. At the time of his death, Columbo had just completed work on the film Wake Up and Dream; he was on his way to stardom when his life was cut short.[1] Among Columbo's other films are: Woman to Woman (with Betty Compton), Wolf Song (with Lupe Vélez), The Texan (with Gary Cooper), and Broadway Thru a Keyhole.[2][3]
Musician[edit]
Columbo performed seven vocals while with Arnheim as a member of the string section, six for Okeh Records and only one for Victor ("A Peach of a Pair") on June 18, 1930, a few months before Bing Crosby joined the band, along with Al Rinker and Harry Barris as "The Rhythm Boys").
Columbo ran a nightclub for a while, The Club Pyramid, but gave it up when his manager told him he had star potential.[2] In 1931, he traveled to New York City with his manager, songwriter Con Conrad. Conrad secured a late-night radio slot with NBC. This led to numerous engagements, a recording contract with RCA Victor records, and tremendous popularity with legions of mostly female fans. Not long after arriving in New York, Columbo met actress Dorothy Dell at an audition for the Ziegfeld Follies and began seeing her. Conrad did his best to break the relationship up with a series of publicity-created "ruse romances" involving Columbo and actresses such as Greta Garbo and Pola Negri; it succeeded.[4] (Dorothy Dell died in an auto accident in June 1934—just months before Columbo's own fatal accident.)
The type of singing that was popularized by the likes of Columbo, Rudy Vallee, and Bing Crosby is called crooning. Columbo disliked the label, but it caught on with the general public. It gained popular credence, despite its initial use as a term of derision for the singers employing their low, soothing voices in romantic songs. Similarly, to reinforce his romantic appeal, he was called "Radio's Valentino."[5]
Columbo composed the songs "Prisoner of Love", "You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)" with Con Conrad, Gladys Du Bois, and Paul Gregory, "Too Beautiful For Words", recorded by the Teddy Joyce Orchestra in 1935, "When You're in Love", "My Love", "Let's Pretend There's a Moon", recorded by Fats Waller and Tab Hunter, and "Hello Sister". "Prisoner of Love" is a standard that has been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Art Tatum, Perry Como, the Ink Spots, Mildred Bailey, Teddy Wilson with Lena Horne on vocals, Bing Crosby, Billy Eckstine, and James Brown. Perry Como had a no.1 hit on Billboard with his recording. James Brown had a Top 20 pop hit and performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show and in the concert movie The T.A.M.I. Show (1964).
Death[edit]
On Sunday, September 2, 1934, Columbo was shot under peculiar circumstances by his longtime friend, photographer Lansing Brown, while Columbo was visiting him at home. Brown had a collection of firearms and the two men were examining various pieces. Quoting Brown's description of the accident:[6]
I was absent-mindedly fooling around with one of the guns. It was of a dueling design and works with a cap and trigger. I was pulling back the trigger and clicking it time after time. I had a match in my hand and when I clicked, apparently the match caught in between the hammer and the firing pin. There was an explosion. Russ slid to the side of his chair.
The ball ricocheted off a nearby table and hit Columbo above the left eye. Surgeons at Good Samaritan Hospital made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the ball from Columbo's brain; he died less than six hours after the shooting.[1][7] Columbo's death was ruled an accident, and Brown exonerated from blame.[8][9] His funeral Mass was attended by numerous Hollywood luminaries, including Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard, who was to have had dinner with Columbo the evening of the accident and who was romantically involved with him.[1][4][10][11]
Columbo's mother was hospitalized in serious condition from a heart attack at the time of the accident; the news was withheld from her by his brothers and sisters for the remaining ten years of her life.[1][12] Due to her previous heart condition, it was feared that the news would prove fatal to her (she died in 1944). They used all manner of subterfuges to give the impression that Columbo was still alive, including faked letters from him and records used to simulate his radio program.[13]
Crypt of Russ Columbo in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale
Columbo is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Actress Virginia Brissac was serving as Columbo's private secretary at the time of his death, and was later called upon by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office to testify and identify Columbo’s remains at the subsequent inquest.[14]
In 1958, singer Jerry Vale recorded a tribute album titled I Remember Russ. In 1995, 61 years after Columbo's death, singer Tiny Tim released an album in tribute to Columbo, titled Prisoner of Love (A Tribute to Russ Columbo), which he recorded with the group Clang.
Columbo is one of the historical figures named in the Neil Diamond composition "Done Too Soon".
Columbo is one of the three famous crooners named in the 1932 Looney Tunes cartoon Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee.
Toran, Tony. A Prisoner of Love - The Definitive Story of Russ Columbo. Bear Manor Media, 2006, ISBN 1-59393-055-0
Lanza, Joseph and Dennis Penna. Russ Columbo and the Crooner Mystique. Feral House, 2002. ISBN 0-922915-80-6
Miano, Lou, Russ Columbo: The Amazing Life and Mysterious Death of a Hollywood Singing Legend. Silver Tone Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-9677970-1-2
Kaye, Lenny. You Call It Madness : The Sensuous Song of the Croon. Villard, 2004. ISBN 0-679-46308-9
Time Capsule 1944; a History of the Year Condensed from the Pages of Time. Time-Life Books, 1967.
Adam, Beverly. Two Lovers:the love story of Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo. Createspace, 2016, ISBN 97815234-025-1-9
^ a b c d "Bullet Fired Accidentally Kills Singer". The Evening Independent. September 3, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ a b "Russ Columbo Doesn't Croon". Milwaukee Journal. November 1, 1931. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Theatre Offerings for Next Week: At the Princess". Montreal Gazette. November 4, 1933. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ a b Kilgallen, Dorothy (June 5, 1941). "Voice of Broadway". The Miami News. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Radio's Valentino" (PDF). Radio Guide. New York: Radio Guide, Inc. December 5, 1931.
^ "Russ Columbo Dies By Accidental Shot". The Miami News. September 3, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Russ Columbo Is Accidentally Slain". The Rock Hill Herald. September 4, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Columbo's Death Held Accidental". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 6, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Coroner's Jury Hears Story of Colombo's Death". Berkeley Daily Gazette. September 5, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Other Columbo Gun Unloaded". The Miami News. September 5, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Timely Closeups From Hollywood: Columbo Ceremonial". The Day. September 6, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Mrs. Columbo is Not Yet Aware of Son's Death". The Ososso Argus-Press. September 4, 1934. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ "Death of Russ Columbo's Mother Ends Tender Hoax". The Miami News. August 31, 1944. Retrieved June 24, 2010.
^ Camden People, Russ Columbo accessed 5.7.13
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Russ Columbo.
Good introduction to Columbo--some basic facts implemented into this article
Some reviews of a Russ Columbo book from Feral House
Russ Columbo on IMDb
Russ Columbo at Find a Grave
Russ Columbo, from Survey of American Popular Music by Frank Hoffmann (modified for the web by Robert Birkline)
MusicBrainz: 4482c264-4ef5-410d-b028-a83ce2fdbec4
SNAC: w67s8vc7
WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 3399339
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russ_Columbo&oldid=915351453"
Accidental deaths in California
American crooners
American male film actors
American jazz musicians
American male singers
American people of Italian descent
American pop singers
American violinists
American male violinists
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Deaths by firearm in California
Firearm accident victims in the United States
Musicians from Camden, New Jersey
20th-century American male actors
20th-century violinists
20th-century American singers
Male actors of Italian descent
20th-century male singers
Male jazz musicians
Traditional pop music singers
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Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property
(Redirected from Swiss Patent Office)
(in German) Eidgenössisches Institut für Geistiges Eigentum
(in French) Institut fédéral de la propriété intellectuelle
(in Italian) Istituto federale della proprietà intellettuale
(in Romansh) Institut federal da proprietad intellectuala
Building of the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Bern.
Federal administration of Switzerland
Minister responsible
Simonetta Sommaruga, Federal Councillor
Federal Department of Justice and Police
www.ige.ch
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (French: Institut fédéral de la propriété intellectuelle, IPI; German: Eidgenössisches Institut für Geistiges Eigentum, IGE; Italian: Istituto federale della proprietà intellettuale), based in Bern, is an agency of the federal administration of Switzerland responsible for patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and copyright.
It is part of the Federal Department of Justice and Police. Since 1996, it operates as an autonomous agency with control of its own budget. The IPI had around 265 employees in 2014.[citation needed]
2 Mandate and services
3 Notable employees
The Federal Intellectual Property Agency was founded on 15 November 1888. It was renamed the Federal Office of Intellectual Property in 1978 as part of the new administrative organisation law. On 1 January 1996, it received the status of an independent public law institution and continued under the name of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI).
Mandate and services[edit]
The IPI's tasks are laid down in its own Federal Act on the Statute and Tasks of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property:[1]
The granting of intellectual property (IP) rights: The IPI is the central point of contact for patent, trade mark and design applications in Switzerland and, depending on the procedure, also for international applications. It examines national applications, grants IP rights and administers the relevant registers. Its official organ for publishing IP rights is the online database Swissreg. Information from the IP registers on IP rights and protected topographies can be found in this database free of charge.
Sovereign duty to provide information: The IPI informs industry stakeholders, educational institutions and the public about the intellectual property protection systems and how they can be utilised to the best advantage.
Political services: The IPI prepares legislation on patents for inventions, designs, copyright and related rights, topographies of semiconductor products, trade marks and indications of source, public coats of arms and other public signs, as well as other enactments in the field of intellectual property. It advises the federal authorities and represents Switzerland in all intellectual property issues in international organisations and in negotiations with third states.
Commercial information services: The IPI carries out trade mark and patent searches on the basis of private law under the label of ip-search; in particular, it carries out similarity searches for trade marks, as well as prior art searches, validity searches (opposition searches), patent infringement searches (freedom to operate) and patent landscape analyses for patents.
Notable employees[edit]
Director Generals
1888 – 1921 Friedrich Haller
1921 – 1935 Walther Kraft
1935 – 1962 Hans Morf
1962 – 1969 Joseph Voyame (1923–2010)
1969 – 1975 Walter Stamm
1976 – 1985 Paul Brändli
1985 – 1989 Jean-Louis Comte
1989 – 2015[2] Roland Grossenbacher (born 1950)
2015[3] - current Catherine Chammartin
Technical experts
1902 – 1909 Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
Copyright law of Switzerland
Swiss Federal Patent Court
^ "Loi fédérale sur le statut et les tâches de l'Institut Fédéral de la Propriété Intellectuelle" (in French). Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
^ Hofmann, Markus. "Der positive Technokrat" [The positive technocrat]. Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 7 June 2015.
^ "Catherine Chammartin wird neue Direktorin des Instituts für Geistiges Eigentum". EJPD news. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
IPI’s ip-search patent and trade mark searches
Swissreg IP rights database
Patent offices in Europe
States with limited
Switzerland portal
This government-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This Switzerland-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swiss_Federal_Institute_of_Intellectual_Property&oldid=933796248"
1888 establishments in Switzerland
Patent offices
Federal offices of Switzerland
Swiss intellectual property law
Swiss patent law
Government stubs
Switzerland stubs
CS1 French-language sources (fr)
Articles with German-language sources (de)
Articles with Romansh-language sources (rm)
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About the Gills
The Gill Chronicles
Gill Center Photo Album
Symposium & Award Ceremony
About the Symposium & Award Ceremony
Symposium Poster Submission
Thursday, Mini-Symposium Schedule
Symposium Undergraduate Event
Current Awardees
Gill Center for Biomolecular Science
Linda and Jack Gill
Jack and Linda Gill are passionate about supporting higher education because they have personally experienced its transformative power. Through scholarships for Jack as a graduate chemistry student at IU and Linda pursuing a teaching degree at the University of Kentucky, they overcame challenging circumstances to attain remarkable achievements.
Linda and Jack Gill visiting the Gill Center. Anna Power Teeter
Although they grew up 900 miles from each other—Jack in Texas and Linda in Kentucky—they have similar memories of parents who sacrificed their own education. In order to support struggling households, Jack’s father left school after 6th grade and Linda’s mother turned down three college scholarships. These decisions left Jack’s father working long hours on construction crews, while Linda’s mother battled with regret and alcoholism.
Jack M. Gill, President of the Gill Foundation and co-funder of the Gill Center. Anna Powell Teeter
Urged by their parents to take a different path, both Jack and Linda committed themselves to scholarly success. For Jack, this meant working full time in a grocery store while pursuing dual undergraduate degrees in chemistry and engineering at Lamar University. By the time he arrived at IU, he had already distinguished himself as one of very few scientists with the engineering skills to manipulate unwieldy measurement equipment. His efforts to improve this technology earned him his first patents while still a graduate student and later, prestigious positions in chemical measurement research. He went on to found a laboratory equipment company before supporting other entrepreneurs by starting one of Silicon Valley’s first high-tech venture capital firms, Vanguard Ventures.
Linda Gill, Director and Vice President of the Gill Foundation and co-funder of the Gill Center. Anna Powell Teeter
Linda was similarly enterprising in pursuing her dreams. Possessed by wanderlust but lacking the financial means to travel, she became a stewardess with American Airlines. In addition to taking her around the world, the company also paid for her graduate studies in counseling at San Francisco State University. This education, combined with her experience with airline passengers, gave her the skills for the work she has found most meaningful: volunteering as a hospital liaison between surgical teams and patients’ families.
The Gills, married nearly 50 years, share a tender moment at the Gill Center. Anna Powell Teeter
Now approaching their 50th wedding anniversary, the Gills are determined to leave a legacy that extends the reach of higher education. In addition to Jack’s continuing involvement in the academy through teaching at numerous universities including Stanford, Harvard, and MIT, the Gill Foundation has supported scholarships, research, and clinical programs at the 11 universities attended by the Gills and their four children.
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Study Reveals Effects of Delivery Mode and Diet on Infant Gut Microbiome
by Timothy Dean
There is an important association between the way in which infants are delivered and fed, and the composition of microbiome (the overall communities of bacteria) in their intestines at six weeks of age, according to a recent Dartmouth-led study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Following birth and at the beginning of feeding, the human gastrointestinal tract is colonized by a considerable variety of bacteria that have been shown to be important in immune system development and health outcomes. But while there is a growing body of research in adults linking gut microbiome composition to the risk of acquiring certain diseases, relatively little is known about how exposures shape the gut microbiome in infants and how it may impact lifelong health.
Led by researchers at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, the study examined relationships between the intestinal microbiome of six-week-old infants and both delivery (vaginal vs. cesarean section) mode and feeding (breast milk vs. formula) method, including supplementation of breast milk feeding with formula.
In one of the largest studies of the factors that determine infant gut microbiome composition, the research effort looked at a total of 102 healthy, full-term infants, using medical records to determine delivery mode, telephone surveys and diaries to ascertain feeding methods, and stool samples to measure microbiome composition.
The study, which is part of the Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, yielded some interesting and novel results—both delivery mode and feeding were independently associated with microbiome composition, with delivery mode as strongly linked as feeding, even six weeks after birth.
“We knew from previous research that delivery mode is an important determinant of early microflora composition in babies in the first few hours of life, but we wanted to know if that pattern persisted,” explains Anne G. Hoen, PhD, a study co-author and an assistant professor of epidemiology and of biomedical data science at Geisel. “Other studies show that breast milk exposure is an important factor, but we wanted to directly compare delivery mode and breast milk feeding to see what their relative impacts were.”
The study was also the first to look at the impact of formula supplementation on microbiome composition (rather than only comparing infants who were exclusively fed formula with those who were exclusively fed breast milk). “Surprisingly, babies that were fed a diet that included a combination of formula and breast milk had microbiomes that more closely resembled the microbiomes of babies that were fed a diet of exclusively formula,” says Hoen, also noting that the exclusively breast-fed infants had microbiomes that were significantly different from either the combination-fed or the exclusively formula-fed babies.
“While we still have much to learn about the precise mechanisms of the health outcomes that are associated with colonization patterns in the gut—that’s something we’ll be looking at in future studies—it’s clear that newborns are probably the most important population to study when it comes to the microbiome,” says neonatologist Juliette Madan, MD, MS, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine (pediatrics) at Geisel.
“Understanding the patterns of microbial colonization of the intestinal tract of healthy infants is critical,” Madan adds, “not only for determining the health impacts of specific and alterable early life risk factors and exposures, but also the potential consequences for both short-term and long-term health.”
Tags: Anne Hoen,infant health,Juliette Madan,Margaret Karagas,micro biome,research
Written by Timothy Dean
Tim Dean is a Communications Manager and writer in the Geisel Office of Communications and Marketing.
Second-Year Geisel Med Student Reflects on Jeopardy! Experience (Video)
A Pioneering Surgeon’s Journey from Liberal Arts to Medicine
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TraderSphere
Insightful analysis of socio-economic and existential issues ensnaring society.
Brexit conundrum
Two years ago, the UK voted to leave the EU. Today, politicians are still wondering whether its reasonable to do so.
Brexit, or British Exit, is a colloquial term that has roused an entire nation.
The United Kingdom (UK) is leaving the European Union — at least that’s what most people voted for back in June 2016 — but exactly how and when remains as unclear today as it was two years ago.
Several groups of people have been left with lots of questions and with even more potential unknowns including immigration status, workers’ rights, applicable tax rates, business regulations and the list goes on.
Other factors such as exchange rates, interest rates, inflation and business confidence have all been affected in both the present and within future expectations that have seen many businesses considering relocating their core operations on the European mainland.
So far, many of the perceived fears have been just that — fear-based sabre-rattling and contingency planning as opposed to clear-cut actions that have led to economic impacts.
What happened and why?
The United Kingdom held a referendum - on Thursday 23rd June 2016, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union. The ‘Leave’ side won by the tightest of margins (51.9% leave vs. 48.1% remain). The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting.
Despite the nation voting for Brexit, many parts of the UK were hopelessly split. For example, almost 80% of Londoners voted to Remain and yet in the northern parts of England, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, the clear majority of British residents voted to Leave.
Brexit exposed long-held social tensions between various factions of the UK public and these tensions have only led to further fracturing in the past 2 years.
Brexit impact on immigration
Prior to Brexit even being conceived, around 190,000 people moved to the UK each year from the European continent (net figure). Two years on after Brexit, figures obtained from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that around 90,000 people are now moving to the UK each year.
So, the effect of Brexit has been simply to slow down the rampant levels of migration flowing into the UK because of the perceivably better economic conditions, English as the main language and large numbers of existing migrants.
Far from being a ‘Brexidus’, the number of people moving to the UK still outnumbers those who are leaving, and yet, the amount of people leaving the UK is at its highest for over 10 years. What these figures suggest when summed up together, is that the UK’s population is gradually changing in terms of national lines.
Although migrants from the EU have fallen drastically, they have largely been gazumped by migrants from other parts of the world. It would seem Brexit has simply changed who is coming to the UK, rather than reduce the overall numbers.
The latest in Brexit economics
A lot has changed since the Brexit vote in 2016.
For one, the Pound sterling has experienced severe volatility on the back of mixed reports regarding the UK economy. Whereas some market analysts predicted doom and gloom on the back of the UK being forced to leave its most lucrative economic union, others such as the UK’s most prominent Brexit cheerleader, Nigel Farage, were adamant that the UK still had 85% of the world to trade with.
It’s true that the pound slumped the day after the referendum - but it has now regained its losses against the dollar while languishing against the euro by around 15-20%.
The immediate impact of Brexit was to send the Pound sterling sharply lower against the Euro and the US dollar. Sterling weakness has continued to linger as Brexit “negotiations” have begun and continue to be hashed out with a provisional date of March 29, 2019, provisionally given. That means Brexit would have taken 3 years to action.
So far, the UK economy continues to perform close to its long-term average. The UK recorded 1.8% GDP growth last year, second only to Germany's 1.9% among the world's G7 leading industrialised nations.
A sour note has been UK’s rate of inflation, which has risen since June 2016 to stand at 3.1% - the highest for nearly six years. Unemployment has fallen to a multi-decade low of 4.3%.
One of the most favoured investment assets in the UK — property — has taken a hit, but only in relative terms.
Before Brexit, annual house prices were rising 9.4% on average, while post-Brexit, house prices are growing at a rate of 5.2% per year, according to the ONS.
What’s the latest with Brexit?
The incumbent UK government, now led by the UK’s 2nd female prime minister, Teresa May continues to push forward with Brexit — albeit at a slowing pace compared to the haste that was evident back in 2016.
The main UK opposition party led by the socialist Jeremy Corbyn has gained a lot of political ground over the past 2 years, to the point that several surveys now suggest that if the EU referendum were to be held again today, most people would likely vote to Remain rather than Leave.
Public relations specialists have been out in force over the past 2 years and their influence is working. Several issues have surfaced to sow distrust of the Establishment in the UK and helped to change people’s opinions regarding Brexit. Namely, the prospect of the UK leaving the Schengen zone allowing visa-free travel, potential removal of free working rights and the possibility of several large firms relocating to the mainland have left many British people feeling alienated and like they were misled by the Leave camp back in 2016.
Life without Europe was not supposed to seem this bleak.
There are some groups campaigning for Brexit to be halted, but the focus among the UK's elected politicians has been on what relationship the UK has with the EU after Brexit, rather than whether Brexit will happen at all.
Nothing is ever certain, but as things stand Britain is leaving the European Union.
Maybe former US President Franklin Roosevelt said it best: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."
Written by George Tchetvertakov
Welcome to TraderSphere!
The TraderSphere Blog showcases content contributed by George Tchetvertakov to various companies and publications since 2004.
Content includes editorial articles, research reports, presentations, educational, poetry and creative writing pieces focusing on socio-economic trends, geopolitical events and financial markets.
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Forward Science Blog
Howard Farran Hosts Forward Science CEO, Robert Whitman on Dentistry Uncensored
"Robert J. Whitman is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Forward Science. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from Tulane University and began his career as a Clinical Engineer at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where his focus was developing advanced technology for early detection of cervical cancer. Fueled by a passion for early cancer diagnostics, Robert then went on to work in research and development at Remicalm LLC, where he worked on creating cancer-screening products utilizing fluorescence technology licensed from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Finally, in 2012, Robert launched Forward Science with fellow, former engineer, Brian M. Pikkula with the goal of developing innovative technologies for clinicians to advance oral cancer screening procedures. In addition to his role as CEO, Robert also serves as an adviser to startup medical technology companies on product development strategies at the Texas Medical Center and often speaks nationally on the topic of oral cancer and screening." - Howard Farran
10 Interview Questions that Get to the Point An Oral Health Therapist's Testimonial On EarAID: Timmy Reiber Howard Farran Hosts Forward Science CEO, Robert Whitman on Dentistry Uncensored The Running Man Challenge Outlier Moment: Students at Star of the South Dental Conference
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Posted on October 25, 2018 by filmicmag Leave a comment
By Jon Mendelsohn
Franchises are a funny thing. If a movie has a legacy, It really doesn’t matter whether a new take on a classic story is necessary. Hollywood will make a sequel every ten years if it’s guaranteed to make bank. That’s why I was skeptical when I first heard about Halloween (2018). Is there really anything new for the boogeyman of Haddonfield to do? Michael Myers hasn’t slashed his way through the big screen in 10 years, and it’s been more than 15 since the original cast has been involved. Thankfully, despite my initial hesitation, this new chapter in the Michael Myers saga proves to be a bloody good time, although still a bit too familiar.
One of the most intriguing things about this film is the fact that it plays as a direct sequel to the very first Halloween film, ignoring all other installments in between but still occasionally paying homage to them. This time around in Haddonfield, we follow a much older Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who, instead of being stuck inside the trauma of that fateful night forty years prior, is acting as a soldier in preparation. She lives in a gated, trap-ridden, bunker of a house which looks like it’s straight out of Doomsday Preppers.
Early in the film, Laurie is visited in her humble abode by Aaron (Jefferson Hall) and Dana (Rhian Rees), two journalists who want to dedicate their podcast to the infamous killer, Michael Myers. They inform Laurie that Michael is being transferred from the mental institution to a maximum security prison, and if she wants closure, now’s the time. Laurie doesn’t want closure, she just wants to make sure he doesn’t come back to finish what he started. Well of course, the bus crashes, and Michael returns to the streets of haddonfield to make the holiday of halloween truly frightening again. The only thing that can stop this vicious madman from wiping out an entire town; a truly badass, OG final girl.
I would say the best thing this film has to offer is Jamie Lee Curtis, who delivers possibly the best performance of her career. Laurie is broken and damaged, but she is strong as a bull and will stop at nothing to protect herself and her loved ones. 20 years ago, a similar attempt was made with Halloween H20 (1998). In that film, Jamie Lee Curtis reprised her role as Laurie, but that film failed in every way that this film succeeded. Laurie was scared in that film. She was running from everything, changed her name, moved far away. She wanted to forget the past. It’s almost as if the writers of this film carefully watched H20 and realized how not to write Laurie Strode, and made this iconic super woman.
I also love that Laurie has flaws. In her attempts to protect the town of haddonfield, she hurts people emotionally, like her daughter Karen (Judy Greer). Karen shares what seems like PTSD with her mom. This film may be a Halloween sequel, but it also plays as a meditation on mental illness and how it impacts families. Laurie’s Granddaughter Allyson (Newcomer Andi Matichak) has to go behind her mother’s back in order to see her, because of how bad Laurie’s PTSD affected Karen as a kid. There is some pretty raw family drama in here, which is very surprising for an eleventh film in a franchise.
After praising Jamie Lee Curtis, I have to talk about the downside of Laurie Strode, and that’s the fact that she really isn’t in the film enough. In the beginning, a lot of time is spent with the journalists who are pretty generic characters that any horror fan knows are just there to enlarge the body count. Towards the second half of the movie, we start getting more Laurie and Jamie Lee’s energy is magnificent to watch. However, for some reason, the point of view starts to shift to Allyson the granddaughter. Allyson is the most typical teenage final girl in a horror movie. Not that much depth, caring, pretty, and has a not so nice boyfriend. All stuff that really isn’t very new or interesting. There’s a scene at a school dance dealing with teenage drama, and it made me feel like I was watching Degrassi. I think it’s fair that fans should get as much of Laurie Strode as possible. Sure she comes back full force for an explosive third act, but she was the heart of the story, and giving her only about 40 minutes of screentime in this 1 hour and 50 minute film was a bit of a mistake.
Another thing that was surprising were the death scenes. Michael rings up a pretty high death count here, but the amount of necks we see being broken gets a bit on the boring side. As a horror buff, I want to see some gnarly gore effects in a Michael Myers movie, and even though Michael does some grisly acts that are quite satisfying to any horror fan, (there is a home invasion tracking shot for the ages) most of the really creative deaths are done off screen. Whenever a well-thought out death was left out and we just see the corpse, I scoffed at the screen. However, there was one death scene that finally delivered the bloody, practical goods that I was waiting for during the entire film, but at that point, it was too little too late.
Bottom line is, Halloween (2018) is incredibly entertaining. The film is the first sequel to really capture the energy of the first. It has this cool, 70s grindhouse style that you really don’t see much anymore in mainstream horror movies. The score is a new and improved modern version of the original film score made by John Carpenter and his son Cody Carpenter. It’s so powerful that I was transfixed by just the music and I forgot what was happening in the scene.
Another thing is the humor most likely added by co-writer Danny Mcbride of Pineapple Express fame. Humor in slashers is usually cheesy and unfunny, but there are conversations in here, sometimes just between bit characters, that are funnier than the best scenes in a lot of modern day comedies. But having said all this, the movie still fails to cover any new ground. I came out of it in a good mood, but not thinking enough. There may have been enough exploration of mental illness to make it noteworthy, but not enough to call this a brilliant modern horror masterpiece like Hereditary (2018). It may be a fun time, but that’s all it really is, a fun slasher sequel that is slightly above average from the rest. The film is now the highest grossing Halloween of all time, so maybe the sequel to this will improve on it’s flaws and we’ll be given a true Michael Myers masterpiece.
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The Favourite Film Review
Overall score9.5
With great performances in-front of the camera, and eclectic camera work behind her, The Favourite is a sophisticated and bizarre comedy disguised as a period piece. You should definitely give it a shot.
The Favourite is Yorgos Lanthimos’s 6th directorial motion picture project. The Favourite is his 5th solo directorial effort, and second with Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in the cast (after The Lobster).
Set in early 18th century, Olivia Colman is Queen Anne in The Favourite. A frail, almost incompetent queen that happens to be waging a war with the French. She also spends most of her time eating, playing with her 17 rabbits and organizing a goose races in her court. Oh and she’s enjoying the company of her trusted advisor and secret lover Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz). Sara is in fact running the court, engaging in diplomacy and taking care of the ill queen while her husband is battling on the battlefront. Sarah is blunt, resilient and sometimes crass but she’s efficient and determined.
However, her position as the Queen’s favorite will be interrupted by the arrival of Abigail Hill (Emma Stone) – Sarah’s younger cousin who’s fallen on hard times after her father sold her in order to settle a debt. Abigail will start of as a scullery maid in the palace, but with a dash of intrigue and dirty tricks, quickly climb the ranks of being the Queen’s favorite.
The Favourite is a sophisticated comedy disguised as a period piece biopic. Queen Anne is not one of history’s most memorable queens, and Hollywood has avoided making a movie about her, but her life (and the lives of the 2 women around her) seems very fascinating to be honest. And what Yorgos Lanthimos along with the 2 screenwriters did here is the perfect introduction of all 3 characters in a matter of minutes. 5 to be precise. And in those 5 minutes, Lanthimos reveals and presents the 3 characters beautifully. You get to know their background, their relationships, their characters, their agendas and their present status in society. In much of those 5 minutes, no words are needed actually and that’s fine. You understand them perfectly.
The 3 main characters provide the character study of The Favourite, white the other (predominantly male characters) provide the political and societal representation of early 18th century. We get to witness the thoughts of the opposition regarding the war, and the strategic maneuvering of Queen’s army advisers during the war. Oh, and we get to see the debauchery of the men and women in Queen Anne’s court (in a bizarre slow-mow shots), but that’s a whole another story within itself.
But those themes are supporting in nature, much like the characters themselves. The rivalry between the 2 women for the attention and social status of the third one is in the focus here in The Favourite, and for good reason. We realize that each of the 3 women is using each other to gain something. Whether it’s social status, money, security, or simply love and affection every single one of them wants something. Lanthimos used plenty of long angle shots for the dialogue scenes and wide angle lenses on a dolly for all of the scenes that in the long and dark hallways of Anne’s palace.
It’s staggering to see such low angles in a period piece movies but given the nature of the film, they serve a purpose. To show the twisted and very co-depended relationships that Anne, Sarah and Abbigail have in The Favourite. There’s plenty of mind games, intrigues and back-stabbing here and they pair well with the eclectic camera work of Lanthimos and the dark/twisted cinematography of Robbie Ryan.
But one can’t deny the fantastic performances of the 3 actresses too. Colman and Weisz are stellar here, but so is Emma Stone. I’m not very fond of her British accent in The Favourite, but her performance is superb. In fact I found her character most fascinating of them all. She’s cunning as she’s ruthless and she’s unapologetic about it up to the point to being a sociopath. You can say that you almost feel sorry for her, but you should actually.
And you definitely shouldn’t miss The Favourite too.
I Found My Person… And My Maid ...
Assembling The Avengers at The Oscars Could ...
Polar Film Review
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Spider-Man: Homecoming review
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Five Things I Saw & Heard This Week
Transcripts from the everyday world of music by Martin Colyer
October 4, 2018 by martin colyer 1 Comment
I’m glad we got the chance to see Charles Aznavour a few years ago, to hear a master at work. Alan Clayson’s choice of ten Aznavour songs in The Guardian was spot on, although ten wasn’t enough to include “It Will Be My Day” and “You’ve Got to Learn”. Find the latter in the music player on the right. In other news this week, the Theremin has reached the mainstream when Graham Norton has a conversation with Ryan Gosling about it, followed by a demonstration, in which Lada Gaga nailed it. Some part of me wants to see Bradley Cooper and Lada Gaga mixin’ it up in A Star is Born. I’m almost tempted to watch Barb and Kris as homework.
Anyway, tonight, thanks to Mark, it’s Vulfpeck. I have no real idea who they are (I think from Brooklyn. No, I’ve checked – Ann Arbor, neighbour to Detroit, Michigan), I’ve heard precisely four minutes of their music (but I liked it a lot, especially the bass player) and I’m looking forward to, uh, getting down in Brixton…
ONE CHARLES AZNAVOUR AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
From Five Things, 25th November 2015: Charles used the Judas word at the Albert Hall a little while ago, a couple of weeks after Bob was there. Ninety-one, and strutting around the stage like a fit seventy-year-old, he told us stories from his career, rescued “She” from the cawing clutches of Elvis Costello’s Notting Hill cover, and gave a hundred-minute show to an adoring bunch of fans. ‘You know, if you come to be famous, popular, doesn’t matter if you are a singer, actor or politician or anything else, but known – you know what I mean – a money-maker, you’ll find yourself surrounded by an extraordinary entourage of people trying to be helpful in any way – for example, if they found you in bed with their own wives they would pull the cover over you in case you catch cold… [they are] a parasite, until your success begins to decline. So after you have been squeezed like a lemon, the time will come for them to sell you, betray you, to crucify you. I call this song “My Friend, My Judas”.’ What followed was a staggering cross between Barry White and John Barry, with a side order of Bacharach’s Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid soundtrack. Awesome.
TWO GIVE THE DRUMMER SOME…*
How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb? Ten – one to replace it and the other nine to tell you how Steve Gadd would have done it better.
Weckl, Purdie, Gadd, Paice, Starks & Stubblefield, Earl Young, Steve White. Just a few of the drummers featured in Chris Wilson’s new four-part Sky Arts series, The Art of Drumming, as he crosses continents and genres to talk to the greats. It’s beautifully filmed and full of great quotes. Here’s Earl Young, Philly hero, looking sensational at seventy-eight, on powering Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes: “The pumping bass drum was like a signature, but it’s not just the bass drum. See in the studio, this (points to hi-hat) is the most important feel of a song. Most drummers just use it to keep time, and they worry about this (indicates rest of kit). I worry about this (points to hi-hat), because, to me, this is everything – I hear this as a melody…”
It pays proper homage to New Orleans and the rudiments as it takes us from thrash to jazz. Learn what extreme metal guys owe to Louis Bellson, and let Thomas Lang (Boyzone, The Spice Girls!) blow your mind with his eight-pedal kit. Check your prejudices at the door as Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain talks swing and power: “I’m blessed to play with the best bass player in the world in our genre of music… but I got to be honest, it’s getting harder for me to play that kind of style physically. I’m an old man. I got my railcard last week! Ha!” Bill Ward. Bill Ward of Black Sabbath! Riveting! “I play orchestration-ally. I’m not a very good backbeat drummer… when you play loud and slow music at the same time, there’s just this huge sustaining growl… a wall of sound”, which Bill then goes on to demonstrate vocally.
Bette Midler’s drummer, Daniel Glass, is great on Billy Gussak’s snare bombs on Bill Haley’s “Rock Around The Clock” and Earl Palmer’s shuffle variation on Little Richard’s “Lucille”, and Fay Milton of Savages, after playing an extraordinary triplet pattern for the song “The Answer”, tells us that basically, she’s “replicating my own version in my head of what I’m hearing from a sampler from a track that I loved 20 years ago!” Chad Smith of The Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Ian Paice was the first drummer I wanted to play like, so much swing! See, I’m ten years old again!” – is illuminating about Ringo, Bill Ward, and pretty much everyone else mentioned in the programme. Watch as they all play along to iconic tracks while explaining both the mechanics and the soul…
*In “Funky Drummer”, James Brown announces the upcoming drum break, with a request to “give the drummer some.” He tells Clyde Stubblefield, “You don’t have to do no soloing, brother, just keep what you got…” Stubblefield’s eight-bar unaccompanied “solo”, a version of the riff he plays through most of the song, is the result of Brown’s directions; this breakbeat is one of the most sampled recordings in music.
THREE IMAGE OF THE WEEK
Seen on a bus in Stratford. First, do you think they asked for Lionel’s (or Liooel, as he’ll always be to me) permission? And, second, isn’t Muzmatch just the worst app name that you’ve ever heard?
FOUR NETFLIX AND CHILLS
More potentially good television. From the press release: An upcoming Netflix docuseries will investigate some of music’s biggest mysteries, including the 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley and the murders of Sam Cooke and Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay.
The eight-episode ReMastered will arrive on the streaming service on October 12th with Who Shot the Sheriff?, a look at the role Jamaican politicians and the CIA played in the attempted assassination of Marley, who suffered gunshot wounds to the arm and chest in the incident. The following month, Harlan County U.S.A. documentarian Barbara Kopple co-directs an examination into Johnny Cash’s tumultuous White House meeting with Richard Nixon in Tricky Dick and the Man in Black.
Netflix will stream one new episode of ReMastered every month through May 2019, with the December 2018 episode focusing on Who Killed Jam Master Jay?, the Run-DMC DJ who was killed in a Queens, New York studio in 2002; despite six witnesses, the murder remains unsolved.
Subsequent months bring an investigation into the murder of three members of the Irish group the Miami Showband during the Troubles in Ireland in 1975, the death of Chilean singer Victor Jara at the hands of the Pinochet regime and, in February, a look into the mysterious shooting death of Sam Cooke. ReMastered’s first season concludes with Devil at the Crossroads, about blues legend Robert Johnson and his apocryphal handshake deal with the Devil, and Lion’s Share, about one man’s journey to South Africa to find the true writers behind the hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” ReMastered was created by Emmy award-winners Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist and lists Irving Azoff and Stu Schreiberg among its executive producers.
FIVE BOB CORNER
I usually like Rich Hall and his take on America (from an exile’s perspective), but this promo for his new tour is almost funny (i.e. not funny enough) and pretty mean-spirited. And plain weird to write off everything Bob’s done since 1988, which kinda proves he’s not listening.
Filed Under: Weekly Roundup Tagged With: Bob Dylan, Charles Aznavour, Chris Wilson, ReMastered, Rich Hall, Rich Hall’s Hoedown, Sky Arts, The Art of Drumming
Songs for dark days
Freedom For The Stallion [Live]
13th Century Metal
“They’ve got men building fences to keep other men out / Ignore him if he whispers and kill him if he shouts.”
Two live recordings of songs about freedom and harmony that popped up together on a random playlist yesterday. Toussaint’s reading of the exquisite “Freedom for the Stallion” has his superlative piano playing – part gospel, part New Orleans, mixed up with that ethereal Southern Nights ambience, where beautifully stretched melodies play out…
That’s followed by Brittany Howard playing the extraordinary “13th Century Metal” live at KCRW in L.A. last month. There’s a singularity to Howard – her take on life is so artful and strong. “We are all brothers and sisters, I learned that as a child, it’s a simple concept to grasp…” she intones over a smorgasbord of funk laid down by her crackshot band.
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Most Senators Support Trump’s Syria Airstrike
Apr. 7, 2017 , at 3:27 PM
But many have reservations about what comes next.
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Filed under The Trump Administration
The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter participated in the U.S. missile strike on Syria this week.
U.S. Navy / AP
UPDATE (April 7, 6:29 p.m.): We’ve added Sen. Cochran! Seventy-nine senators support the strike in Syria, and all 100 are on the record.
UPDATE (April 7, 6 p.m.): The article below has been updated with positions for 12 senators previously recorded as “no clear public statement.” According to our latest count, only Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi has yet to take a position; 78 senators support the strike in Syria (48 Republicans and 30 Democrats).
More than three-fourths of U.S. senators, including more than two dozen Democrats, have said that they support President Trump’s decision to strike an air base in Syria in retaliation for the use of chemical weapons by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Much of that support came with concern about what comes next, but this is one of the first times in Trump’s presidency that a major policy decision has received more than token support from Senate Democrats.
A tally of senators’ positions1 also illustrated an important partisan divide. Almost every Democrat who backed the military strikes hedged their support. Some argued that Trump should have consulted Congress before this move. Others said that, going forward, the president would need to ask for and receive formal congressional authorization or at least present a detailed Syria strategy to the country before any further military action.
In contrast, the majority of Republicans who issued a statement offered full support for Trump’s move, without such conditions.
NUMBER OF SENATORS
POSITION ON INITIAL STRIKES
Strong support 1 32 33
Support with qualifications about next steps 29 17 46
No clear position with reservations about next steps 13 2 15
Oppose 5 1 6
How are senators responding to the Syria strikes?
As of 6:30 p.m. on April 7, 2017
Sources: public statements and media reports
Kentucky’s Rand Paul is the only Republican who has publicly said he opposes the strikes, arguing that such military action must be approved by Congress first. He called Trump’s decision “unconstitutional.” Another Republican, Utah’s Mike Lee, while not opposing the attack in Syria, also declined to support it, similarly citing the lack of congressional authorization.
Nearly 20 other Republicans, including Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Nebraska’s Ben Sasse, said that Trump needed a more comprehensive plan, greater consultation with Congress, or both.
Just one Democrat, Florida’s Bill Nelson, praised Trump’s decision without equivocation. A few Democrats, including Connecticut’s Chris Murphy and Virginia’s Tim Kaine, outright opposed the strikes. Kaine was more focused on the lack of congressional authorization. Murphy, while saying Congress should have been consulted, argued this was simply a strategic mistake.
“An ill-thought out military action with absolutely no overall strategy for Syria risks dragging us further into a civil war in which we cannot tip the scales,” Murphy said. “And put in the context of U.S. policies that aid the slaughter of civilians in Yemen and deny terrorized Syrians the ability to flee their dystopian existence, a solitary air strike exposes the immoral hypocrisy of this administration’s policy in the Middle East.”
At least 10 Democratic senators2 have released statements that were more vague, not outright opposing or supporting the strikes. This group included some of the party’s leading figures, such as Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts’s Elizabeth Warren.
In a series of tweets, Sanders said, “Syria’s Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons against the men, women and children of his country makes him a war criminal.”
But he added, “I’m deeply concerned the strike in Syria could lead the U.S. back into the quagmire of long-term military engagement in the Middle East.”
This mix of views, with lots of positions other than simply opposing or supporting Trump’s actions, illustrate the lack of agreement even within the two parties about what the U.S. should do about Syria. And this was only about a single military strike. If Trump consults Congress on Syria policy, as many members in both parties seem to want, that may leave the president with less, not more, clarity on what he should do.
Aaron Bycoffe, Ben Casselman, Galen Druke, Meena Ganesan and Nate Silver contributed research to this article.
FiveThirtyEight looked at their public comments since the strikes, which occurred on Thursday night Eastern Time. Some statements fall somewhere between categories, in which case we used our best judgment. See a full list of senators’ positions at the bottom of this article.
Including Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
Perry Bacon Jr. is a senior writer for FiveThirtyEight. @perrybaconjr
Donald Trump (1191 posts) The Trump Administration (687) Congress (413) Syria (20)
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3M launches new sustainability goal 13 January 2020
To increase employee empowerment and enrich communities across the globe, 3M is expanding its 2025 Sustainability Goals with a new commitment: Provide 300,000 work hours of skills-based volunteerism by 3M employees to improve lives and help solve society’s toughest challenges.
“NGOs, universities and social enterprises around the world face resource constraints to address the environmental and social challenges in their communities. With this new goal, we’re empowering our employees to give back beyond 3M products and technologies, as well as traditional volunteerism, by leveraging their professional skills to help organizations reach their goals,” said Gayle Schueller, vice-president and chief sustainability officer at 3M.
To reach 300,000 hours, the company is expanding 3M Impact, a skills-based service programme that allows employees to lend their business skills, experience and energy to make a difference in global communities, while also developing leadership, problem-solving and interpersonal communication skills. In 2020, 200 3M employees will travel to 15 cities around the world to work side-by-side with nonprofits, organisations, and local municipalities. To help facilitate these diverse projects, 3M partners with the industry-leading advisory firm, PYXERA Global.
“This new commitment will make 3M Impact the fastest growing skills-based global pro bono programme. People want to work for companies that are purpose-driven, and I’m delighted to see 3M’s increased investment in their employees and communities with this announcement,” said Gavin Cepelak, senior vice-president, global pro bono at PYXERA Global.
Along with international volunteer projects, 3M Impact will provide opportunities for employees in their own communities as well as in the region surrounding 3M’s global headquarters in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In addition to assisting groups and organisations in need, each one of these projects is designed to support 3M’s Strategic Sustainability Framework, advancing its commitments to science.
Toughened epoxy system meets USP Class VI specifications 17 January 2020
tesa continues its commitment to building a sustainable future 15 January 2020
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Overview of floral aesthetics in hotels
Problem and solution essay about obesity
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Johnson essayist
Johnson essayist it did assert the dignity of the author. Underwood, published in the expanded folio ofis a larger and more heterogeneous group of poems. The Dictionary was finally published in Aprilwith the title page acknowledging that the University of Oxford had awarded Johnson a Master of Arts degree in anticipation of the work.
Johnson, born September 18,Lichfield, StaffordshireEngland—died December 13,LondonEnglish critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer, regarded as one of the greatest figures of 18th-century life and letters.
Given his age, ailments, and purported opinion of the Scots, Johnson may have seemed a highly unlikely traveler to this distant region, but in the opening pages of his A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland he confessed to a long-standing desire to make the trip and the inducement of having Boswell as his companion.
On 8 JuneJohnson published his Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Dramatick Works of William Shakespearewhich argued that previous editions of Shakespeare were edited incorrectly and needed to be corrected.
The pamphlet ridiculed those who thought the case precipitated a constitutional crisis. He also contradicted his assertion frequently by contributing prefaces and dedications to the books of friends without payment.
He wanted his essays unrecognized, for he had given them to Dr. This is not to say that his house was empty after the death of his wife. These give the whole the aspect of both an encyclopaedia and a conduct book. Title page of London second edition In May his first major work, the poem Londonwas published anonymously.
Johnson spent the rest of his time studying, even during the Christmas holiday. Johnson later had misgivings about his role in writing speeches that were taken as authentic and may have stopped writing them for this reason. Johnson divided his biographies into three distinct parts: Yet he insisted on fighting: Yet Epicoene, along with Bartholomew Fair and to a lesser extent The Devil is an Ass have in modern times achieved a certain degree of recognition.
Although it is included among the epigrams, " On My First Sonne " is neither satirical nor very short; the poem, intensely personal and deeply felt, typifies a genre that would come to be called "lyric poetry.
Though his stature declined during the 18th century, Jonson was still read and commented on throughout the century, generally in the kind of comparative and dismissive terms just described. In later life he told stories of his idleness.Thanks for connecting! You're almost done.
Connect to your existing Cracked account if you have one or create a new Cracked username. Watch video · Samuel Johnson Biography Editor, Author, Poet, Journalist (–) The ever witty Samuel Johnson was an essayist and literary historian who was a prominent figure in 18th century cheri197.com: Sep 18, Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App.
Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device cheri197.com: L. Eisentraut. Samuel Johnson: Samuel Johnson, English critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer who was one of the greatest figures of 18th-century life and letters.
He is well remembered for his aphorisms, but his criticism is perhaps his most significant form of writing. Learn more about Johnson’s life and career. This site posts Samuel Johnson’s essays in the same way his original readers found him – in a semi-frequent way, posted years after Johnson wrote them.
May 28, · Angelou was born Marguerite Ann Johnson in St. Louis, Mo. Angelou attended high school in San Francisco, and studied dance and drama. At .
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Gorey Youth Needs Group
GYNG incorporating Gorey Youth Training Iniative, Courtown Youth Training Iniative, Little Daisies Childcare and Youth Opportunities Local Outcomes Service
Coaching & Conditioning
CLTI
Gorey YOLOS
After School Club (Primary)
After School Programme (Secondary)
Young Women’s Group
Courtown YOLOS
Little Daisies
Following a number of consultations in 1993 and 1994 in Gorey Town, examining services for Young People in the locality, a clear gap was identified in provisions, particularly for those who were at risk of social exclusion. Resulting from this, Gorey Youth Needs Group was established 1995 and opened its doors for the first time in 1996 under the auspices of the voluntary management committee at the Old School House, Charlotte Row.
In 1999 the then South Eastern Health Board approved funding for the project to employ a part-time Project Co-ordinator and a part-time Community Youth Worker.This funding was increased in 2000 for these positions to be made full time. With funding from the South Eastern Health Board, Gorey Youth Needs Group Ltd renovated a derelict Woodstock Hall on Esmonde Street and moved its services to these premises in 2001.
In 2007 the project was approved €1.1 million in funding from POBAL, under the National Childcare Investment Program, to start work on a purpose built Community Childcare Centre. For the project to move its existing services to this centre they were required to source an additional €250,000 to fund the Community Youth Aspect of the Centre. Wexford County Council funded €100,000 under the Social & Community Facilities Capital Scheme and the remaining funding was sought via various fundraising ventures. November 2009 saw GYNG Community and Childcare Centre open its doors to provide services in Childcare, Youth Work, Community Development and Training for the people of Gorey.
The project has continued to develop since it’s move to the new premises. GYNG received support and funding from FAS, under the Local Training Initiative, in 2010, to set up and facilitate a pilot training programme for young people who were finding it difficult to avail of education. The programme was primarily aimed at young people who were educationally disadvantaged, such as early school leavers or those with literacy issues. The pilot training programme, proved to be an excellent success and in 2011 FAS funded GYNG to facilitate the programme again.
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Author Archives: Dominick San Angelo
No Longer a Bench Player: A Decade Later, Justice Thomas Gets in the Game
As was widely reported, yesterday marked the first time in just over a decade that Justice Thomas asked a question during oral arguments. Thomas’s questions came about during oral arguments in the case of Voisine v. United States, in which the legal questions are, first, whether a misdemeanor crime with the mens rea of recklessness qualifies as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” as defined by 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(33)(A) and 922(g)(9); and second, whether 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(33)(A) and 922(g)(9) are unconstitutional under the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments and the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution. Thomas directed questions to the Justice Department’s lawyer, Illana Eisenstein, about whether there were other areas “where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right.”
From an adversarial ethics perspective, the questions from Justice Thomas during oral argument signal a significant shift in his view of the proper role of the justices—or, at least his own role—in Supreme Court cases. For one, Thomas has previously said he frequently relies on the written briefs and therefore does not see a need to ask questions of the lawyers appearing before the Court. At other times, he has cited respectfulness to the lawyers and the propriety of not interrupting them. Thomas once mused that, “Maybe it’s the Southerner in me. Maybe it’s the introvert in me, I don’t know. I think that when somebody’s talking, somebody ought to listen.”
In general, however, it seemed he believed that the adversarial process should involve the parties to the case making arguments to the Court—not the Court engaging in arguments with the parties. Thomas has long held that, basically, Supreme Court litigation is adversarial enough without the justices adding to the hostility. At the very least, Thomas has believed that they ought not to “badger people.”
Perhaps Justice Thomas, following Justice Scalia’s death earlier this month, feels that the new makeup of the Court gives the more liberal justices an unfair advantage to pick the winners and losers in cases if he remains silent. Though he might think the justices should be rather more like impartial referees than active participants in litigation, his role as a just another warm body at the end of the bench might be over for good.
On Monday, Justice Thomas was a player.
Posted in deliberately adversarial institutions
Constructive Game-Over and What Makes Brannen Greene’s Dunk a “Dick Move”
A few weeks ago, Kansas University men’s basketball player Brannen Greene dunked the basketball just before time expired in a contest against rival Kansas State.
Before the dunk, the KU Jayhawks were winning by 16.
(You can watch it here.)
KU head coach Bill Self called it “totally classless” and “probably the biggest dick move I’ve ever had a player do during a game.”
Other commentators note that “anyone who plays this game understands that you don’t do that when you’re up 16.”
Clearly, Greene violated a norm of basketball etiquette. There is no rule that says you cannot dunk at the end of games, so Greene was technically within the rules. But why does that norm—don’t dunk at the end of a blowout if you’re winning—exist?
The most likely explanation is probably that offered by Myron Medcalf—that when your team is up by 16 with a few seconds left, “the game is over.” Though not technically true, since the game is not officially over until the time is completely expired, underlying what Medcalf points out is that there are situations (like when your team is up 16 with a few seconds to play) where an adversarial athletic contest is constructively over because the final outcome of the contest cannot reasonably be doubted.
Greene knew, or should have known, that the game was constructively over before he dunked the ball.
When the game is over, we expect the competitors to realize that what constitutes proper (or perhaps “ethical”) behavior is no longer subject to the norms of competition. Before and after the contest, socially appropriate behavior is governed by ordinary conceptions of virtue. Ordinarily, we expect the persons who play basketball to have respect for others in a non-adversarial way, which may include being sensitive to the feelings of the players on the other team—or at least not purposely inflicting emotional distress upon a former adversary.
Simply put, we have different expectations for the actions of basketball players playing basketball compared to persons who play basketball. As Joseph Heath has (in my view, persuasively) argued, “the competitive environment licenses a greater range of ‘self-interested’ behavior.” However, choosing to remain in an adversarial role—remaining a basketball player rather than resuming life as a person who plays basketball—when the contest is constructively over is to abuse that limited license. At bottom, we regard as at least unsportsmanlike the choice to act as an adversary even when you are no longer engaged in competition.
And that choice is a dick move.
Posted in deliberately adversarial institutions, everyday ethics, sports, sportsmanship, unwritten rules
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Author Archives for Herb Weiss
Published in the Woonsocket Call on January 19, 2020
By April 1, every home across the nation will receive an invitation from the U.S. Census Bureau, a nonpartisan government agency, to participate in the 2020 Census. Once this invitation arrives, it’s important for you to immediately answer the short questionnaire by either going on-line, phone, or by mail. When you respond to the census, you’ll tell the Census Bureau where you live as of April 1, 2020.
The U.S. Constitution: Article 1, Section 2, mandates that the country conduct a count of its population once every 10 years. The 2020 Census will mark the 24th time that the country has counted its population since 1790
The population statistics generated by the upcoming 2020 Census will be used to distribute over $700 billion annually in federal funds back to tribal, state and local governments. The collected census data also determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, provides insight to governments, business and community planning groups for planning purposes, and finally defines congressional and state legislative districts, school districts and voting precincts
2020 Census Statistics and the Graying of America
According to a blog story published on Dec. 10, 2019, by American Counts (AC) Staff, the upcoming 2020 Census will provide the federal government with the latest count of the baby boom generation, now estimated at about 73 million. The boomer generation born after World War II, from 1946 to 1964, will turn 74 next year. When the 2010 census was taken, the oldest had not even turned 65.
Baby Boomers are also projected to outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history by 2034, according to Census Bureau projections. With an increasing need for caregiver and health services and less family caregiver support, the boomers will be forced to depend on federally-funded support services, their allocation depending on policy decisions based on census data.
“Data from the 2020 Census will show the impact of the baby boomers on America’s population age structure,” said Wan He, who has for over 21 years overseen the Aging Research Programs for the Population Division of the U.S. Census Bureau.
AC’s blog article, part of a Census Bureau series detailing the important community benefits that come from responding to the 2020 Census questionnaire, stresses that exact count of American’s age 65 and over is important for tribal, local, state and federal lawmakers to determine how they will spend billions of dollars annually in federal funds on critical aging programs and services for the next 10 years.
While everyone uses roads, hospitals and emergency services some state and federal programs specifically target older Americans – the 2020 Census statistics will be used to distribute funding to senior centers, adult day care facilities, nutrition programs including meals on wheels, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, job-training programs, elder abuse programs, Medicare Part B health insurance and Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people including those age 65 and older.
“The census is really important to us in the aging community,” said John Haaga, of the National Institute on Aging in Washington, D.C. in the AC’s blog article. “It’s our only way to figure out how things are different across the country, what areas are aging faster, where elderly disabled people live, or where older people are concentrated, like Appalachia or West Virginia, because young people are leaving for the cities,” says Haag, noting that “Older people are remaining behind there.”
Haaga noted, “Other states, such as Florida, have large older populations because people are moving there to retire.”
“You can start to look at specifics like how many older people are living alone who are more than 10 miles from an adult day care centers,” says Haaga. “You can answer questions of access and how to improve it,” he adds, noting that census statistics helps lawmakers or business people decide where to open health clinics or senior citizen centers, among other services.
Calls for Action: Fill Out that Census Questionnaire
AARP has three main goals, according to State Director Kathleen Connell. “First,” she said, “to ensure a fair and accurate census count by educating our members and older adults about the census outreach efforts. Second, to provide tips and resources to encourage safe participation while protecting themselves from bad actors and census related fraud during this time. And third, to help people age 50 and over gain employment as census enumerators.”
“AARP has long been involved in informing people about the census, including the fact that the headcount is labor intensive – to the tune of 400,000 temporary staff. In the past, retired adults have made up a good portion of those who work in the decennial count of Americans, often as enumerators who go door-to-door in neighborhoods. In many communities, the Bureau will be looking for bilingual applicants.”
To be sure, Connell adds, the loss of a Congressional seat would have an impact on Medicare funding and other services that support Rhode Island’s age 50 and over population. “If a subset of people doesn’t participate in the census, the area in which they live will be represented as having fewer residents than it actually does; the costs to states and communities could be large, consequential and long-lasting. A census that is as complete and accurate as it can be – and doesn’t undercount the number of residents in a given area – is a vital resource for everyone,” she said.
Connell sits on the RI Complete Count committee and the AARP State Office is using its email list and social media in a series of reminders and encouragement to participate in the census. AARP also is reaching out to members who might consider becoming census workers.
Adds Jennifer Baier, AARP Senior Advisor, Census lead: “Many federally funded programs rely on census data to distribute billions of dollars to states and localities across the country. According to the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, Rhode Island receives about $3.8 billion per year based on Census data. That includes funds for schools, roads and hospitals and also programs that aid older Americans, such as Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid) Medicare Part B, Special Programs for the Aging, Meals on Wheels, Heart Disease Prevention Programs and more.”
“The 2020 Census is just nine questions long, and takes about 10 minutes to fill out – those ten minutes impact millions of dollars of federal funding in every state and communities across the country,” says Baier.
January 19, 2020 by Herb Weiss Categories: Congress | Tags: 2020 Census, AARP, AARP Rhode Island, American Counts, Baby Boomers, Elder Abuse, Jennifer Baier, John Haaga, meales oels n wh, Medicaid, Medicare Part B, National Institute on Aging, population statistics, Section 2, State Director Kathleen Connell], Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Constitution: Article 1 | Leave a comment
Published in the Woonsocket Call on January 5, 2020
As an ‘age beat’ journalist for over 40 years, I have penned more than 756 stories covering aging, health care and medical issues. These authored and coauthored pieces have appeared in national, state and local trade and association publications, daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and even news blogs. For the last decade 334 articles have appeared weekly in the Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call.
I provide you with a few of my favorite published articles that you may have enjoyed reading over the last decade. These articles in their entirety and even hundreds more can be viewed on herbweiss.blog.
Spumoni’s: “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,”: published in the Feb. 26, 2017 issue of the Woonsocket Call, and one day later in the Pawtucket Times.
Mark and Nancy Shorrock, of Attleboro, Massachusetts, now in their seventies and married for 52 years, began dining at Spumonis twice a week with their children in the 1980s, and remember being drawn to the Italian-style restaurant because of its reputation of serving “good food.” Over the years, as the Shorrock’s three children became more independent and “doing things on their own,” the couple began increasing their trips daily to the Pawtucket resident for dinner since it was so close by. Of course, their network of friends increased, too.
What the Shorrocks know innately, a 24-page report, “The Brain and Social Connectedness: GCBH Recommendations on Social Engagement and Brain Health, “released by the Global Council on Brain Health in February 14, 2017, tells us that larger social networks may positively impact your health, wellbeing, even your cognitive functioning. This report is available at http://www.GlobalCouncilOnBrainHealth.org.
“It’s not uncommon for our social networks to shrink in size as we get older,” said Marilyn Albert, Ph.D., GCBH Chair, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Division of Cognitive Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. “This report provides many helpful suggestions about the things we can do to improve the quality of our relationships with family and friends, which may be beneficial in maintaining our mental abilities.”
The Brain and Social Connectedness report addresses the social benefits of having pets, the role that age-friendly communities play in fostering social ties, and how close relationships promote both physical health and psychological well-being. The report also covers how social media like Facebook and Skype helps older adults maintain their social connections.
“Rediscovering Pawtucket’s Red Pollard,” published in the published in the June 22, 2012 issue of the Pawtucket Times.
Red Pollard rode into American history, overcoming a physical disability of partial blindness, accepting intense physical pain caused by severe riding injuries that fractured his bones, while humbly accepting his role in racing history, as the man who rode Seabiscuit 30 times, accumulating 18 wins.
This article noted that America’s iconic jockey, John Pollard, whose moniker “Red” Pollard, known for his flaming red hair, relocated to the City of Pawtucket in his middle years with his wife, Agnes, raising their two children, Norah and John at 249 Vine Street in the City’s Darlington neighborhood. At the end of their lives, Red and Agnes would be buried a stone’s throw from their modest Vine St. home in Norte Dame Cemetery on Daggett Avenue.
It is no coincidence that near the former Narragansett Race Track in Pawtucket– now a Building 19 retail store – you will discover city streets named “War Admiral” and “Seabiscuit Place, for surprisingly many Pawtucket residents do not know that the real-life jockey whose story was told in Seabiscuit, a 2003 dramatic movie and a critically-acclaimed non-fiction book authored by Laura Hillenbrand.
According my interview with his daughter, Norah Christianson, Pollard traveled the race track circuit for months at a time. When in Pawtucket, her father would take her and her brother, John to Pinault’s Drug Store on Newport Avenue, enjoy a movie at the Darlington Theater, visit Kip’s Restaurant, or have ice cream at Pinault’s soda fountain. Many a day Pollard would stop at the Texaco Gas Station, located at Armistice Blvd. and York Avenue, to sit and talk for hours with his friends, she said.
Other interesting tidbits of Pollard’s time in Pawtucket can be found in this article.
The Greatest Generation’s Last Hurrah, published in the Nov. 15, 2014 issue of the Pawtucket Times.
On August 2, 1956, Albert Henry Woolson, 106, the last surviving member of the Union Army who served in the nation’s Civil War, passed away. Frank Woodruff Buckles, 110, gained the distinction of being the last surviving American military veteran of World War I. This article, published five years ago, takes a close look at the passing of the “Greatest Generation,” coined by acclaimed Journalist Tom Brokaw in a 1998 book that profiled this generation who fought in WWI and helped on the home front in the war’s effort.
According to the article, 16 million American soldiers who served in World War II, are now dying at a rate of 555 a day. There are only 1.34 million veterans remaining. The National World War II Museum predicts that by 2036 there will be no living veterans of this global war that took place from 1939 to 1945, to recount their own personal battle experiences.
We will again see another generation of soldiers passing away, like Woolson or Buckles. The article calls for the nation to cherish the “Greatest Generation,” urging readers to gather oral histories to share with the younger generations that follow in footsteps.
Tips on Aging Boldly
Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly, published in 2016, contains a collection of 79 of my weekly articles printed in this paper, many over the last decade. These articles cover a myriad of aging issues ranging f rom care giving, retirement planning to thoughts about spirituality and death. Through these articles you are empowered with practical tools to live a happy, engaged and empowered during the second half of your life. For more details, go to herbweiss.com.
January 6, 2020 by Herb Weiss Categories: Healthcare | Tags: AARP, age beat, Albert Henry Woolson, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, Frank Woodruff Buckles, Greatest Generations, Marilyn Albert, Mark and Nancy Shorrock, Norah Christianson, Pinault's Drug Store, Rediscovering Pawtucket's, Seabiscott, Spumoni's, Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly, The Brain and Social Connectedness: GCBH Recommendations on Social Engagement and Brain Health | Leave a comment
A few weeks ago, my sister Nancy called to give me the bad news that my brother-in-law, Justin Aurbach, was diagnosed with an aggressive and deadly cancer known as glioblastoma, or more commonly referred to as GBM. This 77 year old Dallas-based endodontist who I knew as relatively healthy, a believer in vitamins and physically active most of his adult life, was now house-bound receiving 24 hour a day care by home health caregivers, along with his daughters Stephanie and Allison, and his partner Ruth who were now all part of a revolving schedule of care.
I booked a quick trip to Dallas to sit with him and show my support and concern. It had been a few years since I had been there and I wondered what the conversation might entail, knowing that our 53-year old relationship could cover a lot of ground. Justin and my sister were always collectors of art, and I soon found myself sitting at a kitchen table, surrounded by colorfully carved images of watermelons, where he and I reminisced as the time flew by.
Justin reminded me that we first met in 1967 when he came to pick-up my older sister Mickie, taking her to dine at Campisi’s Restaurant, a local pizza hangout. Even though it took place over five decades ago, he clearly remembered first meeting my mother as she greeted him from the couch, sitting with her thick soled shoes propped up on the ottoman, smoking a cigarette and wearing her trademark leopard print blouse. He recalls her holding Tony, the family’s three-legged Toy Poodle.
A year later, Mickie and Justin would recruit my twin brother, Jim and me to be ushers at their wedding in 1968. Through the ebb and flow of their life together, from raising children, grandchildren and building a successful dental practice, he reflected on their 41 year marriage, noting ‘how it flew by’ before Mickie passed in 2008.
Justin reminded me of the sage advice he gave me before I entered my freshman year at the University of Oklahoma. “Drink in moderation and put studies before chugging pitchers of beer,” he said. It is funny the things you tend to remember, I thought.
As our conversation became more focused on his health, Justin thought that the symptoms of the tumor might first have appeared over five years ago, when he became dizzy while taking a bike ride. Last August, the symptoms returned while riding again, and a Cat Scan would ultimately reveal his tumor.
In 2003, I had the opportunity to interview Justin about turning age 60 for my weekly senior commentary in the Pawtucket Times. He shared the following thoughts about being at the peak of his career professionally, while only five years shy of reaching retirement age.
In my commentary, Justin said, “It’s great [moving into your 60s], however, far too much [cultural] negativity has been directed at this chronological age.”
At that time, my brother-in-law was in relatively good physical shape. While he would acknowledge that he could not run a four-minute mile, he joked that he never could anyway. As he approached his sixth decade, he admitted that he played a little golf like many of his friends, walked and jogged, and even took time to lift weights.
Dr. Justin E. Aurbach, DDS, had accomplished much in his career by the age of 60. As the first endodontist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he was the first in the region to perform endodontic microsurgery, when at that time there were only 78 endodontists in the nation performing such surgery. He is past president of the DFW Endodontic Society, The Southwest Society of Endodontics, and the Dallas County Dental Society. He served as general chairman of the Southwest Dental Conference.
Justin believed strongly that he would still be ‘at the top of his professional game, improving with age’, as he proudly boasted. During my interview with him, he said, “not only am I technically better, but my years of life experience have made me wiser in respect to knowing what can and cannot be done in my life.”
The endodontist attributed much of his success to his wife, children and the many supportive family and friends that were part of his large extended family.
By age 60, his philosophy of looking at the “glass half-full rather than half empty” allowed him to cope with life’s difficulties. This life stage was also a time of excitement and learning for him, while he glided into the years he referred to as “best time of your life.”
Getting to the Big “70”
Ten years later, we would speak again about his approaching the age 70 milestone. He reflected on how so much time had passed, which he noted flew by in “the blink of an eye.” During my 2013 interview with him published in my weekly commentary in this paper, he told me that he would “certainly keep forging ahead at a break-neck pace,” promising that new goals would replace those that were accomplished.
He recalled having attended dozens of funerals, said final goodbyes to his wife, father, father-in-law, mother-in-law, along with many close friends and colleagues. Justin noted that “reading the Dallas Morning News obituary page and constantly attending funerals made him aware of the need to accomplish his set goals with the limited time he had left -” but life goes on,” Justin told me. A year after his wife’s death in 2008, the aging widower again found love and began to date Ruth.
Looking ahead into his 70’s, Justin had no plans to retire. Though financially secure, he aspired to maintain a very full practice until his eighty-fifth birthday. He found added fulfillment teaching endodontic residents at Texas AM Baylor School of Dentistry, a job that he hoped would continue into his 70s, while also staying active in the medical group.
Justin has been an avid bike rider for over 30 years, and despite being 70, he would continue to sneak in a ride when possible, even with his busy schedule. He enjoyed the City of Dallas’s fine restaurants, loved to cook for family and friends, and looked forward to a good play or chamber music performance from time to time. His mantra may well be “Live your life to the fullest, don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today.”
Justin says, since the diagnosis of his terminal illness, his house has been flooded with family, friends, referring doctors and even former dental students. “I have made a lot of friends and accept that I have impacted people in a very positive way,” he said, as he cites as an upside of his illness.
As we concluded our talk, he says, “Don’t wait to do things. You never know what the future has in store for you,” adding that he learned this lesson from Ruth.
“Simple things in life are your best bet to living a good life,” Justin tells me, stressing that it doesn’t cost a lot of money to enjoy your life.”
Justin acknowledges that he may live another two to six months with the GBM tumor, but remains optimistic, for there are those who have lived for another 14 years. In his remaining time, he hopes to maintain a “quality of life” that allows him to continue to attend musicals and plays, or perhaps even take short trips.
As you reach your 60s and into your 70s, research tells us that exercise, eating a healthy diet, developing a strong social network of family and friends, and continuing to learn and seek out new knowledge all become important in enhancing the quality of your life and increasing your longevity in your later years. However, in our twilight years life can become of full of tough challenges and we may face difficult times.
Ultimately, like Justin, reflecting on personal and professional accomplishments can give you the inner resources necessary to meet the challenges in the final stages of your life.
December 29, 2019 by Herb Weiss Categories: People | Tags: Campisi's Restaurants, caregivers, Dallas County Dental Society, DDS, DFW Endodontic Society, endodontic microsurgery, endodontist, GBM, GBM tumor, glioblastoma, Justin E. Aurbach, Pawtucket Times, Southwest Dental Confeence, The Southwest Society of Endodontics | 1 Comment
In recent years, Senate Majority Leader Mich McConnell of Kentucky, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and even former House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, have warned that the growing number of seniors is fast becoming an economic drag to the nation’s economic growth, citing the spiraling costs of Social Security and Medicare. As the 2020 presidential election looms, GOP candidates are calling for reining in the skyrocketing federal budget deficit by slashing these popular domestic programs.
In 2015, President Donald Trump declared that he would not touch Social Security and Medicare. But now some GOP insiders are saying he may cut these programs during his second term, if he wins.
But after you read the newly released AARP report, The Longevity Economy Outlook, you may just want to consider these comments about seniors being a drain on the economy as false and misleading claims, just “fake news.”
AARP’s Longevity Economy Outlook report pulls from national data detailing how much people age 50 and older spend, earn working and pay in taxes.
Just days ago, AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins penned a blog article on the Washington, DC-based aging group’s website highlighting the findings of this major report. AARP’s top senior executive strongly disputes the myth that people age 50 and over are an economic drain on society. Rather the report’s findings indicate that older workers, who are getting a monthly Social Security check and receiving Medicare benefits, are priming the nation’s economic engine, she says.
“As the number of people over 50 grows, this cohort group is transforming America’s economic markets and sparking fresh ideas, and the demand for new products and services across our economy,” says Jenkins.
Jenkins notes that when older workers delay their retirement they continue to impact the economy by earning a paycheck, purchasing goods and services, and generating tax revenues for local, state and federal government.
“The economic activity of people 50-plus supports 88.6 million jobs in the U.S. generates $5.7 trillion in wages and salaries, and accounts for $2.1 trillion in combined taxes,” says Jenkins.
AARP’s economic impact study, released on Dec. 19, reports that people age 50 and older contribute a whopping $8.3 trillion to the U.S. economy, putting this age group just behind the U.S. (20.5 trillion) and China (13.4 trillion) when measured by gross domestic product. They also create an additional $745 billion in value through being unpaid family caregivers (see my commentary in the November 17/18 issues of the Woonsocket Call and Pawtucket Times).
Jenkins says, AARP ’s major report also projects the economic impact of older works to continue in the coming decades, tripling to more than $28 trillion by 2050 as younger generations (millennials and Generation Z) turn age 50 in 2031 and 2047, respectively.
With the graying of the nation’s population (predicted to be 157 million by 2050), the AARP report predicts that older persons will have more collective spending power, too, says Jenkins. “Fifty-six cents of every dollar spent in the United States in 2018 came from someone 50 or older,” she says, adding that by 2050 this amount is expected to jump to 61 cents of every dollar.
For over six years, AARP has been tracking the economic impact of older adults on the nation’s economy, Jenkins’ penned in her recently published blog article. It’s growing steadily over these years, she says.
“When AARP began researching the economic power of people 50 and older in 2013, we found that they generated $7.1 trillion in economic activity,” says Jenkins, noting that three years later it had grown to 7.5 trillion. “The 2019 report reflects an 11 percent growth in economic impact, a 6 percent growth in jobs created and a 12 percent growth in wages and salaries over the most recent three-year period,” adds Jenkins.
Older Rhode Islanders and the State’s Economy
By virtue of Rhode Island being one of the oldest states per capita in the country we have long been aware of the contribution and buying power older people contribute to the state’s economy,” said AARP Rhode Island State Director Kathleen Connell. “When you add in those 50-64 it becomes a big and powerful percentage of the population,” she says.
Over the years, Connell has observed more engagement with AARP in the younger end of the demographic spectrum because people in their 50s have justifiable concerns about their future. They wonder: “Will they outspend their savings? Will Social Security change in ways that will reduce their benefits? Will out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses sink the savings they hope to put away for retirement?,” she says.
“Waiting for retirement to think about these issues could well be too late,” warns Connell. “This is creating greater interest in government and politics and magnifies the importance of their vote,” she adds.
“At the same time, as older Rhode Islanders remain the workforce longer, they are keep paying taxes – a sizable plus for the state’s economy,” observes Connell. “With their extensive experience, many continue to be movers and shakers, innovators and professionals lending guidance that helps fuel economic growth,” she states.
Connell adds: “Outside the workplace, they are connected in new ways via technology and social media. The great thing is that across the range of 50 and older workers it can be said that more people are sharing the workplace adding to our cultural development and participating in civic engagement more than ever before.”
Wake Up Call to Businesses, Congress
AARP’s report should be a “wake-up call” to businesses and federal and state policymakers to rethink their attitudes, warns Jenkins in the concluding of her blog article. She calls on business leaders to “build strategies for marketing their products and services to older Americans and to embrace a multi-generational workforce.” Jenkins also urges Congress and state law makers to develop policies to support the growing number of uncompensated caregivers.
December 22, 2019 by Herb Weiss Categories: Retirement | Tags: AARP, domestic program, economic engine, Economic Growth, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, Jo Ann Jenkins, Kathleen Connell, Medicare, out-of-pocket prescription drug costs, Pawtucket Times, President Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Social Security, The Longevity Economy Outlook, Woonsocket Call | Leave a comment
Uncompensated Cost of Caregivers is a Whopping $470 Billion
Published in the Woonsocket Call on November 17, 2019
Approximately 41 million unpaid family caregivers provided an estimated 34 billion hours of care in 2017 — worth a whopping $470 billion — to their parents, spouses, partners, and friends, according to the latest report in AARP’s Valuing the Invaluable series. The 2019 estimated value of family caregiving is based on 41 million caregivers providing an average of 16 hours of care per week, at an average value of $13.81 per hour. Previous AARP Public Policy reports were released in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2015.
“It’s encouraging to see greater recognition of the emotional, physical and financial struggles that caregivers face,” said Susan Reinhard, senior vice president, AARP Public Policy Institute, in an April 14th statement announcing the release of the 32-page report. “But the demands on family caregivers are not just a family issue and we must continue to push for meaningful support and solutions,” says Reinhard.
Every caregiver, as well as their families, know the value of their efforts,” said AARP Rhode Island State Director Kathleen Connell. “In Rhode Island, the estimated total value of 114 million hours of work by the state’s 136,000 caregivers is $1.8 billion. The aggregate is astounding, making a clear case for supporting this vital commitment made by family and loved ones.”
“These numbers inspire our members who spend many hours at the State House as AARP Rhode Island advocacy volunteers,” Connell added. “They have helped pass key legislation — the CARE Act, paid caregiver leaves and many other key bills — that have given caregivers resources and opportunities to make their task less daunting. Caregivers are truly invaluable,” she says.
Putting a Spotlight on the Nation’s Caregivers
AARP’s report notes that the estimated $470 billion equates to about $1,450 for every person in the United States (325 million people in 2017). Its economic impact is more than all out-of-pocket spending on US health care in 2017 ($366 billion). Uncompensated care provided by caregivers is also three times as much as total Medicaid spending on long-term services (LTSS) and supports ($154 billion in 2016) and even the total spending from all sources of paid LTSS, including post-acute care ($366 billion in 2016).
The AARP researchers say that the estimate of $470 billion in economic value of uncompensated care is consistent with nearly two decades of prior research studies, all of which found (like the current study) that the value of unpaid family care vastly exceeds the value of paid home care.
The AARP report, Valuing the Invaluable: 2019 Update Charting a Path Forward, also explores the growing scope and complexity of caregiving, including an aging population, more family caregivers in the paid workforce, and the increasing amount of medical and nursing tasks entering the home.
According to the AARP report, family care givers, who provide day-to-day supports and services and manage complex care tasks, are becoming more diverse. While most family caregivers are women, about 40 percent are men who are providing more assistance than just driving to doctor’s appointments and grocery stores or paying bills. Like all caregivers, they are assisting a parent, spouse or friend with bathing and dressing, pain management, managing medication, changing dressings, helping with incontinence and even preparing special diets.
While a majority of baby boomers are providing caregiving services, a growing number of younger adults are now shouldering this responsibility, too. Nearly 1 in 4 (24 percent) are millennials (born between 1980 and 1996). Despite their low salaries, the young adults are spending more of their salary on caregiving expenses than other generations. The researchers estimated that this spending in 2016 was about 27 percent of their income.
About 60 percent of family caregivers are juggling a job and providing care, too. This will continue as aging baby boomers choose to remain in the labor force to bring additional income into their household. Workplace benefits for caregivers becomes become even more important as they face economic and financial strain in their later years.
For those employees who choose to leave their job to become a full-time caregiver, they risk both short-and long-term financial difficulties, say the researchers.
Finally, the researcher’s recommendations to better support family caregivers included developing a robust and comprehensive national strategy with the needs of an increasingly diverse caregiver population included; providing financial relief and expanding workplace policies; developing caregiver training programs; and expanding state and federal funding for respite programs.
More Work Needs to Be Done
The AARP report warns that the rising demand for caregivers with the graying of the nation’s population, shrinking families will drastically reduce the supply. In 2010, there were 7.1 potential family caregivers for every person age 80 and over. By 2030, there may be only 4.1 potential caregivers for every person age 80 and over, they say.
Although significant federal and state policy are already in place to assist the nation’s caregivers, more work needs to be done, say the researchers. They call on Congress and state lawmakers to keep pace with the changing demographic, social trends and needs of the family caregiver.
Resources and information on family caregiving, including AARP’s Prepare to Care
Guides, are available at http://www.aarp.org/caregiving.
November 21, 2019 by Herb Weiss Categories: Caregivers | Tags: AARP Public Policy reprts, AARP Rhode Islalnd, AARP's Prepare to Care Guides, AARP's Valuing the Invaluable series, caregivers, caregiving, family caregiving, Kathleen Connell, long-term services, LTSS, Medicaid, post-acute care, Susan Reinhard, uncompensated care, Valuing the Invaluable: 2019 Update Charting a Path Forward | Leave a comment
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Fraser of Allander Institute Blog
FAI Publications
Scottish Economy
Home » Scottish Economy » Local Government
Category: Local Government
What is the case for increasing council tax rates in Scotland?
This blog shows that council tax rates are now markedly lower in Scotland than in England and Wales. Increasing council tax in Scotland to match rates in Wales (or England) would raise substantial revenues, but would have adverse distributional implications. On balance, the case for more fundamental reform of property taxation would appear much stronger than the case for increasing rates within the existing system.
Differences in income tax policy between Scotland and rUK have been the subject of heated debate. There has been relatively little attention paid to differences in council tax policy in Scotland compared to England and Wales. But in some ways, the differences in council tax policy are more pronounced than they are for income tax.Continue reading
FAI Economic Commentary: Tackling regional economic inequalities
Tackling regional economic disparities has been a priority of successive governments in both the UK and Scotland.
The UK Government’s Industrial Strategy is their latest attempt, with regional growth 1 of 5 ‘foundations of success’. Here in Scotland, ‘cohesion’ – or its new term ‘regional inclusive growth’ – has been a feature of the Scottish Government’s Economic Strategy since 2007.
It is hard to disagree that a country will be economically stronger if every region has the opportunity to fulfil its potential.
However, Scottish and UK policy history is littered with well-intentioned – but ultimately ill-fated – attempts to narrow the gap in economic performance between regions. Many of the challenges are deep-rooted and structural, whilst attempts to tackle them throw-up challenging trade-offs and political risks.
Land value taxation: some issues
Sam MacArthur is a fourth year undergraduate economics student at the University of Strathclyde and had a summer internship in the Fraser of Allander Institute supported by the Carnegie Trust. This blog summarises some of Sam’s research from last summer into some of the issues around land value tax.
The Scottish Government recently released their Programme for Government 2017-2018, ‘A Nation with Ambition’, which reiterated their commitment to land reform.
Consequently, the newly formed Scottish Land Commission have been tasked –among other things- with carrying out and commissioning research into “a range of radical options for further land reform in Scotland, including the potential for a land value tax”.
In recent years, calls for a land value tax (LVT) have moved into the mainstream of political debate in Scotland, driven by perceived criticisms of the current system of local taxation, the Council Tax. One concern with fundamentally reforming the existing system is a concern about the potential impact of this change on different household types across Scotland. The lack of detailed analysis on this point is hindering fuller debate.
This blog reports on some work I undertook while completing a Carnegie Vacation Scholarship at the Fraser of Allander Institute this summer. It begins by briefly reviewing some conceptual issues in implementing local taxation, before moving to consider how (in principal) we might produce some estimates of land values.
The NDRI pool…
As the Scottish Budget for 2017/18 has passed through Parliament, the operation of the Non-Domestic Rates pool has risen to prominence. It has provided the Cabinet Secretary for Finance with flexibility to support local government spending and ease the burden of the revaluation to business rates.
So how does the NDRI pool work and what could be the implications over the medium term in the light of the additional cash taken from it to get the budget passed this year?Continue reading
Tracking local labour market performance since the Great Recession
On Friday, we published the latest edition of our new quarterly publication – Labour Market Trends – with our colleagues in the Scottish Centre for Employment Research.
The aim of the report is to highlight recent developments in the Scottish labour market and to bring to the fore some of the structural issues that underpin long-term trends in employment, unemployment and activity levels in Scotland.
This quarter we highlight a number of important issues, including the recent rise in inactivity and the uncertainty surrounding interpreting changes in the key headline employment and unemployment data for Scotland.
Prices & Inflation
199 Cathedral Street
G4 0QU
(Closest entrance at 130 Rottenrow)
fraser@strath.ac.uk
Copyright © 2018 The Fraser of Allander Institute
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The Concept of Faith in Beowulf
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A Twist of Fate for the Great Hero Beowulf Fate seems to be an ongoing theme in the works of Boethius and Beowulf. Whether it is a belief of Christian providence or pagan fatalism, the writers of these works are strongly moved by the concept of fate and how it affects the twists and turns of a person’s life. Fate is most often seen as the course of events in a person’s life that leads them to inevitable death at some time or another. Throughout the poem Beowulf, the characters are haunted by fate and acknowledge its strong presence in everything that they do.
Fate seems to lurk in the shadows of these characters very being and it is this force in which they acknowledge their mortality as human beings. Boethius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, which may be very helpful in interpreting the meaning of fate in the epic poem Beowulf. Boethius creates fate as a female character that attempts to heal the mind of a troubled man. Richard Green translates some of Boethius’s work in the introduction and interprets this woman’s role as, “She represented fate as a random, uncontrollable force, to be feared or courted, opposed or despised” (xvi).
Green goes on to identify fate’s role in the cause of events in life. This connection may be made to further understand the role of fate in Beowulf’s life. Green says, “For the wise man, fortune is a specious identification of fate; the course of events which affect his life may seem random and capricious, and most of them are indeed beyond his control” (xvii). Green is trying to unfold the meaning of fate and Boethius’s intent to illustrate its effects on a man’s life.
Boethius himself says that, “Fate moves the heavens and the stars, governs the elements in their mixture, and transforms them by mutual change, it renews all things that are born and die by the reproduction of similar offspring and seeds. This same power binds the actions and fortunes of men in an unbreakable chain of causes and, since these causes have their own origins in an unchangeable providence, they too must necessarily be unchangeable” (Boethius, Book four, poem five, prose six).
Boethius is attempting to identify fate as a force of nature that represents the circle of life and the set sequence of events that are plotted by this unknown force that map out a person’s very existence throughout the course of time. Boethius acknowledges the idea that there is a higher power, which he calls providence that has the ultimate control over fate. This distinction is one that many readers of the poem Beowulf are unsure of. Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English and translated by Seamus Heaney. The theme of fate in Beowulf is ongoing and it manifests itself in the minds of the characters, especially Beowulf.
The poem begins with an introduction from the narrator that hints at the events of misfortune that are coming in the future for the great hero Beowulf. The narrator says, “how could they know fate, the grim shape of things to come” (Beowulf, 1233-1234). The opening of the poem is of a funeral for the beloved leader Shield Sheafson. This foreshadows the death of Beowulf and in a sense presents the reader with the mentality of a connection between fate and death. Death is simply the end of a person’s life that is bound to happen, very much like the effect of fate on life.
There is an ongoing conflict in the poem between the Anglo-Saxon idea of fate (wyrd) and the Christian God. This may have caused widespread tension among the readers and interpreters of the poem that lingers to this day. Many translators of the poem have signaled the “allusions to the power of fate” and its connection to Christianity (Klaeber, xlviii). The fact is that whether or not Beowulf saw a connection to the concept of fate and a divine power is something that we may never know. The theme of fatalism in the poem is so strong that it is evident that fate was a strong force in the lives of the people of this time.
Whether or not they had Christian or pagan beliefs that may have been related to their individual views on fate doesn’t really seem to have any bearing on their beliefs in fate. Throughout the poem, Beowulf fights evil demons to protect his people and creates a sense of safety that would surely not exist if it weren’t for his great strength and courage. Fate has something else in store for Beowulf as the poem leads on to the infamous dragon fight. All along in the poem, Beowulf identifies the fact that he believes in fate and many of his actions are ruled by his strong belief in the fact that whatever will happen is meant to be.
In the beginning of the poem, he is an invincible leader but now when it comes down to the fight with the dragon, he is old and not so sure of himself. It is at this point in the poem that the reader is clued in to the future events, which don’t look very bright for this hero. All along, the narrator and the characters in the poem have hinted at events to come in the future and the idea of fate has remained in the background of Beowulf’s conquests and victories, controlling his every move. Beowulf knows that his time is coming and he sees a likeness of himself in the warriors that have died in the wrath of the dragon.
Beowulf has always seen life and battles as a race to glory with an end in death. He identifies his code of honor and of life in a speech with Hrothgar and says, “Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning. For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for and end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark” (Beowulf, 1384-1389). In this speech, Beowulf is preaching the fight for glory and life in a world where destiny waits for no one.
He sees that although his time may come to an end someday, his life will have been well spent fighting in battles, proclaiming his courage, and living each day to its fullest potential (Ogilvy, 61). In the end of the poem, Beowulf has a premonition that his time has come and that fate will not be so kind to him in his upcoming battle with the dragon. Ultimately in a great fight, Beowulf is killed by the dragon and relives the same fate that the man who died there years before in this same situation.
Once again there is a visual reference of the cycle of life that began with the death of the great Shield Sheafson and that will end in the death of the great hero Beowulf. Fate takes its final twist and the life of a great hero comes to an end. The people that have valued their lives in the security blanket that was laid by Beowulf soon find themselves in danger. When the life of their great hero has come to an end, so has their life of safety in a land that they once called their own. Their fate like before, is unknown and a sense of doom and misfortune consumes the end of the poem.
Beowulf is one of the oldest European epics. Beowulf is a hero and personalized many important aspects and ideals of this time. He was loyal, selfless, and believed in justice. There are many Germanic elements in the poem that are connected to the ongoing theme of fate. Beowulf lived as a warrior-king figure in feudal society. He lived the Germanic Heroic Code that valued loyalty, strength, and courage. Beowulf also conducted himself with many Anglo-Saxon ideals of conduct that included allegiance to the lord and king, the love of glory that rules the meaning and existence of life, and the belief in the inevitability of fate.
Fatalism was a popular mindset of people of this time. Fatalism is the philosophy that all events, actions, or incidents that make up a person’s life are determined by fate. It incorporates the belief that people have little or no control over their destiny because what happens is what is meant to be. In a time when future was uncertain and the lives of people could be taken at any time, fate is an idea that not only kept many people going but that also entangled the minds of people that were once free and took over their every breath and movement as to signal something coming in the future.
Author: Brandon Johnson
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With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don’t Need to Sell
Filed under: eBooks,free best-selling eBooks,Kindle Reader — gator1965 @ 7:58 am
The latest on Kindle from New York Times columnist, Motoko Rich:
Here’s a riddle: How do you make your book a best seller on the Kindle?
Answer: Give copies away.
That’s right. More than half of the “best-selling” e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com’s e-reader, are available at no charge.
Although some of the titles are digital versions of books in the public domain — like Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” — many are by authors still trying to make a living from their work.
Earlier this week, for example, the No. 1 and 2 spots on Kindle’s best-seller list were taken by “Cape Refuge” and “Southern Storm,” both novels by Terri Blackstock, a writer of Christian thrillers. The Kindle price: $0. Until the end of the month, Ms. Blackstock’s publisher, Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, is offering readers the opportunity to download the books free to the Kindle or to the Kindle apps on their iPhone or in Windows.
Publishers including Harlequin, Random House and Scholastic are offering free versions of digital books to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-retailers, as well as on author Web sites, as a way of allowing readers to try out the work of unfamiliar writers. The hope is that customers who like what they read will go on to obtain another title for money.
“Giving people a sample is a great way to hook people and encourage them to buy more,” said Suzanne Murphy, group publisher of Scholastic Trade Publishing, which offered free downloads of “Suite Scarlett,” a young-adult novel by Maureen Johnson, for three weeks in the hopes of building buzz for the next book in the series, “Scarlett Fever,” out in hardcover on Feb. 1. The book went as high as No. 3 on Amazon’s Kindle best-seller list.
The digital giveaways come as publishers are panicking about price pressure on e-books in general. Amazon and other online retailers have set $9.99 as the putative e-book price for new releases and best sellers, and publishers worry that such pricing ultimately creates expectations among consumers that new books are no longer worth, say, $25 (the average list price of a new hardcover), or even $13 (a standard list price for trade paperbacks).
Some publishers have tried to take control of pricing by delaying the publication of certain e-books for several months after the books are made available in hardcover.
Executives at some houses said that given such actions, offering free content amounts to industry hypocrisy.
“At a time when we are resisting the $9.99 price of e-books,” said David Young, chief executive of Hachette Book Group, the publisher of James Patterson and Stephenie Meyer, “it is illogical to give books away for free.”
Read more @ http://alturl.com/psmg
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Publishing is Drowning in Ads!
Filed under: ad overkill,digital ads,FOLIO magazine,John R. Austin,magazines,online advertising,print ads,print advertising,publishing — gator1965 @ 4:05 pm
Ads, ads, ads and more ads! We get bombarded with them everywhere! Not only in digital publishing, but in print, too. They are all over the place on the internet (hell, even on the Merriam-Webster online dictionary when you look up a word!) AND even on the covers of print magazines in the form of corner page-peels, belly bands, ad “windows” of varying sizes and false, glued-on covers and gatefolds#@*%?!
Now, I can understand a reasonable amount of ads to make up lost revenue due to faltering subscriptions, etc…BUT, damn, have a little consideration for the consumer.
My advice to advertisers: Don’t overplay your hand! Consumers are overwhelmed with legit data as it is, but the more ads they have to wade through just dilutes not only their effectiveness but the legit site content they are placed on gets a bad rap as well.
A good example of this conundrum is illustrated in this article by Jason Fell in FOLIO magazine:
Does This Cover Push the Ad/Edit Line Too Far?
I’ve seen my share of advertisements on magazine covers over the last couple years. I’ve seen corner page-peels, belly bands and ad “windows” of varying sizes. I’ve also seen false, glued-on covers and gatefolds.
Something like this, however, I haven’t seen.
The cover of the October 7 issue of Canon Communications’ EDN magazine [pictured top, left] features the EDN nameplate as it usually would, but the remaining two-thirds—which normally is devoted to editorial—is all advertising. The space is shared by an ad from a company called Avago Technologies and a corner page-peel ad from Digi-Key Corp (which also has a full-page ad inside the magazine).
Read and enjoy more
Getting Paid for Digital Content–Where Do We Go From Here?
Filed under: melding online commerce and content,monetizing digital content,online advertising — gator1965 @ 8:37 pm
Trying to figure the optimum pricing model for digital content is just in the infancy phase. Matt Kinsman of FOLIO magazine writes this:
Investors want to see paid content models while publishers express their doubts, and some dotcoms say the advertising model isn’t done yet—provided publishers can tap into marketing and promotion budgets.
Future revenue models for publishers dominated the discussion today at the DeSilva + Phillips Dealmakers Summit 2010, where publishers and investors debated where the revenue growth will come from.
Managing directors of two of the largest investment firms said content-driven businesses—including magazines—remain attractive opportunities, but monetizing that content is a priority.
“We believe in content but we’re struggling to monetize it,” said Jeff Horing, managing director of Insight Venture Partners. “It’s not really an issue for the next five years but it could be a problem five years from now when we try to sell the business and project what it will be worth to a buyer.”
Content that can’t be had elsewhere—either through original reporting or unique ways of aggregating—are attractive investments, said Richard Zannino, managing director of CCMP Capital Advisors (which owns Hanley Wood).
And despite the contraction among both industries, magazines remain a more attractive opportunity than newspapers. “We would not invest in newspapers,” said Zannino. “With magazines, maybe. It depends on the market. Newspapers have a fundamental issue where they don’t deliver as much value as their alternatives. With magazines, that fundamental issue doesn’t exist as long as they’re targeted to an attractive niche market.”
Others said magazines are essential within their broader organization. Washington D.C. insider Politico is a “reverse publisher” in which much of the magazine is created from Web content. “We see about a 50/50 split in print and online revenue,” said editor-in-chief John Harris. “It’s kind of a parlor game to say, ‘well if we have print it’s more expensive.’ Yes we have more costs but it also lets us have more reporters, which helps us draw an attractive audience for advertisers. I’m not fixated on any platform print or online. One of our most successful products is Mike Allen’s Daily Playbook—nobody reads it on the Web site, they read it on e-mail.”
Bloomberg chief content officer Norman Pearlstine explained what BusinessWeek offers. “Think of BusinessWeek as part of the whole Bloomberg ecosystem,” he said. “It starts with a terminal where people pay $20,000 per year, which offers access to news and data. BusinessWeek offers access to the executive suite they don’t get with just the terminal.”
Pay Walls a Non-Starter?
Harris, Pearlstine and Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau expressed their doubts about the viability of pay walls.
“I think it’s hard to make it work,” said Pearlstine. “In our experience, you can charge a lot of money for specialized information for an audience with a need for it—it doesn’t have to be business and finance. But for more general interest, the value just isn’t there.”
Politico won’t charge for the content it currently produces, said Harris. “We’re successful with our ad model and putting stuff behind a pay wall would diminish that,” he added. “Our editorial model is about the conversation of the day, and a pay wall runs against that.”
Hippeau said that while the Wall Street Journal was an example of a successful paid model with $100 million in revenue a few years ago, you haven’t heard much about it since. “The history of the pay wall is not a good one,” he added. “With magazines, you promise your advertisers a rate base and then spend a lot of money to acquire that rate base and keep it up. It’s hard to do.”
Making Online Advertising Work
While nearly all conference participants seemed to agree that banner and online display advertising don’t hold much promise, some said it could work if it’s part of a more in-depth package.
“I would be scared to invest in creating content if the only way to get your money back is banner ads,” said Matthew Bromberg, CEO of online startup Major League Gaming, which has a model combining subscriptions and advertising. “However, our players pay to play and we do multi-year sponsorships and branded content.”
Others see online publishing evolving much like traditional publishing. “I think the online publishing model will follow the magazine model by targeting attractive niches” said Tyler Goldman, CEO of BuzzMedia. “Right now, the Internet is still so immature that everything is driven by the product. But ultimately, users don’t want to be their own programmers. People are still going to the same three or four sites every day.”
But that means creating more comprehensive marketing programs. “We can’t think of just creating content for consumers and slapping an ad on it,” said Goldman, who added that marketers need to connect with the market, rather than just pitch to it. “There isn’t really an issue with demarcation between content and advertising,” he said. “It’s not about advertorials; it’s about creating programs around brand message. The publisher who can figure out both sides will have a lot of success.”
According to Bromberg, publishers shouldn’t be afraid to ask more of marketers. “People don’t require enough from buyers,” he said. “An advertiser will come in and say, ‘We want to move the needle.’ OK, to do that, you need to be on our site for a year and build a connection with our audience. Then we can do something.”
Hippeau said Huffington Post is finding opportunity in a merger between classic CPM-based advertising and social media, including a program around the upcoming Olympics where marketers like HBC are sponsoring blogs and Twitter feeds for a fixed fee. “This isn’t advertising but promotion and marketing,” he said. “The money being spent on Facebook is not coming from advertising budgets.”
A Content Commerce/Hybrid?
Others are looking to a combination of commerce and content. “Online content monetization through traditional advertising is tough but content monetization with e-commerce is very interesting,” said Horing. “Today, if I have new content for moms, it’s easier to white brand a store with that than that trying to make money off something like Procter & Gamble advertising—there’s too many middleman trying to get margin on that.”
“I think the traditional media focus should be on commerce,” Pearlstine agreed. “There are a lot of eyeballs and uniques and we’re seeing it in Germany with publishers like Springer.”
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The Washington Motor Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Eaton, Ohio and later Middletown, Ohio, that produced the "Washington" automobile between 1921 and 1924.
The company was set up by local Eaton businessman Otto M Shipley, who gained the support of other local business people to provide capital for the venture. The prototype Washington used a Falls X9000 6-cylinder engine, but it was found to use too much oil, and was replaced by a 7R Continental engine for the 1921 Model B tourer. In 1922 the Model C was introduced, which featured a larger 8R Continental engine, and a wider range of body styles - tourer, sport, sedan and California top tourer. Prices ranged from $1785 for the tourer up to $2385 for the sedan.Company slogans included "The Ideal of a Nation" and "Washington - A Name That Stands for Character and Strength".
In 1924 the company moved to Middletown, and commenced work on a steam-powered car, which was identical in styling to the Model C tourer, except for the use of disc instead of artillery wheels. Only three steamers were built before the company went bankrupt in December 1924, due to expending all of its working capital on the new factory. Total Washington production is estimated at between 25-60 gasoline powered cars and the three steamers.
Thu, Jan 23rd, 2020
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50 Years Later: Where Is Today’s ‘Cool Hand Luke’?
Cool Hand Luke is a rebellious look at the struggle we all face from every aspect of restriction within the world we inhabit.
No matter where you are in the world, someone or something is probably trying to keep you controlled, making sure you don’t step out of line. Whether it’s a parent or spouse laying down the house rules, a neighborhood association imposing property regulations, a state enacting laws that dictate everything down to the amount of soda you can sell in one cup, or a society, in general, enforcing its own standards of behavior, we’re all beholden, all restricted, all pressured to conform. Disobedience can result in strict punishment, both physical and material; the grip tightens to prevent us from breaking free. Authority relies on the potential of loss as a deterrent, but what if someone had nothing to lose in the game of life? Now that would be a real cool hand, and the results could be heroic in a way rarely seen these days.
It may be a product of its time, but 1967’s Cool Hand Luke will always be relevant in its depiction of individual resistance, and it’s the kind we could use more of. Luke Jackson is not the sort of quippy non-conformist seen nowadays in countless snarky movie protagonists, nor is he the sort of hipster used as role models in TV commercials that want you to express yourself with the same product that everyone else does — the kind for whom sassy comments qualifies as rebelliousness, aloofness hides genuine sensitivity, and a casual disregard for fashion norms qualifies as “outrageous.” No, these predictable idiots are as establishment as it gets, a safe form of venting that threatens nothing and leaves everyone still feeling comfortably nested in the system. Luke, however, represents a true danger to the cling of authority. His open defiance constantly challenges those who would shackle him, be that prison guards or his own cellmates’ class system, sending them scrambling to deal with a force they do not understand.
The southern chain gang prison “Cool Hand” Luke (as he is later dubbed by his colleagues) is sentenced to for two years functions like its own miniature society, with a pecking order of power that starts at the top and trickles down. There is obvious hierarchy in the administration in charge of the rest of the minions, wielding weapons and the dreaded “box” — a small enclosure that allows for little room to move — as incentive to remain docile sheep, but the prisoners themselves also have an established order, as well as their own set of social rules that lock a man up. The warden, Captain, and Walking Boss Godfrey (the dreaded man in sunglasses) are undeniable overlords, but at night in the hot barracks, free from supervision, the barrel-chested Dragline reigns supreme, accepted leader of the convicts. As the newcomer, Luke is expected to know his place and adhere to it, bowing his head to even more control, even more restriction.
In almost all things big and small, from stubbornly refusing to lay down in a boxing match he is severely losing, to rejecting his own bodily limits by eating fifty hard-boiled eggs in an hour, Luke takes on all comers, desperate to avoid capitulation in any way, shape, or form. While everyone around him carries on in obedience to whatever higher power they serve, Luke won’t even cow to the highest, openly daring God and the Universe to try to break him. Some audiences may see this as obnoxious, prideful, foolhardy, impractical, irresponsible, and any number of negative ways, but Luke is also something they are not, something they may be jealous of. He is supremely free, and ultimately that makes him likable. Humankind has always cheered for an underdog taking on the establishment, breaking out of the prison most are born into. Mythology and religion are full of such examples (Cool Hand Luke plays off of Christian imagery especially), and these obstinate characters are almost always regarded as heroic.
While the current cinematic landscape is littered with a sea of ostensibly brave men and women serving as idealistic examples for the rest of us, very few of these paragons are distinguishable from each other by anything other than the colors of their super spandex. From noble patriots who champion democracy to petty thieves with hearts of gold, this collection of freakishly overpowered warriors stand for pretty much the same values, the same character traits, and the same philosophy when it comes to the obeying the rules: rebellion is okay — but only to a point. Despite supposedly representing individual empowerment, Captain America, Batman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, and all the rest ultimately fight for the collective control of society, what they consider “justice,” defying the establishment only when they selfishly see fit (their extraordinary physical abilities apparently gives them moral superiority as well), but holding the rest of the “normal” population (i.e, us) accountable to it. Luke demands no accountability from anyone, and in return simply asks the same treatment.
Luke’s attitude is understandably frightening at first to those entrenched in obedience, but also stimulating to those who see in him their own power and potential. Through his incessant assault on governance of any kind — be it finding a “work faster” loophole that allows his fellow roadwork crew mates to enjoy a beautiful evening free of hard labor, or devising multiple clever escape attempts — he shows dead men what life is like. What could be more admirable than that? Yet the untamed example Cool Hand Luke showcases is rarely emulated in movies anymore. While grappling with morally gray areas has practically become a required superpower for modern protagonists (a clear reflection of our own times), their internal struggles stay safely within the confines of acceptable societal norms. They tend to debate between established points of view, and often actually end up taking a side, joining a team, fitting in. Luke steps outside that comfort zone, venturing where few truly have gone before: to his own side, one independent of the pressures of a collective.
That he ultimately fails in revolution is of little consequence; humans have always had a complex relationship with heroes, cheering them one moment, booing the next. Everyone loves when ideals are exerted by direct action, as long as it’s ideals they agree with. Buildings may be blown up, city blocks might be razed to ruin, entire cities could be pounded to pieces by hulking green personifications of anger; when we’re for the cause, we tend to have little problem with tasking the powerful to regain control by any means necessary. Cool Hand Luke eschews the physical destruction for an attack on those institutions that act on our behalf, tasking people instead with regaining control of themselves. What we now think of as non-conformity and rebellion bears little resemblance to the real deal that’s on display here, and it’s a subversion that frankly we could use more of.
Though there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a Herculean man of steel do battle against our outward enemies, there is room for characters that take on vaster, more pervasive opponents. More than snark, a deep down resistance is a more practical superpower, one born more from verve than sarcasm. Cool Hand Luke is an inspiring look at the struggle we all face from every aspect of restriction within the world we inhabit. It reminds us that we are the heroes — and masters — of our own lives; no radioactive spider bites required.
Related Topics:Cool Hand LukePaul Newman
Patrick Murphy grew up in the hearty Midwest, where he spent many winter hours watching movies and playing video games while waiting for baseball season to start again. When not thinking of his next Nintendo post or writing screenplays to satisfy his film school training, he’s getting his cinema fix as the Editor of Sordid Cinema, Goomba Stomp's Film and TV section.
Mike Worby
Fantastic write-up. I finally watched this movie last year for the first time, and I have to say you have profoundly nailed the strengths of the film.
Thanks! I’m glad you’ve seen it, as too many these days seem to know Paul Newman only as the guy who makes salad dressing. I didn’t go into how great he is in this role, those blue eyes and that winning smile perfectly cast in order to warm audiences to a stubborn, sometimes frustrating character. Man, I love this movie. If I can’t be Indiana Jones, then I want to be Luke.
Minus the hard-boiled eggs. Can’t stand ’em, no way I’m eating 5, let alone 50.
Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You delivers a gorgeous film that doesn’t quite resonate as much as it wanted to.
Matthew Ponthier
Climate change and global warming have been topics of concern and discussion for years now, with melting ice caps and rising ocean temperatures being some of many signs. Director Makoto Shinkai — acclaimed the world over for his 2016 work Your Name — aims to show just how at the mercy humans are to the weather with his newest animated film, Weathering With You. Although he presents a visually stunning depiction of Mother Nature in all her various moods, Weathering With You ultimately lacks the storming power it seeks to bear upon its audience.
Tokyo has been having a particularly rainy year, seeing precipitation almost every day and nary a sight of the sun or clear blue skies. It’s during this unusual time that high school boy Hodaka arrives in the metropolis seeking escape from the suffocating life he had on his island. The young teenager naturally has trouble finding his bearings on his own in the oftentimes unforgiving hustle and bustle of the city. It’s in these early scenes that Weathering With You has some of its strongest moments, depicting the uglier side of Japanese society not often seen in anime, while also highlighting Hodaka’s strength of character to make it on his own.
As Hodaka gradually carves out his own place in the city, he eventually has an encounter with a young girl named Hina. Matching her sunny and cheerful disposition, Hina has the ability to make it stop raining and have the sunshine in very localized spots by praying to the sky. In a place where the rain never ceases, it’s easy to see why Hodaka latches onto Hina to use for the greater good (while also making a little pocket change along the way).
“The hand-drawn rain is downright mesmerizing in all its forms — fierce and calm — while the sunshine that follows seems to hang in the air caught by the leftover humidity.”
Gloomy skies and damp grounds can take their toll on one’s mood and psyche, which someone who lives in such a climate can surely relate to. Even the briefest moments of sunshine revitalize us and give a glimpse of the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Hodaka and Hina’s “100% Sunshine Girl” services to those in need of that light boldly underscore that fact, and make for a strong argument for how the weather affects us all beyond its objective physicality, along with providing some much-appreciated levity to the story.
That power of weather is beautifully illustrated by CoMix Wave Films’ stupendous animation efforts. The hand-drawn rain is downright mesmerizing in all its forms — fierce and calm — while the sunshine that follows seems to hang in the air, caught by the leftover humidity. Tokyo itself isn’t to be outdone either, with its streets running the gamut between peaceful neighborhoods to grimy and dark back alleys with dilapidated buildings. The animation is punctuated by the return of Japanese band RADWIMPS, who create numerous memorable tracks to complement the wild swings in mood that weather can elicit.
That makes it all the more unfortunate, however, that the greater narrative is so weak.
The progression of Weathering With You is made painfully obvious right from the outset of the story — so much so that it’s hard to wonder if it’s actually the set-up for a bait-and-switch. As a result, much of the first half of the film is simply waiting for the other shoe to drop, making it difficult to really settle in and become intimate with its characters.
This would be less of an issue if the cast had smaller interactions that were a delight to watch, but they fall short in that regard as well. All of the characters have a charm to them for sure — with Hina’s younger elementary school brother, Nagi, putting modern playboys to shame being a particular standout — but the story never quite makes a compelling case as to why they are as close as they are, especially Hina and Hodaka. They’re fun enough to watch be together, but don’t quite make that emotional attachment with the viewer that the story wants to create.
That lack of an emotional connection is distinctly felt in Weathering With You’s second act, when unnecessary confrontations and bizarre plot directions converge to create an artificial sense of stakes amidst a central conflict that would have been fine on its own. What’s meant to strengthen the impression of the characters’ bonds instead cheapens it, undermining the already faulty progress the first half did make. The result is a narrative that’s hard to care about, although its ending does leave the viewer with some potentially interesting questions to ponder.
Weathering With You is far from a bad movie, however. It has a clear direction and vision with a message to say about our climate crisis. The characters are endearing enough, and there are a handful of heartfelt scenes because of that. It also cannot be understated just how drop-dead gorgeous the animation is. The story, however, is simply too straightforward for its own good, resulting in an experience that is at times enjoyable, and at others plain boring.
And that’s only when being judged in a vacuum on the movie’s own merits. When compared to Shinkai’s recent masterpiece that is Your Name, it’s hard to see Weathering With You as anything but a disappointing follow-up. That’s perhaps the film’s greatest weakness, but fortunately, it’s one that Shinkai’s next work won’t have, and we can still look forward to it because of that fact.
The monster movie that breaks new ground.
Ricky Fernandes da Conceição
Tremors, 30 Years Later
Thirty years ago, this week, one of the best films of 1990 was released.
Tremors didn’t make a big splash in theaters. The film ended up grossing $16,667,084 at the domestic box office, which while making a profit due to its $11 million budget, was still below projected numbers. To be fair, this was a film about carnivorous subterranean worms— and it didn’t help that it was dumped in the cold of winter during what is arguably the slowest time of the year for the box office. Thankfully, however, Tremors found a second life on VHS where it became one of home video’s biggest success stories. More importantly, Tremors become a beloved cult hit.
Much has been said about the cast of Tremors which I’ll get to shortly, but what stood out the most watching it again, is the screenplay from S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, who both previously penned Short Circuit and Batteries Not Included. Sure, Tremors is a B movie, but it also boasts a tightly-knit script in which every scene; every action; every story beat; and every line of dialogue sets up a chain of events that gives every character a motive and reason to react the way they do. And despite one poorly executed sequence (I’m referring to the pole-vaulting montage), Tremors is a lean, mean movie without an ounce of fat to be found anywhere else.
The plot isn’t complex per se, but there’s something oddly comforting in the simplicity of it all. Tremors takes place in the Nevada desert near a small town called Perfection with a population of only 14 residents who are left to defend themselves against the deadly subterranean creatures. It’s the perfect setting for a monster film since the town itself is isolated. And with only one road leading to civilization, the openness of the desert landscape enhances the desolation of it all. And since the town of Perfection is so far removed from the rest of society, it soon becomes clear that nobody will ever come and save them. Instead, the townsfolk must work together; overcome the odds, and destroy the creatures. And when that fails, they must attempt to scale the rocky mountaintop where the worms are unable to travel underground. It’s getting there that becomes the problem.
Val and Earl
At the heart, and at the center of the eccentric cast of characters is Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward playing Valentine McKee and Earl Bass, a pair of modern-day cowboys working as handymen who become would-be heroes when they stumble upon the shock-sensitive killer worms. Over the years, the two actors have become less renowned for their comedic roles, but Tremors if anything, showcases their talent and range. And while Kevin Bacon with his sexy smile and pretty boy looks is by far the biggest star; it’s their irresistible chemistry that brings their characters to life. They make such a great comedic team and if you replaced Ward with any other actor at the time, there’s no guarantee that Tremors would have been this much fun to watch.
In fact, the two actors work so well together that Fred Ward provides a much better foil for Kevin Bacon than Finn Carter’s Rhonda, a.k.a. the underwritten love interest who is assigned to travel to the town and monitor the seismology readings in the desert. Not long after Rhonda arrives, the people in the town start disappearing – or worse, they end up dead, leaving very little time to establish any chemistry between her and Val— thus making the big kiss, in the end, feel a little out-of-place. But don’t blame the screenplay writers— the original ending of Tremors featured Val and Earl riding off into the sunset, with no hint at any potential romance between Val and Rhonda. Unfortunately, test audiences were not pleased and somehow the producers convinced the filmmakers to quickly reshoot the final scene— just another one of many examples of why studios should not rely on any focus group to provide feedback. In the end, the love interest feels somewhat lost in the shuffle.
The Gummer Family
It doesn’t take long before it becomes apparent that there’s something unnatural roaming the desert and feeding on human flesh. Once Rhonda checks her readings and determines that the threat is coming from underground, Tremors begins to slowly open up and introduce us to the supporting cast which includes Reba McEntire and Michael Gross as the Gummer family, a pair of overzealous, gun-crazy survivalists. McEntire and Gross are so good here, they essentially steal the spotlight from the rest of the cast. In one of their most memorable scenes, the two are forced to take shelter in their basement and defend themselves against one of the giant man-eating worms— and just when it looks like they are going to run out of ammunition, the camera pans left to reveal the bunker holds enough guns and firepower to accommodate a small army. It’s just one of many examples of how Tremors takes a simple concept and maximizes it for full effect.
As much as Tremors is remembered today for the performances of Bacon and Ward, it’s the work of the entire cast that brings the movie to life. It really is great casting considering the small budget, and everyone pulls their weight, serving up the quick-witted dialogue in a way that makes it all feel more natural– and yes that even includes Robert Jayne as the annoying teenage brat, Melvin Plug. I especially like the performance by Victor Wong, a character actor who had roles in films like 3 Ninjas and Big Trouble in Little China. Here he plays the ill-fated Walter Chang who is killed in a scene that features some of the film’s best special effects.
Director Ron Underwood
Tremors was the first movie Ron Underwood directed and by far his best. Now known as a go-to director for many successful TV shows, Underwood keeps things moving briskly and finds new clever ways to draw out tension with impressive camera work, especially the shots that show the point of view of the creatures as they stalk their victims. Along with Cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski, Underwood frames his exterior shots in a way that constantly reminds viewers how small the town is and how isolated it is. It’s also worth noting how difficult it is to shoot a horror movie outside in the middle of the desert where you can never truly escape the sunlight, and yet director Ron Underwood uses the setting to his advantage and frames his actors in such a manner that the landscape emits a general feeling of emptiness, which both mirrors the town’s small population and the people themselves who are desperate for a change.
Tremors evokes the populist spirit of ‘50s and ’60s B-movies without ever resorting to parody, nor does it ever feel familiar. Instead, Underwood reinvigorates its genre tropes with a finely balanced combination of horror and humor— and despite its tongue-in-cheek script, Underwood never allows it to venture into full-on camp. There is tension and suspense in every one of the action scenes and like many classics that came before it, Tremors focuses less on its oversized monsters and more on their victims and how these people react to attacks by these giant creatures. Even in the bright daylight, Tremors manages to create enough suspense to keep viewers at the edge of their seats.
Creature Design
Apart from taking inspiration from classic monster movies, Tremors owes a lot to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws— so much so, that the original title for Tremors was actually Land Sharks. Much like how the shark in Jaws travels underwater while stalking its prey, in Tremors, the 30-foot-long carnivorous worms known as Graboids, travel underground. And like Jaws (arguably the quintessential B movie), the creatures in Tremors are rarely seen. Instead, the largely invisible creatures can burrow fast enough to devour the entire town if given the opportunity— making them deadly and genuinely menacing.
Another clever inclusion by the screenplay writers was the idea to have these Graboids respond to seismic vibrations. While blind and unable to track their prey’s scent, they do have acute hearing, which means any slight movement or sound can cost you your life. In arguably the best scene of the entire film, Kevin Bacon’s Val is left to stand completely still and silent while the worm-like creatures who circle his feet reveal their razor-sharp fangs as they desperately search for their next victim.
It’s a credit to the creature design that I never once questioned the reality of the Graboids. Along with a team of over 50 visual effects wizards, the filmmakers were able to bring their creations to life with a mix of old school prosthetics, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery. Tremors may be at times funny, but this isn’t the sort of film that has viewers pointing at the screen and laughing at obviously cheesy effects. Make no mistake about it: the monster effects by Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis (who previously worked on Alien and The Terminator) is truly impressive, especially given the limited budget they had to work with.
The one and only aspect of Tremors that I’ve never liked was the music heard at the start and at the end of the film. To my surprise, I later learned that composer Ernest Troaost’s musical score for the film went mostly unused since the studio didn’t like it and, later they hired composer Robert Folk to write a new score. Only a few of Troost’s country-themed songs made it into the final cut and sure enough, they are the songs I dislike. That said, Folk’s compositions perfectly match the visuals and heighten the suspense during the film’s most action-packed scenes.
Tremors wasn’t in any way groundbreaking since it borrowed liberally from many other monster movies, yet somehow the film became such a hit, that it spawned four direct-to-video sequels (Tremors 2: Aftershocks, Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, Tremors 5: Bloodlines and Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell)— a direct-to-video prequel (Tremors 4: The Legend Begins), and even a television series. More so, the success of Tremors resulted in many copycats but none of them (save for James Gunn’s Slither) have been able to perfectly match the potent mixture of sharp dialogue, deadpan humour, and horror.
It’s easy to see why Tremors ultimately became a success and why it remains a fun and engaging experience, decades later. The plot is fully realized constantly keeping things exciting. It has plenty of spectacular set-pieces, thrilling action scenes, and plenty of quotable throwaway dialogue. Along with the charismatic cast, superb direction, great script and terrifyingly real effects, Tremors stands the test of time. Many have tried to match Tremors but most have ultimately come up short. Movies like this come around once every few years.
Ricky D
Bill Mesce
In the late 1970s and 1980s, composer Giorgio Moroder was often accused of trying to replace the orchestral movie soundtrack with high-energy, synthesizer-heavy disco-pop laid on with a trowel in movies like Thank God It’s Friday (1978), Flashdance (1983), Scarface (1983), and Top Gun (1986). I remember a magazine story on Moroder which quoted one of his many critics as saying, “The day the music died, Giorgio Moroder was brought in for questioning.”
I think some people had the same opinion about movies and Tony Scott. Full disclosure: I’m one of them. But it would be greatly unfair to Scott, who died in 2012, not to admit that, for good or for ill, his 1980s feature work had an enormous impact on commercial filmmaking.
The younger brother of Ridley Scott by seven years, he was gifted – like his brother – with an outrageously good eye; a taste for the visual strong enough to earn him his master’s degree from London’s Royal College of Art (which he’d attended on scholarship no less). But painting didn’t pay well, so he joined with his brother in Ridley Scott Associates where, from the 1970s into the 1980s, he applied that eye to moving pictures, directing thousands of commercials, some of them still-talked-about all-time classics in the U.K.
His first feature was the visually sumptuous, dramatically wispy attempt at erotic vampirica, The Hunger (1983), and it was such a lambasted flop it’s a surprise Scott’s feature career didn’t end right there. But three years later, producer Jerry Bruckheimer tapped him to direct Top Gun and movies would never be the same.
It was a perfect marriage of sensibilities (along with Michael Bay, Scott would remain one of Bruckheimer’s go-to directors). Bruckheimer, whose youthful interest in photography had led him to his own career in commercials before turning to movies, had the same affinity for striking imagery as Scott.
The timing of the union was just right, too. MTV was only five years old, and the non-stop near-abstract visuals of music video were not only still hypnotically novel, but on their way to becoming the defining visual sensibility for a new movie-going generation. With Giorgio Moroder (another ideal wedding of sensibilities) supplying a Pop’s Top Ten-nish soundtrack, Scott put together montages that were, essentially, music videos woven into the narrative of the film (some critics carped that the whole movie was little more than an extended music video).
Striking visuals, a pulsing, toe-tapping score, and a super-patriotic story that made a hero of a young, cocky, mouthy, go-my-own-way fighter jock made for a flick which hit a big, fat sweet spot with MTV’s first generation of ticket-buyers: Top Gun scored a whopping $176.7 million domestic. I did the math: at today’s ticket prices, that would translate to almost $390 million. Love it or hate it, you have to respect that kind of box office muscle.
Top Gun set the template for Scott: high-octane visuals, rapid-fire editing (often at the hands of Chris Lebenzon), an MTV-friendly soundtrack, and a story simple enough to absorb without having to pay too much attention.
It also set the template for so many of the box office winners of the next few decades, movies that moved fast, piled on the action, featured characters who were often little more than catchphrases with biceps, offered music video fodder (at least back when MTV still played music videos), and where plausibility – even under Hollywood’s extremely elastic definition of the concept – was irrelevant. Think Lethal Weapon, Speed (1994), Twister (1996), and anything by Michael Bay.
Though his brother Ridley often took the same rap of favoring looks over substance, their styles, though both highly visual, were strikingly different.
Ridley’s films — good and bad – play out like classical music: stately, elegant, unrushed, somber.
Tony’s movies are rock ‘n’ roll: fast, loud, exhausting, sometimes painfully bright.
It’s hard to imagine Tony doing something as subdued as Ridley’s Napoleonic-era The Duelists (1977), or even pulling off the brooding sci-fi Gothicism of Alien (1979). By the same token, Ridley would have seemed a poor fit for Top Gun or all the running back and forth in Crimson Tide (1995).
Despite being regularly slammed for his storytelling, Scott did care about plot and character. Explaining the failure of Days of Thunder (1990) – Top Gun cloned to the NASCAR circuit – Scott diagnosed the problem as having started production without a finished script. “(You) always have to get a story,” he said, “and you’ve got to get character first…”
But it wasn’t a sentiment that quite squared with his execution. In an Entertainment Weekly story about a trending flimsiness in big-screen storytelling, The Fan (1996) screenwriter Phoef Sutton told the story of shooting the movie’s climactic baseball game in a torrential downpour. Sutton and others tried to argue Scott out of it pointing out that baseball games are called on account of such weather. The rain stayed. Said Sutton: “…I don’t think Tony cared about the plausibility of it.”
In his later years, he seemed to be trying to reach for the kind of substance his early films were often accused of lacking, but he remained better at taking a good picture than giving it meaning. Enemy of the State (1998) was entertaining enough, but it was like Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) with the poetry removed and replaced with explosions and chases; Spy Game (2001) was an anemic John LeCarre wannabe; The Taking of Pelham 123 replaced the local color which had made the original so memorable with a needlessly busy yet flavorless plot.
Like his brother, Tony also produced, and in those projects, one could sense an ambition to do something of substance. There were such laudable efforts as the HBO movie RKO 281 (1999) about Orson Welles’ fight to make Citizen Kane; The Gathering Storm (2002), another HBO feature, this about Churchill’s attempts to prep England for WW II; Gettysburg (2001), a cable documentary about one of the most pivotal battles of the Civil War; and the lovely, elegiac (if sadly little-seen) Western, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Though Scott would continue to turn out some respectable earners in his later years (Déjà vu [2006], The Taking of Pelham 123, Unstoppable [2010]), after the 1980s, he’d never hit Top Gun heights again, and, in fact, after Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) only ever crossed the $100 million domestic mark one more time with Enemy of the State (1998). Perhaps the problem was that Scott’s eye-tickling rat-a-tat-tat style had, by the 1990s, become so widely copied that his often dramatically weak films had little else to offer; the trendsetter had become just another member of the pack.
But give him this. Few filmmakers make a lasting impact. Most directors and most films come and go, cinematic mayflies fluttering around the box office for a few weeks before disappearing. The same can’t be said of Tony Scott. Love ‘im or hate ‘im, it’ll be a long time before anyone forgets him.
– Bill Mesce
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In an age of rapid technological advancement, is a single career for life realistic? (A-level GP exam 2018)
Posted on August 2, 2019 by gptuitionsg
Picture: The University of New Orleans
By Steven W.S. Ooi
Former GP tutor
Even as United States president Donald Trump blames illegal immigrants and unfair trade deals for causing Americans to lose their jobs, a new presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, has offered a very different narrative. It is robots and artificial intelligence (AI), he argues, that have robbed Americans of their jobs, and will continue to do so in the future. Mr Yang is not alone in his view. In 2013, an influential report by Oxford University claimed that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk from AI and automation over the next 15 or 20 years. While predicting the future is a notoriously tricky enterprise, it is safe to say that a substantial amount of human capabilities will be made redundant by the exponential rate of advancement in technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution now taking place before our eyes. We need to be prepared to learn new skills constantly throughout our working lives and, for many of us, to lose our jobs and reinvent ourselves several times. For the purposes of this essay, a career shall be defined as an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress. It is this writer’s position that a single career for life remains a reasonable possibility in some professions and circumstances, provided an individual is willing and able to learn continuously and adapt to changes brought by technology.
Technological innovations will make some human skills less relevant, and others more relevant, by 2030. In the first category, many jobs will be taken over totally or partially by technology. A study by McKinsey has projected that physical and manual skills will see a fall in hours worked in the US and Europe from 203 billion hours in 2016 to 174 billion by 2030. Lower-order cognitive skills such as basic data input or basic data processing, too, will see a decline in employability. On the other hand, the demand for social and emotional skills, together with technological skills and higher cognitive skills, will grow. Hours worked in the US and Europe using technological skills will burgeon from 73 billion to 113 billion, also by 2030. This data suggests that numerous workers will need to cast aside their old job descriptions to perform very different tasks, in many cases taking on a totally different role. For instance, an administrative clerk performing rostering for airline pilots may find his work taken over by AI, necessitating a shift into the work of operating the AI program, thinking of ways to make it work better and applying insights derived from the data collected by the AI – in other words, acquiring higher-order cognitive skills such as creativity, problem solving and complex information processing. Jobs that revolve around skills that are easily automated will be readily destroyed by AI. If workers insist on a career for life in these professions, they have an excellent chance of finding themselves in the unemployment line.
Be that as it may, those skills that are difficult to automate will likely remain in demand for the foreseeable future and jobs that revolve around such skills will in all probability remain intact or even grow in demand. AI may exhibit superhuman performance at tasks relating to a specific problem or application such as playing Go or poker or recognising images after being trained on a specific, diverse, massive dataset. However, it is very weak at interpreting data that differs from its dataset. For instance, Google Translate works on neural networks that are trained on billions of lines of parallel texts in different languages, translated by humans. When one keys in text that corresponds to those prelearned lines, it performs extremely well. But if you try feeding it something other than that, for instance a creative turn of phrase, it produces hilarious results. AI is also not noted for its higher-order cognitive skills such as inventing something new or empathizing with people; invention is likely to remain beyond the ability of a machine that can only perform based on processing what it is told, while human experience is so complex and diverse, with so many variables interacting with one another, that it would require an almost infinite amount of data to teach a computer to reliably produce accurate empathic responses. Hence higher order cognitive skills are, and will probably remain difficult for technology to replicate. Professions that are centred on such skills will be resilient and it is quite realistic to have a career for life in such fields, for instance counsellors, teachers, nurses and interpreters.
Granted that technological adoption may add to the requirements and demands of such jobs, and many of those who hold them will need to acquire these technological skills to remain employable. For instance nurses may need to master various computer programs and medical machinery installed by their hospital. If, however, these practitioners can stay abreast of technological applications in their field of work, they should be able to remain in their careers for life. A solid grounding in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will be essential for most working people in the era of Industry 4.0 – especially if they hope to achieve longevity and upward mobility in their chosen careers.
It also needs to be acknowledged that a powerful trend catalysed by technology – outsourcing – is profoundly altering many industrial corporate structures in such a way that have destroyed or decimated traditional career paths. Many established industrial companies such as those in steel, automotive, energy, IT and manufacturing have outsourced many of their business processes and large parts of their value chain. An example in manufacturing would be Philips – which engages contract manufacturers in places like Mexico and China to produce many of their products – and one in IT would be IBM, which outsources tech support, research and development (R & D), and more to India. Gone are the days when these firms would offer a 30-year “lifelong career” to fresh university graduates. In fact, Deloitte has found that only 19 percent of companies still offer traditional, multi-decade functional career models. Many, such as AT&T and IBM, are devoting themselves instead to helping employees continuously reskill and move horizontally within the organisation. New kinds of hybrid jobs are constantly emerging, such as data scientist and user experience designer, as technical skills become commoditised and easily outsourced.
However, if the only constant is greater rapidity of change, then those who excel in keeping up with, driving or managing change will always be relevant. Top-notch R & D engineers will always be valued by an organisation. Outstanding managers who understand how to motivate people and strategize for a team in a dynamic environment will always be crucial to a company. And as corporate structures are adjusted, dismantled and reassembled in the Age of Acceleration, management consultants will only be increasingly needed to help companies to make optimal changes and make transitions successfully with guidance from research into the experience of other organisations. In an age of change, a career for life is still very much viable for those whose forte is change itself.
All said, I maintain my view that in the era of jet-heeled technological development, a single career for one’s entire working life, while elusive for many, remains a realistic aspiration for a good number of people in professions that are difficult to automate or which specialise in the process of technology-driven change itself. Amidst the constant hype about transformational technology replacing humans, I still believe that the human being is the greatest machine. Yes, a robot can beat us in some single, narrowly focused tasks like chess but it cannot yet handle a multifaceted job like doing all the housework, raising a child, running a government, managing a team, writing a screenplay – or for that matter, scoring an A for a General Paper exam. The complexity of programming for it to handle any of these things is mind-boggling and the evidence after many years of IT and AI research does little to suggest that man-made technology will ever be able to catch up to man in these multidimensional capabilities.
©Steven W.S. Ooi 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publication is to be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent of the author.
Steven Ooi, a First Class Honours grad from NUS, retired from a 14-year career as a GP and English tutor in 2016. He continues to blog on issues of concern to General Paper and student life.
To view tutors recommended by him, click here.
More GP model essays here.
About gptuitionsg
A dedicated English and GP tutor with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore, Steven Ooi retired from the profession after a 14-year career during which he was one of the most sought-after private tutors in Singapore. He is the recipient of the Minerva Prize from NUS, which is awarded to the top English Language honours student of each cohort. This website, which has consistently ranked among the top 10 on Google and has received over 530,000 hits, has now been converted into a GP resource site cum listing of recommended tutors. If you are a GP or English tutor who wishes to be listed here, please email Steven Ooi at stevenooi18 @ yahoo.com (remove the spaces). Interested parties will be assessed and interviewed by him, and qualifications will be checked. These procedures are necessary to uphold quality standards. DISCLAIMER: While every reasonable effort has been made to assess the competence and verify the qualifications of recommended tutors here, no guarantees are made and you engage them at your own risk. By using this website, you agree that you will not hold the webmaster Steven Ooi responsible for any consequences — direct or otherwise — that occur in relation with your use of this website.
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Idiot Ruins Game? Brief Interviews With Not-So-Hideous Pitch Invaders
Pitch invaders are spontaneous intrusions into an otherwise orderly sporting universe. They run into and are subsequently carried out of our lives. For the brief period they’re running around the field, one word often comes to mind (other than “idiot”): Why? Why the hell would anybody do this?
by Aaron Gordon on September 3, 2014
When you see someone running on the field during a sporting event, you probably think, That will never be me. Announcers shake their heads so vigorously it produces an audible rustling of their collars. The word “idiot” gets tossed around a lot — “idiot on the field” is often the phrase of choice. In fact, the Great American Idiot, Homer Simpson, ran onto the field once: The headline read “Idiot Ruins Game.”
It seems like there have been a lot of these idiots recently. There was Jordan Dunn, the man who took the free kick in West Ham’s opening match against Tottenham.
After Manchester City’s opener, a man ran onto the field and asked for Sergio Agüero’s shirt. That same weekend, a streaker ran onto the field during a Braves game. A Chicago man stormed a Bears scrimmage; at his hearing, the judge asked him, “Why you gotta be so silly?”
Dunn, the man who took the free kick, told Kent Online it was a “spur of the moment” decision: “I thought no one else was shooting so I might as well.” Some might argue that the eight beers he had before the match were a considerable factor in his thought process, but many pitch invaders are stone-cold sober when they take the plunge.
During the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field, Dylan McCue-Masone was sitting in the stands when he got bored, as sober people at baseball games tend to do. To create some intrigue, he tweeted that he would run onto the field if the tweet got 1,000 retweets, the first number that popped into his mind. At first, not much happened. Then the retweets came pouring in. An hour later, he got the thousandth retweet and he “mustered up the balls,” as he put it over email, to stay true to his word. “Once my feet hit the ground, my first thought was ‘What the fuck am I doing?’” You can almost see this happen in the video, as he suddenly stops running, at which point a security guard takes his legs out from under him.
At the Yankees’ 2002 Opening Day, Kristielee Anikewich made a similarly impulsive decision, but for a completely different reason. She was sitting on the third-base side with a few friends when a thought popped into her head. “I’ve always had a thing for [Derek] Jeter and I wanted to give him my number,” Anikewich told me over the phone. So she went to the bathroom and wrote her number onto the back of a receipt with lip liner. In the bottom of the fifth inning, she walked down to field level, hopped the barrier, and ran to Jeter, where she apologized for bothering him and provided him with the lip-lined receipt. He laughed, put the number in his back pocket, and kindly advised her to start running. (She won’t say if he ever called.)
Some people seem to use running onto the field as an outlet for a thirtysomething crisis. Take the May 2013 case of a man named Joe. Joe hadn’t even been planning on going to a baseball game when his friend called and asked him if he wanted to catch the Blue Jays that afternoon. As he sat in the stands and scrolled through baby pictures and wedding announcements on Facebook, “It became blatantly clear to me that if I were to ever do anything as crazy as interrupt a baseball game, this was probably one of my last opportunities before life got truly serious.” On his website, this is as much of an explanation as he offers for why he then got up and, without saying a word to his friends, ran onto the field.
The stories go on like this. People who didn’t plan on running onto the field suddenly decide to do so. In an effort to try to understand this behavior, Professor Brett Laursen of Florida Atlantic University told me about something developmental psychologists call deviant talk. “Deviant talk is when you get together after you’ve done something and you say, ‘Wow. You know, it was so cool.’” In other words, people sometimes do stupid things in order to tell a good story. In the olden times when every person didn’t have a camera in his or her pocket, one could often get away with deviant talk armed only with a good story. Now people demand evidence, and what better way to capture the moment than in a stadium full of people?
This, as much as anything else, seems like the best explanation for why people run onto the field. As much as Joe claims it was down to #YOLO, with his website presented more as public awareness than braggadocio, a fundamental part of our desire for unique life experiences is so we can share them with others.
Dunn told Kent Online that “my mates think I’m a legend” and “my phone hasn’t stopped going off.” McCue-Masone told me he wouldn’t recommend it to others (partly because he was falsely told he would spend 15 days at Rikers), but qualified that by saying, “It was something I’ll never forget and get to tell my grandkids.”
Independent of the consequences, there’s definitely something appealing about running around to the cheers of tens of thousands of people, weaving between unathletic security employees, where the only thing that matters is not getting caught. It’s a leap into the surreal where civilization blurs in the background, a way to escape whatever one’s life entails for the briefest of moments.
But the moment can only last for so long. Every pitch invasion ends the same way: in handcuffs, charged with criminal trespassing or a similar code violation. Maybe they get off with a fine or some community service. Most aren’t sentenced to jail time, but spend some time in jail. All are labeled as idiots.
Pitch invaders aren’t idiots, though, at least not as much as we imagine. Deviant talk is not just for deviants. Everyone does it. Although they vary in severity, all have that go-to story we tell at parties about That Stupid Thing we did. (Mine is about chugging 20 packets of maple syrup and throwing up in a parking lot.) In one way or another, we’re all deviants engaging in stupid activities to demonstrate our spontaneity and intrigue. Everyone wants to be an interesting person, which requires we do interesting things. We rarely know what that strange, stupid thing will be until the moment comes. You might think you’d never run onto the field, but so did most of the people who ended up getting carried off the field in the arms of security guards. Maybe the next time you’re at a sporting event, the thought will pop into your head and maybe you won’t be able to get it out.
Aaron Gordon (@A_W_Gordon) is a staff writer at Vice Sports.
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Imperial Valley News
Imperial Valley News Center
Energy Department Announces Investment in Wave Energy Test Facility
Written by Green Liver
Washington, DC - The Energy Department today announced the award of up to $40 million, subject to appropriations, to design, permit, and construct an open-water, grid-connected national wave energy testing facility. The facility will be constructed in Newport, Oregon, by the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University and will support innovations in wave energy technologies capable of harnessing the significant wave energy resources along United States coastlines.
More than 50 percent of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of coastlines, offering America the potential to develop a domestic wave energy industry that could help provide reliable power to coastal regions. The Department’s investments in marine and hydrokinetic energy technology will encourage domestic manufacturing, create jobs, and advance a new technology that uses an untapped renewable resource to help achieve the nation’s energy goals.
“Testing innovative wave energy devices at full scale in open water is an important step toward harnessing one day a reliable energy resource. Anyone who has swum or surfed in moderate ocean waves knows something of the power they represent,” said Franklin Orr, Under Secretary for Science and Energy at the Energy Department. “This new facility will help us to advance the science and technology of wave energy devices, and to identify the challenges we will ultimately need to overcome in order to achieve commercial deployment.”
The new test facility, called the Pacific Marine Energy Center South Energy Test Site, will be constructed with a combination of federal and non-federal funds. The planned facility, to be completed by early 2020, includes four grid-connected berths where researchers can test full-scale wave energy conversion device concepts. Prototype testing is essential to gather critical performance data to address technical risks, lower costs, and inform future designs to accelerate the commercialization and deployment of mass-produced wave energy technologies.
The pre-permitted site was designed to meet the Department’s specifications as well as industry and community needs, letting researchers focus on the technological challenges inherent in testing—instead of permitting and regulatory matters. The site is expected to be a flagship test facility for wave energy converters globally, playing a critical role in advancing wave energy technology into commercial viability.
Recent studies estimate that America's technically recoverable wave energy resource ranges between approximately 900–1,230 terawatt hours (TWh) per year, distributed across the coast of Alaska, the West Coast, the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. For context, approximately 90,000 homes can be powered by 1 TWh per year. This means that even if only a few percent of the potential is recovered, millions of homes could be powered by wave energy as the technology progresses.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accelerates development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. To learn more about our Water Power Technologies Office’s funding opportunities and efforts to develop innovative wave energy technologies, visit Energy.gov.
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Dr. Justin Pulford
Senior Lecturer, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
Nadia Tagoe
Nadia is a Project Management Professional (PMP) with a background in development management. She has an interest in research capacity strengthening in Africa and has been involved in programme management and research management. Her work experience includes managing several research capacity building grants and developing research management systems at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. She has a Master of Science degree in Management and Implementation of Development Projects from University of Manchester, UK; and a Bachelor of Science in Building Technology from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Nadia’s PhD is examining the processes used in managing health research capacity strengthening consortia and the interaction between consortium management and capacity development. Her study is embedded in the DELTAS Africa Learning Research Programme.
Past Students
Affiliation(s):
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
Justin completed a PhD in Behavioural Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2008. Prior to joining LSTM, Justin was a research fellow at the School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Australia on permanent secondment at the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR), Papua New Guinea (PNG). While on secondment at the PNGIMR, Justin led the outcome and impact evaluation of the PNG National Malaria Control Program for the period 2010-2015 and was head of the PNGIMR’s Population Health and Demography Unit.
Justin’s current research activities focus on the design, measurement and evaluation of programmes designed to strengthen research capacity in low and middle income countries. In addition, he maintains a broad interest in implementation research designed to strengthen health systems, disease control programmes and community-based health improvement initiatives.
Current projects and grants
Developing Expertise in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS), Learning Research Programme. Wellcome Trust and DFID
Support surveillance capacity for antimicrobial resistance: An analysis of approaches to laboratory capacity strengthening for drug resistant infections in low and middle income countries. Fleming fund.
Support surveillance capacity for antimicrobial resistance: regional networks and educational resources. Fleming Fund.
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Moore’s Law and The Future of Renewable Energy, or Why We Can’t Get to 80 Percent Clean Energy in 2035: Part 2
February 11, 2011 by hlsjrnldev
2. The Challenge
This is the second post in a multi-part series. In Part 1, available here, I explained the idea of Moore’s Law, which states that computer technology gets about twice as good, for the same price, every two years. In this Part, I explain that it will deceptively difficult to get to 80% clean energy in 2035. Feedback is welcome to Jason.harrow@gmail.com.
In last month’s State of the Union, President Obama told Americans that the “future is ours to win.” He then listed a number of incredible American innovations, reminding us that “we’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook.” Calling this our “Sputnik moment,” his paean to innovation ended with a bold green technology initiative: his goal is that “by 2035, 80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.” Cue thunderous applause.
President Obama properly noted that innovation is inherently unpredictable, and so he offered little detail about how we go about revolutionizing our energy use. “Some folks want wind and solar,” he said. “Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all.” But although he’s right that no one can predict the exact shape of the next great innovation, the rate of improvement of some technologies can show remarkable stability, as demonstrated in Part 1 of this series. In the computer industry, that rate of change has been remarkably steep. But the green revolution will not be like the digital computer revolution. Change does not and cannot happen in this sector nearly as quickly. Accordingly, barring a remarkable technological breakthrough — always a possibility, of course — we will not hit 80% clean energy by 2035, and we should instead focus on crafting a policy that takes better account of medium-term technological realities. This post explains why in some level of detail.
Where We Are Now
First, we have to understand the scope of the challenge. How far are we from 80% right now? In a fact sheet released after the State of the Union, the Administration claims we are halfway there because our electricity grid is at 40% “clean” energy. Doubling our “clean energy” in 25 years — that makes the task seem quite manageable.
But things are not as they seem. For one thing, it’s impossible to come up with 40% by looking at the actual numbers compiled by the Energy Information Administration. Really. If you take a look at the latest data from the EIA below, you’ll only be able to find 30.6% “clean” energy — that’s the total from nuclear, hydroelectric, and “other renewables,” which essentially means wind and solar.
What’s going on? It turns out that the Administration hasn’t publicly said anything about this that I can find. But those in the industry understand that what’s happening is that the Administration is counting natural gas as “50%” clean — so the 20% share for natural gas becomes the additional 10% “clean” energy output. As I explain below, being able to include natural gas in “clean” energy won’t really make much of a difference in our ability to get to 80%, but let me briefly digress to say that this is a dubious move. The day before the State of the Union, a coalition of environmental leaders published an open letter noting that although gas may “burn ‘cleaner’ than coal on the short term . . . just like coal, natural gas is unsustainable and damaging to the climate and the environment.” (Curiously, despite the fact that the President of Public Citizen signed that letter condemning the government support of natural gas, the organization a week later called the President’s proposal “totally doable and relatively modest.”)
But even though giving natural gas half-credit as “clean” energy is not exactly a wonderful policy move at the outset, let’s assume that will be the case and dig somewhat deeper into the data. The key data point in the graph above is the tiny sliver of pie for the “other renewables” — that is, renewable sources like solar, wind, and geothermal, but not hydroelectric or nuclear power. The latest data shows that in the 12 months ended in October 2010, America generated about 162 million megawatthours of electricity from those “other renewables” — out of 4 billion megawatthours overall. That’s about 4% of our total energy output from those sources. In 2000, that number was about 80 million megawatthours, for about 2% of our total energy output. In other words, in a decade, we’ve been able to about double the amount of energy we generate in America from the “innovative” sources that President Obama emphasized in his talk.
Even counting natural gas as 50% clean, those “other renewables” must be the key to his plan. That’s because we’ve essentially maxed out all the hydroelectricity we can generate, and we actually produce about 100 million megawatthours less hydro now than we did 15 years ago. The other major clean energy category, nuclear, remains controversial, and building new nuclear power sources is difficult and takes a very long time. This amazing graph, from a recent DoE report about new energy sources, shows about all you have to know about the prospects of nuclear being a major part of the solution: [editor’s note: due to internet archive issue, the graph disappeared.]
Let me get to the bottom-line. There are four categories of “clean” energy that we have to worry about: nuclear, hydro, natural gas, and “other renewables.” Nuclear is at 20% and is realistically not going anywhere from that number (just ask the EIA, which predicts 17% nuclear in 2035 in its 2011 Energy Outlook). Hydro is at 7% and dropping. Natural gas is growing quickly, and half of it counts as clean. But if you do the math, you’ll see that the most natural gas can hit is “true” 40% of generation (for an adjusted “clean” proportion of 20%) because then there’s only 60% of our electricity left and that remainder would have to be entirely clean to get to a total of 80% clean overall. So there’s a natural limit to how much we can rely on gas even assuming we could turn off every coal plant in America and generate just from natural gas and other clean sources, and we are more than halfway to that limit for natural gas. (Moreover, as I’ll address next week, there’s no way we can turn off every coal plant in America by 2035, but that’s beside the point for now.)
And then there’s those “other renewables,” currently at a tiny 4% of generation. Assuming nuclear and hydro power hold steady (at 20% and 7% respectively) and that natural gas replaces every coal plant that it can, that would get us to 45-50% “clean.” So the “other renewables” category will have to jump from 4% of our 2010 electricity to 30% of our 2035 electricity. That would mean a jump from 160 million megawatthours to 1.5 billion megawatthours. Unless something major happens that changes America’s attitude toward nuclear energy or there is a major breakthrough in carbon capture technology such that existing coal plants can be retrofitted, that is the minimum amount of electricity we’ll need to be generating in 2035 as I see it: 1.5 billion megawatthours, or ten times the amount we’re now generating.
Oh, and one more thing you may not have heard, since it went unreported by the media as far as I can tell: 2010 saw “the largest build since 1985″ of capacity of new coal-powered power plants. (See slide 10 here). Not exactly an auspicious start.
The Slow Pace of Change
So we have a long way to go with renewable energy. But I admit that having a long way to go is not an insurmountable problem, because 2035 years is a long time from now. A lot can happen in 25 years. The real problem is how quickly we are innovating with these innovative sources. The pace of change of those critical “other renewables” — wind and solar, in the main — is too slow. The curves do not look anything like the escalating curve of Moore’s Law, where prices quickly plummet as quality rapidly increases in the computer sector. The curve is linear, and not exponential.
Let me give an illustration with solar, the most important of the innovative sources. A report from Berkeley Labs, run by the Department of Energy, revealed that the cost of installed, grid-connected solar systems was about $10.50 per Watt in 1998 and about $7.50 per Watt in 2007. That’s a nice savings, but we should recognize that in a decade, the cost-per-Watt did not even halve. Solar thus remains much more expensive than coal, by a factor of ten or more.
But now contrast that with how quickly costs drop in the computer industry. For instance, as I mentioned in Part 1, one gigabyte of hard disk storage was over $40.00 in 2000, and it is less than a nickel today. It is almost impossible to imagine how cheap storage space will be in 2020. Yet in ten years, solar cells will only be a little bit more efficient.
I am not the only one who thinks this. The technologist Kevin Kelly has a post containing more data, which shows that the improvement in batteries and in solar panels “has been increasing steadily for two decades” but “nowhere near the rate of computer chips.” Bill Gates isn’t optimistic about finding a Moore’s Law-like curve either, telling people last summer that we’ve been “fooled” by Moore’s Law, but in fact “there are things that don’t move forward.” As examples, he noted that “batteries haven’t improved hardly at all” and that “nuclear energy stopped [improving] in the 1970’s.” That’s why Gates is hoping for an “energy miracle” — business as usual just won’t be good enough. Bruce Everett, a Professor at Tufts’ Fletcher School, believes the situation is even worse than the numbers indicate, as in his view the recent cost decreases in solar are not due to significantly better technology but due to cheaper Chinese manufacturing. Labor costs surely do not follow Moore’s Law.
What has happened for the last few decades is not good enough to make solar cheap enough by 2035 so that it makes sense for it to be 30% of our electricity output (wind energy does not follow Moore’s Law but rather cost depends mostly on how good the location is, and we’ve already taken some of the best, cheapest places to put wind farms). This is the case even if the President gives Berkeley Labs and MIT and lots of other smart people more money for R&D. That influx of money won’t change physics, and I believe Moore’s Law is much more strongly related to the underlying nature of the technologies than to the amount of money or brain power we throw at the problem. (I recognize that this is a controversial claim, and I hope to explain it in more detail in a few weeks).
So that’s a first pass at the the challenge — but I’m sorry to say that it gets worse still. In my next post, I’ll explain two other, related factors that work against the 80% goal.fas
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Winning Support for Flexible Work
Management experts have long predicted the demise of the standard 9-to-5 workday. Thanks to internet and mobile technology, we can now work where and when we want, they argue. So, why are so many people still sticking to those traditional hours, or more likely an extended version of them? The reality is that while flexible work arrangements have become more popular, few companies have an official policy or program. And even fewer managers are open to or equipped to handle employees with alternative schedules. But this doesn’t mean you should give up on the idea of work flexibility. It just means the onus is on you to propose a plan that works for you, your boss and your company
Before you pursue a flexible schedule, recognize that you are likely to be bucking long-held conventions. “Traditionally, managers were reluctant to have people work remotely because of lack of trust: Are you really working or are you eating bonbons with your friend?” explains Stewart D. Friedman, professor of management at the Wharton School and the founding director of the Wharton School’s Leadership Program and Wharton’s Work/Life Integration Project. Even those bosses who trust their employees worry about appearing to favor certain people or allowing productivity to decline.
Still, more managers and organizations are seeing the benefits of non-traditional schedules. Research from Lotte Bailyn, professor of management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and co-author of Beyond Work-Family Balance: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance has shown that when people are given the flexibility they need, they meet goals more easily, they’re absent or tardy less often, and their morale goes up. By focusing on these upsides and framing your request correctly, you greatly increase your chances of getting approval for an alternative work arrangement.
Define what you want
The first step is to figure out what you are trying to accomplish. Is your goal to spend more time with family? Reduce the amount of time you spend at the office? Or do you want to remove distractions in order to be able to focus on bigger, more long-term projects? Once you’re clear on your goal, decide what arrangement will best help you achieve it — options include a compressed work week, a job share, reduced hours, working from home, taking a month-long sabbatical, even something as simple as turning off your Blackberry in the evenings — and consider whether you could still do your job effectively. Of course, not every job is suited for flexibility. Before you make a proposal, be sure to understand the impact your wished-for schedule will have on your boss, your team and your performance.
Next, investigate what policies, if any, your company has and whether there is a precedent for flexibility; there’s no need to blaze a trail that’s already been blazed. If your company doesn’t have a formal policy, you’ll need to create a proposal yourself.
Design it as an experiment
Many managers will be hesitant especially if your organization does not have established protocols. You can allay their fears by positioning your proposal as an experiment. “Include a trial period so that the boss doesn’t worry that things will fall apart. He or she needs to be able to see the new way of working, and, in our experience, it quickly becomes evident that it is superior,” says Bailyn. In Friedman’s book, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, he talks about nine different types of experiments — everything from working remotely to delegating — you can use to gently introduce flexibility into your work life. Most importantly, provide an out for you and your boss. Explain that if it doesn’t work, you are willing to try a different arrangement or go back to the way things were. “If things go wrong, one can always go back to the original plan, but most such experiments work out very well,” says Bailyn.
Ask for team input and support
“Lots of our research has shown that flexibility only works when it’s done collectively, not one-on-one between employee and employer,” says Bailyn. Remember that your team — peers and direct reports — is affected by your work schedule, so you need everyone’s support to make your new arrangement a success. Explain what you are trying to achieve and ask for their input. “Engage them in the planning and proposal,” Bailyn says, and be sure to let your boss know that your proposal includes your colleagues’ suggestions.
Involving your team can help head off another common concern of bosses. Some worry that if they grant one person flexibility, the floodgates will open and everyone will want the same arrangement. This is often an unfounded fear. Friedman points out that there’s a difference between “equality” and “equity” and, in fact, many people prefer a traditional schedule. “You don’t give everyone the same thing because they don’t want they same thing,” he says.
Highlight the benefits to the organization
Your proposal needs to emphasize the organizational benefits over the personal ones. “Whatever you try has to be designed very consciously to not just be about you or your family,” Friedman says. “Instead what you propose needs to have the clear goal of improving your performance at work and making your boss successful.” Demonstrate that you have considered the company’s needs, that your new schedule will not be disruptive and that it will actually have positive benefits, such as improving your productivity or increasing your relevant knowledge.
Reassess and make adjustments
Once your experiment has been in place three or four months, evaluate its success. Are you reaching your goals? Is the schedule causing problems for anyone? Because you’ve designed the arrangement as a trial, you will want to report back to your boss. “Get the data to support your productivity. Show that it’s working,” says Friedman. And if it’s not, be prepared to suggest adjustments.
Principles to Remember
Know what you are trying to accomplish with flexibility before proposing an alternative schedule.
Acknowledge the impact your arrangement will have on your boss, your team, and your productivity.
Start with an experiment, and be open to adjustments if it doesn’t work out.
Focus exclusively on the benefits to you and your family.
Assume your team will be behind you; you must incorporate their input and suggestions.
Propose anything as a permanent solution without testing it first.
Case Study #1: Creating a unique job share
Julie Rocco was working as a program manager at Ford Motor Co when had she her first baby. She knew she wanted to return after her maternity leave but she didn’t see how she could work a 12-hour-a-day job and also be a hands-on mom. So she asked a mentor at Ford for advice. The answer was simple: take advantage of the company’s commitment to flexible work by crafting a job that suited her. The mentor suggested she talk to another Julie at Ford, Julie Levine, about job-sharing. Levine, a mother of two, had shared a job before and wanted to try it again, not least because it would give her an opportunity to move into mainstream project development.
“It’s very much like picking a spouse,” Levine says of choosing the right job-share partner. “That person is your eyes and ears when you’re not there.” After checking each other out in what they now refer to as “a blind date,” they agreed to pitch themselves as a pair to Ford’s management. The plan was this: Each would work three days a week overlapping one day — Rocco on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; Levine on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. They deliberately opted against splitting the week in half in order to avoid “losing momentum” during long stretches away. Each evening, save Wednesday, the person who’d been in the office would spend an hour and a half on the phone “downloading” the day’s events to the one who’d been home. And on their days in common, they would either work together or, when things were exceptionally busy, divide and conquer. “It’s our job to be seamless,” they told their bosses. “We have the same outlook, the same goal, the same vision, the same work ethic. And you’ll get more from us than one person could give.”
“We said we would be a pilot,” Levine recalls. Not only did Ford’s management agree, they put the duo in charge of one of their most high-profile 2011 launches — the new Ford Explorer. The experiment was a success: they’re now known throughout the company as “the two Julies,” twin dynamos.
Both say the job share has made them happier at home and work, and also more effective. “One person might work a 12-hour day, go home and collapse, then have to do it all again the next day,” Levine explains. With us, “because you have to analyze your day and share it with another brain, you show up the next day you’re in ready to run.”
Case Study #2: Taking time off for personal development
Amit Desai had been working at Bayer Healthcare for 11 years when he decided he wanted to apply to Wharton’s top-rated executive MBA program. However, his enrollment would mean attending a full day of school on Friday every other week and on an occasional Thursday for two years — more than 60 days away from his job as an automation project manager.
While Bayer has official policies on telecommuting and flex-time, special requests like Amit’s are decided on a case-by-case basis and so he was told to make a formal proposal. He started by looking into a similar request a previous employee had made and talking to his boss, who supported the plan with one stipulation: if a conflict ever arose, Amit would give priority to work over school. Amit agreed and created a pitch, including a detailed explanation of the MBA program and his goals in applying, a calendar of days he would be in school and how they tied into his work schedule, and a list of benefits to Bayer. “I have the ability to apply knowledge gained at school over the weekend to work on Monday,” he told them. The VP approved his request and wrote a letter endorsing his Wharton application.
Amit is now in his fifth semester. “I honestly feel that the MBA challenge has rejuvenated me and I am more energized [at work],” he says.
Case Study #3: Setting the precedent
Like many young parents, Hope O’Reilly and her husband, Troy, were shocked to discover how prohibitively expensive full-time childcare was, especially in New York City. After having their first child, Hope wanted to return to her job as director of development at the American Craft Council, but she and Troy weren’t sure how they could swing it financially. Toward the end of her maternity leave, the couple came up with a plan that would allow them both to continue working full-time while reducing their need for childcare: both would work from home one day a week, so they would only need a sitter on three days. They would be available for calls and meetings at most hours, work while the baby napped and make up for any missed time on their four days in the office.
Troy was a vice president in technology at JP Morgan Chase, and because the bank had flexible work policies in place, he was able to get approval to work from home most Mondays rather easily. Hope asked her boss at the ACC if she could work from home on Fridays, but faced a bigger challenge since no one at the organization had done that before. “There was absolutely no precedent,” she says. Her boss was concerned about whether the mother of a newborn could really work at home, but Hope reassured her she could and promised to put in extra hours on nights and weekends. She acknowledged that it would be challenging and suggested they try the arrangement for three months, after which they could re-evaluate.
Hope stayed in the job, working from home on Fridays, for two years before moving on to the Bogliasco Foundation, where she has a similar arrangement working a compressed workweek. She believes that flexibility garners loyalty in employees. “When you have flexibility, you let a lot of other things slide, such as not getting raises. What’s more valuable than time?” she says.
This content was adapted for inclusion in the HBR Guide to Managing Stress.
Amy Gallo is a contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and the author of the HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict at Work. She writes and speaks about workplace dynamics. Follow her on Twitter at @amyegallo.
This article is about WORK-LIFE BALANCE
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Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in sheep
R. Farkas, Martin J R Hall, Mihály Daniel, Lászlo Börzsönyi
Szent István University
The therapeutic efficacies of ivermectin (Ivomec injection, Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.) and moxidectin (Cydectin 1% injection, American Cyanamid Company) were evaluated in sheep naturally infested with larvae of Wohlfahrtia magnified. Sheep were randomly allocated to one of the 2 groups, each consisting of 19 animals. Sheep in one group received ivermectin and those in the other, moxidectin by subcutaneous injection at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg body weight. Evaluation was performed at 19, 24, 28, 39, 43, 48, 52, 63, 67, 72, 87, 96, 120, 144 and 168 h after treatment. At 144 and 168 h post-treatment, late third-instar larvae were collected from wounds of four sheep in both groups and from untreated, infested sheep. These larvae were reared in the laboratory to assess adult emergence. Neither ivermectin nor moxidectin was effective as a rapid acting treatment or as a long-term, or even short-term, prophylactic. Despite the treatment, 30-40% of sheep had live larvae at every evaluation. Although larvae disappeared from the wounds of some sheep in both groups after the treatment, the wounds in these animals failed to recover and were reinfested by larvae of W. magnified. On day 7 post-treatment the trial had to be finished because the majority of treated sheep were severely infested by Wohlfahrtia maggots. The average number of infested sheep in the two groups and the number of adults that were produced from larvae collected from treated sheep indicate that ivermectin and moxidectin did not differ significantly in efficacy.
Parasitology Research
https://doi.org/10.1007/s004360050073
Wohlfahrtia magnifica
Sarcophagidae
Wohlfahrtia
animal injuries
milbemycin
subcutaneous injection
Subcutaneous Injections
Farkas, R., Hall, M. J. R., Daniel, M., & Börzsönyi, L. (1996). Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in sheep. Parasitology Research, 82(1), 82-86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004360050073
Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera : Sarcophagidae) in sheep. / Farkas, R.; Hall, Martin J R; Daniel, Mihály; Börzsönyi, Lászlo.
In: Parasitology Research, Vol. 82, No. 1, 01.1996, p. 82-86.
Farkas, R, Hall, MJR, Daniel, M & Börzsönyi, L 1996, 'Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in sheep', Parasitology Research, vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 82-86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004360050073
Farkas R, Hall MJR, Daniel M, Börzsönyi L. Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in sheep. Parasitology Research. 1996 Jan;82(1):82-86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004360050073
Farkas, R. ; Hall, Martin J R ; Daniel, Mihály ; Börzsönyi, Lászlo. / Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera : Sarcophagidae) in sheep. In: Parasitology Research. 1996 ; Vol. 82, No. 1. pp. 82-86.
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title = "Efficacy of ivermectin and moxidectin injection against larvae of wohlfahrtia magnifica (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) in sheep",
abstract = "The therapeutic efficacies of ivermectin (Ivomec injection, Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.) and moxidectin (Cydectin 1{\%} injection, American Cyanamid Company) were evaluated in sheep naturally infested with larvae of Wohlfahrtia magnified. Sheep were randomly allocated to one of the 2 groups, each consisting of 19 animals. Sheep in one group received ivermectin and those in the other, moxidectin by subcutaneous injection at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg body weight. Evaluation was performed at 19, 24, 28, 39, 43, 48, 52, 63, 67, 72, 87, 96, 120, 144 and 168 h after treatment. At 144 and 168 h post-treatment, late third-instar larvae were collected from wounds of four sheep in both groups and from untreated, infested sheep. These larvae were reared in the laboratory to assess adult emergence. Neither ivermectin nor moxidectin was effective as a rapid acting treatment or as a long-term, or even short-term, prophylactic. Despite the treatment, 30-40{\%} of sheep had live larvae at every evaluation. Although larvae disappeared from the wounds of some sheep in both groups after the treatment, the wounds in these animals failed to recover and were reinfested by larvae of W. magnified. On day 7 post-treatment the trial had to be finished because the majority of treated sheep were severely infested by Wohlfahrtia maggots. The average number of infested sheep in the two groups and the number of adults that were produced from larvae collected from treated sheep indicate that ivermectin and moxidectin did not differ significantly in efficacy.",
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AU - Farkas, R.
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AU - Börzsönyi, Lászlo
N2 - The therapeutic efficacies of ivermectin (Ivomec injection, Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.) and moxidectin (Cydectin 1% injection, American Cyanamid Company) were evaluated in sheep naturally infested with larvae of Wohlfahrtia magnified. Sheep were randomly allocated to one of the 2 groups, each consisting of 19 animals. Sheep in one group received ivermectin and those in the other, moxidectin by subcutaneous injection at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg body weight. Evaluation was performed at 19, 24, 28, 39, 43, 48, 52, 63, 67, 72, 87, 96, 120, 144 and 168 h after treatment. At 144 and 168 h post-treatment, late third-instar larvae were collected from wounds of four sheep in both groups and from untreated, infested sheep. These larvae were reared in the laboratory to assess adult emergence. Neither ivermectin nor moxidectin was effective as a rapid acting treatment or as a long-term, or even short-term, prophylactic. Despite the treatment, 30-40% of sheep had live larvae at every evaluation. Although larvae disappeared from the wounds of some sheep in both groups after the treatment, the wounds in these animals failed to recover and were reinfested by larvae of W. magnified. On day 7 post-treatment the trial had to be finished because the majority of treated sheep were severely infested by Wohlfahrtia maggots. The average number of infested sheep in the two groups and the number of adults that were produced from larvae collected from treated sheep indicate that ivermectin and moxidectin did not differ significantly in efficacy.
AB - The therapeutic efficacies of ivermectin (Ivomec injection, Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V.) and moxidectin (Cydectin 1% injection, American Cyanamid Company) were evaluated in sheep naturally infested with larvae of Wohlfahrtia magnified. Sheep were randomly allocated to one of the 2 groups, each consisting of 19 animals. Sheep in one group received ivermectin and those in the other, moxidectin by subcutaneous injection at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg body weight. Evaluation was performed at 19, 24, 28, 39, 43, 48, 52, 63, 67, 72, 87, 96, 120, 144 and 168 h after treatment. At 144 and 168 h post-treatment, late third-instar larvae were collected from wounds of four sheep in both groups and from untreated, infested sheep. These larvae were reared in the laboratory to assess adult emergence. Neither ivermectin nor moxidectin was effective as a rapid acting treatment or as a long-term, or even short-term, prophylactic. Despite the treatment, 30-40% of sheep had live larvae at every evaluation. Although larvae disappeared from the wounds of some sheep in both groups after the treatment, the wounds in these animals failed to recover and were reinfested by larvae of W. magnified. On day 7 post-treatment the trial had to be finished because the majority of treated sheep were severely infested by Wohlfahrtia maggots. The average number of infested sheep in the two groups and the number of adults that were produced from larvae collected from treated sheep indicate that ivermectin and moxidectin did not differ significantly in efficacy.
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DO - 10.1007/s004360050073
JO - Zeitschrift fur Parasitenkunde
JF - Zeitschrift fur Parasitenkunde
10.1007/s004360050073
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by Paul Lilly — Thursday, December 06, 2012, 01:20 PM EDT
Archos GamePad with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Ships to U.S. in Q1 2013
Archos on Thursday announced the retail availability of its new GamePad device, or the "first true Android games console," as the company pitches it. The Android-powered GamePad is a new type of tablet that combines physical gaming button controls and Archos' patented mapping tool with a full Android tablet experience built around Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). It features full access to Google Play and Google Mobile Services.
It's also only available in Europe for the time being, where it's selling for 149.99€, or $194.75 in U.S. currency. Speaking of which, Archos says the GamePad is destined for U.S. shores in the first quarter of 2013.
"Android device users spend more than 9 hours a month gaming on their devices and yet are not completely satisfied with the touch-screen experience," says Henri Crohas, Founder and CEO of Archos. "We feel this area of gaming is proven and will continue to grow. With the introduction of the GamePad we are uniquely positioned to feed the demand of gamers who want a better gaming experience on a tablet."
There are 14 physical buttons and dual analog thumbsticks on the GamePad. It has a 7-inch screen with five points of capacitive touch, 16 million colors, and a 1024x600 resolution. The GamePad is just 0.3 inches thin and weighs 0.7 pounds, so it's not likely to make your hands or arms tired after extended gaming sessions.
Other hardware consists of a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU, quad-core Mali 400 MP GPU, 8GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, and mini HDMI output.
Tags: tablet, archos, gamepad, Jelly-Bean, Android 4.1
Via: Archos
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Scott Garrett on Immigration
Republican Representative (NJ-5)
Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border.
Voted YES on preventing tipping off Mexicans about Minuteman Project.
Voted YES on reporting illegal aliens who receive hospital treatment.
Rated 100% by FAIR, indicating a voting record restricting immigration.
Garrett scores 100% by FAIR on immigration issues
Rated 92% by USBC, indicating a sealed-border stance.
Garrett scores 92% by USBC on immigration issues
Government services in English only.
Garrett co-sponsored bill requiring government services in English only
A bill to provide that Executive Order 13166 shall have no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.
Be it enacted that Executive Order 13166, 'Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency' (August 16, 2000), is null and void and shall have no force or effect.
On August 11, 2000, the President signed Executive Order 13166. The Executive Order requires Federal agencies to examine the services they provide, identify any need for services to those with limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop and implement a system to provide those services so LEP persons can have meaningful access to them. Source: S.2719/H.R.768 08-S2719 on Mar 5, 2008
End Birthright Citizenship; no more anchor babies.
Garrett signed H.R.1868
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to consider a person born in the United States "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States for citizenship at birth purposes if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is:
a U.S. citizen or national;
a lawful permanent resident alien whose residence is in the United States; or
an alien performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Acknowledge the right of birthright citizenship established by section 1 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution, regarding a person born in the United States.
The amendment made by subsection (a)(3) shall not be construed to affect the citizenship or nationality status of any person born before the date of the enactment of this Act.
[OnTheIssues note: This bill would change the existing interpretation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which currently defines as a US citizen any person born within US territory. This bill intends to remove the right of illegal aliens to gain US citizenship by bearing children while in the country illegally; the issue is known by bill supporters as "anchor babies"]
Source: Birthright Citizenship Act 09-HR1868 on Apr 2, 2009
Rated A- by the ALI, indicating a strongly anti-amnesty stance.
Garrett scores A- by ALIPAC, Americans for Legal Immigration
ALIPAC supporters have a diverse range of opinions, yet we are united in the belief that more should be done to reduce illegal immigration. ALIPAC supports those that legally immigrate, but we DO NOT support any amnesty, visa expansion, or "Guest Worker" program designed to reward illegal aliens or legalize their presence in the US. We support a peaceful, non racist, rule of law approach to resolving illegal immigration. America is a land of generous and caring people, but our hospitality and values are being strained and abused by those who are willing to break the law and take our jobs and our tax dollars. America's illegal alien population will begin to shrink instead of grow if we support candidates that will reflect the will of the vast majority of American citizens.
FOUR POINT PLATFORM: "Simply enforce our existing immigration laws!"
Secure Our Borders
Crack down on employers that intentionally hire illegals
Remove incentives and rewards to illegals such as licenses, welfare, and other taxpayer benefits
Enforce our existing laws and deport illegal aliens when convicted of crimes or detected during routine law enforcement activities.
Source: ALI website 10-ALI on Nov 2, 2010
Redefine "birthright citizenship" to exclude illegal aliens.
Garrett co-sponsored Birthright Citizenship Act
Congressional Summary: Acknowledging the right of birthright citizenship established by section 1 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution, amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to consider a person born in the United States "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States for citizenship at birth purposes if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is:
Constitutional Authority Statement: Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Section 5 of the Amendment XIV to the Constitution and Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution.
OnTheIssues Explanation:The relevant part of this law is what is NOT in the list above: illegal aliens or undocumented workers. Those groups are this bill's target: it addresses the issue of "anchor babies," wherein non-citizen mothers cross the US border and give birth in the US and thereby establish citizenship for their newborn. If passed, this bill will likely face a Supreme Court challenge on its constitutionality, since the 14th Amendment defines citizens as "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." That clause was written after the Civil War to establish citizenship for former slaves; this bill reinterprets that clause to mean that not everyone born in the US automatically becomes a citizen. The cited authorization of the 14th Amendment is "Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." Source: H.R.140 11-HR140 on Jan 5, 2011
Declare English as the official language of the US.
Garrett co-sponsored declaring English as the official language of the US
This bill declares English as the official language of the United States, establishes a uniform English language rule for naturalization.
The United States is comprised of individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, and continues to benefit from this rich diversity.
Throughout the history of the United States, the common thread binding individuals of differing backgrounds has been the English language.
Federal Representatives of shall have an obligation to enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government.
The official functions of the Government of the United States shall be conducted in English.
All citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the US.
All naturalization ceremonies shall be conducted in English.
Source: English Language Unity Act (H.R.997) 2007-HR997 on Feb 12, 2007
Click here for HouseMatch answers by Scott Garrett.
Click here for a summary of Scott Garrett's positions on all issues.
Click here for a summary of Scott Garrett's positions on the AmericansElect.org quiz.
Click here for MyOcracy quiz answers by Scott Garrett.
Click here for Huffington Post quiz answers by Scott Garrett.
Click here for contact information for Scott Garrett.
Click here for a Wikipedia profile of Scott Garrett.
Click here for a Ballotpedia profile of Scott Garrett.
Click here for other NJ politicians.
Click here for NJ primary archives.
Click here for NJ secondary archives.
2012 Governor, House and Senate candidates on Immigration: Scott Garrett on other issues:
NJ Gubernatorial:
Barbara Buono
NJ Senatorial:
Frank Pallone
Jeff Bell
Jeff Chiesa
Murray Sabrin
Rush Holt
Steve Lonegan
NJ politicians
NJ Archives
Cannon HOB 137, Washington, DC 20515
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Slim and None Signed Hardcover Edition
Signed by the author, Howard Baldwin.
From his start as an owner in the World Hockey Association at the age of 28 (“slim and none” was a Boston sportswriter’s assessment of Howard’s chances when he was first awarded the New England Whalers franchise), to winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins and then on to Hollywood success, sports entrepreneur and film producer Howard Baldwin recounts his spirited and hugely entertaining life story.
Howard Baldwin has lived his life according to his belief that the life best-lived is one in which we pursue our heart’s desire. He never met a challenge he couldn’t beat. Beginning with his move at the age of twenty-eight from an entry-level position in the ticket office of the Philadelphia Flyers to acquiring and building his own WHA franchise in New England, Howard has built an impressive reputation as a pioneer — and a maverick — in the world of professional hockey. As President of the WHA, Baldwin led the merger with the NHL, and then later became a key figure in the expansion of North American hockey into Russia. Topping his journey in hockey off with a stint as chairman of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he then moved successfully into the film industry, producing a number of outstanding films including the Academy-Award winning Ray.
Slim and None is a story of perseverance, persistence, and ultimately, personal fulfilment. Baldwin and Milton have crafted an intimate portrait of a life within hockey spanning from the rebellious 1970s to the tumultuous 1990s and beyond into the exciting world of the movies.
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Indian Surgeon Youngest Recipient of International Surgical Award
An Indian breast surgeon has become the youngest recipient of a prestigious Overseas Medal from the oldest surgical college in the world, The Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSEd), where he received the honour at an awards ceremony held at the 500-year-old Edinburgh College on Friday 5 July 2013. Dr Raghu Ram Pillarisetti, Consultant Oncop…
Masters in Surgical Sciences Graduation 2013
On Saturday 6 July 2013, surgeons from around the globe gathered at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) to celebrate their success after graduating from the 'Masters in Surgical Sciences' Edinburgh Surgical Sciences Qualification. Run by RCSEd, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Surgical Sciences Qualif…
First King James award for Fellow in Asia
RCSEd honours leading oral candidiasis expert for outstanding contributions to surgical sciences Professor Lakshman Samaranayake, current Dean and Chair of Oral Microbiology at Hong Kong University’s Faculty of Dentistry, has received one of the RCSEd’s most prestigious awards – the King James IV Professorship. As part of the award, Professor Sam…
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Vincenzo Tardini
Dott. Vincenzo Tardini
personal Tardini
Standing Statutory Auditor
Born in Modena (MO) on 7th February 1960
He holds a degree in Economy and Commerce from Modena University; he is registered as a Chartered Accountant (Modena register) and as an Auditor. He is also on the Official List of Technical Consultants of the Court of Modena and the List of Professionals delegated for the foreclosure auctions of real estate and registered immovable property.
He practices as a Chartered Accountant as a partner in Studio Associato Dottori Commercialisti.
He acts as a technical expert for the Court of Modena in civil cases, prepares real estate allocation plans for the sale of property in foreclosure auctions, acts as an expert in the preparation of estimates for extraordinary corporate transactions, is involved in inheritance trustee issues and acts as support administrator, guardian, receiver and judicial commissioner in pre-bankruptcy agreements.
He acts as Auditor in the Regional Union of Chambers of Commerce and Provincial Chambers of Commerce and is voluntary liquidator of commercial companies, intermediary at the Provincial and Regional Tax Commissions, technical consultant in criminal proceedings of a financial nature, Chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors in financial companies subject to the supervision of the Bank of Italy and Statutory Auditor in commercial companies with public capital.
He is currently a Standing Auditor of BPER Banca S.p.A.
Within the Group he has held the following positions: Chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors of Banco di Sardegna S.p.A.; Standing Auditor of Banca della Campania S.p.A. and Director of Banca Popolare del Mezzogiorno S.p.A.
The positions currently held include: Chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors of Consorzio Gruppo CEIS Coop. Sociale, Cooperativa Sociale CEIS Formazione; Standing Auditor CEIS A.R.T.E. Cooperativa Sociale Onlus, CEIS Fondazione, Unioncamere Emilia Romagna Servizi S.r.l.; Sole Director of Edilnova S.r.l., G & G S.r.l.; Managing Partner of Azienda Agricola Tardini s.s.; Receiver of C.E.M. S.r.l., M.P.S. Di Pattarozzi Tiziano e C. S.n.c.; Jusicial Commissioner of Feligec S.r.l.
He has previously held the following positions: Chairman of the Board of Statutory Auditors of Azienda Agricola Alimentare Martinelli S.r.l., Consultinvest Partecipazioni S.p.A., Consultinvest S.p.A. and Planet Truck S.r.l.; Standing Auditor of Archimede S.p.A., IN.TE.SA. S.p.A., Commersald Impianti S.r.l. and Commersald S.p.A.; Sole Director of Mavilean S.p.A., Azienda Agricola Vezzali & Ferrari S.r.l., B.M.T. S.r.l.; Director of Sassuolo Sviluppo S.r.l., San Lorenzo - SL S.p.A.; Limited Partner in Tarulì S.a.s.; Trustee of GL Scavi S.r.l., di Volley Modena S.r.l. and Elettroart S.r.l.; Receiver of BI Servizi S.r.l., Ferrari Anna and Risorse Tre S.r.l., Machì Coperture di Polidori Cinzia.
link collegio sindacale
Banks of the Territories
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Archive for the ‘trafficking’ Category
“Mother” Theresa’ Missionaries of Charities involved in baby-selling., two Nuns have been arrested!
The Missionaries of Charities involved in “baby selling”: The home in eastern India’s Jharkhand state is run by Missionaries of Charity, the order set up by Mother Teresa to provide shelter for pregnant and unmarried women and their children[1]. For the services rendered by her much publicity was given and noble prize was also awarded. However, there had been allegations and accusations that she was helping pedophiles by allowing them to exploit the children in the orphanages. In fact, India has been exploited by the American and European pedophiles using “Sex tourism ” being carried on by the Missionaries, as has been exposed already by many cases that have gone up to Supreme court of India. In the present case, Indian police officer Aman Kumar said at least six babies have been sold to childless couples[2]. He said: “We are investigating to see how the operation was run and how many more children have been given away in the last few years.” The Missionaries of Charity did not respond to calls for comment. Arti Kujur, head of the Jharkhand State Child Protection Society, said the home was charging between £450 = Rs. 30,000/- and more than £1,000 = Rs. 70,000/- for each baby, depending on what the childless couple could afford[3]. The money was reportedly paid as hospital fees.
The Nun involved has been a habitual offender caught only now: A member of the committee, Pratima Tiwari, told The Times of India that they realised a baby boy was missing during a routine inspection[4]. The Child Welfare Committee chairperson alleged that she filed a complaint after the couple – to whom the accused had given the child to – asked her to intervene, PTI reported. “The Uttar Pradesh-based family claimed that Anima Indwar, who handed over the child to them on May 14, 2018 called them up on July 1, 2018 and asked them to visit the shelter home for completing certain formalities,” Verma said. “When the child was brought to the shelter home, Indwar took the boy away.” She alleged that the accused had committed more crimes of this nature[5]. As more babies were reportedly sold, it is evident that the nun in question has been habitual offender, but, caught only now, because of the complaint and exposure. The child is currently in a government shelter for children.
Four babies were sold recently: According to the police, the two nuns allegedly sold four babies in Jharkhand as well as Uttar Pradesh[6]. This suggests that it was an inter-state child trafficking racket that the nuns were part of. The Church, school, convent, nunnery and the priests all keeping together nearby has been the root cause of all sorts of sexual related offences, crimes and violations, as being reported in the media and facts. As such crimes have been repeatedly appearing in media for the last 40 years and they have been increasing day by day, the matter should have been taken seriously. Unfortunately, in India, because of secularism, whenever, any crime is involved with the Christians and Muslims, they are treated differently. Even if they are suppressed and forgotten, the law enforcing authorities do not bother and the media, just covers up and keepm quite, as if nothing happens! Ranchi Deputy Superintendent of Police Shyamanand Mandal was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, “These nuns sold four babies – three in Jharkhand and one in Uttar Pradesh. Further investigation is underway.” An FIR has been registered under section 370 of the Indian Penal Code[7]. The FIR was reportedly registered by the Child Welfare Committee of Ranchi after an inspection.
After adoption, they adopted and adapted the “baby selling” as easy method: Kujur said: “We had been receiving many complaints regarding the functioning of this home and were keeping a close watch on them for nearly six months.” The Missionaries of Charity stopped organising adoptions in India in 2015 saying they disagreed with government rules that made it easier for single, divorced, and separated people to adopt children[8]. Kujur said his organisation had directed that the credentials of every home run in the state should be checked. “We hear that babies are being sold in other homes as well and are determined to put a stop to it.” After the exploitation of adoption methods and export of children to foreign countries, perhaps, the Missionaries of Charity have found put a new method to sell babies. Here, the babies of unwed mothers are taken and sold. “Unwed mothers” raise many questions, as the “Nirmal Hridhay” itself has such categories. In other words, such women cannot beget children, unless, they are impregnated and it is possible only by men. Then, who are such men allowed to mate with such women, how and why they are allowed and such other questions arise. It is a serious issue, as prostitution is also allowed in such transactions.
Sister Koncilia, a nun at Missionaries of Charity’s Nirmal Hriday home, was arrested: Sister Koncilia, a nun at Missionaries of Charity’s Nirmal Hriday home, was arrested on 06-07-2018, Thursday for allegedly selling a child of an unwed mother[9]. Ranchi SSP Anish Gupta said, “Two arrests have been made. A worker at the home was arrested on 05-07-2018, Wednesday. We have also got the details of three children who were sold by them to different couples. We are in the process of verifying their addresses.” Nirmal Hriday, at Ranchi’s Jail Road, offers shelter for unwed minor mothers and differently-abled people. The home had 11 pregnant girls and around 75 differently-abled persons living there. Sister Koncilia was the head of the unwed mothers section[10].
11 pregnant women found shifted: CWC member Tanushree Sarkar said, “We have moved the 11 girls to Karuna Shelter home and sealed that section of Nirmal Hriday. The other section does not come under our jurisdiction, but we will try to get it sealed.” The committee will be shifting around 70 children who have been given shelter in Nirmal Shishu Bhavan, another branch of the organisation situated at Hinoo, to other homes on Friday. Sarkar said, “After the incident in one branch, we cannot trust the other branches of Missionaries of Charity and we will not be sending children to them for shelter from now on.” Sarkar said of the 11 pregnant girls at the home, at least three were never produced at CWC. “As per the law, any minor child in need of care and protection should first be produced before the committee,” she said. However, why the Missionaries of Charities have not been following rules and regulations and the CWC could only now point out. Had all been faithful enough to law of the land, they must have followed. Not that only, when, something has come out, all issues should be discussed, lacunae detailed and crimes committed demonstrated.
What Christians and minorities should ponder over and do?:
The issues – Selling of Babies, that too, born to unwed mothers are treated differently in many countries, including India.
The child trafficking, women trafficking and related crimes have been so serious and it is ridiculous to note that they are covered up by the Christians and other minorities under the guise of minority status or secularism or otherwise.
Suppression of such crimes could only spoil their society and as well ass Indian society.
The babies taking birth outside wedlock, before marriage etc., only expose the vulnerability of women, nuns etc., treated in the Christian and catholic churches.
The recent catholic priests raping faithful ladies expose such inhuman practices.
Maximum, the church authorities have bee trying to cover-up, huss-up and suppress within the church sexploiting power and money.
The “rogue-court” type proceedings would xdestroy the faith and belief system.
The christians should clean their sins and they cannot create more sin chambers by sinning even the confession boxes.
When surrogate mothers are encouraged, this type of crimes, perhaps, appear less criminal to such mind-set and psyche.
All sexual relted crimes should be treated, handled and offendes should be punished without any discrimination under thelaw of this land.
[1] Times Now, Mother Teresa Charity Nuns Arrested For Selling Babies, Jul 6, 2018, 11:22 IST.
[2] https://www.timesnownews.com/videos/news/india/mother-teresa-charity-nuns-arrested-for-selling-babies/2948
[3] The Sun, SINFUL SALE Mother Teresa India charity ‘sold babies’ as nun and charity worker at shelter for unmarried mums are arrested, By Patrick Knox, 5th July 2018, 9:18 pmUpdated: 6th July 2018, 2:21 am.
[4] Scoll, Jharkhand: Missionaries of Charity staff member and nun arrested for allegedly selling a baby, by Scroll Staff, Published Yesterday · 09:42 pm
[5] https://scroll.in/latest/885446/jharkhand-missionaries-of-charity-staff-member-and-nun-arrested-for-allegedly-selling-a-baby
[6] ZeeNews, Two Missionaries of Charity nuns arrested for selling babies in Jharkhand,
Zee Media Bureau, Updated:Jul 05, 2018, 20:19 PM IST
[7] http://zeenews.india.com/india/two-missionaries-of-charity-nuns-arrested-for-selling-babies-in-jharkhand-2122489.html
[8] https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6707282/mother-teresa-india-charity-sold-babies-shelter-nuns-arrested/
[9] The Times of India, Missionaries of Charity nun arrested for selling babies in Ranchi, Kelly Kislaya| TNN | Updated: Jul 6, 2018, 11:31 IST.
[10] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/nun-in-ranchi-arrested-for-selling-babies/articleshow/64877585.cms
Tags:adoption, baby, baby selling, catholic sex, children trafficking, christian sex, concilia, jharkand, Koncilia, missionaries of charities, mother, mother theresa, nirmal hriday, nun, nun sex, nunnery, pedophile, sex abuse, sex tourism, sister, sisters of charities, theresa, trafficking
Posted in baby selling, child rape, child rapist, child trafficking, complaint, concilia, confession, Koncilia, molestation, mother theresa, pastor sex, rape, sex, sex abuse, sex assault, sex exploitation, sexploit, sexploitation, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, theresa, trafficking, victim, woman trafficking | 1 Comment »
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Posts Tagged ‘kerala’
The Seven arrested by NIA, plot to kill Hindu leaders and ISIS link! Kerala exporting Mohammeda youth to ISIS after nuns and pastors!
Why the Coimbatore terror activities are downplayed?: When the people are made to focus on politics with propaganda, implant of fake news created through social media, media conclaves and so on, important news threatening the safety and security of common-men are sidelined, ignored and even suppressed. Thus, the links of Coimbatore arrested men with ISIS, etc., have been marginalized by the media and daily debates have been going on frivolous issues. Coimbatore has been simmering with the Islamic terrorist activities with the proximity with Kerala, gold smuggling and hawala activities. Unfortunately, or otherwise, Kerala’s link with Coimbatore in ISIS activities have been a regular feature. None could forget that David Coleman Headley stayed at Munaru Guest House with all facilities to him, so that he could get information to carry out 26/11 attack in Bombay.
19-12-2018: NIA raids the houses of seven jailed plotters: A team of National Investigation Agency officials from Kochi in Kerala conducted raids at seven places in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tindivanam as part of their probes into a conspiracy to kill Hindu leaders in Tamil Nadu and Kerala[1]. The raids, which went on for 4 to 10 hours on 19-12-2018, Wednesday, were conducted at Otteri, Mahakavi Bharathi Nagar and Pallavaram in Chennai and at Ukkadam, Kunniyamuthur and NH Road in Coimbatore and in Tindivanam[2]. The NIA team of the Kerala police recently arrested a 7-member gang under for conspiring to kill Hindu Makkal Katchi founder-president Arjun Sampath and Sakthi Sena leader Anbu Mani[3]. From the gang, the NIA team learned about supporters holed up in various parts of Tamil Nadu who were to assist them in their operation[4]. The NIA team obtained a search warrant from the NIA special court in Poonamallee and continued surprise checks[5]. They had invoked provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the accused[6].
FIR No 977/ 2018 registered: The case was originally registered as FIR No 977/ 2018 at B3 Variety Hall Police Station, Coimbatore City on September 1, 2018, under Sections 143 (Unlawful Assembly) and 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code besides provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the seven arrested accused persons[7]. And the raids carried on now, consequent to further investigation[8]. A group of seven persons from different parts of Tamil Nadu formed a terrorist gang with allegiance to the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS and had entered into a criminal conspiracy to kill some Hindu leaders of Coimbatore, thereby threatening the communal harmony besides the security and sovereignty of India[9].
What recovered at the houses of seven arrested: the details of the houses of the seven arrested and the material recovered are as follows:
S Shamsudeen: According to the police, at 7 am on 19-12-2018, a five-member team of NIA carried out a raid in the residence of S Shamsudeen (20), at Parasurama Street, Pallavaram. His parents live in the house and the search lasted until 8.30 am. However, officials did not disclose if they seized anything from the house.
S Salavudeen: Simultaneously, another team of NIA raided the house of S Salavudeen (25) at Dargha Cross Street at Otteri from 6.45 to 8.20 am. Sources said the NIA took two mobile phones, a DVD, a bank pass book and a copy of the Quran.
I Jaffer Shaddique Ali: The house of another accused, I Jaffer Saqid Ali (29) at Pudu Nagar, MKB Nagar, was searched for two hours by a separate team.
Ashique: at Variety Hall Road.
Faizal Rahman: Faizal at GM Nagar were searched. At Faizal’s house, a 21 cm long dagger, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 2.16 lakh was seized along with Islamic literature and letters written in the letter pad of a Muslim outfit.
S Ismail (25): of Tindivanam in Villupuram district. Inquiries revealed that Ismayil, the mastermind behind the murder conspiracy was a member of the banned terrorist organisation.
Sahul Hameed alias Anwar (23), from Coimbatore
They had no previous enmity with the Hindu leaders but decided to kill inspired by the IS module. They all had befriended each other through Facebook and WhatsApp, while sharing information inspired on similar ideology[10]. As a larger network of terror links was suspected, the NIA took up the investigation into the case. A week ago, Arjun Sampath appeared before the NIA sleuths and submitted evidence for death threats; he received calls from various anonymous numbers[11].
Arjun Sampath deposed before NIA and given details: Recently, Arjun Sampath appeared before the NIA at Race Course, Coimbatore, and gave a detailed account of the threats he got over phone and submitted evidence. NIA also carried out raids in Coimbatore and Tindivanam. The residence of Ashik at Variety Hall Road and Faizal at GM Nagar in Coimbatore were raided. Sahul’s house in Kuniyamuthur and Ismail’s place at Tindivanam were searched[12]. It is alleged that Ismail of Tindivanam was a secret member of ISIS who passed on information to others through a social media website[13]. The men, police found, did not know each other personally but communicated through social media. In Coimbatore, houses of I Jaffer Shaddique Ali in Pudu Nagar, Ashique at Variety Hall Road and Faizal at GM Nagar were searched. At Faizal’s house, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 2.16 lakh was seized along with Islamic literature and letters written in the letter pad of a Muslim outfit.On 2 September, these Muslim youths were arrested along with two others, identified as R Ashik (25) of Coimbatore and S Ismail (25) of Tindivanam in Villupuram district. Based on their confessions, the police arrested Faizal Rahman of GM Nagar, who worked as an auto driver, and Sahul Hameed alias Anwar (23), from Coimbatore. The men are currently lodged at Coimbatore Central Prison.
Home-grown terrorism, non-state players and ISIS recruits: Nowadays, the terrorism has been secularized and differentiated also. “Home-grown terrorism” is talked about, as if “foreign-grown” has been different or less harmful. If a terrorist, whether Indian born or foreign born is identified in the context of J&K, where, it is implied that a terrorist could have been hailing from –
Indian side Kashmir
Pakistan side Kashmir
Pakistan itself.
Hence, the categorization of “non-state players” and “state players” have been started to be used. Earlier, “State terrorism,” “state sponsored terrorism” and such other expressions were used to stress that terrorism itself is encouraged, promoted and sponsored by a state. Now, after J&K terror activities, 26/11 etc., as ISIS has started recruiting Mohammedan youth from Kerala and other places, perhaps, Indian might be blamed for exporting such youth involving in ISIS. Then UN, USA and other statistical figures given would include – ISIS terrorists –
Recruited from India.
Killed hailing from India.
Brought into ISIS territory through Afghanistan from India.
Intruded into Syria, through Turkey and so on from India.
So just like, Kerala exporting nuns, pastors etc., it has now credibility of exporting Mohammedan youth for ISIS! Really, it is god’s own country, thus its sons and daughters are exported in this way to aboard for holy acts, services and war also.
[1] The Times of India, NIA raids 7 TN spots over plot to kill Hindu leaders, TNN | Dec 20, 2018, 06:04 IST
[2] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nia-raids-7-tn-spots-over-plot-to-kill-hindu-leaders/articleshow/67170732.cms
[3] NewsToday, Plot to kill Tamilnadu leaders: NIA raids at Chennai, Coimbatore, Posted on December 19, 2018 by Naomi N
[4] https://newstodaynet.com/index.php/2018/12/19/plot-to-kill-tamilnadu-leaders-nia-raids-at-chennai-coimbatore/
[5] The Hindu, NIA searches houses of suspects, DECEMBER 20, 2018 00:54 IST; UPDATED: DECEMBER 20, 2018 00:54 IST
[6] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/nia-searches-houses-of-suspects/article25784591.ece
[7] The Pioneer, Coimbatore: NIA raids over alleged plot to kill Hindu outfit leaders, Thursday, 20 December 2018 | PNS | New Delhi.
[8] https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/india/coimbatore–nia-raids-over-alleged-plot-to-kill-hindu-outfit-leaders.html
[9] http://www.nia.gov.in/case-detail.htm?236
[10] DtNext, NIA sleuths search houses of seven jailed extremists in Chennai, Kovai, Published: Dec 20,201808:08 AM
[11] https://www.dtnext.in/News/TamilNadu/2018/12/20080857/1099973/NIA-sleuths-search-houses-of-seven-jailed-extremists-.vpf
[12] The Hindustan Times, NIA raids houses of 7 ISIS-linked men for targeting Hindu leaders, Wednesday, Dec 19, 2018; First Published: Dec 19, 2018 17:08 IST
[13] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nia-raids-houses-of-7-isis-linked-men-for-plotting-to-kill-hindu-leaders/story-UI89KSeWiobu0QVhTcLM1N.html
Tags:afghanistan, Ashik, Chennai, coimbatore, foreign terror, home-grown terror, imported terror, ISIL, ISIS, ISIS terror, islamic terror, Ismail, Jabar Sadiq Ali, kerala, NIA, Salavuddhin, Shamsudin, terror, terror finance, terror fund, terror fund raising, terror money, terrorism, terrorist
Posted in anti-hindu, anti-nationalism, cruelty, IS funder, IS recruit, ISIL, ISIS, islam, islamic state, muslim | Leave a Comment »
Jalandhar Bishop raped, Kerala nun complained, Police action taken, but, the Vatican, CBCI and others want to cover up! [2]
Letters and documentary evidences prove the men rea of the rapist bishop: In a July 12, 2018 letter to Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, and another of the same date to Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, apostolic nuncio to India, 168 people asked for action against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar[1]. The letter asked Archbishop Diquattro to “advise Pope Francis to relieve the bishop concerned of his pastoral responsibilities so that the Church is seen to actually practice the zero tolerance it professes to observe in abuse cases.” The signatories include representatives of the Indian Theological Association, a forum of Catholic theologians; the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace, an advocacy group for women religious; the Indian Christian Women’s Movement, a national conference of women religious and others; and the interdenominational United Christian Forum for Human Rights[2].
Sister Rejeena Kadamthottu, Mother General of the diocese accuses raped nun: Serious allegations were raised against the nun who brought out sexual abuse allegations at Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal by Sister Rejeena Kadamthottu, Mother General of the diocese, in which the nun belongs[3]. She told Mathrubhumi News that the she had received a complaint that the nun, who filed complaint against the bishop, had maintained illicit relationship with another person[4]. The Mother General said that the nun’s relative in Delhi submitted the complaint that the nun had illicit relationship with her husband. In the complaint, the relative alleged that the nun and her husband were involved in an illicit relationship and hence she was on the verge of committing suicide. As this complaint was beyond her authority, she handed over the complaint to Bishop Franco Mulakkal who heads the Diocese. “Subsequently, the church conducted a probe over this. But the nun was not ready to cooperate with the probe,” Sister Rejeena said. She also alleged that the nun has come up with allegations against the Bishop fearing disciplinary action. “The nun gave the letter raising allegations against the Bishop in June 2018. However, I have not received any such complaints against the Bishop before. Nobody had bad opinion about the Bishop,” Sister Rejeena said.
Sister Regeena’s campaigm appears disgusting, unbecoming and anti-woman: Ironically, this news appears to be planted as it is none of Regeena’s business to research into another woman’s personal life, when, she does not bother about the complaint made now[5]. One woman wanted to have sex with another man or not does not give any authority for Franco bishop to rape a nun for one or many times. As a woman, that too with authority of “The Mother General” and all, it is unbecoming for her to speak before the media degrading womanhood[6]. In fact, she should have felt ashamed for the behaviour of the Cardinals, bishops, pastors and other priests who are continuously involved in many crimes[7]. Thus, the nuns supporting the rapist bishop on one or the other pretext is disgusting, unbecomibg and anti-woman, when the Christian missionaries, propagandidst organizations and others have been aggressively campaiging as if they are the sole selling agents of human rights, women rights, child rights and so on!
The taped conversation between the nun and the Cardinal released – 19-07-2018: The conversation on a four-minute audio tape surfaced a day after Alencherry told investigators that he had not received any sexual assault complaint from the nun. Hindustan Times could not independently ascertain the authenticity of the audio-taped conversation. But the 43-year-old nun is heard complaining against Mulackkal in the purported conversation that took place in December, six months before she registered a police complaint, accusing Mulakkal of raping her 13 times between 2014 and 2106. Alencherry is heard saying on the purported tape that he will say he was unaware of any complaint if the police approached him. He is heard advising the nun to settle everything on her own and not to drag others into it. The police have found he was at the convent when the nun was allegedly raped after checking the visitors’ diary. The police have recorded the nun’s statement before a magistrate court. They have also rec- orded statements of other nuns and employees at the convent.
Jimmy Poochakkat accepted the tape conversation, but, as usual claimed that it was edited[8]: Syro-Malabar Church spokesman Father Jimmy Poochakkat admitted the two spoke in December, but insisted the audio taped conversation had been edited to defame the church[9]. “It seems the conversation is not complete. It is being used to show the church in a bad light.” If that is the case, again, it is proven that the whole affairs of rapping is well known to the Church, even at higest authority, yet, they wanted / want to suppress the sexual crimes. Moreover, he should come out with the facts, who are interested in editing such tapes. Alencherry reiterated he had never received any sexual abuse complaint from the nun when Vaikkoam deputy superintendent of police K Subhash-led police team recorded his statement. “The cardinal had informed us that the nun had told him about some issues at her convent. However, he did not receive any complaint of sexual assault,” said Subhash. The nun has maintained she was forced to approach the police after many including Alencherry ignored her complaints. The nun’s father and brother also claimed to have complained to the church superiors. The nun, who is also a mother superior, is a Punjab-based Missionaries of Jesus congregation member. She was heading one of the two convents the congregation runs in Kerala. She alleged Mulakkal had raped her at the convent’s guest house. The police are yet to question Mulakkal, who has pleaded innocence saying he was being implicated for exposing financial irregularities at the convent.
Christian-watch forums are alerted and disturbed by such sexploitation and suppression of evidences[10]: UCAN News reported as follows[11], “A TV channel in Kerala has released a recording claimed to be of a telephone conversation between Cardinal Alencherry and the nun.The nun is heard referring to the continued harassment she and others suffer within the congregation, and the cardinal suggested she complain to Latin-rite bishops’ conference head Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai. The nun then seeks his help to get an appointment with Cardinal Gracias but Cardinal Alencherry refuses to do so. “You go to Mumbai and approach him directly,” the cardinal says”. The other Christian agencies have also been conciously worried about the revealing Christian sex crimes[12]. As Indian press has been so secular, liberal and has freedom, pehaps, it has started slowly bringing out facts. Or a situation has reached that the true Christians themselves cannot tolerate such crimes have been hoing on with the support of higher authorities like the cardinals and the Vatican[13]. Thus, it is amply proved to show how the Church and the Vatican run a parallel government controlling the Christians and protecting the criminals of all sorts, just to save bthe name of Christianity and the Vatican.
[1] Catholic Herald, 168 sign letter calling for removal of bishop accused of raping nun, by Catholic News Service posted Saturday, 14 Jul 2018.
[2] http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/07/14/168-sign-letter-calling-for-removal-of-bishop-accused-of-raping-nun/
[3] Mathrubhumi, Sexual assault against Bishop: Mother General raises serious allegations against nun, Rabin Gralan/Mathrubhumi News Published: Jul 13, 2018, 12:12 PM…
[4] http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/sexual-assault-against-bishop-mother-general-raises-serious-allegations-against-nun-1.2967728
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjxqUP21hkk
[6] Mathrubhumi, Mother Geneal attacks nun who complained against bishop.
[7] http://www.mathrubhumi.com/tv/ReadMore/46756/franco-mulakkal-jalandhar-bishop/E
[8] The Hindustan Times, Audio tape reveals cardinal told Kerala nun not to file rape plaint against Bishop, Updated: Jul 20, 2018 08:15 IST.
[9] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/audio-tape-reveals-cardinal-told-kerala-nun-not-to-file-rape-plaint-against-bishop/story-yfGy7EwhBmvkjLlsxtjbHK.html
[10] UCA.News, Cardinal questioned by police in Indian rape inquiry, Joseph Benny, Kochi, India, July 20, 2018
[11] https://www.ucanews.com/news/cardinal-questioned-by-police-in-indian-rape-inquiry/82872
[12] Crux, Tape casts doubt on cardinal’s denial he was told of rape accusation against bishop, Crux Staff, July 20, 2018.
[13] https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2018/07/20/tape-casts-doubt-on-cardinals-denial-he-was-told-of-rape-accusation-against-bishop/
Tags:cardinal, Cardinal George Alencherry, Franco Mulakkal, jalandhar bishop, kerala, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, nun sex, Oswald Gracious, rape pastor, rape victim, raping nun, rapist, rapist bishop, sex abuse, sexploitation, sexual harassment, Vatican Nuncio
Posted in Christ, communism, complaint, evidence, Oswald J. Lewis, pastor, pastor sex, rape, sex, sex abuse, sex assault, sex exploitation, sexploit, sexploitation, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, theology | Leave a Comment »
How Tamilnadu Radicals recruit, export and receive back ISIS terror for home-grown terror (2)
Islamic radicalization, Jihadi fundamentalism and ISIS terrorism cannot be encouraged by any apologia, justification and secularization of terror [How Tamilnadu Radicals recruit, export and receive back ISIS terror for home-grown terror (2)!
Subahani Haja Moideen returned to India with the help of Indian consulate at Istanbul[1]: It is evident that the Consulate has been seized of this matter, though nothing is mentioned about the terror activities in the official website. About visa, fake websites etc., the following details have been mentioned. Obviously, they are run by the ISIS agents. “All visa applicants intending to travel to India are alerted that fake visa websites such as –
e-touristvisaindia.com,
indianvisaonline.org.in,
e-visaindia.com, etc.
are operating with the intention of cheating Indian visa seekers by giving erroneous information and misguiding applicants resulting in wastage of time and in many cases financial loss. In order to mislead applicants, some of these websites have created images and home page templates mimicking the official Government of India website. All visa seekers should note that the correct website for filling online visa / e-visa applications is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in. Visa applicants are also advised not to deal with other websites that do not belong to the Government of India.Visa applicants in the consular jurisdiction of Consulate General of India, Istanbul may seek information on visa procedure either by visiting the official website of the Consulate General of India, Istanbul: http://www.cgiistanbul.org or by sending an email to cpv@cgiistanbul.org”[2]. Subahani Haja Moideen returned only through the help of the consulate. But, the returning has been genuine or fake or as a part of terrir activities to be continued in India after training etc., have to be analyzed carefully. Therefore, how the IS-terrorist could return easuly to India is intriguing.
T.N. terror suspect was shopping for explosives in Sivakasi: NIA[3]: “The Hindu” gives such caption, as if it is meant for amusment. Subahani Haja Moideen arrived in Mumbai after a gap of six months in September last year 2015 on an emergency certificate and returned to his ancestral place where he was staying with his wife and managed to get a job at a jewellery shop at Kadayanallur. That he could be accommodated immedyately in spite of his ISIS-terror background proves the well-supported logistics working in Tamilnadu and elsewhere. Whether the Consulate informed Government of India that such type of person is returning, wjether the local police station is aware of the fact or is he monitored by anybody etc., are totally unknown. The Hindu also simply reported that, “However, once back and settled, he again got in touch with ISIS handlers over Internet and was planning to collect explosives and precursor chemicals from Sivakasi at their instance.” He had travelled to Chennai, Coimbatore and other places to meet other local contacts in the conspiracy, collect money and procure explosives for terrorist acts as guided and motivated by ISIS handlers,” the NIA said[4]. How then, he has been given money immediately and who gave? This also proves the terror-money track existing in these states to help the terrorists going out and coming inside India.
Tirunelveli drama with Subahani Haja Moideen (07-10-2016): Suspected Islamic State recruit H. Subahani of Kadayanallur, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers from Kadayanallur last Monday (03-10-2016), was brought to the town in western Tirunelveli again on Friday (07-10-2016) for conducting a search at his house and the jewellery shop in which he was working[5]. The NIA team led by Superintendent of Police Shaukath Ali that brought Subahani to Kadayanallur in the early hours of Friday kept him at the Courtallam police station and then brought him to Kadayanallur around 10 a.m. After checking the rented house on Khaja Mohideen Mosque Street where he was living, the NIA team also searched for evidence in the nearby jewellery showroom where the suspected IS recruit was working. The team questioned the owner and other workers of the showroom in the presence of revenue officials[6]. “The NIA officers took a mobile phone, four SIM cards and a hard disk from the house of Subahani,” a close relative of the detenue said. When asked about the purpose of the check, Mr. Shaukath Ali declined to answer. As the search and questioning came to an end, the NIA team took Subahani to the Kadayanallur police station for interrogation and left for Kochi in the evening.
Four persons known to Subahani Haja Moideen arrested and let off (07-10-2016): Four persons with suspected links to Islamic State (IS) have been picked up by NIA and are being questioned to probe their alleged association with another suspect arrested from Kannur in Kerala[7]. They were picked up by NIA on Friday night (07-10-2016) after their names were found in the contact list of Abu Basheer, one of the six arrested from Kannur recently, police said. Basheer, hailing from Tamil Nadu, was among the six held for being part of an ISIS inspired module who allegedly conspired to carry out terrorist acts. NIA has so far questioned 11 persons from the city, who were in the Facebook and telephone contact list of Basheer and seized laptops, mobile phones and some electronic gadgets from them. All of them were later let off. The four are residents of G M Nagar area in Ukkadam, where Basheer also stayed some time back and offered “lucrative jobs” abroad to many youths, police said[8].
The apologia of Muslims instead of condemning Jihadi terrorism: The recent arrest of Subahani Haja Moideen from Kadayanallur for suspected links with the Islamic State (IS) has raised concerns in the Muslim community about radicalisation of some Muslim youth[9]. Speaking about how such actions of a few could be used by Hindu right-wing forces to tarnish the image of an entire community, Kader Mohideen, state president, Indian Union Muslim League, said the party has opposed violent ideology wherever necessary. “The IUML has always campaigned against extremism and terrorism, weaning the Muslim youth away from such thinking. Still, some Muslim youth are swayed by their propaganda. The youth must not fall prey to it,” he said. The problem arose mostly due to the fact that many South Indian Muslim youth got most of their religious education in the Middle East. “In South India, most of us follow Islam which is closer to Sufism. The problem today is that the Muslim youth start learning radical ideologies in an extremely religious environment,” he said. Documentary filmmaker Kombai S. Anwar, who made Yaadhum tracing the roots of Tamil Muslims, said the community was paying the price for allowing its leaders to prey on the insecurities of the Muslim youth. He said the latest incident was a wake up call for Salafist and Wahabi outfits that preached a narrow interpretation of the holy text[10]. Condemning the IS as ‘unislamic’, Prof M.H. Jawahirullah, president, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, said he was sure a majority of Tamil Muslim youth were not lured by the its propaganda. ”There is no political leader or a religious scholar in Tamil Nadu, who has supported the IS,” he said.
Islamic or Unislamic, terror or non-terror arguments would not help Muslims or humanity: This type of response only proves the secularization of terrorism that is not correct in any context. As for as the Muslim youth are concerned, it is happening again and again. The ISIS recruitment has been well organized and the Muslims themselves helping directly and indirectly in every aspect. It is not the question of which “ism” of Islam is bad or good, terror or not terror etc., as all such “isms” are in one way or the other, ultimately, teaches “jihad” and it is the teaching of ISIS, Taliban, Jaish and other terror groups working in Kashmir also. As the following facts are known, they should be tackled immediately:
Educated Muslim youth, in spite of modernization, has been drifted towards ISIS terrorism (and other local categories also). Radicalization starts from home. Mosques, schools and colleges.
Under the guise of getting a job aboard, they are recruited by ISIS and started working for them.
The cellphone, social media, internet facilities are extensively used for such activities.
Passport, Visa, money-exchange and other activities are also done, monitored and taken care of by themselves.
They work knowingly or unknowingly (only for a short period), as they get good “salaries”, families are “taken care of” and other attractive benefits.
In the war front, as they get everything, they are ready to become “shahid”!
The retuned, escaped and other categories are to be suspected, as they could come here and work as spies, handlers etc.
That they are immediately accommodated proves that their activities are known or they have been advised to do so with obligation.
That they easily come and go etc., proves the direct and indirect help of the local, state and other authorities.
International agencies, movements and organizations help directly and indirectly, for their logistics.
[1] http://www.cgiistanbul.org/
[2] http://www.cgiistanbul.org/Important_Notice
[3] The Hindu, T.N. terror suspect was shopping for explosives in Sivakasi: NIA,
New Delhi, October 7, 2016, Updated: October 7, 2016 13:17 IST
[4] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tn-terror-suspect-was-shopping-for-explosives-in-sivakasi-nia/article9194541.ece
[5] The Hindu, NIA team searches for evidence against Subahani at Kadayanallur, Tirunelveli, October 8, 2016, Updated: October 8, 2016 07:31 IST
[6] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/nia-team-searches-for-evidence-against-subahani-at-kadayanallur/article9199882.ece
[7] The Hindu, IS links: Four picked up for questioning in Coimbatore,
Coimbatore, October 8, 2016, Updated: October 8, 2016 14:38 IST.
[8] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/is-links-four-picked-up-for-questioning-in-coimbatore/article9201843.ece
[9] The Hindu, A wake-up call for radical outfits, Chennai, October 7, 2016, Updated: October 7, 2016 17:25 IST
[10] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/arrest-of-subahani-haja-moideen-a-wakeup-call-for-radical-outfits/article9194542.ece
Tags:bomb, bomb making, Chennai, fundamental, India, IS, ISIL, ISIS, islamic state, jihad, kadayanallur, kerala, quran, radical, recruit, shahid, Subahani Haja Moideen, syria, terror, terrorism, tirunelveli, turkey
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Now Tamilnadu Radicals recruit, export and receive back ISIS terror for home-grown terror (1)!
IS-inspired terror module busted, six held in Kerala[1]: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday 02-10-2016 arrested six members of a fresh terror module, allegedly inspired by the Islamic State (IS), a senior NIA official said. Five suspects were arrested when they assembled on a hilltop at Kanakamala in Kannur district of Kerala to plan their next move, said the NIA official. The other accused was arrested from Kuttiyadi in Kozhikode district. The six terror suspects are in the age group of 24-30 years and one of them is from Tamil Nadu. This again proves that Kerala has been breeding ground for terrorism with support from the locals and as well as relatives. It is intriguing as to how the parents have been keeping quite, obviously, knowing that their sons and daughters were doing something wrong, criminal and against the law of this land. The Central government directed the NIA to investigate the said conspiracy and a case under the antiterror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was registered. The accused have been identified as[2] –
Manseed alias Omar Al Hindi (30),
Abu Basheer (29) from Coimbatore,
Swalih Mohammed T. (26),
Safwan P (30),
Jasim N.K. (25) and
Ramshad (24).
That youngsters with BEs, B.Techs, IT degrees and all have been engaged in terror modules only prove that they have been involving themselves willingly.
Why radicalization has been so easy in Islam: The ring leader, Manseed alias Omar al Hindi (30), from Qatar four days back was the trigger for the arrests though the group was on the radar for four months now[3]. The accused, who were radicalised online, had formed a group called ”Ansar-ul-Khilafah Kerala” (soldiers of the Caliphate as propagated by IS) on Telegram — a web-based application platform, a senior Home Ministry official told The Hindu[4]. That is, a Muslim youth in the social media is attracted or attracting others to radical Islam proves his pre-determined mentality. In facebook, twitter, whatsup etc., it can easily be noted that 98% Muslims have been behaving only in this manner. They force non-Muslims with their perverted, dogmatic and fundamentalist Islamic ideas turning to jihadi type and ultimately to terrorism. All this type of activities are not possible without the moral, logistic and financial supports from parents, friends and the vested groups who have been working against the interests of this country.
Youngsters with BEs, B.Techs, IT degrees and all have been engaged in terror modules: One of the accused, Jasim N.K. (24) — an engineer and the only one with an active Facebook account — was following Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and posted several messages against killings in Syria by the Assad regime and also about children and women killed in Palestine. His social media account also said that he was a keen follower of football and cricket and he last posted a message on May 3. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which made the arrests on Sunday, said the accused were inspired by the IS and had assembled on a hilltop at Kannur in Kerala to plan blasts and attacks against key politicians in Kerala and Tamil Nadu when they were apprehended. However, no explosives were found on them, said the official. “We had been tracking the group for few months and then Manseed reached Kerala from Qatar four days back. We decided to keep them under watch but then they assembled at a hilltop in Kannur, we suspected that they might carry out some attack immediately, so they were apprehended,” a senior NIA official said. Manseed, a resident of Kannur, is married and was working in Qatar for the past few years. Another accused, Abu Basheer (29) alias Rasheed is a mechanic. The third accused, Swalih Mohammed T. (26), works at Club Mahindra in Chennai, and the fourth, Safwan P. (30), works as a designer for a newspaper. The other two suspects, Jasim N.K. (25) and Ramshad (24), are cousins. Ramshad worked as an accountant. “We are going through their social media accounts and have confiscated their phones and other electronic devices. They were radicalised online gradually and were brought together by Manseed,” said the official. The NIA was investigating whether Manseed was getting directions from someone else to carry out attacks here.
Tamilnadu youth arrested on 02-10-2016 Sunday in connection with terrorism: Following the detention of six persons from Kerala by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) allegedly linked to the Islamic State organisation on Sunday 02-10-2016, the investigative agency on Monday 03-10-2016 detained another person Subahani Haja Moideen, belonging to Kerala in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu[5]. The detention comes following the interrogation of the six who were arrested earlier[6]. The NIA had earlier on Sunday said,”Information was received that some youths from Kerala and Tamil Nadu along with their accomplices have entered into a criminal conspiracy to commit terror acts by collecting explosives and other offensive material to target important persons and places in various parts of south India.” This again proves the links among the radical groups working in Kerala, Tamilnadu and Karnataka, particularly in Southern side with hilly and forest areas.
Subahani Haja Moideen also known as Abu Meer, a resident of Tirunelveli working for IS – arrrested on 05-10-2016: The NIA has arrested a suspected ISIS operative, who had conspired to carry out terror activities in the country and was planning to collect chemical explosives from cracker manufacturers in Tamil Nadu[7]. Earlier, it was reported in detail as to how Batkal brothers and others were collecting chemicals, Potassium Nitrate, Ammonium Nitrate, etc., and manufacturing bombs, planting them and exploding killing hundreds and injuring thousands of innocent people. Therefore, the Tamilnadu IS handlers have also started such strategy is revealed through his activities. The accused identified as Subahani Haja Moideen, also known as Abu Meer, a resident of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, was arrested by the NIA on Wednesday 05-10-2016 in connection with a case related to activities of the banned ISIS in India[8]. He worked with the IS between April and September, 2015, and is being described by the agencies as the closest any In dian recruit has come to seeing the action in West Asia[9].
Gone for Hajj in March 2015 to returned as IS terrorist in October 2016: The accused was radicalised and recruited in ISIS through social media platforms. He had left India for Istanbul from Chennai last year March 2015 on the pretext of performing ‘Umrah’, the NIA said in a statement on Thursday 06-10-2016. It is not known as to whether he got any financial grant from the government in this regard. After reaching Istanbul, he crossed over along with other people who hailed from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iraqi territory under control of ISIS. Thus, Istanbul has been basis for the terror recruitment, assembly and distribution as planned by the ISIS. This proves the local logistic support to ISIS from Istanbul. From there, he was taken to Mosul where he underwent detailed ‘religious training’ followed by combat training, which included a course in automated weapons before being deputed to fight war for almost two weeks. During the war, he told interrogators that he was paid $100 per month as an allowance by ISIS besides accommodation and food. However, he told interrogators that he could not withstand the violence and war misery in Mosul and decided to leave especially after he saw two of his friends getting charred. He was jailed for 40 days by ISIS and tortured. Again he was produced before a Islamic judge who sent him to Syria. Considering the seriousness of his knee injury, an IS “court” let him leave. The circumstances of his departure are likely to be closely probed, though[10]. He claimed that he was allowed to cross over to Turkey from where he contacted his family with the help of the Indian consulate at Istanbul.
[1] The Hindu, Is-inspired terror module busted, six held in Kerala, New Delhi, October 3, 2016, Updated: October 3, 2016 02:41 IST.
[2] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/isinspired-terror-module-busted-six-held-in-kerala/article9176644.ece?
[3] The Hindu, IS-inspired group was on radar for 4 months, New Delhi, October 4, 2016: Updated October 4, 2016, 12.25.IST.
[4] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/isinspired-group-was-on-radar-for-4-months/article9181053.ece
[5] Indian Express, Tamil Nadu: One more person linked to ISIS arrested by NIA in Kerala, By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: October 4, 2016 5:56 pm
[6] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/kerala-is-links-arrests-one-more-detained-in-tamil-nadu-3062754/
[7] News18, Suspected ISIS Operative Arrested in Tamil Nadu, Was Planning Attacks, Press Trust Of India, First published: October 6, 2016, 2:46 PM IST.
[8] http://www.news18.com/news/india/suspected-isis-operative-arrested-in-tamil-nadu-was-planning-attacks-1299204.html
[9] Times of India, Back from fighting for ISIS, Tamil Nadu man sings, Neeraj Chauhan & Bharti Jain| TNN | Updated: Oct 7, 2016, 08.36 AM IST.
[10] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Back-from-fighting-for-ISIS-Tamil-Nadu-man-sings/articleshow/54728221.cms
Tags:Abu Basheer, coinbatore, hajj, India, IS, ISIL, ISIS, islamic terror, Jasim, jihad, jihadi terror, kadayanallur, kerala, manseed, Omar Al Hindi, quran, ramshad, Safan, subahani, syria, terror, terrorist, turkey
Posted in Abu Basheer, ansar-ul-khilafh-kerala, anti-hindu, cyber, Divinity, evidence, istanbul, manseed, Mohammed, muslim, nationalism, Omar Al Hindi, ramshad, sunni, syria, theology, turkey | Leave a Comment »
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Trump Threatens Steep Tariff Hike on Chinese Goods
by Luthfil Hadi
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused China of moving too slowly on trade talks, and he threatened to raise existing tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports by an additional 15 percentage points by the end of the week.
“For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods . . . The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday,” the president wrote. “325 Billions Dollars [sic] of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%.”
Trump said that the move was a response to a Chinese attempt to renegotiate terms in ongoing trade talks. On Monday, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer confirmed that the talks have not been proceeding in the direction that American officials desire. He indicated that Chinese negotiators had sought to materially alter the terms of a written agreement as the talks neared completion. “Over the course of the last week or so we have seen an erosion in commitments by China. That in our view is unacceptable,” Lighthizer said. “Come Friday there will be [more] tariffs in place.”
Markets reacted swiftly to Trump’s announcement: the Dow fell nearly two percentage points in early trading Monday, the Shanghai Composite was down by more than five percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed about three percent. However, the Dow recovered on news that talks are scheduled to continue and that a previously-planned visit by a Chinese delegation to Washington will go forward. Financial analysts are watching the delegation closely, as hundreds of billions of dollars in international trade could be affected if the negotiators can’t reach a deal by Friday.
Source: https://maritime-executive.com
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The Wangkatjungka Remote School Mentors Project – Part 2
The Project Facilitator’s Story – David Wroth
In 2009 a project at Wangkatjungka Remote Community School brought the teenagers and elders together. The project boosted school attendance to unheard of levels as well as creating an exciting event at Japingka Gallery. Here is the story of that project told by David Wroth of Japingka Aboriginal Art, the facilitator of the project.
Quick links: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
What were the principles that you follow in creating an art event like this?
We had done a lot of work with the elder artists at Wangkatjungka and it had been really engaging. We had started working with the school in facilitating studio space for the elder artists. The thought came up, wouldn’t it be a great project to actually connect the students with the older artists? If the two groups engaged around art, we wanted to see if we could get student paintings that responded to the older artists or art from the older artists that came as a reaction to working with the younger people.
We were keen to see how the students would engage with the elders. Many of them would have been relatives, probably grandmother connections, or maybe even great granny. It was an experiment just to see what came out of it. It was uncertain how much the older artists would want to really bring the younger artists through. It was unclear how that would work. We wanted to see how much information would flow back down to the students from watching and engaging in the artwork with older artists.
How did both groups respond? What was the level of engagement?
It was fantastic. The group of elder artists and the students had to organise themselves into a mentor and student relationship. They sorted all that themselves. They agreed that this elder would look after this student. They organised their own connections and then part of the way through the project they also had alternative arrangements so they could work with another artist.
That was interesting because with the elder artists they all have quite distinctive styles. There’s no particularly recognisable style, except for maybe their use of quite bright colour. Some of the artists are very geometric and some of them are very detailed, some of them use ochre earth colours and others have figurative elements in them. There’s a huge variety.
The students were going to shadow the senior artists. They’d go with the story and the style. We were interested to see what they could extract about painting techniques and about understanding the story. We were also observing whether they would be putting it all in context with the bigger story of their cultural connections around that.
What types of leadership are needed and how did the leadership emerge?
In that community, the leadership rests with the community. The elders and the students formed the natural alliances that worked for them. They could work together and really share stories in an appropriate way, in a kinship way.
You also needed strong support from the school, from the Principal Keith Spencer. That made the whole project possible. We needed support from the community to ensure this was a project that they wanted to happen. We needed the support of the Education Department. They needed to give permission for these students to come for half days or days. The students working with these elders on art projects became quite an extensive part of that school week. It was an important decision that needed high level backing.
How much planning did you do regarding the process that the whole thing was going to follow?
To some degree, because I was working already with the artists, I more or less followed the same types of processes that I would have anyway. In that we get a lot of canvases ready and materials and paints in small pots, and all the physical side of it. We were using a workshop, the manual arts centre in the school, so we had large ground sheets all over the floor to try to catch the paint splashes.
We set up for fifteen people to work in one studio at one time. Once the groups had made their combinations, we had slightly smaller canvases for the students than those the elders were painting on.
From that point on they were more or less working together. As the senior artists made their paintings, the students would watch and come to understand the techniques that are being used in that painting. They’d see the kinds of colour arrangements, and maybe they would adapt that themselves in understanding the story. In a way, they would shadow what the older artist was doing.
Did it end up looking very similar to what the artist?
It was quite surprising actually because what happened is the kids are really very adept painters, very skilled. These are 14, 15, 16-year olds. They were good painters, and some of the artists who are in their 70’s were getting looser in their painting styles. I tell you, the elders really had to go, “Oh, okay, these guys really know how to paint.” Everyone was sort of on their best painting behaviour.
You could clearly see who the student was following. Usually, it would be reinterpreted, and the style was usually of the style of the elder but it was different. To some degree, it was like seeing someone visiting the same story and painting the same scene, but you could clearly see that it was a different person, and that was interesting.
What were the outcomes you planned for, and what evolved?
We hoped we would have a combined exhibition that had the students’ work and the work of the older artists together in the gallery. What happened was that we had a tremendously productive time. The students really got into the work and produced a great variety of paintings. We ended up with so much work that it was a single exhibition on its own.
We had a student exhibition and we called it “Kids and Mentors.” We had a few examples, mostly of the large collaborative works where all the elder people had worked on one canvas. Our Gallery1, which is the big gallery space at Japingka, was entirely filled with students’ work. We had 35 or 40 paintings in there. They were all school kids’ paintings, and they were great. The show looked really special.
How did the gallery-going public respond?
It was fantastic, there was a real buzz. Obviously, the school let everyone know that it was on. People with past connections to the community and the school all came. The school brought down all the students, three elders, and several people from the school. The Principal happened to actually be in Perth for a principal’s meeting. Everyone was there.
The place was crowded. It was absolutely packed in the gallery. The show was a sellout. Everything just went. People said, “Well, this is fantastic.” Obviously, it was highly affordable artwork. I think everything was under $450. That’s not bad when you’re a student, selling your first painting in an exhibition, and maybe to someone for $300.
What happened with the money?
We arranged it with the school so that the gallery kept a sales commission. The rest of the money went back to the school. Before anything else happened, before the exhibition, the school had worked out how they would deal with the money and the families. Basically, it all went back to the families of the students. The students were paid the artists’ fees and their families got the benefit of it.
They were all clear of that arrangement prior to the exhibition?
We had to be quite precise about how we would arrange that. It was done beforehand.
How do people look at the project from the outside? What sorts of values and judgements do you think they apply?
People regularly ask how the inter-generational passing on of stories is happening in different communities. The story is always totally dependent on the local situation. I think just having the energy and the clear sense that the kids entirely relied on the elders to get subject matter for this painting – it’s obvious that it didn’t come from nowhere, it came from these old people here. The outcome was that the art was fantastic.
The school was sending the project participants down to Perth. That’s 3000 kms from Wangkatjungka. They’d be in a room full of people they don’t know, most of them white people. The kids were great ambassadors for their own community, their own experiences and their school and their art. Everyone was curious about what their lives were like in the community. It was really good. The kids stood up and talked about themselves, which is not easy to do in a place where you don’t know anyone.
Were there any difficulties that came up with the project? How were they resolved?
There weren’t really any difficulties. The main issue was whether the students were always available to participate in the program. Occasionally, we’d miss someone for a couple of days, and that did happen. There were family events happening or things that were important. Really beyond that, I don’t think there were any complications.
Were there things that took you by surprise?
I think the surprising thing was first of all, the quality of the artwork. There was a possibility that the whole thing could have fallen flat. Maybe there would be nothing to say that was about the community when we took it down to Perth for the exhibition.
The surprise was that the elders completely opened the book up and said we’ll do this together. You can come as close to our artwork as you’d like to come. The students were so technically capable of working really closely with the artists and producing great work. The surprise was the quantity, the quality, and the depths of the stories that were communicated. It was terrific.
When you reflect back over the project, how do you feel about it?
I think it was a really successful project. I think the positive values were great in the school. The kids really got engaged. I think they surprised themselves. They talked to all these strangers about their community, talked about their paintings on the wall, the relationships with the older artists.
The feedback was that most of the students were really very positive. They felt they were stars for producing their exhibition and that was a fantastic experience for them. They seemed to develop a sense of confidence from really doing something very well.
What would be your advice to somebody who’s looking to do something like this in their community?
It absolutely has to have community backing, and if it’s got the backing particularly of skilled elder artists, they have to be really open to sharing completely with students during that time. This is a really good reinforcing project in communities. It’s great to have a connection with someone who’s going to facilitate at a high level, that’s important, but the real emphasis comes from the community and needs really good backing from the school.
What was the major motivation from the students’ perspective?
I think the school offered them the opportunity for a trip to Perth, and for a Kimberley kid, that’s a holiday. It was going to be in the school holidays, so we arranged it so that the exhibition would open in the end of the first week of the holidays. They were able to organise around all that.
The kids knew that if they participated, there was going to be an exhibition in Perth. The school was going to take at least some of them, at the point we didn’t know who they’d bring. They were going to bring some students down, and if the painting sold, they promised that they would get the artist’s return from the paintings. There was a few good incentives and it was all laid out on the table, so the kids were pretty positive about it.
Part 1 – The Principal’s Story
Part 3 – The Gallery Director’s Story
Collaboration Wangkatjungka Paintings
George Tuckerbox
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Empowering pediatricians to reduce preventable firearm injuries and deaths
October 25, 2019 /in Critical Medicine, Critical Medicine News, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine News, Meetings, Neurology & Neurosurgery News, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Public Health, Public Health News /by Innovation District
Lenore Jarvis, M.D., MEd, FAAP, will participate in a symposium of surgeons, neurosurgeons and emergency medicine doctors during the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition – the first time these groups have come together to help reduce the number of kids hurt or killed by firearms.
Lenore Jarvis, M.D., MEd, FAAP, remembers feeling fatigue and frustration when, despite her team’s herculean efforts, a 5-year-old died from accidental gunshot wounds. The preschooler had been feeling playful: He surprised a family member who mistook him for an intruder and fired, fatally wounding the child.
As an Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services specialist at Children’s National Hospital, Dr. Jarvis has cared for kids with a range of firearm-related injuries from accidental shootings, intentional acts of violence or suicide attempts. Even when children survive such traumatic injuries, their lives are indelibly altered.
“We’re trained to save lives, but we also want to prevent childhood injuries, if possible. As I considered this young child’s life ending so prematurely and so tragically, I thought I should do more. I could do more,” recalls Dr. Jarvis, the division’s director of advocacy and health policy.
To that end, in addition to advocacy at the regional and national level, on Oct. 26, 2019, Dr. Jarvis will participate in a four-hour symposium of surgeons, neurosurgeons and emergency medicine doctors during the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition – the first time these groups have come together to explore ways they can help to reduce the number of kids hurt or killed by firearms.
Dr. Jarvis will set the stage for the day’s collective call to action when she counsels pediatricians about how they can advocate within the clinic by simple actions such as:
Asking families if there are firearms in the home
Making time for such conversations during routine care, including well-child visits
Paying special attention to warning signs of suicide and depression
Having frank conversations with parents about curious toddlers
“The safest home is a home without a firearm. If that’s not possible, the firearm should be stored in a locked cabinet with the ammunition stored separately,” she says. “Toddlers are especially curious and they actively explore their environment. An unsecured firearm can be a tragic accident waiting to happen with curious young children in the home. And if teenagers happen upon the weapon, it could be used in a homicide or suicide.”
In addition to empowering clinicians to have these conversations routinely, symposium speakers will emphasize empowering parents to ask other families: “Is there an unlocked gun in your house?”
“It’s no different than a parent of a child with a life-threatening sensitivity to peanuts asking if there are peanuts in any home that child may visit,” she adds. “As one of the leading causes of death among children and youth, unsecured firearms are even more dangerous than peanuts. And families should feel comfortable making informed decisions about whether their children will be safe as they play and socialize with friends.”
AAP National Conference and Exhibition presentation
Saturday, Oct. 26, 2:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. (ET)
“AAP NCE Section on Emergency Medicine/Section on Surgery/Section on Neurosurgery gun advocacy joint program”
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/little-girl-reaching-for-gun.jpg 300 400 Innovation District https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/idlogo1-tagline-Advances-in-Medicine.gif Innovation District2019-10-25 14:42:302019-10-25 14:44:34Empowering pediatricians to reduce preventable firearm injuries and deaths
Training teams for timely NICU evacuation
August 22, 2019 /in Neonatology, Neonatology News, Public Health, Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine, Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine News, Quality and Safety, Quality and Safety News /by Innovation District
From June 2015 to August 2017, 213 members of NICU staff took part in simulated drills, honing their skills by practicing with mannequins with varying levels of acuity.
In late August 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake – the strongest east of the Mississippi since 1944 – shook Washington, D.C., with such force that it cracked the Washington Monument and damaged the National Cathedral.
On the sixth floor of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Children’s National in Washington, D.C., staff felt the hospital swaying from side to side.
After the shaking stopped, they found the natural disaster exposed another fault: The unit’s 200-plus staff members were not all equally knowledgeable or confident regarding the unit’s plan for evacuating its 66 newborns or their own specific role during an emergency evacuation.
More than 900 very sick children are transferred to Children’s National NICU from across the region each year, and a high percentage rely on machines to do the work that their tiny lungs and hearts are not yet strong enough to do on their own.
Transporting fragile babies down six flights of stairs along with vital equipment that keeps them alive requires planning, teamwork and training.
“Fires, tornadoes and other natural disasters are outside of our team’s control. But it is within our team’s control to train NICU staff to master this necessary skill,” says Lisa Zell, BSN, a clinical educator. Zell is also lead author of a Children’s National article featured on the cover of the July/September 2019 edition of The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing. “Emergency evacuations trigger safety concerns for patients as well as our own staff. A robust preparedness plan that is continually improved can alleviate such fears,” Zell adds.
Children’s National is the nation’s No. 1 NICU, and its educators worked with a diverse group within Children’s National to design and implement periodic evacuation simulations. From June 2015 to August 2017, 213 members of NICU staff took part in simulated drills, honing their skills by practicing with mannequins with varying levels of acuity.
“Each simulation has three objectives. First, the trainee needs to demonstrate knowledge of their own individual role in an evacuation. Second, they need to know the evacuation plan so well they can explain it to someone else. And finally, they need to demonstrate that if they had to evacuate the NICU that day, they could do it safely,” says Lamia Soghier, M.D., FAAP, CHSE, NICU medical director and the study’s senior author.
The two-hour evacuation simulation training at Children’s National begins with a group prebrief. During this meeting, NICU educators discuss the overarching evacuation plan, outline individual roles and give a hands-on demonstration of all of the evacuation equipment.
This equipment includes emergency backpacks, a drip calculation sheet and an emergency phrase card. Emergency supply backpacks are filled with everything that each patient needs post evacuation, from suction catheters, butterfly needles and suture removal kits to flashlights with batteries.
Each room is equipped with that emergency backpack which is secured in a locked cabinet. Every nurse has a key to access the cabinet at any time.
Vertical evacuation scenarios are designed to give trainees a real-world experience. Mannequins that are intubated are evacuated by tray, allowing the nurse to provide continuous oxygen with the use of a resuscitation bag during the evacuation. Evacuation by sled allows three patients to be transported simultaneously. Patients with uncomplicated conditions can be lifted out of their cribs and swiftly carried to safety.
Teams also learn how to calm the nerves of frazzled parents and enlist their help. “Whatever we need to do, we will to get these babies out alive,” Joan Paribello, a clinical educator, tells 15 staff assembled for a recent prebriefing session.
An “X” on the door designates rooms already evacuated. A designated charge nurse and another member of the medical team remain in the unit until the final patient is evacuated to make a final sweep.
The simulated training ends with a debrief session during which issues that arose during the evacuation are identified and corrected prior to subsequent simulated trainings, improving the safety and expediency of the exercise.
Indeed, as Children’s National NICU staff mastered these evacuation simulations, evacuation times dropped from 21 minutes to as little as 16 minutes. Equally important, post evacuation surveys indicate:
86% of staff report being more comfortable in being able to safely evacuate the Children’s National NICU
94% of NICU staff understand the overall evacuation plan and
97% of NICU staff know their individual role during an evacuation.
“One of the most surprising revelations regarded one of the most basic functions in any NICU,” Dr. Soghier adds. “Once intravenous tubing is removed from its pump, the rate at which infusions drip needs to be calculated manually. We created laminated cards with pre-calculated drip rates to enable life-saving fluid delivery to continue without interruption.”
In addition to Zell and Dr. Soghier, study co-authors include Carmen Blake, BSN; Dawn Brittingham, MSN; and Ann-Marie Brown, MSN.
View slideshow: Disaster preparedness: In the NICU
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NICU-evacuation-training.png 300 400 Innovation District https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/idlogo1-tagline-Advances-in-Medicine.gif Innovation District2019-08-22 11:39:452019-10-30 14:01:17Training teams for timely NICU evacuation
Sadiqa Kendi, M.D., FAAP, CPST, is 2019 Bloomberg Fellow
June 6, 2019 /in Critical Medicine, Critical Medicine News, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine News, Public Health, Quality and Safety, Quality and Safety News /by Innovation District
Sadiqa Kendi, M.D., FAAP, CPST, a pediatric emergency physician at Children’s National and medical director of Safe Kids DC, is among the 2019 cohort of Bloomberg Fellows, an initiative that provides world-class training to public health professionals tackling some of the most intractable challenges facing the U.S.
The Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on June 6, 2019, announced fellows who will receive full scholarships to earn an MPH or DrPH as they tackle five U.S. health challenges: addiction and overdose, environmental challenges, obesity and the food system, risks to adolescent health and violence. Now in its third year, the largest group of fellows to date includes representatives from organizations headquartered in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
As part of her environmental challenges fellowship, Dr. Kendi will attempt to lessen the significant morbidity and mortality suffered by children, especially children of color, due to unintentional injuries. Children’s emergency department handles more than 100,000 pediatric visits per year, 1,200 of which result in hospital admission.
“The numbers are staggering: 25% of emergency department visits by kids and more than $28 billion in health care spending are associated with injuries. These preventable injuries claim the highest number of pediatric lives, and children of color and lower income families often disproportionately bear this burden,” Dr. Kendi says.
“Regrettably, I have seen the personal toll close up, and it has been sobering to hug a sobbing parent whose child clings to life after being struck by a car; to clasp the hand of a frightened child who has fallen from playground equipment and suffered a severe fracture; to see the angst written on a caregiver’s face as I lead our team in trying to save a life that easily could have been safeguarded by installing a window guard,” she adds.
Under the auspices of Safe Kids District of Columbia, Dr. Kendi is developing a one-stop Safety Center at Children’s National to provide injury prevention equipment and education to families in five focus areas: child passenger safety, home, pedestrian, sleep and sports.
Safe Kids Worldwide, the umbrella non-profit organization for Safe Kids DC, started at Children’s National and has grown to more than 400 coalitions around the world. Safe Kids DC is the local coalition that is working to address the burden of injury in local District of Columbia communities.
“I’m grateful to be named a Bloomberg Fellow because this opportunity will enable me to better understand the theories, methods of evaluation and tools for addressing the burden of injury in the District of Columbia, including how to assess and address the built environment. This training will help me to better lead my Safe Kids DC team in developing projects, outreach programs and legislative advocacy that have the potential to directly impact the communities we serve,” she adds.
https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Sadiqa-Kendi.jpg 300 400 Innovation District https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/idlogo1-tagline-Advances-in-Medicine.gif Innovation District2019-06-06 15:31:482019-06-06 16:04:10Sadiqa Kendi, M.D., FAAP, CPST, is 2019 Bloomberg Fellow
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The religious imagineer
Where the fire and the rose are one
May my heart’s truth still be sung
Posted on July 16, 2019 by jimfriedrich
Seattle Times, July 16, 1995 (50th anniversary of the first atomic bomb).
Strange things happen in life––a ticket here, a ticket there, and twenty, thirty, forty years later the destination.
–– William McPherson, Testing the Current
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.
–– W. H. Auden, For the Time Being
Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection.
––– Collect for the first Sunday in July, Book of Common Prayer
Today I turned 75. I’ve seen it coming for a long time, but I’m still surprised! I took my first breath early in the evening of July 16, 1944, at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in Los Angeles. Twenty-two years later, four days before my birthday, my father would take his last breath in the same place.
Every birth date collects an assortment of associations and memories. My favorite film noir, Double Indemnity, begins with a doomed Fred MacMurray speaking into a Dictaphone, beginning with the date: “July 16, 1938” (the film was released in 1944, and co-star Barbara Stanwyck’s birthday was July 16). On my 7th birthday, Catcher in the Rye was published. I saw Paris for the first time when I turned 17. On my 29th birthday, Alexander Butterfield revealed to the Senate Watergate Committee the existence of the Nixon tapes.
My hometown paper on my 25th birthday.
When I turned one year old, the first atomic bomb was exploded in New Mexico. On my 25th birthday, Apollo 11 blasted off for the moon. And on my 50th, a comet crashed into Jupiter, creating the largest explosion ever witnessed in the solar system.
If those explosive bursts of heat and light were some kind of sequence (1…25…50…), what was in store for 75? Apocalypse? Thankfully, on this 50th anniversary of the moon launch, the iconic phenomenon proved both gentle and fitting. No great event, no big bang. But not a whimper either. What happened tonight was this: a full moon rose in silence over a collapsed volcano (whose supposed similarity to the moon’s surface had provided a valuable training ground for the lunar astronauts). The tranquil orb shed its luminous blessing, the close of a perfect day. O gracious Light!
Rising moon above Newberry Crater, Oregon, July 16, 2019.
From 1956 to 1962, I attended an Episcopal boys’ school in Los Angeles. In my class of sixty-five, three of my best friends had, like me, been born in July of 1944. After sharing a formative passage through adolescence and being collectively imprinted––or cursed––with the high expectations fostered by a privileged education, we maintained our bonds into adulthood. In the month of our thirtieth birthdays, we gathered at a California beach house for a weekend of celebration and memory. Toward the end, there was a midnight toast. “Hey Jude” came on the stereo as we lifted our glasses to past and future selves. Take a sad song and make it better. We were not yet where we wanted to be, but we still feasted on dreams and a sense of promise. In ten years, we pledged, our forty-year-old selves would gather again to trade stories of the journey.
O may my heart’s truth
Still be sung
On this high hill in a year’s turning.
Dylan Thomas wrote these hopeful words when he turned thirty. But it doesn’t always work that way. A year after our glad toasts by the sea, on the last day before our birthday month, one of the four committed suicide. We three who remained gathered to sing him home in our old school chapel. We could only guess at the pain that took him from us.
When Jon died, I was deep in the mountain wilderness of the Sierra Nevada. Just before sunrise he came to me in a dream, assuring me that he was all right. I awoke and looked at my watch––6:00 am. It was, I learned later, the hour of his death.
A week after his funeral, on the day of my 31s birthday, I rose early to take a long walk in the hills above Los Angeles, where pockets of wildness and quiet still thrive in the heart of the teeming metropolis. Jon and I had both been runners in high school, and we loved training together in these hills. Our school was situated along their lower slope, so it only took a few minutes of running to leave the cityscape behind.
As I walked these same hills so soon after his death, Jon was very much in my thoughts, and one particular workout came to mind. Just behind the school chapel, a 150-yard stretch of road climbed steeply to a crest. During our senior year, in a pouring rain, Jon and I challenged each other to run a series of all-out sprints up this grade, one after another, until we both collapsed, utterly exhausted and sick to our stomachs.
We made it back to the gym to recover. Jon stretched out on a bench and closed his eyes. He lay there a long time, not saying a word. When he finally spoke, he said he’d had it with running. He was going to quit the team. The feeling soon passed, and he would go on to win the southern California half-mile championship in a time of 1:53.1. But I remember feeling genuine alarm in the presence of his momentary despair. It was like a black hole, sucking up all the light around it. Jon was made for running, and his powerful spirit made the rest of us faster. To see that spirit falter, if only for a moment, was unsettling, like witnessing a saint’s crisis of faith and wondering about the fragile poise of your own soul.
After my birthday walk, I put this recollection in a letter to an east coast friend. But I prefaced it with a report of what I had seen around me on that particular day––not darkness and death, but the beauty of a summer morning in the hills of home:
“The intensely blue panicles of a ceanothus shrub arched across the path like an enchanted boundary, a gate back to Eden. Near a jocular little stream, a California thrasher poked its long, curved bill into the debris beneath an oak tree. A solitary yellow leaf, suspended by a long spider’s thread against a background of dark mist, spun ecstatically in a ray of sunlight. The path unfolded before me like a narrative––meandering through the hush of sheltering thickets, emerging onto a golden slope of drying grasses, climbing upward into the enfolding blankness of a beclouded ridge, dipping downward to become a gentle country lane, purple-strewn with eucalyptus leaves, and finally spilling out into the alluvial plain of houses, lawns and swimming pools.”
It was as if an essential part of my response to loss and grief was to pay close attention to the gifts of one summer day, offered so generously to my receptive heart. To pay attention as if my own life depended on it.
“How shall the heart be reconciled / to its feast of losses?” asked the poet Stanley Kunitz, who lived to an even 100 years. The longer you live, the more the losses mount up––but also the beauties, the graces, the affectionate motions of the heart. I like what another poet, Vera Pavlova, says about this:
If there is something to desire,
there will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.[i]
In one of Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes cartoons, the boy gets a letter from his past self. It reads: “Dear future Calvin, I wrote this several days before you will receive it. You’ve done things I haven’t done. You’ve seen things I haven’t seen. You know things I don’t know. You lucky dog! Your pal, Calvin.”
Calvin sniffles a bit and says, “I feel so sorry for myself two days ago.” To which his tiger friend, Hobbes, responds, “Poor him. He wasn’t you.”
Stanley Kunitz could sympathize. “I have walked through many lives,” he wrote, “some of them my own, / and I am not who I was . . .” So who am I now? Hmm. But ever since my baptism in November of 1944, the more critical question has always been, Whose am I?. As we say at the end of every mortal life, “whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s possession.” Is it possible to live in the light of that truth, come what may?
After my mother died in 2010, I found a prayer she had written on the flyleaf of her Daily Office book. It’s something she would have said almost every day: “God, whatever . . . Thanks.”
On my twenty-first birthday, my father, a priest, celebrated eucharist in our living room with my mother and me. Afterward, he presented me with a letter he had composed for the occasion. “Happiness is not found in security,” he reminded me, “nor can it be bought with money, but it is a holy mystery that is a gift from God, found only in serving Him.”
When I turned 40, my sister Marilyn sent me a list of questions.
What would you like to accomplish in your work? In your personal life?
How long do you think you will live?
What would you like to begin?
What would you like to end?
Name a physical risk you’d like to take.
Name an emotional risk you’d like to take.
Of what might you be afraid?
What do you want to mend?
What song describes your life at 40?
What writer touches you deeply at 40?
What would you like to create for yourself? For the world?
What are 3 things you are most satisfied with so far in your life?
These remain searching questions for me today, despite the somewhat eroded sense of future produced by thirty-five additional birthdays. I’ll start to ponder my answers tomorrow (God willing). Meanwhile, what Stanley Kunitz says, that is what I say:
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.[ii]
Twenty-five years ago, on my 50th birthday, I made a 9-mile pilgrimage through English countryside to an old church cemetery in the Lake District. Arriving just after sunset, I laid a pair of California wildflowers on the grave of William Wordsworth. A waxing crescent moon hung suspended over a nearby hill. Shining very close to it was Jupiter, where the comet was making its cosmic crash. But here on earth, in this quiet churchyard, nothing but peace. I had pressed the two flowers––California poppy and Farewell-to-Spring––in my copy of Wordsworth’s Prelude, whose buoyant embrace of the human journey––rejecting the melancholy “wandering steps and slow” at the end of Paradise Lost––I claimed for myself at the beginning of my sixth decade. In these latter days, I do so again:
The earth is all before me. With a heart
Joyous, nor scared at its own liberty,
I look about; and should the chosen guide
Be nothing better than a wandering cloud,
I cannot miss my way. I breathe again!
Laying wildflowers on Wordsworth’s grave on my 50th birthday.
Related post: Grace Me Guide
[i] Vera Pavlova, “Four Poems,” translated from the Russian by Steven Seymour, The New Yorker, July 30, 2007, 37.
[ii] Stanley Kunitz excerpts are from “The Layers,” The Collected Poems of Stanley Kunitz(New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2002). Poetry Foundation link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54897/the-layers
Posted in Anglican spirituality, Birthday, Journey of life, Memoir, Time | Tagged 75th birthday, Apollo 11, Book of Common Prayer, Calvin and Hobbes, Double Indemnity, Dylan Thomas, First atomic bomb, July 16 1944, Stanley Kunitz "The Layers", Suicide, The earth is all before me, Vera Pavlova "Four Poems", W. H. Auden, William Wordsworth "The Prelude" | 10 Replies
“Your celebration is a sham”––Independence Day in an Age of Cruelty
Posted on July 3, 2019 by jimfriedrich
Standing room only at McAllen, TX, detention center, June 10, 2019 (Office of Inspector General, Dept. of Homeland Security)
––– The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
“If you want water, drink from the toilet.”
––– U.S. Border Patrol agent to a thirsty immigrant, July 1, 2019
John Adams, our second President, predicted a Fourth of July “celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival” and “solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forth for evermore.”[i] It would be a time to remember our origins, honor our ideals, and pledge ourselves to nurture and preserve the noblest portions of our national life.
In the nineteenth century, the vision of Independence Day as a national covenant of memory and renewal found exuberant expression in the verbal fireworks of grand orations. These long-winded blasts of rhetorical excess came to be known as “making the eagle scream,” but their homiletic intention was serious: to summon the people to “effusions of gratitude” for America’s sacred origins, and to encourage “a faithful and undeviating adherence” to the principles of liberty, equality and the common good. [ii]
But what about those who are excluded from the blessings of liberty? By the 1820s, some Independence Day orators began to call out the inconsistency of celebrating freedom while so many still wore the chains of slavery. “We ought to remember that the happiness we enjoy is not universal,” Giles B. Kellogg told an audience at Williams College on July 4, 1829. “This will temper our exultation and render more heart-felt our tribute of gratitude . . . There are those among us who are shut out from the light of freedom, chained down in the prison house of bondage . . . those of common origins with ourselves, inheritors of the same great blessings, heirs to the same immortality.” [iii]
The most famous of these abolitionist orations was delivered on July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass, to the Rochestery Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. As an escaped slave himself, he gave voice to the voiceless with fiery eloquence:
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy––a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.” [iv]
Irony and guilt continue to haunt our national celebrations of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Racism is alive and well, along with other long-standing national sins. And the concentration camps on our southern border, where federal agents put children in cages and subject countless refugees to conditions of torture, certainly make the rhetoric of freedom an unholy sham in our own day.
For those who are more offended by the words “concentration camp” and “torture” than by the realities they describe, let me point out that while these are certainly loaded terms, they are technically accurate. A concentration camp is defined as “a place in which large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities.”[v] While the most notorious examples are Nazi death camps and Soviet labor camps, the term itself has a broader application. As for torture, a physician who witnessed the appalling conditions of the camps––“extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food”––concluded that “the conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities.” [vi]
Detention Center, Weslaco, Texas (Office of Inspector General, Dept. of Homeland Security)
How shall we respond to such evil? Let Douglass be our teacher:
“O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”
Detention Center, McAllen, Texas, June 10, 2019 (Office of Inspector General, Dept. of Homeland Security)
The Fourth of July should be a day of atonement not only for the cruel barbarity of the Trump administration––which would indeed “disgrace a nation of savages”––but also for our collective impotence to make it stop. Instead, the president is stealing millions of dollars from our National Parks to stage a military spectacle in his honor, and to desecrate the Lincoln Memorial with hate speech to his adoring mob (Trump opponents will be kept at a distance to silence the voice of protest). And to such shameless and pitiful parody of Independence Day, the words of Douglass make perfect reply:
“Oh! be warned! be warned! a horrible reptile is coiled up in your nation’s bosom; the venomous creature is nursing at the tender breast of your youthful republic; for the love of God, tear away, and fling from you the hideous monster, and let the weight of [the people] crush and destroy it forever!”
Related post: July 4th and the Pursuit of Happiness
[i] Benson Bobrick, Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution (New York: Penguin Books, 1998), 203.
[ii] Phrases taken from the July 4, 1821 oration of John Quincy Adams in Washington, D.C., when he was Secretary of State. This and many other Independence Day orations may be found at https://classicapologetics.com/special/4th.html
[iii] https://classicapologetics.com/special/4th/Kellogg.Oration.1829.pdf
[iv] Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” (July 5, 1852). https://www.thenation.com/article/what-slave-fourth-july-frederick-douglass/
[v] https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/concentration_camp Some might argue for the term “refugee detention center,” where people may indeed suffer from logistical overload. But the deliberate and intentional infliction of suffering by the Border Patrol and its white supremacist enablers in the Administration justifies, in my view, the more damning term.
[vi] Matt Stieb, “Everything We Know About the Inhumane Conditions at Migrant Detention Camps,”New York Magazine (July 2019). The physician quoted is Dolly Lucio Sevier: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/the-inhumane-conditions-at-migrant-detention-camps.html
Posted in American history, Donald Trump, Fourth of July, Holidays, Human rights, Immigration, Politics | Tagged "drink from the toilet", "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?, American concentration camps, Border Patrol, Declaration of Independence, Detention centers, Fourth of July, Fourth of July oration, Frederick Douglass, immigration crisis, Independence Day, Inhuman conditions at migrant detention camps, John Quincy Adams, Office of Inspector General photographs of detention facilities | 1 Reply
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Chukky Okobi: Super Bowl Mindset For The High Achievers
Welcome to the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast interview with Chukky Okobi
Introducing Chukky Okobi
Chukky Okobi is todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast.
He is a man who has been at the very top of his career, and now on a mission to go even higher.
He is a former American football center and commercial actor.
Playing college football at Purdue, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 2001 NFL Draft.
Several years later earning a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in Super Bowl XL (40) against the Seattle Seahawks.
He has also been a member of the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans, and is now a Master Practitioner in Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).
With his brand, Basic Instructions, he helps executives, athletes and others to access the resources within themselves to achieve the life experience they desire.
Life After Football The Dots Join Up
As he says “In NLP, there’s a saying: the conscious mind is the goal setter, and the unconscious mind is the goal-getter.
Your unconscious mind is not out to get you–rather, it’s out TO GET FOR YOU whatever you want in life.
However, if you don’t know how to communicate what you want properly.
It will keep bringing steaming bowls of liver stew out of the kitchen.
Whatever it is, realize that your unconscious mind only does that because it thinks that’s what you want.
“Sir, here is your procrastination along with a side of anxiety.
I’ve also told the valet to bring up your emotional baggage as per your request.
Will you be needing anything else?”
You see there is a lot going on inside us which we just haven’t got a clue that it’s holding us back from ever getting ourselves into the end zone, for life’s touchdown.
So as he worked tirelessly in his football career did he always have an eye on the next stage of his life?
And where do people go wrong in life in his view…working hard for the wrong things, are not working hard enough for the right things?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Chukky Okobi
Chukky Okobi Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Chukky Okobi such as:
Chukky shares how the repetition of practising time and time again can be so powerful.
Why it is so important to mentally set out your own steps, whilst not being prescribed by others and what they expect of us day to day.
Chukky reveals how the biggest obstacle that people face in their lives is their own personal belief structure.
What they believe they can achieve often gets stopped before it ever has a chance to come to life.
How To Connect With Chukky Okobi
Listen To Chukky Okobi On iTunes
Return To The Top Of Chukky Okobi
If this show inspired you to think “fitness and health” then check out other fitness based shows from the Join Up Dots archives such as Youtube star Luke Sheeran, Super Cyling Man or the amazing James Barrington
Of course if you want to hear all our amazing shows then jump over to the podcast archives to hear thousands of interviews by simply clicking here.
Audio Transcription For Chukky Okobi
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. join up dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK David Ralph
David Ralph [0:21]
Yes. Hello. Good morning, everybody and welcome to join up dots. It’s been literally weeks and months since I’ve last recorded an episode so hopefully I know what buttons to press and not just sort of do the physical buttons. Maybe I can press the right buttons and get my my guests riled up. But he’s, he’s a big fella is a big fella, so I’m not going to mess around with him. He is a former American football center and a commercial actor, and he has somebody who’s been at the very top of his career, and now he’s on a mission to go even higher. He played college football at Purdue and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 2001 NFL dropped, earning a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in Super Bowl x L. Now that’s either 40 or extra large. So I’m going to go with 40 against the Seattle Seahawks. He’s also been a member of the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans and he’s now a master practitioner in neuro linguistic programming or NLP for us. Now with these brand basic instructions, he helps executives, athletes and others to access the resources within themselves to achieve the life experience they desire. As he says in NLP, there’s a saying the conscious mind is the goal setter. And the unconscious mind is the goal getter. your unconscious mind is not out to get you rather it’s out to get all you whatever you want in life. However, if you don’t know how to communicate what you want properly, it will keep bringing steaming bowls of livers to out of the kitchen. Whatever it is realize that your unconscious mind only does that because it thinks that’s what you want. So here is your procrastination along with aside anxiety. I’ve also told the ballet to bring up your emotional body as per your request. Will you be needing Anything else? You say there is a lot going on inside us which we just haven’t got a clue that is holding us back from ever getting ourselves into the end zone for life’s touchdown. And bear in mind I know nothing about American football. I’m quite proud about that. So as he worked tirelessly in his football career, did you always have an eye on the next stage of his life? And where do people go wrong? Working hard for the wrong things or not working hard enough for the right things? Well, let’s find out as we bring into the show to start joining up does with the one and only Chukky Okobi. Morning Chukky how are you?
Chukky Okobi [2:37]
Good morning David I’m excellent. How are
you? I’m very, very well. I was proud of myself. As I say I come from the United Kingdom. I know nothing about American football in any shape or form. I came out with end zone last touchdown. Was that good?
That was excellent actually. But you know, it’s obviously wouldn’t imagine that I’m actually a bigger Premier League fan and a NFL so you know talking to somebody it over there in the UK is got me feeling a little little nostalgic from what I was a kid and I used to watch Arsenal, the Invincibles. Oh, you don’t want to talk about them?
You don’t want to talk about them. Chucky didn’t
talk about that too much today.
Yeah, we we don’t talk about Arsenal a nice game. Yes. American football was your whole thing. Of course, we’re now going to be talking about your new business. That’s why we’ve got you on there. But I’m very interested in that moment when your life changes. Because as a kid, we all have dreams. We all have focuses. We all want to be at the top of our game and you did it you achieved it. But do you realize that it’s going to come to an end? Or are you just blinkered? When you’re in it? Do you think it’s going to go on forever? Or do you always know that one tackle, one slam one, whatever, it could be the end of it.
It’s it’s like you said you never know when the end is going to come. And then that’s not just in sports and in your career. But in life, you don’t know how many days you have on this planet. And for me, looking at life, it’s always kind of been one thing. And so everything I do every single day, leads into at the end of it when my life ends, what exactly was and as a kid, I knew I wanted to play football, I knew I wanted to play sports since I was about seven. And you know, we know kids always dream of doing different things. And but for me, this was very real. And in my mind, it was it was like a plan that I had in seven years old. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do. I knew what the outcome was to be though. And so I treated it that way all along. And I had this dream, this dream of playing professional football. When I got to the NFL my rookie year, one of the biggest surprises I had was that I kind of felt this feeling of disappointment. And what it was is that forces a seven I had this dream, and all of a sudden it was real. And what I didn’t have my dream anymore. It was it was it wasn’t like depression, but there was just a little feeling of disappointment, like something’s missing. And it was being able to dream. And at that point in time, when everyone else looks at you and thinks that you have everything, to me was just the beginning of something, something bigger this thing called my life. And it’s I’m going to I’m at a point now, further long, more progress than I could have imagined at eight, seven, and eight, seven. Now I’m actually living it. And so that plan that I put in place, way back in the in the 80s when I was seven years old, all of a sudden, you realize that you manifested this, you made it real. Now what do we do next?
Now, I totally understand that feeling of depression, because I come from a presenting background. And I can be doing something in front of a huge crowd. Feeling brilliant, feeling excellent. And then afterwards, I always feel defeated. I always feel like it’s just like the energy’s been taken from me any song, most bad, it’s the mountain, it’s the climb. That’s the exciting bit to get into the Cali, you just don’t sort of feel the same idea.
Yeah, you hit on the head, it’s when you have that drive, to do big things to be able to speak in front of, you know, thousands of people be able to play football on TV be able to play in the Super Bowl, and then you actually do it. What most people don’t understand, because they never had the opportunity to do the things that you and I do is that it’s not as exciting as you think it will be all the excitement is in chasing that dream is in creating that the excitement happens in the process of manifesting life. Once you’ve manifested that, that feeling of disappointment, that feeling of being drained, I think you You and I are kind of felt the same thing. And that we want, you know, we feel we need that driving and we need to be able to be pushing towards a bigger goal again, that’s what we are. And so you know, because most people never push themselves to that level in whatever their endeavors or whatever they do in life. It’s a feeling that a lot of people may not understand. But those people who are looking to do big things. It’s what I want them to understand is that it’s who You are now that’s going to determine whether you even get there, and who you become as a result of realizing your dream.
Well, one of the things I’ve always been interested in or not always over the last few years, and I’m going to ask it to you is the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl is quite amazing. Who did you Who did you have? And were you disappointed but you were dragged into a bunker somewhere for your halftime chat? When there was always going on above you who was doing your halftime?
Well, you know, I gotta give a shout out to the UK. And we had Rolling Stones at the Super Bowl.
So you missed it.
Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And I can hear the base of what was going on. And you can hear all the excitement. But we had bigger things on our mind at that point. I mean, it’s just an opportunity to be what they call world champions. I mean, we only play American football here in America, but we call it world champions. And we had the opportunity to be world champion. So I really wasn’t thinking about the stones at that point. And when you
aren’t doing your big game, as you know that you come into it now. And I think it was Henry Ford said it doesn’t matter if you think you can or think you can you’re going to be right. Is it one in the mind? Or is it over over sort of repetitions and the training and stuff actually, in that final moment when you’re in that Super Bowl? And does it just come down to pure instinct? Or is it overtraining that you’ve had over that period of time?
I think it’s a combination, and the training of the body, you know, going through these specific movements, the specific processes, the specific thought processes, over and over and over, creates neural pathways. And which becomes a natural thing to you. By the time you get to the Super Bowl, we’ve done this in 16 times done a regular season two or three times in the playoffs, because of the Super Bowl, you’ve been doing this for six months straight. And so it’s in your mind is ready to go. By repeating it over and over and over again, you’re actually rehearsing for that moment in your mind. And so that’s the way me being at the level that I was at and playing with a lot of the guys I played with, that was kind of the way the people who are at the top of the game, addressing every single practices, you’re practicing for that Super Bowl. And so you know, at that point, you’re mentally, physically and emotionally ready, ready to receive the benefits of all the work you’ve put in every single day.
And so when you started studying NLP, that must have been a big part of you that Oh, I’ve been doing this, you know, this has now got a name. But what I’ve been doing this repetition is reprogramming ourselves. Right?
Chukky Okobi [10:13]
Yeah, I it’s funny, I actually was first introduced to NLP as a freshman in college. And I went to Barnes and Noble looking for some sort of competitive advantage. In the my thought process was back then every single person, you know, I was playing at Purdue in the big 10. And every single person is lifting weights, every single person is practicing every single person’s running, every single person is doing the same things. What can I do, that’s going to give me an advantage, something that they’re not necessarily thinking about something that they’re not necessarily doing. And this is what I was 18, I just went to look for something. I’m a boy, jumping niche.
David Ralph [10:53]
Okay, why do you think you did that? And you didn’t just go with the course of getting more and more massively lifting ways? Why did you think that you knew there was a better way?
Well, it’s, a lot of it came down to my thought processes as a kid. And growing up, I moved around a lot and was kind of always on the new kid in school. And I was on the outside, always looking and kind of examining my environment, as opposed to being a part of it. And what that did for me was kind of gave me more a more objective view about things. And I noticed patterns in the way people behave, and why and the decisions they make in their lives. And you see this over and over and over again, as a child, so then you start to decide in your mind that maybe I should do something different. And that’s just the thought process that I came up with as a child. And at that point, at 18, I still was a child. And it was just like, Okay, everybody else is doing these things. And they’re having success, and I could be the same as them. But what if I want to be better, I need to do something more. And so I went just searching something and you know, found a book by Dr. tat James. And it’s the been using NLP ever since to get into bed. It’s not only in sports, but in, in life and in my business endeavors. And in my speaking,
so, so it was definitely a case of trying to be better, it wasn’t a case of trying to keep up, there wasn’t any doubts in your mind. But God, these guys look so good, I’ve got to find a different way to just keep up.
Well, the thing is, I look at those guys at that point. And they have two arms and two legs, and two lungs and two eyes, just like me. So whatever that human beings doing, I’m a human being just like them, which means I’m capable of it, I just need to figure out how, and that was my mindset. It’s not as a matter of them being better, or me being not good enough. As much as I need to find if I want to cook this particular meal, I need the recipe. And so it’s important think, not just what you want, but to continue to have that child my child like curiosity, that that wonderment of how do I do it? And continuing to explore that? And that’s what I did.
And when you were doing it, and you were looking for different ways, did your teacher coach come up to you and go, Well, well done to you, well done to you, Chucky, or was, you know, in, in the locker room. And I imagine there’s a load of banter going around and young lads walking around with a book that they’re reading and stuff may not be seen as the way to go, how did you get approached that method?
Well, the thing is in college, it me sitting there reading the book is not going to set off any alarms in anyone’s mind, because we’re all going to school. So it was one of those things that I was able to just mix in with the other stuff I was reading for class and, or studying for, for football. So a lot of most of my Matter of fact, I think about I don’t think I ever discussed it with any of my teammates, exactly what I was doing. All I do know is that the results following me applying these techniques and methods and taking control of my own mind, to create the life I wanted. And as we know, I was able to do that as an athlete. And so, for me, it was more about looking at the results in being able to validate my progress on my own. And that’s one of the issues I think a lot of people have is they’re always looking for external validation, like a coach or a boss or parent to tell them that they’re doing good. I didn’t, I was working on myself, and was able to gauge the progress I was making based on the actual results I was getting as opposed to somebody else telling me I was doing good. I wanted evidence within my own life. And you know, being a freshman, my first year at Purdue in learn NLP, and all of a sudden I became the only freshman that will start on our team back in 1997. And as you go through, I started off four years, we went we were big 10 champions, I got drafted the NFL, I played there eight years, I won the Super Bowl. And all of this started before that first year playing at Purdue. It started with me finding NLP and and, and applying the techniques to my own mind to create my own life. And in that’s what I teach people to do is to use that’s the same principles who same. It’s not just that, okay, a lot of it is things that I learned along the way playing football, but basically structures essentially helping people to learn that recipe so they can create their own life the way they want it to be same way I did.
I love this conversation, I really do. Because it is so powerful, because one of the things that people have a problem with is peer pressure. And going through college and going into the sporting environment has a lot of peer pressure. So to be able to find that competitive edge to move you ahead. You know, I remember going the only American football game I’ve ever been to in my life was the Arizona Cardinals play the Miami Dolphins at the Sun Devil stadium for memory. I think that probably was
that’s back in the day, back in the day. And the only player I know, other than you now is a quarterback called Jake Plummer, who was playing for the Arizona Cardinals. And he had a bit of a blinder on this day, I got told and he was throwing it all over the place. And I said to my colleagues, I said, you know, that guy, that guy looks really good. I don’t think about American football, but he looks really amazing. And he said, No, that’d be the highlight that will be his greatest going we’ve just seen. And pretty much was because I never saw it afterwards. Is that the problem again, where the real legends can get to that peak. And then they go again, they go again, and I keep on going Bye. If we all got that, that Super Bowl performance in us. But the different yes you bring to the table is the ability for us to go again and be the Super Bowl time and time again, like we see with certain like the Rolling Stones, for example been going 60 years, and making up on bringing out the bag.
Yeah, and the people that are at the top of the game, the legends, the the superstars, not just in football, but in all sports in all walks of life. Those people their success started with the way they think. And then they create what are called strategies. And that is a certain set a certain procedure, a set of steps mentally, that are going to lead them to their outcome. Once you’re able to learn a strategy, create a strategy to get what you want. If you can repeat that strategy again and again and again, mentally, then you can repeat it physically. Once you repeat it physically, and you’re competing, and mentally, you’re creating neural pathways, which are going to make it a way of doing things. And that’s essentially what I’ve witnessed playing with the guys that I’ve played with, I mean, you know, I have to send a shout out to one of my college teammates and good friends for 20 plus years, Drew Brees, who just became the National Football League all time leading passer this past week. And you know, I know, I knew him we were playing when we were 18. And again, it comes down to creating your way of doing things to meet your ends. And there’s nobody better to look at then one of the greatest football players ever playing, seeing the way that he was able to do that is you think a certain way, then you behave a certain way you get specific results, if you just repeat that process again and again, you’re going to be able to get with the consistent results. And so then you’re not going to just have one game here there, you’re going to end up being like Drew Brees and, and playing 18 years and being the best that ever did it.
Let’s play some words. Now then let’s delve back into this because I find this fascinating. He’s Jim Carrey,
Jim Carrey [19:09]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
So well I’m finding from this conversation is number one, as Jim, just say, you’ve got to do something that you love. So you put your passion, you put your heart into it, you can’t go out just for the money because it’s going to leave you feeling flat. But you’ve got to be, you know, you’ve got to go for the 10,000 hours rule. If it exists, you’re going to keep on working at it. But what you done and what everyone who’s done something great from this owns to the Beatles to Elvis in the music field, to tiger woods to whatever is they’ve created their own identity when you see him, and when you see Chucky, it’s you and when you see the Beatles, and nobody else does it. Is that once again, is that something that people screw upon, I look at other people’s success and go, right as long as I replicate that, I’m going to do really well. But actually, they’re just going to be a poor version of what was came before David,
I gotta tell you, the biggest issue I see with people who are trying to find success trying to elevate and be the best that they can be. The thing that keeps them from getting what they want is you start believing things. And what I mean by that is, when you’re a kid, you have this belief that anything’s possible. Well, now that you’re 37 years old, what changed? Why do you all of a sudden believe in these limits, when we had to come from somewhere. And so what happens a lot of times people won’t be met with temporary defeat little obstacles in the road. And they will start to believe that oh, well, maybe, maybe a happy life is not for me, maybe, you know, making it to the NFL is not for me, you start believing that not realizing that it’s your beliefs that create your world. So the minute you believe, like Henry Ford said, you can or you can’t think you’re right. And for me, regardless of how things looked, I always knew what I was and who I was what I was trying to accomplish, regardless of what my teammates were trying to do, regardless of what you know, my team, you know, my team might, you know, the Steelers were trying to do, I knew what I was trying to do. Just like knowing Drew Brees and becoming the greatest of all times, he knew what he was trying to do. And so it’s as simple as doing the same thing as those human beings out there who come up with their plan, and execute, you get to have the same type of success as the Beatles that same type of success as the Rolling Stones. There’s a reason there’s a strategy that went on mentally, and they manifested physically. And that’s really the recipe. That’s the basic instructions of life, really.
But how does that fit into a team where, you know, it’s always somebody like myself, I try to do things very different from everybody else. And effectively, there’s there’s no ripples, it’s just what works does and what works doesn’t. But in a sporting environment, your teammates have to have you doing what I expect you to do, I have to have you in a certain position in a certain location. How do you bring in your own identity into fact, when the team is more powerful than the individuals?
I think, football, it will take 22 people and play football. And it’s one of those sports that you unless you’re playing organized football, you’re never playing that when you’re done playing football, you’ll never play again. For me as a center as an offensive lineman, it was about understanding what my role was, in terms of how to make this teamwork. Once I have a complete understanding of what my purpose is, then it’s about and this is my my strategy, my way of going about doing things, it was about taking that that role, then isolate yourself, focus on it, and become as good at that role as you possibly can. Then when that way, when you come out of isolation, and go back to the team environment, you’re as good at that role as you could possibly be. Therefore, that role is filled for the team. And we can move forward with our plan as a team to win. But if I haven’t taken the accountability, to make sure that I’m the family best that I can be at my job. Well, that I can’t serve my team as well. And I think that that’s where a lot of times people mess up because we’re constantly looking outside of ourselves as to what we should do, what other people’s expectations are. You if you set your expectations higher than anybody else could set for you. That all of a sudden those you know, thinking about what other people think of the lead, that doesn’t mean that in your mind, because you know, based on what you’ve done it, you’re the best. And there’s no way that if you are the best your performance is going to show that in the entire team is going to benefit and the world’s going to see that.
Well, as I speak about myself. You know, there’s certain times when I will be recording podcast, and I feel like I’m on my game, I feel like I’m on fire. And then there’s other times I feel that it’s not hitting home, it’s just sort of words coming out of my mouth. It’s a very sort of isolated existence that I’ve got, you’re going to be teaching people who basic instructions to help executives, athletes, and others access totally different environments, and especially in the corporate world, but people can go into board meetings. And even if they feel flat, the other person doesn’t get that How the hell do you train people to not allow those inner vibes up? I felt a bit sloppy today I don’t really I’m not really up for it. Is it just professionalism is that when it comes down to I mean, professionalism
is a little ambiguous. And if you try to say, you know, what is it that makes it so that people were able to perform consistently, whether it be in a corporate world or in the athletic world, and it really comes down to the same thing. And it’s about the individual being able to control their internal state. And that internal state means you mentally emotionally, you know, which is all tied to the physical, like, if you got enough, if you’re sleeping enough at night, or eating right, and all those things come into play. At the end of the day, what I teach people to do is to be able to take control of their own mind, to be able to control their mental state. So those times when you feel that feeling like you know, I’m just kind of going through the motions, I don’t really feel like doing this, I don’t really believe that the conversation I’m having with the person on today’s podcast is really hitting home, you realize that all of that is going on inside of your head, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true. So if you can change your internal state, if you knew how to get yourself into that same state that you felt when the last podcast where I felt really excited, and I felt like I was hitting home, I was just on my game. There’s something there’s a strategy that you created in your head that day, there’s a series of steps you went through mentally that makes you feel that way that day. Now, if I can teach you those steps, you realize you can recreate that same effect every single time.
Yeah, I can see this, I can see this totally. And so you’re you’re almost creating your own in an environment to win the outer environment.
Exactly. One of one of the principles of NLP is that perception is projection. And what that means is that what most people don’t realize is your external world is really just the protection of what’s going on inside your mind. Even if you think about it, your optic nerves are connected to your brain. So everything you’re seeing with your eyes, you’re really just interpreting in your mind, everything that happens in your world, is a reflection of what’s going on inside your mind. So people who ever know that people who are like, you know, all the bad things in the world happened to me. Yeah, you know, why is this? Because but that’s, that’s the script that they’re running in their head. Have you met my wife?
Have you met my wife? Yeah. And I
probably, but at the end of the day, they’re continuing to, to say that to themselves and keep continuing to consciously say that, you know, I’m just unlucky, not understanding the FS, the best to script this running in your brain, you’re naturally going to find examples of that and your external world that are going to make it true to you. Where if you literally started thinking about the things that you’re grateful for the things that you’re you feel lucky to have, you start to think about how you’re able to attract these positive things, how you’re going to begin to attract more positive things, simply because of what happened inside, you change what was going on in your mind. Any change you want to manifest in real life, it all starts with changing the way you’re thinking. And that’s what I learned back when I was 18. And it turned into my career pursue my career in the NFL. And what I want to show other people is that when you look at people like myself, you look at, you know, people like Drew Brees, you look at people like Elvis, that they’re just human beings, just like you’re a human being. And that means you have the same type of mind that those people have. They just simply believe different things had different mental strategies, and consistently perform them.
Yeah, but they have talent as well. Then they you know, eldest Yeah, you know, he could he could sing rather well. And he could see, like, Elvis he just sounds like Elvis. And that’s sort of takes me back to what I said earlier. The anyone who sounds like Elvis is just ripping off him. He’s totally unique.
Yeah, isn’t that person that’s ripping off Elvis is unique to but they’re afraid to be themselves. Because they think they need to be Elvis to have success. You don’t have to be Elvis, you have to be because Elvis Elvis, no one else can be him. So why don’t you bring yourself to the table? Why don’t you, you know, show me what you can do something new, something different. Because in human history, there’s never been any one that’s being you before you. Once you pass away, there’s never going to be you can, which means that your existence, this is the first and last time it’s ever happened in the history of the universe is you, you will only going to happen this once. So every idea every thought you have is unique has never happened before. Because you’ve never existed before. So what it is that you bring to the table, but your true self is is rare. And then Rarity, we find value like diamonds. So why would I try to be Elvis? We’ve already had Elvis. So let me bring let me show you me. Let me show you who I am. And that’s the people that are rising to the top of music, in in business and politics are the people who are embracing who they are and what they bring to the table regardless of what the rest of us think about them. They they’re the only ones in their mind.
And it’s a lot easier to be yourself, isn’t it to be honest?
Well, it is when you stop paying attention to you know what other people expect? And what you think what you believed in the past to be the answer the way to do it, once you get past it and start to realize that Yeah, being me is easier. You have to accept that first.
thing with that know, Chucky is you’re in a sporting environment where you’ve got 80,000 people shouting Xiaomi, you’re rubbish, Jackie, get him off, get him off. How do you sort of stay true to yourself, when you’ve got the world screaming and shouting at you and every sportsman’s had that
everyone has. And again, I’m in control of my mind. So I can either focus on it, or I can decide to shut it out. And that’s something that a lot of athletes, you know, we talked about being in the zone and focusing just on what you’re doing. In the midst of all those people, I’m totally focused on what I’m doing right now. That’s the first thing. The second thing is going back to what people believe. If I sit there, and someone tells me that I’m terrible, and I allow that to affect me in any way, shape, or form, and all they did was use words, that you realize that they can control me with words, if I can be controlled by their words, then anyone can control me. You can control me right now, if it only takes his words. So what somebody says to me, isn’t necessarily going to sway me one way or the other. It doesn’t motivate me, it doesn’t discourage me. It’s, that’s that’s this there, that human beings make noise over there. I’m focused on what I’m doing.
And what you’re saying to yourself. You’re sitting there and going, Yeah, I was rubbish today. I’m never gonna make it, I’m never gonna get to the Super Bowl.
Right? That’s what that’s exactly what I do with basic instructions is we got to change the conversation that you’re having with yourself. And a lot of times sports, when you have a success, failure, and you, you know, if you’re playing basketball, and you’re missing shot after shot after shot, then you start to focus on the fact that you’re missing shots. But going back to what I said, if that’s what you’re thinking, What do you think’s going to happen, you’re going to continue to miss the shots. So it’s learning how to change that conversation in your mind. as to not focusing on what you don’t want. Because the unconscious mind, you have a conscious mind and unconscious mind, I think most people understand that concept. the unconscious mind doesn’t understand the game. So if I say I don’t want to miss any more shots, all the unconscious mind hurt is Miss shots. So is the more you told yourself to stop missing shots, you’re going to keep missing shots, until you start focusing focusing on what you do want to happen. Does that make sense?
Yeah, it makes total sense that no, I was reflecting when I had young children who used to laugh and used to say, you know, don’t throw the ball on the floor. And I would just by keeping loving it on the floor. And what we should have been saying is keep the water in the bath.
Exactly, exactly. changing those little things in language. And not just in communication with other people. But more importantly, in communication with yourself, those little changes are part of the basic instructions that are going to lead you to having that Super Bowl level of success.
Where is your validation? When you said something interesting at the beginning about everybody’s out for validation? And as she was saying, I didn’t jump straight in because he was coming out with a load of interesting stuff. But I’ve stored in the brain? And did you have validation when you first became an NFL player was that was that the dream validation? Or was the validation winning the Super Bowl, or maybe it was something totally different in your life.
My validation was what I got my scholarship to play football at Purdue. And you know, coming out of high school, I wasn’t the guy that was highly recruited. Matter of fact, going to Trinity public school, which is a boarding school in upstate New York, it’s an excellent academic institution, but it wasn’t a haven for athletes at the time. And to try to play football out of that environment was was challenging. But I was able to get the scholarship at Purdue, which was my only scholarship offer. So I knew back then in high school that I was a big time football player, I my validation that I get is from the results. And once I was able to secure that scholarship, that was my validation that I was on the right track that I was indeed, going to make it to the NFL that I was going to get where I wanted to go. And what he’s talking about validation, a lot of times we’re looking for that external validation. Again, going back to high school, I was not highly recruited, I was not a superstar. I was just a kid who wanted to do something. And to me, I continue to focus on myself not wet, not my circumstance, not work, what other people thought was going to happen, not what other people thought I should do. Those things are it’s just noise, like, it doesn’t really matter. I’m the only one living my life. So I continue to follow my path. And the only validation I saw was the results that I if I is did I reach the results that I was trying to reach? As opposed to somebody telling me I did a good job? Because I mean, what does that matter anyway, unless they’re going to be able to make some sort of difference in my life, their opinions appreciated. If it’s positive, and if it’s negative, well, I am allergic to negativity, so I just will reject it and keep moving forward with my plan. I think we look too much to other people to the rest of the world to tell us how we’re supposed to behave, what we’re supposed to do, how we’re supposed to get where we’re supposed to go. And when you start to believe what everyone’s telling you. Then your dream your plan starts to lose momentum. And listening to other people.
That guy who you were talking about who’s just the all time greatest American football player, whatever his name was, Drew drew something was it.
Drew Drew Brees,
when you when you used to know him, was he somebody that you looked at? And you thought he’s gonna go on to be an all star? He’s gonna be amazing, or was he just somebody that just kept on doing it?
I it’s funny, because now you know, people in the sporting world, everyone knows who he is. And he’s, you know, one of the top football players ever when I first met him, he was he knows about this tall as me was about six foot one. Most quarterbacks are about six, four and, and taller. He’s short. And he was kind of skinny. And, and, you know, I met him and he said, he played quarterback. And I remember thinking like, I don’t know how this dude is going to be able to play quarterback. And he’s just, he’s just a little too smart. Like that was just my initial thought. And then when I know when he when he started practicing that first spring training, and I actually played football with him, I quit realized that he was different. And that, and then playing for years together and being drafted into the NFL together. I saw the way he worked, I saw the patterns and strategies to the things that he did within himself to develop himself to be the best he could be. And so I actually, you know, go back, you know, that was when I first met Drew’s 97 1997. And you know, that first impression, at first glance, no, I didn’t look like he was going to be the best ever. But once I played with him, I knew that it was it was possible. And it didn’t take long, but I met him in 97. By the end of 98, I really thought it could be the best ever was simply because of the way he approached his self development the way he approached his work.
Let’s play the words now from somebody who basically through his flaws did become one of the best that the world’s ever known is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [38:57]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking for when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
It’s interesting listening to that Chuckie, I reflected on the fact that a whole conversation that we’ve been talking about is basically about patterns and connections and building links to from the past to the future. Do you reflect on those words that Steve Jobs said bear as relevant to your own life?
Unknown Speaker [39:52]
I think it’s I think he’s his messages is really in line with my message and words, you know, as NLP best practices, you know, I’m a words person, one thing people don’t understand about words is they’re just labels. When he says the word trust. If you just switch that out with the word believe, then him, then Steve Jobs in myself are saying the same thing. And what he’s saying is, you can’t predict exactly how it’s going to play out going forward, you can look back and see how it did play out. But going forward, you have to trust you have to believe that when you look back 10 years from now, so long as you stay focused on what it is you were trying to accomplish, you will look back and see exactly how it came together. But the only way to do that is to have that trust in your plan going forward that that belief that you’re going to reach the end, you want to you don’t necessarily know how you can you’re going to make the plan, that plan is going to change, things are going to happen. People are going to be born people are going to pass way and you can keep moving forward towards your goal. And once you reach your goal, you’ll be able to look back and see. Okay, it was when I went to Barnes and Noble when I learned NLP and then I started applying it. And then this is what happened in 9798. I got with the NFL in 2000. And then and then with the Super Bowl in 2005. And then now in hindsight, I can join all the dots together. But back then there’s no way I could have predicted it played out the way it did. And I think that that’s what Steve Jobs getting?
And has it been a better journey for you personally, because you couldn’t, you couldn’t join it up. But now you look back in is there is a pattern.
Yeah, the beauty of being able to look back on things is the positives and the negatives, the negative things. A lot of times we carry negative emotions forward, or we just call it baggage emotional baggage, we carry that forward, when you know what I help people do is to release that emotional baggage looking back. And then once you realize that any situation in past this seemed like a crisis, something bad. It actually once you release the negative emotion, all this left is a lesson to bet you learned so that even the negative things are good. They instill, you can go back and look at all of the choices. You know you you thought you made the wrong choice. But then you realize how it was the right choice. You saw you thought you were upset because something negative happened. But then looking back, you can see how it led to something else positive that wouldn’t have been able to happen without that initial disappointment. And looking back, you’re able to really realize that your entire life happened the way it was supposed to. Yeah, you can’t look forward and see that. But you can look back and be like, No, I’m right, exactly where I’m supposed to be. is based on my beliefs, my decisions, my choices.
Yeah. And you are certainly I think you are in the place where you should be up in your whole life is quite obvious from this side of the pond. But he’s been building up not to this point on the podcast, but to everything that you’re doing in your life. And I’ve got no doubt that you will become more and more successful because of the knocks, and the trips and the falls more of a successes. Well, this is a bit of the show that we’ve been leading up to. And this brings it all naturally to an end when we can join up your dots, when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could speak to your younger self, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give them? Well, I’m going to play the theme of the Sermon on the mic. And Ben, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
With the best of the show.
Chuck Jacobi, nice to talk to you. I know you’re only 13 years old, but
he listened to me very carefully.
We’re all alone in this world. That’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing. Just understand that everything that you want to happen to be a professional athlete, to be successful entrepreneur, it will happen so long as you understand that anything and everything you want to do in life needs to be self initiated by you. It has to be maintained by you. If your life sucks, that’s your fault. But also, if your life is incredible, that’s your fault, too. All the pieces for greatness are in there in your mind. It’s not until you make the decision of what you want to do with your life, who you want to be. Until then, what’s the meaning you exist? This isn’t this world. Why are you even here.
And understand the trying to find yourself as a waste of time.
You play sports, it’s what you’ve always loved is what moves you. It’s what makes you smile and get you excited chasing that dream. keep chasing dreams. The things you love and the things you lose yourself and lose track of time doing. Those are the things you need to be doing in your life. Decide now how you want things to be and start making life decisions. And living your life accordingly. Forget what’s there, there’s no such thing as fear. It doesn’t matter how things are supposed to be. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past. All that matters is what you do right now. Because everything has happened in the past, it doesn’t exist anymore. Your power, your memory only exists in your mind. The past is in your mind. The future is in your imagination. It hasn’t happened yet. So only thing that’s real is this moment right now. set the stage this line where you want to go. Because if you don’t decide where the finish line is, how do you know we’re running in the right direction? How do you know when you can stop a celebrated victory. Without a finish line, you’re running this race called life, you don’t even know why you can’t predict the future. And that can be a little scary. It can be a little uncomfortable. But the decisions you make in this moment, the diligence with which you maintain your self initiated destination, and the plan you’ve set for yourself. That’s the biggest determining factor of what your life is going to be like from this moment forward.
So what’s it going to be?
Are you going to
listen to yourself, follow your inner voice, those basic instructions that you were born with? Because you’d never happened before son? It’s just you. There’s never been you before they’ll never be you again. So when it’s all said and what are they going to say about you? What is your name gonna mean?
What are your children going to say about you?
One of the people who’s who you’ve helped the people you’ve inspired, the people you’ve taught to get in touch with the basic instructions. What does your name in? All of that is determined by what you do right now.
powerful stuff
powerful stuff. Jackie, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you sir?
basic instructions calm is the website. You know, I’m very active on social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter in them so you could look up Chuck EOB basic instructions on NLP on Facebook on Twitter is Chucky, CH UK, KY two K’s no see. Ch UK ky basics, some Chucky basics, and it’s Instagram and Twitter. And then on obviously on Facebook, you can look up basic instructions and find my page and website is basic instructions calm.
We’ll have links on the show notes. But Jackie, thank you so much for spending time with us today joining those dots. And please come back again when you’ve got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Chuck EOB. Thank you so much.
Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Chucky, Akobi, so American football player, had the dream, got to the NFL, and then got to the pinnacle the Super Bowl and got his ring. And then what do you do afterwards? Well, he took all those dots but had led up to where he was. And he’s transitioned into basic instructions calm. Well, as we say he’s helping executives, athletes and others, to really look inside themselves and achieve what life can give them. And it is it’s all out there. If you wanting enough and you make the right decisions, then you’re going to get it. If you sell, it’s never going to happen. What’s the point? What’s the point I just have another beer, then you’re just gonna have another beer. And that’s where you’re going to end up. Thank you so much for Chukky. And thank you so much for everybody who’s listening to this episode of join up dots. I’m loving this loving this. I think the shows are getting stronger and stronger personally. But tell us is that people out there that you would like to hear on the show? Would you like different types of stories? Tell us it’s your show after all, and just go over to join up dots on the contact form, send us a message and we will do our best to connect with people that you want to hear from or just change things around for you. Until next time, thank you so much for listening. That was David Ralph and join up doors. And of course Chukky Okobi. We’ll see you again cheers
Outro [49:48]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices include the two that changed his life. Head over to join up.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on join up dots.
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Interview with Nazir Tanbouli
Nazir Tanbouli is an Egyptian artist from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. He was born into a family of painters: his great uncle Lotfy El Tanbouli was one of the early Egyptian Modernists and his uncle Ibrahim El Tanbouli was a member of the Free Painters movement emerging in the 1970s, and still an active painter today.
Nazir Tanbouli studied interior and theatre design at Alexandria University School of Fine Arts, but before he even began his foundation year he was an exhibiting artist. From the first moment he could hold a pen in his hand, he has been drawing. He graduated from Camberwell in 2010 with an MA in printmaking and book art, and in 2011 he founded the award-winning artist-run Studio 75.
About drawing and ‘sensual geometry’
Nazir Tanbouli: I do what I do everyday for the last 30 + years. I draw every day. Just the chances are different, the places are different, the projects that my drawings might be involved in change, but the only things that does not change is that every day I sit at the table and draw.
Strangely enough, since I was 2 years old I got hooked on black, all black mediums – ink, pencil, graphite, markers, black acrylic…
Somehow with the simplicity of black on white paper, drawing becomes more of a practice of meditation or thinking, rather than doing art. Some people call it doodle – I wouldn’t like to say doodle. It’s more of; it’s a way of prayer, of meditation, a way of contact with your inner self. It’s a bit like drumming or writing your diary at the end of every night. It’s my every-night share of drawing that makes me stabilise things in my head and my thinking process. And while I’m doing that, drawings get to be produced – but it’s not mainly about making art. It’s thousands and thousands of A4 over the years and they’ve usually got all that I think of and they’ve got the progress of my life and the progress of my work, and my ambitions… that’s why they are very important. That’s why I keep them.
GM: So it’s like a diary or a journal? –
NT: No – it’s more of hieroglyphic or illustrated diary. Anyway I think they are the most important thing in my work, although I don’t usually exhibit any of them. Exhibiting is not the issue.
Drawing is a foundation for a lot of things and it can join a lot of things. At the same time, it can stand on its own as an art form. So, drawing being my art form provides me with individualism when I need to do my work on my own; I don’t need to join any other artists. At the same time, in doing drawing I can really join a lot of work and I love to join in co-operation with a lot of artists.
That’s why I think its really more interesting to be a drawer. It’s more open to practice a lot of things, you know, that link to drawing, because every visual can link to drawing.
GM: The thing you’re best known for here in the UK is murals – a couple in Nottingham, and in East London you did a number of them, including the massive King’s Land project, where you did murals on every one of 13 buildings. Why murals?
NT: What’s in it for me? Me enjoying the traffic getting slower near the mural, because people are looking at it while they’re driving! It’s like a pop tune that, you can’t help it, you have to listen. I enjoy that.
GM: How did you come up with composition for such large scale surfaces?
There is actually no composition. There is some certain system where the lines link to each other, and they could link forever, if the mural was one thousand metres…… Every single part is original, but when you practice drawing for mediation you learn to follow the logic of the line, not your own logic. So if you have no plan, start with a line; the line, as direction, as length, as width, as speed, as texture. The line will start to stimulate in your head its own logic, and you will build on this logic. And by the time you hook your brain to the logical equation of this line you started with, and the line that was based on it, it becomes just mathematical logic; but very sensual mathematical logic. It’s like sensual geometry.
GM: So you can apply this practice of sensual geometry to something 30 metres long?
NT: You can apply it to five kilometres long.
‘Young Egyptian art’
GM: Tell me about the influence of growing up in Alexandria, surrounded by Egyptian and Hellenic art. How does this affect your work?
NT: I discovered in the last few years that I’m deeply deeply deeply genetically involved with Egyptian art. All the time I used to think that I’m as far from it as possible, but when I left Egypt I discovered that I’m very close to Egypt how it used to be a couple of millennia ago. Now I know, I’m so Egyptian in my compositions, in my lines; my feelings are very, very very Alexandria-rooted. And somehow I started to like it.
Growing up in Egypt and growing up in Alexandria are a bit different, because Egypt is classical but Alexandria is a – somehow – really anti-classical sort of city. At the time it was built it was meant to be like the first New York, where artists and writers from everywhere go and live and do something. To belong to this mix, more than where they came from. So the Hellenic art in Alexandria was a new form of art that now after centuries you consider to be ‘classical’ but at the time it was made it was scrubbing the floor with both ‘classicals’ – Greek and Egyptian.
My family background is deeply embedded in Egypt too: my great uncle Lotfy was one of the first Egyptian modernist painters but he was also a renowned Egyptologist: he supervised the moving of the temples at Abu Simbel, and I heard he was also something of a mystic, a shaman … Another visual influence though is African art: my father collected African art and he had lived in Somalia for a time, so that was all around me at home.
GM: Lets look back at the Egyptian art scene. How do you see your place in it?
NT: In late 1980s early 90s there was what was called at the time ‘Young Egyptian Art’ and it was too much like Young British Art: it had the same characteristics, was in the same time and it looked very interesting in the beginning. I finished art school in ’93 and I just joined in the right time, and I’ve been to good places at a very young age. You know, winning big prizes and being sent to Biennials. It was amazing.
And then suddenly I felt like ‘I’m not happy with that, it’s not about that,’ and so I had to leave the whole scene and start again.
It’s not about hating success, but what happened is that we were all young graduates – there wasn’t actual success. It was nonsense. We were treated as successes at a time when we were just a bunch of raw talented boys and girls. It’s that vampiric fascination with youth, not with art at all. But I don’t care about being in some certain scene, or outside some certain scene. Art is about your own sense of fulfilment and that’s why I do the whole job in the first place. So if the whole thing looks hunky dory and I’m not happy, I’m not happy and if I’m not happy I’ll just go and start somewhere else, start it from scratch.
I was 24 years old and I was a big artist, but I was actually a young foolish boy. And while we’ve been treated nicely and put in very good places, I’ve seen old painters who’ve been in the business for years and working hard, just being buried because the scene wasn’t ready for anything except ‘Young Egyptian Art.’ So the idea of old became shameful, any work that was rooted in lifetime experience became ‘not interesting’ and the whole thing started to go in a direction that disgusted me and that I didn’t belong to. I got out: I did what a few Egyptians have done for ten thousand years: I went out into the desert!
GM: How was that an influence on you and your work?
NT: I went to the desert about eight months before I had to give my work to the Cairo International Biennial. I was thinking about my work and where I wanted it to go so I left: during this eight months I took with me some biros, some A4s and Leonardo da Vinci’s book of anatomy. I spent the months looking in my work without doing work, and if I needed really to draw I made myself stick to da Vinci’s anatomy book. Until the book got stolen. I lived alone on a huge tract of land and I had to build my own house with my own hands …
GM: So you lived a kind of hermit life?
NT: Not really a hermit! As long as you can go to market on a Saturday and buy a sack of potatoes, you’re not a hermit. Let’s say it was a sort of basic life, but a hermit life is when you really can’t reach a sack of potatoes! I lived on potatoes, tea, sugar and occasionally I could get the odd pint of milk. This itself was a bit of luxury compared to a hermit. But it was minimal.
GM: So the desert was a serious ‘reality check’?
NT: I remember when I first went there I had instant coffee and instant Coffee-Mate, so to live on potatoes after that – that was a
reality check. I had long hair and there was no water to wash it so I was bald, and that was a reality check. But the biggest reality check wasn’t in the hair or in the coffee it was – the desert is about zero noise. And the moonless night is zero light. And if there were clouds between you and the stars, you can’t see the palm of your hand. The human experience of living for 2-3 days where, by the time the sun sets, you’re on you own in the desert and you can not see the palm of your own hand … It’s real experience, real fear, real worry.
You feel small, because you are small. And you face the fact of being small and then you start to enjoy the fact of being small. And then after 8 months when you go back to the city, you feel that all of this ‘I’m big’ bullshit is quite fake. You can’t do it any more.
GM: That must have affected your approach to your work, didn’t it?
NT: My early work was more about looking good. It was, let’s say, flashy work. It won prizes and people were excited about it, but it was nothing but show. The desert made me want to strip the style out of the job and leave the substance. So when I did this in the beginning I had to face the fact that I was young, new graduate, who knew a few tricks that make style. When I took those tricks and the style out, the substance was near zero. But what was more important for me was facing the fact that I’m on ground zero as an artist and there’s a long way to go.
There are some issues in art, related to your human experience as age, and it doesn’t matter how smart you are, or how talented you are; it doesn’t matter how well trained you are, it doesn’t matter if you have been taught to draw and paint since you were two. All of this doesn’t matter. There are things in your psyche that will not even start to sit in your head until you’re 30 or 40. And until you feel this way you will not work this way. There are some points where you really need conscious experience being built in your practice and your work and your conception. And this could never happen while I’m 24.
I know that we live in a time where you can be 24 or 20 or under 30, and be ‘big and rich and famous’ and everybody’s talking about you and everything, but it is just illusion. The fact of the matter is, art is a human practice. It’s not about dealers getting some oligarch to buy your work. Making culture is more fundamental and important than that.
Subject matter: Art and Life
GM: Your work seems very critical, very topical. Do you agree with that?
NT: I work on everyday subjects, my feelings about everyday subjects. You might see a few guns, bits of violence in my drawings… I’m a just a guy, listening to the news, hearing about people being stabbed and killed every single day – and every single night I go out knowing that I might be the one who’ll be on the news tomorrow.
I did this strange drawing of a dog biting in a human hand. And I myself, I felt like ‘What on earth are you doing, man? Where do you get these twisted thoughts?’ And the following day on the radio, I heard about a guy who let his dog run out in the field, the dog came back carrying a human bone. So my panic and my drawings are not far-fetched after all. You really got dead bodies on the street and you got dogs running in the garden carrying back to the house carrying back human bones. So this disturbing drawing of mine actually happened and it’s not surreal – it’s too damned real. And that’s what makes it scary!
I feel that there’s enough people being cynical, and clinical, and I feel that I want to say things as it is, there’s no place for irony, there’s no place for cynicism. I despise “postmodern irony.” People today think that “political” art has to preach or to say “it’s a comment upon blah blah” – be really obviously political, and a lot of the time it’s hypocritical. But if you have views, they will appear in your work and you don’t have to be overt. Velásquez could paint Las Meninas and through it tell us a lot about what he thought about the place of the artist in society, and the illusion of kingship – yet he did it for the king who loved it. That’s political. Anyway, things around us are strange and if I don’t understand them at least I have to scream them out through art.
GM: Yet many of the images that occur in your work could be said to be almost archetypal.
NT: What you call archetypal images – it’s about images that most of us, as humans, we share in common. And my work has got some of that. But each one of us has got his or her own symbols.
For example the drawing series ‘Egyptian Songs of Love and Death’ It was about the things that mark significant process on the timeline between birth and death. It’s about the womb, and it’s about the birth, and it’s about celebration of the new child, and it’s about the ego and the bravado of the young man, and it’s about the weakness and the wisdom of the old, and it’s about how after the old dies and rots, he or she expects to come back as a very light new flying spirit. Yet to reconnect with and one to rejoin the same old body in a young state … it’s a butterfly circle.
It’s a butterfly circle and I always talk about death in general and I’m always obsessed by my own death. Egyptians are like that. And this series, it’s not about ‘talking about Egyptian culture’, as much as it’s my own culture, practised to sort out some issues I have with death. It wasn’t exploration of Egyptian motifs – it was my own exploration of my own motifs – and I happen to be Egyptian. And that’s why they look like Egyptian motifs.
GM: How do you approach the issue of audience in your work?
NT: This is the most interesting thing. I don’t see art as monologue. I’m always interested in the audience, I’m always interested in who’s going to see the work, where the work is going to be exhibited, how these people think and what is the best way to communicate with them. So my work changes with the change of the audience and the change of the country.
Success for me is finding a room ready for me to exhibit my work, and finding an audience who is happy to come and look at my work whenever I do it. Lack of success is to either not work, or to work and pile it in your studio – no-one wants to show it and no-one gets to see it. That’s why I founded Studio75, to bring people off the street into the studio every day to see me work or to let others show their work.
I’m a normal guy; I live in a normal flat in a normal street, with normal neighbours. I have normal problems and normal fears. So, just because I have a way to express these ordinary fears – this does not mean that my format has got to be for some certain people or about some certain people. It’s a form of contact; it’s my side of the dialogue.
When I came to England and I was restarting my career with no money and no support, I worked in a factory. It’s the best thing I could have done cos it introduced me to the real England, to the people. If I’d just have come to do the MA and sat in the art school first I would not have adjusted so well…. Anyway at the factory I sat in the canteen and I did some doodles on an old newspaper. And by the time I put some drawings on the paper, my relationships with the people in this place became different. So… I draw mainly for my own functionality. It provides me with better living, with better interaction with people. It’s very basic. Even if I didn’t make anything from art more than this I’m quite happy: it’s my tool for everyday life.
GM: What about your education at Alexandria Academy of Art and your MA at Camberwell?
NT: During my undergraduate, I was a bit of an anarchist. So I didn’t accept to listen much to the teachers while they were talking to me, as much as I sneaked and listened to the teachers while they were telling other people – you know. I was that kind of kid at the art school.
GM: Rebel?
NT: No, not rebel. Trouble. [laughter]
So, as long as you know this about yourself – fantastic. I got my Art Degree and whatever I’m gonna learn after that every single day of my life, I learn it my own way. Even on the MA – I just lived in the studio the whole time, I didn’t bother with classes. Since childhood the existence in a classroom turns me naughty. I just can’t behave when you put me in a classroom; all the bad blood in my body runs.
GM: But you learned a lot outside the school, from older artists; which of course is an option that most students don’t really have here.
NT: Alexandria Art School started as an artist-run art school. Ahmed Osman, Alexandria-born sculptor educated in Cairo – Cairo art school was more aristocracy based, funded by the royal family and stuff. Alexandria Art School was more of a rebel institution, this sculptor came and collected his friends and they started to teach. After the Revolution the whole thing became nationalised, it became part of the government agenda. The ‘refugees’ of that generation were very interesting and these were the people I looked for and socialised with. Whenever I heard about somebody who was good back in the 1960s and now he lives in a small flat and nobody knows what he’s doing – I used to go and search for these guys and I was never disappointed. They were always doing great work.
One of the things I was doing at Studio75 was teaching young artists and I am still up for that. It’s the artist’s responsibility to pass on knowledge to the next generation, you can’t just expect institutions to do it.
GM: And what is next?
NT: There is no next, it’s all happening all the time. I’m travelling the world doing drawing performances. I’m painting murals, I’m working with traditional Egyptian craftsmen to make tapestries. I’m making books. It’s about art as life.
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About ANU Law
Visitors and Honorary Appointments
Law Reform and Social Justice
Home » Professor Geoffrey Skillen
Professor Geoffrey Skillen
Honorary Professor
geoffrey.skillen@anu.edu.au
ANU College of Law, 5 Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600
» Human Rights Law and Policy
» Law and Social Justice
» Military & Security Law
» Centre for Military and Security Law
International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights, Military Law, International Criminal Court
Geoff Skillen served as a legal officer in the Australian Defence Force from 1975–98. From 1995–98, he occupied the position of Director-General of Defence Force Legal Services, holding the rank of Air Commodore. From 1998–2010, he served as a legal officer in the Attorney-General’s Department. From 2003–10, he was the Principal Legal Officer in the Office of International Law, International Human Rights section. Since 2010 he has performed academic work at The Australian National University College of Law and has undertaken a number of roles on contract with the Australian Government. He is a long-standing member of the Red Cross movement, serving on a number of Australian Red Cross committees since 1995. Since July 2010 he has been the Chair of Australian Red Cross’s national committee on International Humanitarian Law.
Please note, only a small selection of recent publications and activities are listed below.
Research biography
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Poland's Olivia Wieczorek during rehearsals
— Photo: Andres Putting (EBU)
Poland's Olivia "I really like the stage, I think the show will be great"
Olivia Wieczorek will represent Poland in the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the song Nie zapomnij. Today she rehearsed on the Junior Eurovision stage for the second time we caught up with the young singer after her rehearsal.
"I really like the stage, I feel happy. Malta is sunny, the people are friendly and they have helped me so much", said Olivia. Her song for Junior Eurovision is called Nie zapomnij (Don’t forget), composed by Piotr Rubik with lyrics by famous Polish music producer, rapper Dominik "Doniu" Grabowski.
It was a race to the finish for Piotr, who submitted the song for the Polish national selection with days to spare. "I wrote the song starting on the Friday and the deadline was the Monday", said Piotr. "I didn't want to write a love song, I wanted to write something suitable for children and the whole family. I wanted to write a song reminding people of emotions and feelings. In this age of computers and text messages, people are longing for beautiful words. I also wanted to write a song which will show the beauty of Olivia's voice, we have been working together for some time and I wanted to showcase her talent".
"The song was written in three days but when you have an idea for a song it just comes, that's the beauty of the music", Piotr added.
tags Poland 2016 news
Find out more about Olivia Wieczorek from Poland
Olivia Wieczorek to represent Poland
National selection takes place in Poland
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Tag: Psych
Daily: Hattfields and McCoys, Dancing With the Stars, Two and a Half Men, and More!
August 30, 2011 | by shep | 0
Here’s your Daily for 8/29/2011. Jordana Spiro has joined the cast of Dexter for a multi-episode arc in which she will play a follower of Colin Hanks’ Travis and Edward James Olmos’ Professor Gellar. Tom Berenger, Powers Boothe and Mare Winningham have joined the miniseries Hattfields and…
Daily: Warehouse 13, Psych, Roseanne, Charlie’s Angels and More!
After the disappointing news of Eureka’s cancellation, SyFy has delivered some good news. Warehouse 13 has been picked up for a 13 episode 4th season. Warehouse 13 has been a strong ratings performer for SyFy this season, averaging 2.3 million…
Daily: Friends, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Kate Middleton, and More!
Here’s your Daily for 7/28/2011. Ever wonder how many sexual partners the characters of Friends had over the course of the 10 season run? Splitsider.com reports that the six main characters had a total of 85 sexual partners over 236…
Ion Television has acquired the rebroadcast rights to 3 shows from NBCUniversal. The network bought the right to air the six previous seasons and future seasons of detective series Psych, marking the first time the show has been syndicated on a…
Daily: Psych, Covert Affairs, Charlie’s Angels, and More!
Here’s your daily for 7/22/2011. There’s a lot of Psych news (and videos) in this Daily in preparation of the new season in October. First up, USA has released this awesome promo video of Shawn and Gus singing Don’t Your…
Daily: Glee, Teen Wolf, House, Castle, and More!
Here’s your Daily for 7/13/2011. Bad news for some Gleekers out there. It was revealed yesterday that three cast members won’t be back after this season (season 3). Glee regulars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer will not be…
Daily: White Collar, Torchwood, Pysch, Rookie Blue and More!
Here’s your Daily for 7/11/2011. Dylan Baker will guest star on an episode of White Collar. Baker will play Andy Woods, a ruthless financier with ties to a drug cartel who is suspected of embezzling from his daughter’s elite private…
Daily: David Hasselhoff, Gossip Girl, Charlie Sheen and More!
July 7, 2011 | by shep | 1
Here’s your daily for 7/6/2011. The boys of Sons of Anarchy better not hassle the Hoff. That’s right, David Hasselhoff is guest starring on the gritty FX drama where he’ll play, try not to puke, a porn star. Hasselhoff’s character…
Daily: Psych, Dexter, The Firm and More
June 10, 2011 | by shep | 0
Here’s your daily for 6/9/2011. William Shatner will guest star on an episode of Psych. He will play will play the estranged con man/father of Juliet. Molly Parker (Deadwood) will join the cast of Dexter. She will be playing the…
Daily for 5-24-2011
May 25, 2011 | by shep | 0
Ashton Kutcher’s deal to replace former star Charlie Sheen (a contract worth nearly $20 million for the season) reportedly only secures the star for a single season. Chris Meloni will not be back when Law & Order: Special Victims Unit…
Daily for 5-5-2011
May 6, 2011 | by shep | 0
If you’re not tired of hearing about Right Wing Nut Jobs running for President, rocker Ted Nugent has thrown his hat into the ring… on The Simpsons. Psych is continuing is 80’s pop culture nostalgia by tapping ’80s icon Molly…
Weekender for 4-15-2011 through 4-17-2011
April 18, 2011 | by shep | 0
Julia Ormond has been tapped to guest star in the final season of USA’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The Emmy-winning actress will play Dr. Paula Severin, a brilliant psychologist charged with conducting mandatory sessions with Detective Goren. Former New…
Terra Nova Super Bowl Trailer
TeenNick to Air ’90s Programming
Daily: Royal Pains, Lisa Kudrow, How I Met Your Mother and More!
Joaquin Phoenix to Appear on Letterman
Daily: True Blood, Kelsey Grammer, Damages, and More!
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ECC PLATFORM
the German Federal Foreign Office
ECC Platform Library
Environment, Conflict and Cooperation About
From Resolution to Solution: UNEA’s Unique Opportunity to Tackle Environmental Dimensions of Armed Conflicts
When the Fourth Session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) takes place in Nairobi starting March 11, governments, international organizations, and civil society organizations will discuss issues on the theme of innovative solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable consumption and production with over 30 draft resolutions submitted for discussion. With few international forums where the environmental dimensions of conflict can be properly discussed, we were optimistic about the past resolutions tackling this topic.
After the promising resolution to deal with conflict pollution at the third UNEA meeting in 2017, expectations were high that environmental damage, as it unfolded in countries like Iraq and the Ukraine, could once more gain priority on the political agenda. Various civil society organizations, including PAX, made recommendations on implementation and opportunities. However, will these resolutions make a real difference or turn out to be paper tigers?
What could be done to put teeth in the UN Environment Assembly’s paper tiger resolutions? To understand their potential, let’s take a look at UNEA resolution 3/1 on conflict-pollution. It grew out of the need to tackle the devastating destruction, including burning oil wells and polluted water sources brought upon Iraq in the war against the so-called Islamic State. The resolution provided sufficient impetus for some states to put their money where their mouths are and support affected countries and UN Environment in its work. The report on the implementation of UNEA 3, provides an impressive list of programs undertaken. UN Environment Programme’s support of the Iraqi government has been a helpful start in identifying areas of concern, and in kickstarting training for relevant ministries on assessment of oil contaminated sites.
But despite the projects implemented, missed opportunities need to be addressed. First, the voices of afflicted communities have so far been missing, notably in planning and strategy assessments, even though this was called for in UNEA 3/1. As reported in 2018, civilians in contaminated areas did not get the help they needed, even though, again, environmental concerns were high on the agenda of local communities, according to focus group studies. Access to agricultural land and use of water sources are crucial for livelihoods in areas where farming and livestock are main sources of income. Because funding was limited, those implementing the resolution focused only on technical work, thus missing out on input from the affected communities
Yet environmental degradation, health concerns, and political tensions once more made headlines last summer, as more than 100,000 people in Basra got sick from polluted water and thousands more protested poor environmental governance. One of their grievances was that their voices weren’t being heard or incorporated into government policies.
Lack of Follow-Up
Second, countries that had most strongly supported the resolutions, including many European ones, have not actually funded them. When PAX reached out to government officials after UNEA-3 to gauge interest in what could be done to implement the resolution, we were referred to embassies in affected countries for support, a tacit suggestion that actually implementing the resolution wasn’t a priority for the very same governments that had pushed for it. This signals another worrisome development whereby governments seek their moment in the sun at negotiations, yet fail to follow-up, either by supporting implementation through funding or by incorporating the agreed resolutions into their development or support programs in affected countries.
Lastly, the UNEA 3/1 resolution could have been an effective vehicle to drive the wider debate on conflict-environment issues to a higher level. Ongoing hot conflicts such as Syria, Yemen, and eastern Ukraine continue to leave a trail of environmental damage and health risks that have yet to be properly addressed. The most meaningful discussions to date were at the International Law Commission’s debate on its draft principles on protection of the environment in armed conflict and at a UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting. UNEA-4 ought to be another opportunity for states to highlight these concerns, but, as noted by the Conflict & Environment Observatory’s latest analysis, hardly any references to conflict and environment can be found in this year’s resolution texts.
Commitment and Action Needed
What lessons can we learn from all this and what can be done better to address the conflict-environment angle? Ownership would help. States putting their weight behind a resolution should commit them, both in word and deed. In practice, this means funding support programs, either through affected governments, international organizations, or the relevant civil society groups that are addressing the issues at the core of the resolution. The hard work done by diplomats and civil society at the negotiations should not be in vain and must lead to changes on the ground. Conflict-affected states and those working with these states through their program work are in unique positions to highlight ongoing concerns.
The next issue is transparency and accountability. Having a reporting mechanism at follow-up UNEAs would allow us to better monitor progress made in implementing resolutions. Such an endeavor would help identify successes in tackling the environmental dimensions of conflict, provide an overview of what remains to be done, and would also work as an incentive to push for more investment in identification, monitoring, assessment and rehabilitation work. In addition, civil society groups could provide their own annual overview of conflict-environment issues and the work done in various countries on this topic. The net effect would be more insight into implemented projects and more oversight of the process from UNEA on down. And finally, we need more critical reflection as stakeholders learn about the Environment Assembly’s process: What’s worked well and where are improvements on implementation and participation needed?
With this year’s focus on innovative solutions, there should be ample space to highlight the specific environmental angles of armed conflict (for example, identifying and tracking environmental damage through crowd- and open-source technologies and application of citizen science). These tools could help us get better information and a faster response to environmental damage and pollution concerns during or after armed conflicts.
And on a policy level, we appear to have missed the opportunity, on this occasion at least, to include innovative policies on the conflict-environment nexus agenda that would help rapidly identify and minimize environmental damage, such as that related to deforestation, waste management, and chemical pollution concerns, and build better responses and incorporate environmental policies in response and reconstruction work.
But with so many other pressing concerns around climate change, and so many states pursuing their own priorities, including a strong focus on environmental dimensions of armed conflict will be a difficult endeavor. With the upcoming meeting, we have a unique opportunity to make meaningful change on a range of environmental issues that can determine the future of our planet.
Wim Zwijnenburg is a Project Leader at PAX, a Dutch NGO working on peace-building and humanitarian disarmament and runs the Conflict and Environment project.
Thanks to Pete Schwartzstein for additional editing work.
Sources: Conflict and Environment Observatory, PAX, The New Arab, Toxic Remnants of War Network, UN Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme, The Washington Post
Photo Credit: Oil wells set on fire outside Kuwait City in the aftermath of the first gulf war. | © David McLeod/wikimedia.org [CC0]
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Adaptation & Resilience
All countries will need to adapt to some of the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change that are already unavoidable. Food security, livelihoods, water resource availability and public health are some affected areas. People living in poverty are more vulnerable, having a lower capacity to adapt. Thus, it is essential to promote resilience building. The adaptation and resilience aspects need to be mainstreamed into planning by policy makers and the private sector as well as integrated into development strategies.
Biodiversity & Livelihoods
Nature protection is most sustainable if it essentially contributes to the long-term stability of human needs. Today many regions around the world are confronted with increasing destruction of the natural foundations of life. The consequences of wide-ranging resource destruction are no longer regionally limited, but rather represent a global threat. Those affected are mainly rural populations, who find the sources of their income and the foundations of their way of life swept away. The depletion and destruction of natural resources goes hand in hand with decreasing agricultural yields and increasing poverty, which in turn forces the affected populations to deplete the remaining resources.
On the one hand, conflicts are caused by structural factors, such as economic and social inequality or environmental destruction. On the other hand, conflicts are fuelled by a lack of democratic structures, deficient mechanisms of non-violent conflict settlement, inadequate rule of law, the destruction of social and cultural identity and the disregard of human rights. Against this backdrop, development policies have been dedicated to a broad concept of security, which comprises political, economic, ecological and social stability. As a consequence, development cooperation agencies and actors have developed a broad spectrum of approaches for conflict prevention and transformation as well as for sustainable use of natural resources.
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Civil society is the first victim of environmental pollution, under-development and conflicts. Economically disadvantaged and politically marginalized population groups are particularly affected by violent conflicts as well as increasing resource degradation. Simultaneously, civil society is a fundamental pillar for implementing sustainable development. It contributes in many ways to strengthening conflict prevention and plays a significant role in the peaceful and democratic development of states. It must be supported to strengthen civil rights, adherence to human rights in general and democratic participation.
Climate change resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases represents one of the vital challenges for international environmental policy. Flooding, droughts, shifting of climate zones and increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events will have serious economic and social consequences for entire regions. The climate problem is also directly linked to the question of future energy generation.
To address the challenges posed by climate change, a new profile of climate diplomacy is evolving. This utilises a full range of policies, including development cooperation, conflict prevention efforts, and humanitarian assistance, in addition to more traditional measures of climate change adaptation and mitigation. Moving from a risk analysis of climate-related threats to well-timed preventive action requires a greater commitment to integrating climate change concerns into development, foreign, and security policies. Examples include strengthening diplomatic networks, building new alliances with partners, and raising awareness – not only of potentially negative climate change impacts, but also of opportunities to embark on a sustainable transformation of our societies.
Climate action entails an array of economic, social, political and environmental co-benefits. It provides an opportunity for economic growth and new jobs. Many investments can take into account climate considerations without becoming more costly. Further important co-benefits include: improved energy security, less local air and water pollution, health benefits as well as ecosystem and biodiversity protection.
In order to overcome the structural causes of violent conflicts and thus bring about an improvement in the framework conditions for peaceful and fair development, it is essential to have long term and broadly planned peace development and peace advancement. Various governmental and non-governmental, national and international actors and groups are involved in these processes.
Climate change and development are inextricably linked. Climate change endangers the development agenda and has the potential to reverse development goals. Furthermore, successful mitigation of climate change heavily depends on development choices around the world. Therefore, development strategies need to be climate-compatible to provide long-term success, and there are viable policy options that support this compatibility. Many mitigation and adaptation activities can present development opportunities to developing countries and avoid the lock-in to environmentally damaging technologies.
Early Warning & Risk Analysis
The reasons for the development and escalation of conflicts and the incidence of risks are multifaceted and complex. Simultaneously, the assessment of the specific causes in the form of risk and conflict analyses can contribute to a better understanding of these processes and make it possible to provide warning of negative developments, or ideally help prevent them. In the context of natural resource use, risks and conflicts have gained increasing attention in the past years. The debate on possible future water wars is merely one example.
The well-being of individuals, communities and nations depends on the availability of energy resources. The gap between energy supply and demand appears to be growing, making the world vulnerable to serious economic shocks. At the same time, the burning of fossil fuels causing climate change is one of the vital challenges of international environmental policy. So far, only rudimentary approaches exist for shaping climate and energy security in a sustainable way. The components of a strategy that can contribute to reducing vulnerabilities related to climate change and energy policy include a greater role for renewable energies, the improvement of energy efficiency and a stronger decentralisation of energy supply.
Environment & Migration
The economic, social and environmental consequences of climate change aggravate the breakdown of eco-system-dependent livelihoods and are likely to become dominant drivers of long-term migration. Natural disasters already cause massive shorter-term displacement and the number of temporarily displaced people is likely to further increase with climate change. For vulnerable populations in vulnerable regions, such as the Sahel zone or the Ganges delta, migration often becomes the sole survival strategy. In order to address climate-related displacement and migration successfully, knowledge of effective adaptation and an improved understanding of how environmental change affects human mobility is essential.
Climate finance, from all sources, plays a key role in supporting and enabling adaptation and mitigation action as well as climate and energy innovation. The Paris Agreement ensured that the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility are at the core of climate finance architecture as entities entrusted with the operation of the Financial Mechanism of the UNFCCC. Increasing climate finance from all relevant public and private sources is crucial. Furthermore, much needs to be done to redirect finance flows to sustainable paths, e.g. reducing fossil fuel subsidies, introducing maritime and air transportation taxes. The conditions for green investment in developing countries should also be improved.
Forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Competition for forest resources triggers, exacerbates, or finances numerous crises and conflicts in tropical developing countries. Illegal logging and timber trade foster instability and sometimes violent conflict by strengthening illegal and armed groups, increasing corruption and exacerbating use and claim conflicts among local communities, the state and the business sector. Forests are a vital resource to poor people but they can also become areas of conflict. Sustainable management of forest resources is therefore key to preventing violent conflict over and within forests.
Gender plays an important role as a category of conflict for many reasons. The interlinkages between gender, environment and conflicts are complex and much research is still needed. Existing insights suggest that conflicts may worsen gender inequalities that existed before the outbreak of violence. The unequal distribution of land property rights in many parts of the world serves as an example. Moreover, women (and children) are among those most affected by both violent conflict and natural disasters. At the same time, women carry much of the burden of trying to implement rehabilitation measures after crisis events.
Land & Food
Increasing water scarcity, desertification and crop failures due to extreme weather events are becoming more and more of a threat to global food production. While the world’s population continues to grow rapidly, food production is unable to keep pace. Due to the global food crisis in 2008, the number of hungry people reached the symbolic one billion threshold for the first time – corresponding to about 16 percent of world population. Food insecurity may be a consequence or cause of conflicts. Violent conflicts often lead to the destruction of agricultural infrastructure and means of production, as well as to the displacement of local communities.
In the past, the discovery and tapping of valuable or strategic resources like valuable minerals, oil and natural gas, particularly in developing and emerging countries, has often led to large scale environmental contamination and negative development. The "resource curse" of some countries shows that the wealth from resource yields is frequently unfairly distributed; instead of serving development it advanced the formation of corrupt elites and in some cases even led to conflicts and civil wars. Measures in various sectors and at all levels are important in order to use the potential of these natural resources in a manner that is sustainable and prevents conflicts.
The spread of violent conflict not only affects people but also companies located in such regions. Destruction of investments and infrastructure, collapse of markets and trade partnerships, flight and expulsion of employees are phenomena of conflicts and environment-induced crises that directly affect companies in unstable regions. Almost all branches of the economy thus have a clear interest in a stable and peaceful environment for their activities. Conversely, the business sector plays an important role in the interaction of economic growth, social development and a healthy environment, all of which can advance peace and sustainable development.
Environmental issues have a significant security dimension. Access to, and overuse of, natural resources often play a key role in civil wars or other forms of internal domestic conflict. This is compounded by climate change and environmental degradation. Climate change is now widely recognised as a non-traditional, risk-multiplying threat that will have increasing security impacts. Key risks with possible implications for human and national security include water scarcity, food crises, natural disasters, and displacement. More preventive diplomacy and advocacy is needed to address the strategic implications of climate and environmental change.
Sustainable Transformation
Sustainable Transformation allows societies to profit from a growing, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive economy – especially in emerging and developing countries. This requires a higher up-front investment, but the benefits of a sustainable transformation in the medium and long term are significant. For instance, energy cost savings and reducing the impact of price volatility offer major incentives for deploying renewable energies and promoting energy efficiency. Such benefits exist in all key sectors of the economy.
Innovations and technologies are already readily available and affordable but their global diffusion and uptake remains a challenge. Innovation and technology are crucial to achieving ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation targets. However, research and development often do not receive appropriate public support. Developing countries can leapfrog high-carbon industrialisation phases by adopting, deploying and improving existing innovations and technologies. For this, it is essential to minimise financial, administrative and political barriers.
The availability of freshwater resources in sufficient quantity and quality is essential for the preservation of human health and sound ecosystems. The use of water resources is also vital, however, for economic development: whether for agriculture, industrial production or for electricity generation. The world's freshwater resources are distributed very unevenly in terms of geography and seasons. In addition, water shortage is becoming more prevalent in several regions due to population growth, economic development, urbanisation and increasing environmental pollution. Thus, water resources can hold potential for conflicts between parties who have different interests and needs.
The environment in Asia is already under tremendous pressure as a result of the unsustainable use of land, forests, water and even air in many regions. Climate change will only exacerbate these challenges. Rising sea levels will likely endanger densely populated areas, changes in the monsoon patterns can strongly impact agriculture, melting glaciers will increase long-term water scarcity, and extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and cyclones can pose further hazards.
Natural disasters and water scarcity are key challenges for most of Central America and the Caribbean. These challenges will become even more pronounced as the climate changes. Weak resource and disaster risk management and land disputes pose additional security challenges for large parts of the region. Several countries of Central America and the Caribbean have limited adaptive capacities as they face political instability caused by high social inequality, crime, corruption, and intra-state conflicts.
As one of the most developed and most densely populated regions in the world, Europe makes heavy use of its resources, resulting in difficult trade-offs and negative consequences for the environment and ecosystems. Land is used for settlements, agriculture and dense infrastructure, creating problems of soil degradation. Water resources are stressed due to unsustainable agricultural practices. Despite nature protection policies, Europe continues to lose biodiversity at an alarming pace. Some of these trends are exacerbated by climate change, which is expected, for instance, to lead to shifts in water availability.
Resource scarcities, environmental pollution and climate change are not limited by national borders, but often have a transboundary or even global impact. These issues interact with political stability, governance structures and economic performance, and can trigger or worsen disputes and violent conflicts. Exacerbating some of these trends, climate change is likely to lead to the degradation of freshwater resources, declines in food production, increases in storm and flood disasters and environmentally induced migration. All these developments pose potential for conflict.
The geopolitical position of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), its fossil fuel resources, high population growth and the political changes spurred by the Arab Spring all make the region one of the most dynamic in the world. Nevertheless, it is also one of the most arid and environmentally stressed. Dwindling water resources, limited arable and grazing land, high pollution from household and industrial waste, remnants of conflicts and increasing desertification are key environmental challenges.
Climate change has various impacts on the three North American countries of Canada, Mexico and the US. Canada and the US have well-developed adaptive capacities and foster the strengthening of capacities in other regions as well. With high per capita emissions, these two countries also bear a greater responsibility for a changing climate. Mexico has a sound national strategy for climate change adaptation, yet fewer capacities than Canada and the US. The poorer and rural populations of Mexico are especially vulnerable to climate change, due to an increased sensitivity and a lower adaptive capacity.
In Oceania, population growth and economic development trends put a strain on oceanic and island ecosystems. Freshwater scarcity, overexploitation of fisheries, loss of land biodiversity, forests and trees, invasive species, soil degradation, increasing levels of settlement, poor management of solid and hazardous waste and disproportionate use of coastal areas are some of the problems. Climate change exacerbates most of these trends, while also raising questions about the future sovereignty of some island states.
South America has diverse and unique ecosystems and is very rich in biodiversity. Weak natural resource management, land disputes and extreme weather events bring about significant challenges for the region. While South America accounts for relatively few CO2 emissions, the changing climate will alter its ecosystems and greater climate variability will lead to more hurricanes, landslides, and droughts.
In many African states, environmental security issues rank high on the political agenda. Throughout the continent, countries suffer from water scarcity, food insecurity and energy poverty. These chronic and worsening resource scarcities have severe livelihood implications and are exacerbated by political conflicts over access to and control over these resources. Climate change may seriously threaten political and economic stability in Africa. It may also put a severe strain on the capacities of states and societies to co-ordinate activities, to communicate and to organize.
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Posted on January 24, 2014 January 25, 2014 Awards Shows, Music
Beyoncé (& Jay Z?) The Queen Bey will make her first television appearance since she dropped a world-shaking, album-length bomb on iTunes in December. Rumor has it she’ll be performing the barn-burning jam “Drunk In Love,” which means she’ll likely be joined by none other than her husband Jay Z. His verse does its best to kill the momentum of that otherwise flawless song, but the onstage chemistry should be electric nonetheless.
Beyoncé’s last Grammy performance was in 2010.
Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers It didn’t happen on Colbert. It didn’t happen at the VMAs. But this Sunday, Daft Punk will perform for the first time anywhere in several years, and they’re bringing their “Get Lucky” co-stars with them. I’m most excited for the Stevie Wonder element of this performance, however. How will arguably the world’s best living musician mesh with two French robots? The results could be stunning.
Bonus: Daft Punk’s last televised performance was this Kanye West collaboration at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
Taylor Swift: I was a tad surprised to see the reigning Queen of Pop on the list of performers. After all, she’s in between tours and in the process of writing her next album, which will likely debut in the fall. But she’s an Album of the Year nominee and a showman if ever there was one, so I won’t complain. What will she sing? Will she bring guests? Will she keep it simple or expand her scope? If she plays her cards right, she could be riding a wave of enthusiasm all the way to another million-plus debut for her next album.
Last year, Taylor kicked off the show with a big stick.
Lorde and Kacey Musgraves. Two emerging talents with distinctive voices will take the stage on Grammy night, perhaps to make a statement about their pop peers, or perhaps just to make some good music. Either way, I’ll be interested to see whether Lorde and Musgraves can elevate their profiles even further with these performances, or whether the hype has been overblown. At the Grammy Nominations Concert, Lorde didn’t seem particularly keen on sticking around for applause, but she got plenty of it anyway. Musgraves’ attitude is also notoriously carefree. Either one of these performances could be a breath of fresh air.
Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar. Because WHY? I can’t think of two less compatible artists.
Also noteworthy: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are set to perform, though possibly not together. Robin Thicke will join Chicago for what promises to be the cheesiest performance in history. Carole King and Sara Bareilles will mash up some of their biggest hits (King’s bigger than Bareilles’, naturally). The show will end with a raucous set from rockers Queens of the Stone Age, Lindsey Buckingham, Nine Inch Nails and Dave Grohl. Plus: Keith Urban! Hunter Hayes! John Legend! Katy Perry! Macklemore and Ryan Lewis! P!nk and Nate Ruess! Expect the show to teeter over the edge of its timeslot. I’ll be there until the end.
← 2013 in Review: My Favorite Movies…and All the Rest
The M&M Report, Episode 18: The Wings of an Eagle →
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WSJ says Ray Dalio's hedge fund has bet more than $1 billion on a global stock sell-off by March — a report he's since denied
Daniel Strauss
Nov. 22, 2019, 09:12 AM
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Ray Dalio's hedge fund has placed a bet north of $1 billion that global stocks will fall by March, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The position is made up of put options that could pay out to Bridgewater Associates if the S&P 500, the Euro Stoxx 50, or both drop in value, The Journal found.
Put options are contracts that grant investors the right to sell stocks at a predetermined price by a specific date.
In a LinkedIn response, Dalio claimed his comments to WSJ were mischaracterized, and said he's not wagering against global stocks.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Ray Dalio's hedge fund has placed a wager of more than $1 billion that stocks around the world will decline by March, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter.
Bridgewater Associates has built up a position of put options, with the help of banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, that could generate returns if the S&P 500, the Euro Stoxx 50, or both fall during the period, The Journal found.
According to the initial Journal report, Bridgewater's put options will expire in March, and the firm shelled out about $1.5 billion for the contracts, which are linked to about $100 billion worth of the two stock indexes.
Around mid-day, Dalio published a refutation of the report on LinkedIn.
"It's wrong," he said about the Journal's story. "I want to make clear that we don't have any such net bet that the stock market will fall."
Prior to Dalio's response, the Journal said it was unclear why Bridgewater had built up the position, though it cited multiple clients who said it could be the firm hedging against its exposure to the equity market.
The magnitude of the bet has raised the price of some options, The Journal found. The number of S&P 500 put options outstanding has also increased to a four-year high, according to data from Trade Alert cited by the newspaper.
Read more: A fund manager who's outshining 95% of his peers unpacks the secret weapons behind his top 2 tech stocks — and explains why he almost never invests in hot IPOs
The news also comes as markets have charged to all-time highs in recent weeks amid negotiations in the US-China trade war and lingering worries of a global slowdown.
Further, Wall Street titans such as Leon Cooperman and Paul Tudor Jones have issued warnings over the past few months that an Elizabeth Warren presidency could tank stocks.
Bridgewater told The Journal initially that its investments change frequently and are often used as hedges for other trades and that it "would be a mistake" to read too much into one position. The firm added that it didn't have positions meant to hedge or bet on political developments in the US.
The Journal pointed out that March is an important time for the Democratic primary because most of the party's delegates will be awarded by the end of the month.
Dalio, a billionaire investment guru, has expressed concern about the global economy several times in the past few months. In October, he said that the world economy was in a "great sag" and that central banks might not be able to combat it because of historically low interest rates.
The veteran investor also wrote in a LinkedIn post in early November that the "world has gone mad" and that the state of financial markets is unsustainable."
Stock News /
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Facebook Makes Its Pitch for Places [VIDEO]
By Ben Parr 2010-08-20 22:23:53 UTC
Facebook has posted its highly-polished promotional video for Facebook Places online; it's a glimpse into how the company hopes users will utilize its new location service.
The world's largest social network first played the two-and-a-half minute video at the beginning of Wednesday's Facebook Places launch event. In the video, the Facebook team pitch the value of Places for enhancing everyday life. They cite examples of where Places can help connect friends or tell stories about what others did at places like the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a well-produced piece of work.
A lot has been said this week about Facebook's new location product. Some believe that it spells big trouble for Foursquare, while others point to its potential impact on Yelp and countless local businesses.
We've embedded the video below. Let us know what you think of Facebook's pitch for Places in the comments.
Topics: Facebook, Facebook Places, Foursquare, Social Media, YouTube
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> Title IX
> Title IX Resources
Title IX Videos
White House video on the 40th Anniversary of Title IX: Title IX at 40
It's On Us: National Campaign
Know Your IX
Nine Fast Facts About Sexual Assault and Title IX
10 Things Men Can Do To Prevent Gender Violence
Safe Horizon - Facts on Sexual Assault
MCC Sexual Violence Victim’s Rights and Information Advisory (PDF)
Title IX Deputy Coordinator
Joe DiMaria
Associate Dean of Students
Student Center Building, Room 208
Policy on Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, & Diversity
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Community Colleges have carefully developed and outlined the major elements of an effective Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity & Diversity Policy with the understanding that a successful policy requires more than the knowledge of laws, regulations and current government requirements. It demands leadership, vision, and commitment to fully comprehend what challenges Community Colleges face in preparing students for the twenty-first century. The Colleges, both collectively and individually, commit themselves to not only the valuing of human dignity, but to the appreciation of the necessity of providing all members of the College Community an experience that equips them to relate to all persons and groups in the increasingly global and diverse world in which we all live and work.
The Community Colleges wish to take a role of leadership in providing an environment where equity and diversity are truly valued beyond verbal commitments and mere tolerance. This leadership role requires that we all share responsibility for making constructive campus‑wide changes in response to the principles set forth in this Policy. By turning our collective energies into making Affirmative Action an integral part of campus life, we continue to fulfill our mission in developing the talents and potential of all members of our College Communities and our society.
Massasoit's Policy on Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity & Diversity (PDF)
NCAA Handbook on Sexual Violence Prevention (PDF) - A general introduction to the problems that result from sexual assault and interpersonal violence and how they are affecting college students and student-athletes. It is meant to assist intercollegiate athletics administrators and those who provide educational programming for student-athletes in developing their own approaches to preventing or reducing the incidents of sexual assault and other acts of interpersonal violence on their campuses.
Dear Colleague Letter
Vice President Biden and Secretary Duncan presented guidelines on legal obligations in addressing sexual violence in school and on campus. The letter was issued by U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on April 4, 2011, as well as subsequently issued guidance and recently adopted statutes addressing sexual harassment and sexual violence under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
The 2011 Dear Colleague Letter (PDF)
Rape and Sexual Assault:
A Renewed Call to Action (PDF)
This report was prepared by the White House Council on Women & Girls and the Office of the Vice President
Founded in 2013, Know Your IX is a survivor- and youth-led organization that aims to empower students to end sexual and dating violence in their schools.
Massasoit Community College
Sexual Violence Victim’s Rights & Information Advisory (PDF)
Massasoit Annual Clery Report
The Jeanne Clery Act, a consumer protection law passed in 1990, requires all colleges and universities who receive federal funding to share information about crime on campus and their efforts to improve campus safety as well as inform the public of crime in or around campus. This information is made publicly accessible through the university's annual security report.
More information about the Jeanne Clery Act
The Massasoit Community College Annual Clery Report (PDF)
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Proving that if $\tau_{w}$ has a countable base at $0$ then $X$ is finite.
Let $(X,\|\cdot\|)$ be a normed space and the weak topology $\tau_{w}$ has a countable base at 0, hence metrisable. I want to prove that this implies $X$ is finite.
I have already shown the existence of a countable set $U\subset X^{\ast}$ s.t. each $\Lambda\in X^{\ast}$ is a finite linear combination of elements of $U$. That is, $\Lambda(x)=\sum_{i=1}^{k}\lambda_{i}\Lambda_{i}(x)$, with $\lambda_{i}\in\mathbb{F}$, the underlying field.
Now, one idea that has been hinted is to use Baire's theorem to show that $X^{\ast}$ is of finite dimension and then to conclude from there. But I don't see how one would go about using Baire's theorem since we would first have to show that $(X^{\ast},\tau_{w})$ is complete and I don't immediately see that.
Certainly, we can say that since $\tau_{w}$ is metrisable $\exists$ and invariant $d$ on $X^{\ast}$. Then we can let $(\Lambda_{n})_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$ be Cauchy. However, I'm not sure that there is enough information to prove that for all $\epsilon>0$ there exists $N\in\mathbb{N}$ such that $d(\Lambda_{n},\Lambda)<\epsilon$ whenever $n>N$, i.e. that $X^{\ast}$ is complete.
On the other hand, we can also prove that $X^{\ast}$ is finite if the closed unit ball in $X^{\ast}$ is weak-compact. Certainly, we know that the closed unit ball $B^{\ast}_{1}:=\{\Lambda\in X^{\ast}:\|\Lambda\|_{X^{\ast}}\le 1\}$ is weak$^{\ast}$-compact, courtesy of the Banach-Alaoglu theorem. But obviously this does not equate to weak-compactness.
My other idea was to use the set $U=\{\Lambda(x),\Lambda_{1}(x),...,\Lambda_{k}(x)\}$ in another way. Since $\Lambda_{1}(x)=...=\Lambda_{k}(x)=0\implies\Lambda(x)=0$ we can write
$$\begin{aligned}\mathscr{N}&=\{x\in X:\Lambda_{1}(x)=...=\Lambda_{k}(x)=0\} \\ &=\{x\in X:\Lambda(x)=\Lambda_{1}(x)=...=\Lambda_{k}(x)=0\} \end{aligned}$$
$$ V:=\{x\in X:|f_{i}(x)|<r_{i}, \text{ for }1\le i\le n\text{ and }r_{i}>0\}$$
is a weak neighbourhood of $0$, then, since $x\mapsto(\Lambda(x),\Lambda_{1}(x),...,\Lambda_{k}(x))$ maps $X$ into $\mathbb{F}$ with null space $\mathscr{N}$, it follows that $\dim X\le n+\dim\mathscr{N}$. Moreover, $\mathscr{N}\subset V$, but I still don't know how to proceed from here.
general-topology functional-analysis metric-spaces topological-vector-spaces duality-theorems
Jason BornJason Born
Here is an idea: $X$ is a normed space so $X^{*}$ is complete in the operator norm. Since there is a metric $d$ on $X$, such that the induced topology coincides with the weak topology, we may define balls $B_k=\left \{ x:d(x,0)<1/k \right \}$, and then of course, there is a finite collection of functionals $F_k=\left \{ \Lambda_1,\cdots ,\Lambda _{n_{k}} \right \}$ such that $U_k=\left \{ x:\vert \Lambda_i x\vert <\epsilon_k;1\le i\le {n_{k}} \right \}\subseteq B_k$.
Let $F=\bigcup_{k\ge1}F_k$. Then $F$ is countable. I don't think it's too hard to show that $F$ spans $X^{\star}$, and then since $X^{* }$ is complete in the operator norm, Baire says that it is finite dimensional. But then, so is $X^{** }$ and since $X$ injects into $X^{** }$, you'll have the result.
To show that $F$ spans $X^{*}$, let $f$ be any functional and now, using the fact that $N=\left \{ x:\vert \Lambda x\vert <1 \right \}$ is a weak neighbrhood of $0$, find a $k$ large enough so that $B_k\subset N$, and finally letting $x\in \bigcap_{\Lambda \in F_k}\ker \Lambda $,show that $x\in \ker f$.
MatematletaMatematleta
$\begingroup$ To show that $F$ spans $X^{\ast}$, doesn't that just follow from the fact that each $f\in X^{\ast}$ is a finite linear combination of elements of $F$? And also, how exactly does it follow fom Baire's theorem that $X^{\ast}$ is finite dimensional? $\endgroup$ – Jason Born Oct 15 '16 at 11:19
$\begingroup$ Yes it does but you have to prove it, which amounts to showing that $f$ shares its kernel with all members of $F$. To use Baire, you can argue as follows: consider the subspaces $X_k^{*}=[F_1,\cdots, F_k]$. Then $X^{*}=\bigcup_kX_k^{*}$ and each of the sets in the union is closed,with empty interior. $\endgroup$ – Matematleta Oct 15 '16 at 15:14
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged general-topology functional-analysis metric-spaces topological-vector-spaces duality-theorems or ask your own question.
Need help understanding this proof about Gelfand spectrum
Question about a proof of Banach Alaoglu
Relative countable weak$^{\ast}$ compactness and sequences
Separable version of Banach-Alaoglu
On the Banach–Alaoglu theorem: is the unit ball of an equivalent norm also weak-* compact?
Does the Banach-Alaoglu theorem imply finite dimensionalness?
Is the following application of the Banach-Alaoglu theorem sound?
Why is $X^*$ with the weak-* topology not a locally compact vector space?
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Home » Past Course Guides » Summer 2018
Studies of the Arts and Literature
Writing from Life (ONLINE)
56:606:608:A1
Cross-listed with: 50:989:390:A1
Course Runs: 5/29 – 6/22
Professor Grodstein
This course is designed to allow students to plumb their own lives for subject matter for short stories or essays. The four subjects we’ll tackle are childhood, travel, grief, and work, but these subjects are broad enough that they welcome other topics into their scope. For instance, when considering travel, we might think about food, international norms, or the sad state of the airline industry; when we write about work, we might write about our houses, our hobbies, our loves. Each unit contains a lecture, several mandatory readings, a few suggested readings and/or videos (which are designed to help inspire you to write your weekly submission), and a mandatory discussion forum, in which you must respond to the readings and to one another’s posts). Graduate students are responsible for one six-nine page submission weekly, and undergraduates are responsible for four-seven page submissions
20th Century American Fiction (Hybrid)
56:606:609:D6
cross-listed with: 50:352:383:D6, 56:352:522:D6
M,T 6:00 pm – 9:40 pm, Th on-line
Course Runs: 6/25-7/19
Professor SIngley
We read short stories and novels by diverse American writers such as Sherman Alexie, Tim O’Brien, Don DeLillo, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Shirley Jackson, Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Tillie Olsen, Sylvia Plath, Thomas Pynchon, John Updike, Alice Walker, Edith Wharton, Colson Whitehead. One or two short papers, a longer paper, and class presentation. A hybrid course that meets in the classroom M & T; online Th. For more information, contact Dr. Singley singley@camden.rutgers.edu.
New Media Art (ONLINE)
56:606:612:J1
cross-listed with: 50:080:224:J1
go to: http://sakai.rutgers.edu
Professor Demaray
This class is dedicated to advancing the conceptual and practical uses of digital media in a fine arts context. Focused on a nexus of theory and studio-based work, the course utilizes much of the technology already available in our day-to-day lives to make video art, mash-ups, interactive media and web based artworks. New Media Art also offers the opportunity to actively participate in the innovations that are the hallmark of this new medium while tracing the historic significance of computing, hacktivism and shared interfaces. Students need no prior background in art to take this class.
Evil (ONLINE)
56:606:641:H1
cross-listed with: 50:730:333:H1, 50:840:333:H1
Course Runs: 7/9 – 8/15
Instructor: Professor Wall
Examines the phenomenon and meaning of evil, especially “moral” evil. Key questions pursued are how evil may be explained, why humanity is capable of It in the first place, whether it belongs to some or all people, how to differentiate its perpetrators and its victims, whether evil is compatible with the existence of a good God, and how one may judge the difference between evil and good. These and other fundamental questions are pursued through a wide range of classic, historical, and contemporary texts and in relation to examples of evil in today’s world.
Here is the list of required books for Evil:
Sophocles, Antigone, any translation, but preferably trans. David Grene, in Sophocles I, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press, 1991).
The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (Bantam Books, 1986).
Augustine, Confessions, translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin (Penguin Books, 1961).
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Revised and Enlarged Edition (Penguin Books, 1994).
Richard Kearney, Strangers, Gods, and Monsters (Routledge, 2003).
Capstone Research
56:606:689:T1 & T2 (Joint Base Students)
Professor Charme
Independent study of special interest to the student, under supervision of an advisor chosen by the student in consultation with the program director.
Page last updated by Master of Arts in Liberal Studies | Rutgers University | Online & Campus at 4:03 pm March 27, 2018 .
This page was printed from http://mals.camden.rutgers.edu/course-guides/online-courses-summer-2018/ at 6:45 AM Wednesday, January 22, 2020.
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Author: Mextrade
This time, we had the opportunity to meet up with some fascinating people. Every one of them was a lesson on passion, hard work and a lifetime of love for Mexican food. Meet the people who are keeping us informed, feed and supplied with Mexican food in London.
Cesar / Mezcal Cantina
Cesar is someone who has provided a little heaven for Mexican food lovers in Dalston. He’s not only offering us authentic Mexican food but a place where people can go and feel a little bit of México. Inspired by his Father’s love for London and by his Mother’s fantastic cooking skills, he came to London with the idea of creating a place where he could share his love for Mexican food. Cesar is very proud of where Mezcal Cantina is now. He’s proud to be able to support the Mexican community in London and the many awards they have under their belt. He’s made Mezcal Cantina a place where everyone can go, from locals to personalities such as Jeremy Corbyn, to enjoy great food and have a good time.
Mezcal Cantina started as a school project while Cesar was studying a Restaurant Management degree. He thought of a place where he could provide an authentic Mexican experience. He thought of the logo, decoration, food, drinks and more. When the time was right and after gaining experience working in many restaurants, he opened Mezcal. Cesar is the best example that hard work can turn ideas and dreams into reality.
What Sets Mezcal Apart
Cesar has made sure that Mezcal is a lot of what he first hoped on that school project. An informal venue with great food and great ambiance. Mezcal has become a reunion point, a place to hold events, and a favourite to have parties in. The menu changes seasonally and is always inspired by people from all over Mexico. Cesar embraces the changes on the menu and sees it as an opportunity to show the immense variety of Mexican food. They put special attention to their drinks menu too, they offer over 30 types of Margaritas. With the new delivery service, there is no excuse to not enjoy of their food.
You Should Try
Their Margarita de Toloache! Toloache is a plant with many properties, one of them, according to Mexican mythology is to have the power to control and induce love! Sadly or luckily, this Margarita doesn’t contain actual Toloache, however, is made with roses and hibiscus! Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Also try their Pozole, a traditional Mexican dish made with hominy. Some say it’s the best there is.
We will let Cesar tell us more about their future plans when the time is right. For now, we just want to say, his plans sound amazing and we think they can give a new turn on the Mexican food scene in London. Make sure you follow him on social media for updates.
Bonus Facts
Cesar’s favourite Mexican food dish is Tacos al Pastor which are pork tacos cooked in a similar way to a kebab but with 100% Mexican flavour.
Cesar’s has a new found love with Turkish food. He believes some of the dishes are very similar to Mexican food.
He thinks that one of the most important ingredients in Mexican food is to put a lot of heart in everything you do.
Karla / Mexican Food Memories
Karla comes from a family, like many in Mexico, where everything revolves around the food. She grew up in touch with people that had specific roles in the daily food making. From the aunt who’ll make syrups for raspados or shaved ice, to the uncle who’ll make home made chorizo. From her father who was adventurous in the kitchen to her mother who makes the most amazing tamales. Recipes in her family have passed from generation to generation, staying authentic but enriched by the hand of everyone taking part in them. She grew up as an organic girl. She would eat sea food taken from the shores of Enseanda that same day. She would eat the fruits and vegetables from the family garden. She remembers the avocado tree, the olives that would be used to make their own olive oil. She remembers foraging water cress when going out camping. Food was available everywhere. Today, Karla is one of the most important Mexican food bloggers in London with a strong Instagram presence. Her blog is updated constantly with recipes based on the food she grew up with. Even when she likes experimenting with food, she has a profound love for the traditional cuisine. After all she’s done, what she’s most proud of is the fact that her kids love the food she makes and that they are perfectly capable of making a taco and eat it without making a mess. In a modern world such as the one we live in, with so many activities and distractions, she tries to give her family a little of the normality she lived while growing up. Cooking from scratch is a way of doing this. Karla proves with every recipe she shares with us, that it’s possible to make authentic Mexican food with ingredients available here.
Karla starts working on her blog after her Instagram started to get followers that loved the food photos she shared. Right now, her blog is a way to preserve and share the recipes she grew up with. She was always encouraged to cook at home. She tries to share recipes that can be done in an easy way for busy people like her.
What Sets Her Apart
In a world where food photos are everywhere and it’s easier than ever to blog about food, Karla provides easy to follow recipes tailored to the modern working people made with ingredients easily available in the UK. With every photo she shares, she opens her house and invite us to her dining table. With every story she shares, she makes us part of her family.
Her Sopes just the way her Mother makes them! Make sure you check her seafood recipes where she shares many traditional dishes from Ensenada.
Her priority right now is her family, however, she likes the idea of being involved in projects where she could make food for people. She would also love the possibility of sharing her knowledge and recipes to magazines. Right now, she’s enjoying working on her project Cooking Comadres where she shares he passion for food with friends. She has big plans for this project so make sure you follow her on any of her social media sites for updates.
Karla is a big fan of the amazing things happening right now in Baja. She is a big supporter of people making a difference in Mexican cuisine such as Diego Hernandez Baquedano and Enrique Olvera
Karla is a big fan of Italian food
Karla’s favourite dishes are sopes and oysters
Her favourite Mexican restaurant in London is Mestizo, however, the best place to enjoy Mexican food is at home.
Fernando / Santo
Talking to Fernando was an amazing experience. The man is a lesson on how to live a life full of adventures all over the world. His knowledge and passion about life is something worth listening to. He comes from a nomad family where moving from place to place was the norm. With strong roots in Sonora and Baja California, he travelled the country North to South in what became the way he would live his life for the following years. San Francisco, Australia and Mexico in between are some of the places where he lived, tried and learned everything he could. Mexicali Rose was the name of the family restaurant where Fernando had his first experience working on a kitchen. With curtains by the entrance, electric blue carpets, walls made with reclaimed wood (from old train tracks) and adobe. Such an exotic place needed an equally eclectic menu such as French food and steaks Sonora style. From selling burritos in Guadalajara, to making pizzas in Australia and inspired in the amazing food he grew up with. His approach to food is a passionate and lively one. Fernando, together with his brother Carlos would implement this free style spirit in Santo Londres.
He came to Europe thinking about settling in Berlin, however, London captured his and his brother’s mind. After working in several Mexican restaurants and learning the London lifestyle, he decided to open Santo in the equally vibrant and eclectic Notting Hill area. The area has welcomed this small place (that has big personality) with open arms .
What Sets Them Apart
Santo is an independently owned business. The team are like family and visitors become part of that family. They do their very best to make everyone feel welcomed the moment they come through the door. Fernando has an immense passion for good food, especially good Mexican food.
Their ceviche which has been enriched by a lifetime of culinary adventures.
Santo will continue to embrace and offer what they do best by keeping this place running on amazing food and great ‘feel good’ ambiance. We can only hope that it continues for a long, long time.
Fernando’s Family has moved 50 times all over Mexico.
Fernando’s Mother was an excellent cook and at one point one of their houses had 3 kitchens!
Fernando was 13 years old when first worked in the Kitchen of the family restaurant Mexicali Rose.
Fernando had a catering business with his brother Carlos in Mexico where they would serve food inspired by their mother’s cooking.
Luis / Mextrade
Since we are talking about people working hard to make Mexican food something amazing in London, we thought this was a very good opportunity for you to meet our boss. The first thing you should know about Luis is that he doesn’t really like the limelight. Taking his photo for this interview was a real challenge (was rescheduled several times). He believes that what you do is more important than what you say you’re going to do. Even if you haven’t heard a lot about Mextrade, you might have come across its products on your local Deli Shop or in delicious food made by almost all Mexican food restaurants in London. Mextrade has been providing the best quality ingredients and products that Mexico has to offer over the last 5 years. Luis is at the front of a very small group of people who share absolute passion for Mexican food and Mexican culture. Luis grew up in Guadalajara, where he enjoyed delicious food (at home and in the city). Guadalajara is one of the most important culinary destinations in Mexico, it’s where many of the most traditional Mexican dishes come from. When he came to London, 10 years ago, he noticed the lack of good quality ingredients to make the food he missed so much. This is how Mextrade was born, out of necessity.
Luis and team started delivering their products by bus to the few people that gave them the chance to buy from them. As the demand grew the need for variety grew with it. Corn flour and dried chillies were added to the catalogue and while they tried to hold as much as possible to their first and very small warehouse, they soon realized they had move to a bigger place. Restaurants such as Mestizo and Lupita and shops such as The Spice Shop were some of the first to give Mextrade a chance. This opportunity will forever be cherished. Mextrade managed to obtain the exclusive distribution of La Costeña, one of the most traditional and iconic Mexican brands with presence all over the world. This support was all they needed to keep knocking on doors and keep growing. The journey has never been easy but it has always been steadily upwards. Clients such as Wahaca and Cool Chile are part of this big family of clients among most of the Mexican food restaurants in London plus Deli Shops, online shops and more.
They go to crazy levels to get speciality products that are not in the catalogue but are requested by clients. As was the case with obtaining ‘Hoja Santa’ for Thomasina Miers or ‘Baby Corn’ and ‘Guajes’ for Enrique Olvera’s Supper Club during Wahaca’s Day Of The Dead extravaganza for example. They bring products straight from the producers in Mexico, this means the team go up the mountains in Oaxaca to small producers in Jalisco to get very special ingredients.
Luis & team plans are to continue to be the leading Mexican food products supplier in London and the rest of the UK. Expansion and branching to other much needed great Mexican products is definitely on the future. Stay tuned!
Luis favourite dishes are: Goat’s Birria, tacos al vapor (soft steamed tacos) and camarones sarandeados (grilled shrimp on mesquite wood fire with cascabel chilli salsa, orange juice and butter)All Guadalajara style, of course.
Luis misses Mexican crema which is a very special cream that can’t be found anywhere else, similar to a mixture of crème fraiche and soured cream. He also misses Tejuino, a drink made of fermented corn, very popular in Mexico.
The most difficult items to get from Mexico are Pasilla de Oaxaca and Chilhuacle peppers. They are both rare chillies that are mostly unknown even in Mexico. Also the corn flour because is made specially for us.
Most of the corn flour found in Mexico has added ingredients and sadly, some of its corn has been genetically modified. By having the corn flour made for us we guarantee that the ingredients are only corn and lime traces that remain from the nixtamalizado process. We also guarantee that the corn we use is GMO free.
Our list of people constantly grows. Check this space for more amazing people making the Mexican food scene interesting, fun and delicious.
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Michigan Comic Convention
Steve Leialoha
Steve Leialoha was born in San Francisco, California and his father was a Native Hawaiian. The younger Leialoha began reading comic books because “My dad would always give me comics. I mean, he would like to read all sorts of stuff, and he would pass everything along to me. Harvey comics and that kind of thing, when I was six or seven. As I got older, the Marvel Age, which I think of starting like in 1962, I was ten, which is certainly a good age for reading that stuff.” Steve Leialoha’s professional career began in 1975 with the early independent comic book Star*Reach, drawing the five-page story “Wooden Ships on the Water”, adapted by writer Mike Friedrich from the song by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Paul Kantner, in issue #3 (Sept. 1975). He continued to contribute to Star*Reach and the same publisher’s Quack for four years.
Leialoha freelanced as a regular contributor to Marvel from 1976 to 1988, working on such series as Warlock, Star Wars, Spider-Woman, the Spider-Man title Marvel Team-Up, the Firestar limited series, New Mutants and Howard the Duck. He and writer J. M. DeMatteis co-created “Greenberg the Vampire” in Bizarre Adventures #29 (Dec. 1981).
Leialoha was one of the artists on Batman #400 (Oct. 1986) and in the 1990s, he began working at DC Comics on Batman and other characters; at Harris Comics on Vampirella; and at Claypool Comics on Soulsearchers and Company. He inked part of the World’s End story arc in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman series. The following decade, he became the regular inker on most of the issues (through 2013) of the DC/Vertigo series Fables, penciled by Mark Buckingham, for which they won the Eisner Award for “Best Penciller/Inker Team” in 2007.
This will be Steve Leialoha’s debut appearance at Detroit’s, Michigan Comic Con!
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Home \ News \ ARK: Survival Of The Fittest Will Be Available For Free
ARK: Survival Of The Fittest Will Be Available For Free
Studio Wildcard, developers of the hugely popular and critically acclaimed ARK: Survival Evolved, will soon launch an exciting free standalone multiplayer game based on the ARK: Survival of the Fittest mod that saw thousands enjoying battle royal inspired mechanics, but with massive dinosaurs. Much like the Survival of the Fittest mod the standalone version will support up to 72 players in a battle to the death in a Hunger Games style competition within a smaller battlefield.
Originally built to support the huge and growing eSports community the world of ARK: Survival of the Fittest is sure to spice up the mix with its detailed Jurassic environment. Previously the mod supported the entire map however the standalone version will use a much smaller version to encourage combat and a more enjoyable experience for all.
Survival of the Fittest will include cash prizes for the top 10 ranked players in each game mode.
ARK: Survival Evolved, MOSA Game, News, Studio Wildcard
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