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The Azrael Rants and Reviews
For an Azrael Synopses see "The Story so Far"
Denny O'Neil has come up with an interesting concept that is not being used to it's fullest. While Denny is a great writer he doesn't seem to be doing his best on the regular title, but the Azrael specials that have been produced have been of higher quality. At present the focus is on redemption but the overall storyline has been rather bland even though some stories have been good.
Two stories on diametric poles of quality were issues #33 and #32 they belonged to the same, somewhat bland, storyline but while issue #32 wasn't brilliant #33 was much better. Denny sometimes uses pretty crappy storylines to bring out the most in the characters. For example, the Dr. Orchid story, while the continuity was a bit screwy and the story sometimes edging into irrelevance, Denny used the concept to fully explore Azrael's relationship with Jean-Paul, while at the same time developing his narrative style, and providing entertainment. Azrael's Epiphany in issue #33 had much the same effect on the Azrael/Angel relationship as the Orchid storyline had on the Azrael/Jean-Paul relationship, while issue #32 expanded Azrael's supporting cast with the addition of Oracle and an example of his growth as a hero with his development of detective instinct.
The first year's worth of stories are some of the most consistently good of any title being published at the time, with the sole let down being the art on issue #12. There have been singular issues of good quality since then but the consistency of quality is somewhat lacking.
There are obvious parallels between Azrael and Batman, Both were forcibly removed from their parents, are emotionally damaged, and have personal lives that merely serve as masks for their costmued personalities, both pushed themselves to extremes resulting in their downfall as Batmen, both have built themselves back up and tested themselves against Bane and like Batman over the last couple of years the main character has changed and grown. While still somewhat innocent he has gradually become acclimatised to the outside world and functions much better now as a person than he used to, and as a hero has taken to using his head more. This title has seen subtle evolution of it's characters and their goals and doesn't mind deviating from what it originally was.
The art has seen a few distinct styles, Barry's early work with it's strong lines and Demetrious' beautiful colouring, the exquisite work on Angel at War has very few equals amongst all the bat titles, and possibly the whole of DC. Roger Robinson has improved by leaps and bounds since his debut and in some areas is better than Barry, not the cape but the armour, only Quesada and Kitson can do the cape. As for James Pascoe he has been inking Azrael since #1 and has been responsible for the artistic tone brought to the pencils. His early work was bold and dark before lightening up and recently returning to the darker inking for his collaboration with Roger Robinson.
I love this title, isn't that obvious. Okay it's had it's weak spots, I won't mention issue #32 0r #42 but on the whole Azrael is better than Catwoman and has gained the edge over Robin for now. My main rant is that AZRAEL STILL SELLS LESS THAN CATWOMAN OR ROBIN. I said this would be a rant didn't I. I'm bound to alienate someone reading this because I'm not a big fan of so called "Dark Heros" the vast majority are boring and derivative. Denny needs to get out of his funk and start writing like he did in the early issues. Is O'neil burning out? James Robinson has succumed it's been said Mark Waid has too and apart from Nightwing it recently seemed Chuck had too. You need to be a Top #100 title to avoid getting cancelled and sales haven't been so great recently all of a sudden the title has dropped 20 places in the space of a couple of months.
What can be done to save Azrael? Well adding the bat to the title is bound to boost sales in the short term, and so will Azrael's greater relevance to Batman. There is a side effect though, there may be a backlash from people who aren't hard core Azrael fans or from bat fans who see it as just a sales gimmick. What's needed are some cool story ideas, some continuing story threads, and an expanded supporting cast. Some sort of permanance would be a change, a job and a life could be a better way to interest new readers, although this may be a bad idea given Azrael's hard travelling hero status. Giving an expanded role to Oracle could boost sales as there are a lot of Oracle fans out there.
Azrael's importance to No Man's Land is interesting scince it implies that Batman at least partially trusts Azrael and since most of the complaints about the title are about his percieved sycophantic tendancies (that's sycophantic not psychotic) this new trust could go somewhere towards relieving his desperation for approval from Batman. (Although there's a story I would love to tell about their relationship and Azrael's acceptance called "Not the Nine O'Clock News", I'm not going to say anything else about it other than the title.) As a matter of interest Azrael #50 is in January, the first month of No Man's Land, so it will be interesting to see how this affects Azrael.
I first sampled Azrael when Barry was penciller and I greatly enjoyed his youthful Jean-Paul Valley and his strong lines, and his big hair, yes especially the big hair. That's the one thing I miss scince Angel at War, Lilhy's huge hair, I wonder how Humberto Ramos would have handled Azrael. I really like Rog's treatment of Azrael's shoulder armour, in my opinion it's better than Barry's. As for Joe I like all of his Azrael work although I prefer his more recent depiction of Oracle to his earlier one. There are a couple of artists I'd like to see have a stab at Azrael; Pop Mhan, Darryl Banks, J. Scott Campbell, Mike Deodato Jr., Dan Jurgens, Phil Jiminez, Scott Mcdaniel, Norm Breyfogel and Alex Ross (,Alex Ross is on everyones list :) ).
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Home > Medical Reference and Training Manuals > > Membrane attack unit. - Immunohematology and Blood Banking II
The Classic Complement Pathway - Immunohematology and Blood Banking II
Figure 1-4. The complement cascade (classic pathway). - Immunohematology and Blood Banking II
Immunohematology and Blood Banking II
has enzymatic activity directed against C3. Magnesium ions are necessary for the
formation of the C4b2a complex. C3 is cleaved by the C4b2a complex into two
molecules, C3a and C3b. The smaller C3a (MW 10,000) does not bind to the cell
membrane, but is released into the fluid phase as a mediator of inflammation
(anaphylatoxin I). The C3b molecule (MW 175,000) binds to the cell membrane and
can also bind to its own activation enzyme. As the C4b2a complex is an enzyme, it can
react more than once, and produce a shower of C3b fragments each time. Only the
C3b fragments that become bound adjacent to the C4b2a enzyme, however, are
believed to participate in the next reaction, in which C5 is cleaved.
(3) Membrane attack unit. Some of the C3b molecules combine with C4b2a
to form C4b, 2a, and 3b, which will cleave the C5 molecule into C5a (anaphylatoxin II)
and C5b. This is the last enzymatic reaction in the pathway. C5b appears to bind C6
and C7 by absorption. The resulting trimolecular complex attaches to the cell
membrane and binds C8 and C9. Fully assembled, the membrane attack complex
consists of one molecule of C5b, C6, C7, C8, and up to six molecules of C9. It has a
molecular weight of about one million. The end result of the pathway is lysis of the cell
(see figure 1-4).
d. Electron microscopy shows that lesions start appearing in the cell membrane
after C8 is absorbed, although the cell does not Iyse until C9 is complexed. It is not
understood how these lesions are made. In most instances, the lesions are not large
enough to allow the hemoglobin molecule to escape directly through the lesion, so it is
thought that cell lysis is caused by an osmotic effect. When cells are attacked by
complement, they swell until the cell membrane is ruptured. The cause of the swelling
is salt and water entering the cell. Mayer has postulated a theory he calls his
"doughnut" hypothesis: a stable hole is produced by the assembly of a rigid,
doughnut-shaped structure in the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. The hole forms a
channel connecting the inside of the cell with the extracellular fluid. The outside of the
doughnut could be composed of nonpolar polypeptides, that is, protein chains that were
hydrophobic; the interior would need polar peptides so that it could be hydrophilic. He
suggests that C5b, C6, C7, C8, and C9 may be the proteins that form the doughnut or
funnel shape, penetrating the lipid bilayer of the membrane.
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Parramatta Council Archives
Museum & Art Collections
City of Parramatta Wards
Science and medicine in Parramatta
History of the Lancers
Waves of People
From Canton to Parramatta
Parramatta Square: its 200 year history
Cumberland Hospital & ‘Female Factory’ Precinct
Parramatta Stories Blog
The River Foreshore Parramatta
Parramatta and World War One
Centenary Square, Parramatta
Parramatta Gaol
Parramatta Mayors and Lord Mayors
Parramatta Anzacs
Parramatta Female Factory and ‘Insane Asylum’
Civic Place to Parramatta Square
Enquiry Service & Contact Information
Copyright & Policies
RCS Team
Origins of the City of Parramatta Crest
Plaque from City of Parramatta Council Chambers building. Date unknown. Parramatta Heritage Centre collections, 2006.146.
Parramatta was one of the first councils in Australia to depict Aboriginal people as a focal point for a crest which originated in 1862.
A crest is a component of a heraldic display and the City of Parramatta crest uses a variety of symbols to convey the rich history and identity of the local government area. [1]
The origins of Parramatta’s crest began several months after the Municipality of Parramatta was incorporated on November 27, 1861. At the Council meeting in March, 1862, the Council resolved that…
“…the Mayor be requested to obtain a design for the Common Seal for the Municipal Council with as little delay as possible for the Council’s approval.’’ [2]
A ‘Common Seal’ is the equivalent of a signature used to authenticate documents and a requisite of the Municipalities Act in NSW which has evolved over time. [3] The Council commissioned an engraver to produce a decorative seal which would be used to process warrants, fines and other official documents.
Ongoing delays with the design were noted in several Council meetings throughout the year, raising the ire of Alderman James Pye in October 15, 1862 where the minutes recorded the following exchange:
“Alderman Pye asked the Mayor if the Seal was ready and said that the Council was losing a deal of money by its not having arrived. His Worship answered that it was not ready and that he had been every day for a long time past with the engraver who had been unable to finish it.” [4]
The seal was finally delivered by October 29, 1862 and with several modifications since its inception, became an identity for the Council in the form of a crest which has been used in official documents, as a display in civic ceremonies, as an engraving in the Mayoral chains, and is used in the Council’s corporate branding across a variety of communication channels.
Council crest designs, c. 1950 – 2017, Parramatta Heritage Centre archives, A2015/18
The crest features the foreshore of the Parramatta River in the early days of European settlement, with trees described as Cabbage-tree Palms in various Council reports. In an echo to the past, a grove of Cabbage-tree Palms is also featured in plans to provide shading for the public walkway of Parramatta Square which is undergoing development from 2017. [5]
In the foreground of the crest, an Aboriginal male is standing in the water preparing to use a spear with a three-pronged point to catch either a fish or an eel.
The trident spear, also referred to as a ‘fizz-gig’ by early British colonists, was used by Aboriginal fishermen who made the points and barbs from pieces of bird or mammal bone, stingray spines, shell, fish teeth or hardwood. The multi-pronged spear was useful for catching fast-moving fish. [6]
Eels regularly migrated at the head of the Parramatta River and ‘Burra’, the word for ‘eel’ used by Darug Nation inhabitants, was interpreted as the place name in 1791 for ‘Parramatta’ – ‘Burramatta, the place where the eels lie down’. [7]
Elsewhere in the crest an Aboriginal woman, believed to be the fisherman’s wife, is sitting in a bark canoe and may also be fishing by using a line and hook. In the original design there was a small fire in the canoe. These fires were often kept alight on a bed of wet clay or seaweed and allowed people to keep warm in winter and to cook the fish they had caught. [8]
A boat in the distance is a paddle-wheel steamer, many of which traversed the Parramatta River from 1831, carrying both passengers and goods. [9]
It’s believed the Council’s former corporate identity colours of blue and white originated from the regimental colours of the Lancers stationed at the Lancer Barracks in Parramatta, which in turn were taken from Australia’s first independent school, the King’s School colours of Cambridge blue and white. [10]
Left: The main entrance to the City of Parramatta Town Hall. Right: Pavement in Centenary Square. Image: Anna Namuren
Modernisation and influences
The crest remained largely unchanged in design from 1862 until 1939, apart from the words ‘borough’ being replaced by ‘municipality’ and ‘city’ after Parramatta was proclaimed a city on October 27, 1938. [11]
From 1939 to the present day, changes have included adding a red loincloth and beard to the fisherman, simplifying the landscape and elements and converting the image to a high-contrast silhouette.
The City of Parramatta crest has also inspired designs for crests, badges and logos used by local institutions, including the ship badge used to identify HMAS Parramatta from the Royal Australian Navy. In 1913, Parramatta High School applied for permission to adopt the Parramatta Municipal Council’s crest into their school badge. [12]
Left: HMAS Parramatta ship badge on wood. Image by Hpeterswald (Own work) CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Right: Parramatta High School crest & motto, gilt with blue enamel. Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), ma.as/59962.
Anna Namuren, Research and Collection Services Co-ordinator & Anne Tsang, Research Assistant, City of Parramatta, Parramatta Heritage Centre 2017
[1] NSW Office of Environment & Heritage (2017). Heraldry. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Heritage/research/heraldryexhibition.htm
[2] Parramatta Municipal Council (1862). Meeting Minutes, Monday 31st March, 1862, p.28. Item no. PRS21/001.
[3] City of Sydney (2017). Coat of Arms. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/sydneys-history/civic-history/symbols-of-the-city/coat-of-arms
[4] Parramatta Municipal Council (1862). Meeting Minutes, Wednesday 15th October, 1862. Item no. PRS21/001. P.77.
[5] Architecture AU (2017). Revised designs for Parramatta Square public domain released. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from https://architectureau.com/articles/revised-designs-for-parramatta-square-public-domain-released
[6] Australian Museum (2017). Prongs of an Indigenous fishing spear, pre-1884. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from https://australianmuseum.net.au/prongs-of-an-indigenous-fishing-spear-pre-1884
[7] City of Parramatta (2017). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/living-and-community/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islanders
[8] Australian Museum (2017). Indigenous bark canoe from New South Wales. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from
https://australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-bark-canoe-from-new-south-wales
[9] Sydney, Leigh (188-?). Parramatta River: steamers & tramways guide.
[10] King’s School (2015). The King’s Herald, Head of the Preparatory School, Issue No. 5, p.13.
[11] Kass, Terry; Liston, Carol; McClymont, John (1996), Parramatta, a past revealed, Parramatta City Council, p.357.
[12] Trove, Parramatta Council, (1913, July 12), The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate, p.4. Retrieved on 24/11/2017 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/8966869
Unless noted all content on this site is released under a Creative Commons attribute and share-alike license, so feel free to use this material but please remember to quote sources and links.
Produced by City of Parramatta
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1956 Love Me Tender Studio-Issued Oversized Photo of Elvis Presley Playing Guitar
All > Movie Memorabilia
The story of family separated by war, a twisted love triangle and tragic end, Love Me Tender was released in 1956, marking the very start of Elvis’ acting career and his first motion picture. Although originally quite a minor role, the part Elvis was given was revised to include extra lines and added scenes to accommodate his rabid fan base. The film’s original title The Reno Brothers was changed to Love Me Tender as a result of the young singing sensation’s new hit song of the same title that had just been released. Love Me Tender was the only film in which Elvis appeared and was not given top billing, and was also widely regarded as his best performance. Only four songs were used in the film, “We’re Gonna Move,” “Love Me Tender,” “Poor Boy,” and “Let Me,” which were released on the mini-album LP in November 1956 by RCA. Offered is an oversized black-and-white studio-issued photo of Elvis on stage during the scene in which he is singing “Let Me” in the film. The oversized photo measures 10 by 13 inches (25.4 x 33.02 cm) and is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Graceland Authenticated.
The oversized photo presents with few defects. NM condition.
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Korean Hospital Workers Plan Desperate Appeal to the Pope
KHMWU president joined 8 other hospital workers who had ended their hunger strike due to the doctors' advice.
Fears for the Health and Life of Hunger-Strikers
Yesterday, Korean Health and Medical Workers Union president, Ms. Cha Soo-ryun, brought her hunger strike to an end after 19 days following strident medical advice of doctors that her life would be threatened if she continues with the hunger strike, and appeal by the KCTU leadership. President Cha, having ended the hunger strike, has, however, refused to be taken to a hospital, as she was wanted for arrest by police.
KHMWU president joined 8 other hospital workers who had ended their hunger strike due to the doctors' advice. On October 10, 8 nurses, who have been on hunger strike at the Myongdong Cathedral since September 25 were taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
They were part of the 30 nurses from three St. Mary's hospitals in Korea who have started a hunger strike in the course of the industrial dispute that began on May 23, 2002.
KHMWU president Cha's decision to end the strike was influenced also by the decision of the KCTU to step up its efforts to bring the dispute to an acceptable resolution, including the dispatch of an appeal mission to Vatican.
KCTU Delegation to the Vatican
KCTU will send a delegation, headed by one of its vice-presidents, to the Vatican to appeal for a special intercession by the Vatican and Pope. This decision is an extension of its efforts to persuade the leadership of the Catholic Church to intercede in the dispute involving the union of hospital workers and the management run by Catholic priests. KCTU will appeal to the spirit of respect for labour and trade union rights Pope John Paul II has outlined in the 1981 Encyclical "Laborem Exercens"
KCTU has been in contact with its sister organisations in Italy to seek their support and assistance in presenting its appeal to Pope and the Vatican. KCTU delegation will head for Rome/Vatican on October 21. The delegation originally planned to set out on supplication mission on October 14, but, local factors in Italy and the consideration for the continuing efforts to bring the parties in the dispute to a dialogue prompted the postponement of the departure.
The Desperate Struggle and Appeal
Hospital workers began protest sit-in on the hill of the Myongdong Cathedral downtown Seoul following a police raid at the Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital on September 11. The police raid, in which plain-clothed police chased striking workers all the way to the hospital's chapel, dragging them out under the main crucifix, ended with the arrest of over 200 nurses, and the imprisonment of 7 union leaders, including Ms Kim Young-sook, chairperson of the Yoido St. Mary's Hospital. The hospitals, cleared of striking workers, are now guarded by a permanent barricade of hundreds of fully uniformed riot police.
Following the police raid which swept out striking workers from the hospitals, the management of the Catholic Medical Centre, to which the St. Mary's Hospitals belong, have rejected all proposals by the union and the KCTU, and even independent facilitators, such as publicly renowned Catholic individuals, to resume dialogue to bring the dispute to a resolution.
The KCTU, having decided to take charge of the current dispute, began to organise KCTU-wide campaign.
As a part of the campaign to achieve a successful resolution of the dispute, the KCTU decided to a send a delegation to Vatican to appeal to the Pope to intercede in the dispute.
As a step in the supplication pilgrimage to Vatican, a KCTU delegation, led by Acting President Yoo Deuk-sang, on October 10, met with Archbishop Giovanni B. Morandini, the Apostolic Nuncio at the Holy See Embassy in Korea, to appeal for his intercession for amicable resolution of the dispute. Vatican's Ambassador to Korea gave a commitment to bring the Korean bishops or any persons in the Catholic Church in Korea or the management of the Catholic Medical Centre with authority to deal with the current dispute to meet with the union to start a process to bring the dispute to a resolution.
On the other hand, the Korean Health and Medical Workers Union is set to launch a general strike of all its members on October 16 to press the Catholic management to return to dialogue with a sincere will to bring the dispute to a resolution.
<Related Site>
Hospital Workers\' Sit-in at the Myongdong Cathedral
Industrial Dispute at Catholic Hospitals: \"Rule of Law\" or Respect for Workers\' Rights
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May 17, 2019 7:19 am Dr K K Health Care
Reproduced from http://www.indialegallive.com/health/hips-dont-lie-65357, published May 12, 2019
J&J has been told to pay Rs 25 lakh to each patient who underwent surgery due to its faulty implants. Is this enough and how are compensations calculated?
By Dr KK Aggarwal
The Delhi High Court recently directed pharma major Johnson and Johnson (J&J) to make an interim payment of Rs 25 lakh each to four patients who had undergone revision surgeries after receiving faulty hip implants of the company. The direction was issued “without prejudice to the rights and contention of the parties” in the matter. Justice Vibhu Bakhru said the interim payment should be made before May 29, the next date of hearing. The interim order came after J&J volunteered to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the affected patients.
How do we decide compensation in India in cases of clinical trials? Rule 122 DAB of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules lays down the procedure. The licensing authority, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), is the primary body for the causal assessment of injury/death and compensation amount to be paid to a trial participant. In case of occurrence of a serious adverse event, the Expert Committee communicates its recommendation about causality and quantum of compensation to the licensing authority, which then passes the final order.
The sponsor needs to compensate the participant as per the order of the licensing authority. In case of failure to comply, the licensing authority can take necessary action as per the rule, including suspension or cancellation of the clinical trial and/or restricting the sponsor, including his representative(s), from conducting further clinical trials in India.
The compensation will depend on risk factors such as seriousness and severity of the disease, presence of co-morbidity and duration of disease at the time of enrolment in the clinical trial. It would not depend only on the age and annual income of the participant, as in the case of the Motor Vehicles Act and medical negligence cases.
In cases of hip implants, most people will have co-morbid osteoporosis, age-related heart disease or hypertension and in many cases, limited remaining life span.
In cases of medical negligence, the current formula decided in Dr Balram Prasad vs Dr Kunal Saha & Others is as follows: “70 – (age of patient at death/ injury) x annual income + 30% inflation – 1/3rd as personal expenses”. Example: Suppose there is a 60-year-old patient (average age for hip transplant) with Rs 1 lakh income per month, then the compensation payable would be calculated as: 70 – 60 x Rs 12 lakh + 30% – 1/3 = approximately Rs 75 lakh. The compensation will change based on the age and annual income of the patient.
The age and income-based compensation is discriminatory in nature and is being opposed by the Indian Medical Association. The formula of DCGI in clinical trials is the current formula as it is based on the seriousness of the disease and not the subject’s income or age.
ABOUT HIP FRACTURES
A hip fracture can cause life-threatening complications. People over the age of 65 are most at risk because the bones weaken and the risk of tripping and falling increases with age. A whopping 95 percent of hip fractures are caused by falls. These can also lead to earlier mortality. As per the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, a large proportion of fall deaths are due to complications following a hip fracture. In-hospital mortality rates for hip fractures range from approximately 1 to 10 percent, depending on the location and patient characteristics. The rates are typically higher in men. A year’s mortality rates have ranged from 12 to 37 percent. Approximately half the patients are unable to regain their ability to live independently.
In hip fracture implants, metal-on-metal (MOM) wear is associated with numerous complications. These include early implant failure due to accelerated wear, adverse local tissue reactions and metal hypersensitivity reactions. Adverse local tissue reaction can lead to increased joint fluid in and around the joint and thickened synovium or local tissue necrosis which can be extensive and devastating. In asymptomatic patients (those without hip pain, swelling or dysfunction), only annual orthopaedic follow-up is needed. In patients who develop symptoms suggestive of hip dysfunction, such as pain, swelling or gait abnormality, intervention is needed. If surgical revision is not deemed necessary in such patients, evaluation has to be repeated every six months. So, not all of them will need revision surgeries.
The compensation formula should be transparent and based on the sickness of the patient and not on his or her age alone. As per the current formula for clinical trials calculated by the DCGI, the minimum compensation is Rs 2 lakh and the maximum Rs 45 lakh. There has to be capping of the compensation amount. Remember, if J&J had not come forward about the implant deficiency, all cases would have been decided against the hospitals or the doctors.
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England (and Wales), 5th division: Football Conference National – 2013-14 Location-map, with 2013-14 home kit badges & with 2-and-a-half-seasons of attendance data./ Plus, illustrations for 1st and 2nd place clubs, as of 15 January 2014: Luton Town and Cambridge United.
Filed under: 2013-14 English Football,Attendance Maps & Charts,England & Scotland-Map/Crowds/Kit Badges — admin @ 6:56 pm
England (and Wales), 5th division: Football Conference National – 2013-14 Location-map, with 2013-14 home kit badges & with 2-and-a-half-seasons of attendance data
Conference National – Fixtures, results, tables (soccerway.com).
At the top of the map page are facsimiles of 2013-14 Conference clubs’ home jersey badges. Below that is a location-map. The map page also includes an attendance data chart which shows each clubs’ 2011-12 and 2012-13 average attendance figures (from home league matches), as well as current average attendance figures (inclusive to 12 January 2014), and the numerical change since then (approximately two-and-a-half seasons ago). [Each club currently has played from 24 to 29 matches, and each club has currently played from 11 to 15 home matches.]
Below are the clubs in the 2013-14 Conference that have shown the largest attendance increases, and the worst attendance drop-offs, since 2011-12.
Largest numerical increase in average home crowds since 2011-12 (inclusive to 12 Jan. 2014)…
Increase of +708 per game – Cambridge United (who are averaging 3,512 per game currently/ in 2nd place/ relegated 9 seasons ago [2004-05]).
Increase of +598 per game – Luton Town (who are averaging 6,709 per game currently/ in 1st place/ relegated 5 seasons ago [2008-09]).
Increase of +400 per game - Nuneaton Town (who are averaging 1,179 per game currently/ in 9th place/ promoted 2 seasons ago [2011-12]).
Increase of +204 per game – Grimsby Town (who are averaging 3,512 per game currently/ in 5th place/ relegated 4 seasons ago [2009-10]).
Increase of +202 per game – Salisbury City (who are averaging 935 per game currently/ in 10th place/ promoted 1 season ago [2012-13]).
Increase of +190 per game – Lincoln City (who are averaging 2,537 per game currently/ in 18th place/ relegated 3 seasons ago [2010-11]).
Increase of +164 per game – Welling United (who are averaging 840 per game currently/ in 14th place/ promoted 1 season ago [2012-13]).
Increase of +160 per game – Braintree Town (who are averaging 1,061 per game currently/ in 11th place/ promoted 3 seasons ago [2010-11]).
Worst numerical drop-off in average home crowds since 2011-12 (inclusive to 12 Jan. 2014)…
Decrease of -888 per game – Hereford United (who are averaging 1,665 per game currently/ in 16th place/ relegated 2 seasons ago [2011-12]).
Decrease of -886 per game – Aldershot Town (who are averaging 1,978 per game currently/ in 20th place/ relegated 1 season ago [2011-12]).
Decrease of -510 per game – Wrexham (who are averaging 1,665 per game currently/ in 13th place/ relegated 4 seasons ago [2011-12]).
Decrease of -507 per game – Chester (who are averaging 2,280 per game currently/ in 22nd place/ promoted 1 season ago [2012-13]).
2013-14 Luton Town. First place in the Conference as of 15 January, 2014.
13/14 Luton Town home jersey badge, photo from jdsports.co.uk/product/fila-luton-town-2013/14-home-shirt.
Kenilworth Road, satellite image from bing.com/maps/Bird’s Eye View.
Kits, from ‘Luton Town F.C.‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Kenilworth Road, photo uploaded by biscuitman88 at footballgroundmap.com/photo/4462/kenilworth-road/luton-town.
John Still, photo from luton-dunstable.co.uk/Sport/Luton-Town-FC.
Luke Guttridge, photo from lutontoday.co.uk/sport/luton-town.
Andre Gray, photo from sport.bt.com/sportfootball/football/englishfootball/conference.
Paul Benson, photo from bedfordshire-news.co.uk/Sport/Luton-Town-FC/Football-Tamworth-v-Luton-Town-in-pictures.
2013-14 Cambridge United. Second place in the Conference as of 15 January, 2014.
Abbey Stadium, photo by Bill Blake at panoramio.com.
Richard Money, photo from cambridge-united.co.uk via bbc.co.uk/sport/football.
Adam Cunnington, photo from dutchamberarmy.com/needham-market-fc-0-v-cambridge-united-1/.
Kwesi Appiah, photo by Keith Heppell at cambridge-news.co.uk [slideshow].
Luke Berry, photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com
Thanks to kevinstaylor at flicker.com {flickr.com/kevinstalor’s photostream}, for 13/14 Dartford home jersey badge [125th Anniversary year for Dartford FC, shirt here] at http://www.flickr.com/photos/36154472@N06/9328679966/in/photostream/.
Thanks to JD Sports site for photo of 13/14 Luton Town home jersey badge, jdsports.co.uk/product/fila-luton-town-2013/14-home-shirt.
Thanks to the Gateshead FC official site and Jeff Bowren there, for match reports which included GTFC home attendances. Gateshead played at 7 different venues in 2012-13, due to pitch problems at their normal venue, Gateshead International Stadium. From February to May (and comprising their last 11 home matches) Gateshead were basically homeless and played at Hartlepool; at York; at Blyth, Northumberland; at Boston, Lincolnshire; at Carlisle, Cumbria; and at Middlesbrough. Gateshead played 6 of those home matches at Victoria Park in Hartlepool, while they played one home match at each of those other 6 locations.
Thanks to Soccerway.com, for attendance data, http://int.soccerway.com/national/england/conference-national/20122013/regular-season/r18216/.
Thanks to the Football League official site for previous seasons’ attendance data, http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/DivisionalAttendance/0,,10794~201226,00.html.
Thanks to the Northern League for Chester FC 2011-12 attendance, http://www.evostikleague.co.uk/archive-737/.
Thanks to the contributors at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2013–14 Football Conference‘.
England and Wales: Premier League – 2013-14 home kit badges, with 13/14 location-map, and attendance data from the last 2.4 seasons. / Plus, illustrations for: the 2013-14 Everton crest controversy, the new 2013-14 Crystal Palace crest, and the 2012-14 Cardiff City jersey and crest controversy.
Filed under: 2013-14 English Football,Attendance Maps & Charts,Eng>Premier League (Eng-1st Level),England & Scotland-Map/Crowds/Kit Badges — admin @ 10:45 pm
Premier League – 2013-14 home kit badges, with 13/14 location-map, and attendance data from the last two-and-a-half seasons
After 8 home games for all 20 Premier League clubs, the club which is currently filling its stadium the closest to full capacity is Norwich City, who are playing to 99.2 percent-capacity at their 27,033-capacity Carrow Road in Norwich, Norfolk. Last season (2012-13), Arsenal had the best percent-capacity at 99.5 {see this}; two seasons ago (2011-12) the best was a 3-way tie at 99.4 between Manchester United, Arsenal, and Tottenham {see this}.
The biggest numerical increases in attendance from 2011-12 (2.4 seasons ago)…
Crystal Palace, +8,054 per game versus 2011-12 average attendance.
Cardiff City, +5,378 per game versus 2011-12 average attendance.
Hull City AFC, +4,998 per game versus 2011-12 average attendance.
All 3 of those clubs were of course promoted to the Premier League last season (2012-13).
The clubs with the biggest numerical increases in attendance from 2011-12 which were not involved in a promotion since then are:
Everton, +3,276 per game versus 2011-12 average attendance.
Aston Villa, +3,100 per game versus 2011-12 average attendance.
Sunderland AFC, +2,833 per game versus 2011-12 average attendance.
The worst drop-offs in attendance:
Stoke City, down -1,646 per game since 2011-12.
Fulham, down -747 per game since 2011-12.
Below, Everton FC bows to fan pressure, and the club back-peddles on their crest change
From Daily Mail, from 3 October 2013, by Elliot Bretland, ‘Everton reveal new crest for 2014/15 season after original design was met with anger by Blues supporters‘ (dailymail.co.uk/sport/football).
With the ill-fated 2003-14 Everton crest re-design, the biggest issue most Everton supporters had was the dropping of the club motto, Nil satis nisi optimum, (which is Latin for ‘nothing but the best is good enough’). The club explained that they needed to re-design the crest because their crest was appearing in truncated forms at some media outlets, with the shield-shape shown but not the ‘Everton’ text block; and also that the color-shift in the centre of the shield (blue-to-lighter-blue) was not reproducing properly in some reproductions of the crest.
So Everton FC wanted to move the ‘Everton’ text element to within the shield, and streamline the whole image. On the then-new 2013-14 design, the motto wouldn’t fit (nor would the two wreaths). The 1878 formation date remained, as did Prince Rupert’s Tower (aka the Everton Lock-up, built in 1787 [as a holding cell for miscreants], on Everton brow in Everton, Liverpool, and is still standing today/ see below). For the then-new 2013-14 crest, the Tower illustration was also re-worked, and despite what one might think of the modernist detailing of the brick-work on the ill-fated 2013-14 crest, the actual depiction of Prince Rupert’s Tower on the 2013-14 crest was the first time the Tower was accurately drawn on an Everton badge – showing the correct roof details and the correct proportion of conic roof to cylindrical body (the turret). Previously, the turret of the Tower was drawn too tall and thin in the badges from the 1978 to 2013 time period (see below). And on the previous Everton crest before this season – the crest the club had been wearing for the last 22 seasons (1991-92 to 2012-13) – the Everton Lock-up is depicted as multi-storied, with the turret actually above and below a spiraled structure (which has never existed on the actual Everton Lock-up). That fictional spiral structure on the 1991-2013 crest looks for all the world like an exterior spiral staircase. I mean, come on, what else can it be? It is not a fence that is sitting on a slanted hill…because you can see part of the turret BELOW the diagonal staircase structure. That is not the Everton Lock-up on the 1991-2013 crest, that is a three-story structure with a spiral staircase running around the outside of it making it look like a castle’s turret. It is totally made up. The edifice shown on the 1991-2013 Everton badge is an extremely fictionalized depiction of the Everton Lock-up. So is the earlier one (the 1983 to 1991 Everton crest). That one has turned the flat conical roof of the Everton Lock-up into a baroque witches-hat design, the sort of architecture one would find in illustrated fairy tales.
Furthermore, on 2 of the 3 the previous crests (the 1978-1983 crest and the 1991-2013 crest), the pinnacle of the conical roof was depicted not with the actual thing which was and still is there on the Tower – a ball (or spherical-shaped top cap), but with two crossed diagonal bits forming a V-shape (which makes no sense if you convert that to three dimensions). That V-shape did not exist at the top of the Tower. In past centuries the Eveton Lock-up did have a short spire (or maybe a lightning rod) {see this (liverpoolhistorysocietyquestions.blogspot.com)}, but not a V-shaped ornament.
I was honestly starting to think that whomever drew the Tower for the 1978-1983 crest, or for the subsequent two Everton crests, did not even actually stroll over to the Everton brow and have a look at what the Tower really looks like, let alone take a look at any photo of the real Prince Rupert’s Tower. Either that, or the illustrators were told by EFC top brass to not let the depiction look too literal, and err on the side of a more-attractive-looking Tower (ie, taller, thinner, and looking more like a fairy-tale castle than a typical old English village lock-up). It is one or the other, and I am now inclined to believe that 35 years ago, and 30 years ago, and 22 years ago, and 3 months ago, Everton top brass were trying to sugar-coat the depiction of their iconic edifice on their crest by making it look more benign. In other words, they were trying to make the jail house (gaol house) that is on Everton’s crest look less like an old English overnight lock-up for recently arrested common criminals (which it was), and more like a nice-looking turret on some quaint old castle. Or made it look more like a lighthouse, which I initially thought it was when I first started following English football a decade ago.
To prove that there was no change in the shape nor in the pinnacle detail of the actual Prince Rupert’s Tower since those gussied-up and fanciful depictions of the Tower which existed on Everton’s badge from the 1978-2013 era, here is an old photo, ‘Old Police Lockup‘ (photo by Ken Rose at peoples-stories.com), from about 1948, that shows that same squat dimensions of the Tower and the ball at the pinnacle of Prince Rupert’s Tower, and not the fictional elongated tower-shape and the odd V-shape at the top of the Tower. Here is a photo that shows how short and squat the Everton Lock-up is, as you can see that the top of the lock-up’s doorway is only a few feet (not even a meter) from the roof-line {‘Prince Rupert’s Lock-Up‘, photo by Andrew Merryweather at flickr.com)}.
The new Everton crest for 2014-15 (voted for by Everton supporters in October 2013) restores the club motto and the wreaths to the crest. The Tower, however, is once again erroneously drawn as too tall and too thin, and the fact is for the new 2014-15 badge, the Everton Lock-up is depicted as a two-story structure. But at least the ball is up there at the pinnacle of the Tower like it always should have been.
From 29 May 2013, from The Football Attic – the Football Attic podcast #9, ‘Team Badges [with info and opinions on the Everton FC 2013-14 badge re-design]‘ (thefootballattic.blogspot.co.nz).
Image and Photo credits above –
Everton crests through the years from evertonfc.com/the-history-of-our-crest.
Prince Rupert’s Tower images on Everton crests from footyheadlines.com/2013/05/new-everton-crest-unveiled.
Photo of Prince Rupert’s Tower by ColGould at flickriver.com.
Below, the Crystal Palace FC crest re-design for 2013-14
From Cafe Thinking blog, from 8 May 2013, ‘New Crystal Palace FC badge scores with the fans‘ (cafethinking.wordpress.com).
The new Crystal Palace crest was voted upon by Crystal Palace fans before the decision was made, not after, like at Everton, so no controversy ensued.
I like the 1955 Crystal Palace crest the best (see below). First of all, the eagle never existed in Crystal Palace FC tradition at all before 1973 – when the bombastic Malcolm Allison re-named the club’s nickname as ‘the Eagles’ instead of ‘the Glaziers’, and an eagle-with-football crest was introduced (the club also switched from white jerseys with claret-and-sky-blue trim to blue-and-red-vertical-striped jerseys in 1973-74). So for CPFC, the eagle really was just invented iconography and invented terminology, and is not an organic (or relevant) part of the club’s history, and smacks of the dreaded Americanization of English football nomenclature (see also, currently, the Hull Tigers controversy). And why does a club with so rich a history also need an eagle as a nickname and as the prominent crest element, when the club is named after a unique and storied and innovative and awe-inspiring Victorian era crystal-and-iron structure?
The Crystal Palace in South London was the first home of the club, and several members of the original squad were in fact glaziers and maintenance workers at The Crystal Palace back in the first decade of the 20th Century (ie, circa 1905). That to me is way more impressive than a random-but-supposedly-dignified nickname (the Eagles), which some big shot in a ridiculous big white hat (Allison) simply made up when he was in control there for a brief 3-and-one-quarter seasons spell in the Seventies. First off, he doesn’t deserve all the blame for being the manager who oversaw Crystal Palace’s relegation from the First Division in 1973 (Palace were too far behind that season too be realistically expected to survive the drop when Allison took over there in March 1973). However, Palace did lose 5 of their last 7 games that year, so he gets the blame for that I would imagine. Furthermore, the rest of Allison’s record as Crystal Palace needs to be pointed out. The following season, his first full season in charge at Palace, he got them relegated to the third division, in May 1974. So they went from the first division to the third division with Allison in charge. And they were still stuck in the third tier when he walked away from the job in 1976. And when Malcolm Allison was manager of the club for the second time, in 1980-81, when Crystal Palace were back in the First Division but were once again in a doomed relegation battle, Crystal Palace once again found themselves relegated with Allison at the helm. It must be pointed out that as in 1973, Palace in March 1981 were many points off safety when Allison took over. Palace were relegated to the second division, in May 1981. But then he waltzed off again. And that to me is the most damning. Talk about not being able to finish a job. So let me get this straight – this is the guy who gave Crystal Palace their nickname and their visual identity? A guy who dressed like a pimp and who got the club relegated three times in the 5 seasons he was in charge there at Selhurst Park? But then just left both times, with Palace worse off from when he started?
One could argue that The Crystal Palace is still there in the CPFC crest to this day (as you can see below). But I would counter that The Crystal Palace structure as it appears in the current CPFC crest has become a secondary aspect of the crest, by virtue of it being depicted in pale grey, at the bottom of the badge, dwarfed by the eagle.
Here is an excerpt from the Historical Kits page on Crystal Palace, written by Dave Moor,
{excerpt}…’FA Cup finals were staged at the Crystal Palace in South London a unique football venue set in extensive parkland, between 1895 and 1914. The original Crystal Palace was an enormous glass and cast iron structure built in Hyde Park for Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition in 1851 and represented Victorian engineering at its finest. When the exhibition closed, the palace was dismantled and rebuilt in South London where it formed the centrepiece of the world’s first entertainment theme park, surrounded by landscaped garden, lakes, spectacular fountains and concrete dinosaurs.’…{end of excerpt}.
Before Crystal Palace FC were allowed to join the Football League in 1920, and when the club was initially a member of the Southern League, the club played at The Crystal Palace in South London from the club’s inception in 1905 until mid-1915, when, at the onset of World War I, the ground was seized by the Admiralty (the British Navy) for the war effort. Crystal Palace FC found a ground nearby (at a velodrome), and a decade later the club moved into the nearby site where Selhurst Park was opened, in Croydon Park, South London, in August 1925. The Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire in 1936. ‘The Crystal Palace‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Old CPFC crests from http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Crystal_Palace/Crystal_Palace.htm.
Below, the ongoing fiasco that is the divisive re-branding of Cardiff City FC
The Cardiff City jersey-and-crest controversy of 2012 can be summed up this way…as soon as Vincent Tan is gone, Cardiff City will wear blue again. End of story. I give it 2 more seasons, then when Tan realizes the extent of the enmity he has created and the lack of actual support he has within Cardiff, then the ego-inflated, sycophant-surrounded, football-clueless Malaysian will get bored with his new toy, sell the club, and slouch off back to the corrupt regime from whence he sprung. In the meantime, Tan’s juvenile insistence on changing Cardiff City from red to blue has distracted and divided the fans during what should be a joyful time for all Cardiff supporters, with the club’s first top flight appearance in 51 years.
From The Guardian, from 2 Nov. 2013, by Daniel Taylor, ‘Vincent Tan’s antics leave Cardiff’s faces as red as their shirts…We’ve seen the sort of boardroom buffoonery taking place before – and it rarely ends well for the fans‘ (theguardian.com/football/blog).
Old CCFC crests from kassiesa.nl/uefa/clubs/html/C; uefa.wikidot.com/england:cardiff-city-fc.
[Template for CCFC crests from last 25 years from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_City_F.C.#Club_logo_history.].
Photo of Tan, from Getty Images via dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2402081/Cardiff-owner-Vincent-Tan-adds-teams-kit-shirt-tie-combo.
Photo of Cardiff City fans from Reuters via mirror.co.uk/sport/football.
Photo of ‘Tan Out’ T-shirt uploaded by mugitmugit at ebay.com, ebay.co.uk/itm/Tan-Out-Cardiff-City-Bluebirds-t-shirt.
Photo of Cardiff City fans’ protest banner from msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/cardiff-fans-stage-protest-against-owner-vincent-tan-before-boxing-day-fixture.
Here are the photo credits for the jersey badges on the map page –
Photo of Arsenal 2013-14 home jersey badge from dreamsoccerjerseys.com/arsenal.
Photo of Crystal Palace 2013-14 home jersey badge, unattributed at footballkitnews.com/new-crystal-palace-kit-13-14-cpfc-home-away-shirts-2013-2014.
Photo of Everton 2013-14 home jersey badge, unattributed at footballkitnews.com/new-everton-kit-1314-nike-everton-fc-home-jersey-2013-2014.
Photo of Liverpool 2012-14 home jersey badge (liverbird with L.F.C in gold), by Pub Car Park Ninja at flicker.com; Pub Car Park Ninja’s photostream.
Photo of Manchester City 2013-14 home jersey badge, unattributed at footyheadlines.com/manchester-city.
Photo of Manchester United 2013-14 home jersey badge, unattributed at tsmplug.com/manchester-united.
Photo of Southampton 2013-14 home jersey badge from ssl.saintsfc.co.uk.
Photo of Sunderland 2013-14 home jersey badge from footyheadlines.com/sunderland.
Photo of Tottenham 2013-14 homes jersey badge from: dreamsoccerjerseys.com.
Photo of West Bromwich 2013-14 home jersey badge from footballshirtculture.com/west-bromwich-albion.
Thanks to the the contributors at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2013–14 Premier League‘.
Thanks to the following sites for average attendance figures -
Thanks to soccerway.com, for current attendance figures, int.soccerway.com/national/england/premier-league/20132014.
Thanks to european-football-statistics.co.uk, for 2012-13 Premier League attendance figures.
Thanks to the Football League official site for 2012-13 Football League Championship attendance figures, http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/DivisionalAttendance/0,,10794~20127,00.html.
Thanks to Chris O. and Rich J. at the Football Attic site and podcast, for pointing out that the ill-fated Everton 2013-14 badge actually has the most realistic depiction of Prince Rupert’s Tower that any Everton badge ever had (regardless of whether EFC fans liked it or not).
England, 4th division: Football League Two – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 home kit badges, featuring top 4 in the table after 16 games: Oxford United, Chesterfield, Rochdale, Fleetwood Town.
Filed under: 2013-14 English Football,Eng-4th Level/League Two,Engl. Promotion Candidates,England & Scotland-Map/Crowds/Kit Badges — admin @ 8:25 pm
England, 4th division: Football League Two – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 home kit badges
On the map page
Facsimiles of each clubs’ home jersey badges for the 2013-14 season are shown, in alphabetical order, across the the top of the map page. Below that, at the lower left, is a location-map of the clubs in the 2013-14 Football League Two. At the right-hand side of the map page is attendance data for current League Two clubs from the two previous seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13). Change (by percent), as well as percent capacity (ie, how much the club filled their stadium on average), from last season, are shown. League movement (if any) of the clubs is shown as well.
The 2013-14 League Two
The 2013-14 League Two has been a very tightly-contested affair, with just over one-third of the season having been played so far (16 games played out of 46, for most clubs). To give you but one example of how evenly-matched the clubs in the fourth division are currently – and not just the clubs in the top half of the table – last week’s league leaders Fleetwood Town lost away to last-place Northampton Town 1-0 on Saturday 16th November 2013 (with a goal by the Cobblers in the 93rd minute)…and Fleetwood dropped clear out of the three automatic promotion places into 4th place with the loss, as Oxford United, Chesterfield, and Rochdale all won.
So currently, Oxford United, Chesterfield, and Rochdale all have 29 points and are separated at the top of the table by goal difference. Clubs like Portsmouth and Cheltenham Town, who are currently in 16th and 17th places on 20 points, find themselves in a simultaneous promotion campaign/relegation battle, both being at present 6 points above the relegation zone and 6 points below the play-off places. I wouldn’t say anyone could win promotion this season in the fourth tier, but there are certainly more than a dozen sides with a good chance of being one of the 4 clubs to gain promotion, and there are probably more than 16 sides that could feasibly win promotion.
Below are brief illustrated profiles of the top four clubs in League Two as of 17th Nov. 2013, with: a brief write-up of each club’s manager and 2 featured players; a photo and caption for each club’s manager; a photo for each club’s current top scoring threats; a photo or two of each club’s ground; plus each club’s league history (with Non-League history noted), as well as a look at each club’s home league average attendance from the last two seasons, plus current average attendance listed (current home league average attendance to 17 Nov. 2013 {via soccerway.com, here}).
Below, the top 4 in League Two after one-third of the 2013-14 season…
Oxford United FC, currently 1st place (29 points/+12 goal difference).
46-year-old Sheffield-born Chris Wilder, manager of Oxford United since December 2008 (back when they were in the middle of their 3 season spell in Non-League football), has been managing for over a decade now, having got his managerial start with the then-9th-Level (now Conference club) Alfreton Town, back in 2001-02, when Alfreton were in the Northern Counties East Football League, and the then-35-year-old Wilder got them promoted into the Northern League. Wilder then managed then-Conference side Halifax Town for 6 seasons (2002 to 2008), up until Halifax went broke and were liquidated (the Phoenix-club FC Halifax Town is now back in the Conference as of 2013-14). Wilder then worked as Alan Knill’s assistant at Bury in the first part of 2008-09 before getting the job at Oxford. Flash forward 3 years and 11 months later, and Chris Wilder is currently the third longest-serving manager in the Football League {see this, List of English Football League managers‘ (en.wikipedia.org)}. In Wilder’s first full season at the helm at Oxford (in 2009-10), the U’s won promotion via the play-offs (beating York City in the final at Wembley). Since then, Oxford United have finished in 12th, then in 9th, and then in 9th again last season (2012-13).
Throughout last season there were calls for Wilder’s dismissal by some supporters, and Wilder knows that probably only promotion will keep him at Oxford past this campaign. With a population of around 150,000 {2011 estimate}, Oxford is basically too big a city to only be hosting a fourth division side. Oxford United draw around 6K to 7K and in the past have gotten up to 10.3K (in 1986-7). Oxford fans would feel at the very least that their club should be in the third tier, and there are probably many gold-and-blue fans who dream of their club one day returning to the top flight – where Oxford United played for 3 seasons in the 1980s (86/87, 87/88, 88/89), when they were owned by Mephistophelian media baron Robert Maxwell, and when the U’s won their only major title, the 1986 League Cup.
Oxford United currently feature a striker who has had a longer spell there than Wilder – the Wiltshire-born 29-year-old James Constable, a classic lower-divisions bruiser of a forward, who has shaken off recent injuries and has scored 5 league goals this season so far. Overall, Constable has scored 85 league goals for Oxford in 216 games going back to the start of 2008-09, when he joined the then-Conference side on loan from Shrewsbury Town (Constable signed for Oxford 10 months later in the summer of 2009). Oxford fans will always love Constable for turning down the chance to almost double his wages – if he had went over to Oxford United’s much-hated nearby rivals Swindon Town. Here is what it says about that at James Constable’s page at Wikipedia…’Oxford accepted an improved offer for Constable from local rivals Swindon on 19 January 2012. Oxford allowed Constable to talk to the club, although he refused the opportunity to discuss the move with Swindon manager Paolo Di Canio.’…{end of excerpt}.
Just last week, Constable became only the third Oxford United player to have scored 100 goals in all competitions for the club {see this, ‘Constable’s century joy‘ (oxfordmail.co.uk, from 18 Nov.2013, by David Pritchard)}.
An up-and-coming striker also features in Oxford’s current set-up, the 25-year-old Deane Smalley, who signed for Oxford originally in the summer of 2011, but suffered an injury-plagued 2012, then re-signed with Oxford on less terms following a goal-less loan out to Bradford City. Smalley scored 5 goals in 2012-13 for Oxford (such as the one he is seen celebrating below), and has scored 5 league goals this season so far.
Perhaps the biggest impediment to Oxford United’s progression is their stadium situation – they don’t own the Kassam Stadium, nor does the Oxford City Council. It is owned by a shell company of the former club owner Firoz Kassam, and as such is an ongoing thorn in the side of Oxford United (since 2005-06). A sizable chunk of revenue Oxford United makes on ticket sales gets lost because of rent charges. To make matters worse, for the second season now, Oxford United must endure a stadium share with the second division Rugby Union club London Welsh RFC. So the pitch gets torn up, Oxford are more susceptible to injuries, and any attempts at an on-the-turf-passing-style get bogged down (literally) by mid-season.
In the spring of this year, supporters fought back this way…’Oxford fans successfully safeguard their stadium‘ (wsc.co.uk from 14 May 2013). In October 2013, this happened, ‘Kassam Stadium owners fail with appeal against community asset‘ (bbc.co.uk/sport/football).
Here is a recent article by Matthew Derbyshire from the Two Unfortunates site, about Oxford United’s stadium plight, ‘THE COMMUNITY VALUE OF FOOTBALL: OXFORD UNITED’S STADIUM BATTLE‘ (thetwounfortunates.com).
Exterior-view photo of the Kassam Stadium by nodale at panoramio.com ; photos by nodale at panoramio.com.
Chris Wilder, photo from oxfordmail.co.uk.
Deane Smalley, photo from julianalsopsyellowbanana.wordpress.com.
James Constable, photo from sportinglife.com.
Chesterfield FC, currently 2nd place (29 points/+9 goal difference).
Liverpool-born Chesterfield manager and Football League veteran MF Paul Cook had to wait a while for his second shot at managing an English pro club. Cook had a rough go of it in 2006-07 as manager of Merseyside 5th-division club Southport, this right at the time when the former Football League club had decided to return to professional status after 28 years as an amateur side following their being elected out of the League in 1978. Many players were unable (or unwilling) to make the jump to full-time status, and Cook had to rebuild virtually from scratch, and Southport finished in 23rd and went down to the Conference South (Southport stayed pro and rebounded in May 2010). Cook then signed on as manager of Connacht, western-Ireland-based Sligo Rovers in April 2007, and stayed at the helm of Sligo Rovers for 4-and-a-half seasons, winning two FAI Cups and leaving Sligo in good hands (Sligo Rovers won the League of Ireland title later that season, their first in a quarter century). Cook had left Sligo in February 2012 to take over at his old club Accrington Stanley, and with Cook in charge Stanley survived another year in the League, finishing in 18th in 2011-12. Eight months later, in October 2012, Chesterfield needed a new manager after John Sheridan bolted off to Plymouth Argyle, and they chose Paul Cook to try to get the North Derbyshire club back to the third division (Chesterfield finished in 8th last season).
In the following off-season (last summer), one of Cook’s requests to the CFC board was to sign (on a free transfer) the 28-year-old Liverpool-born MF Gary Roberts, who was playing for Swindon Town then, and whom Cook knew from his latter playing days at Accrington (circa 2005-06). That signing has been paying dividends, as Roberts has scored 4 goals in 14 league matches and has also notched 4 assists this season so far. Another player Cook brought in after past association has also been contributing to the Spireites good form, and that is ex-Sligo Rovers and ex-Hibernian MF Eoin Doyle, who scored 10 league goals in the SPL last season for Hibs. The Dublin-born Doyle is 25. He has scored 3 league goals and made 3 assists this season so far.
Chesterfield, with a population of around 103,000 {2011 estimate} is about 43 km or 29 mi north of Derby and is about 17 km or 10 mi south of Sheffield. Chesterfield FC, which has not been in the second division since 1950, nevertheless has good potential. Both much-larger nearby League clubs from Sheffield – Sheffield Wednesday (in the 2nd division relegation places, currently) and Sheffield United (in the third division relegation places, currently) – are still stuck in the doldrums. So Chesterfield has a real opportunity to attract new fans from the Greater Sheffield/North Derbyshire area, especially because Chesterfield boasts nice new facilities now. After more than a century at the eventually decrepit Saltergate (see photo below), Chesterfield now has a fine new 10K-capacity/3-year-old stadium, which the club itself owns. Currently, Chesterfield can count on a solid 5-6,000-strong fan base, and their support might have the potential to grow. But the Spireites need to get back to the third division, and get ensconced there again, if they expect to grow their fan base any more (their last spell in League One lasted 1 year [2011-12]). Chesterfield first dropped into the 4th division in 1961 (that was the third season that the Fourth Division [est. 1958-59] had existed), and when you add up all their years of League football, Chesterfield are an historically-third-division club, with 52 seasons being spent there, including 12 of their last 20 seasons (going back to 1994-95 and recently having a 6 year stay in the third tier from 2002-03 to 2006-07 {data from CFC-footy-mad site here}). Here is a recent article on Paul Cook and Chesterfield, from Skysports.com from 14 Oct. 2013 by Johnny Phillips, ‘Chesterfield manager Paul Cook could be the next big thing in football, says Johnny Phillips‘ (skysports.com/football).
CFC’s old ground (Saltergate), photo from ciderspace.co.uk/asp/opposition/chesterfield.
Aerial photo of new stadium by Rob McGann (Robinson Steel Structures of Derby) via bullsnews.blogspot.com/2010/08/chesterfields-new-stadium.
Paul Cook, photo from goal.com.
Gary Roberts, photo from chesterfield-fc.co.uk/news/article/20131111-roberts-post-daventry.
Eoin Doyle, photo from thestar.co.uk
Rochdale AFC, currently 3rd place (29 points/+5 goal difference).
Rochdale AFC play at Spotland Stadium, in Rochdale (which is in the north-eastern part of Greater Manchester, but was historically in the south-eastern part of Lancashire). Rochdale borough has a population of around 95,000 {2001 census figure}. Spotland has a capacity of 10,249, was opened in 1920, and was last renovated in 1999-2000. Ownership of the ground is a three-way split between Rochdale Borough Council, Rochdale AFC, and the (just-promoted) second-division rugby league club Rochdale Hornets RLFC. Rochdale AFC, aka the Dale, draw 2.5 K or so in mediocre years and up to 3.5K in good seasons, and have done so for over two decades now {attendances from E-F-S site, here}.
Rochdale AFC manager Keith Hill (age 44), was born in Bolton, Lancashire. Hill was a defender who had 388 league appearances and 11 goals, playing for Blackburn Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Rochdale (for 5 seasons), Cheltenham Town, Wrexham, and Morecambe from 1987 to 2003. Hill is now in his second spell managing Rochdale, after previously getting the club promoted to the 3rd division for the first time in 36 years (in May 2010, seen in photo below). Following that 4-and-half-year spell running Rochdale, Hill was hired by second division club Barnsley in June 2011, but was sacked in December 2012 as Barnsley languished in the relegation zone (Hill’s then-number-two, David Flitcroft [who was also assistant under Hill at Rochdale], took over, and did a fine job of keeping Barnsley in the Champiionship by the skin of their teeth last May).
Keith Hill returned to Rochdale in January 2013, with one objective – to get the Dale back to the third division. Rochdale currently feature twin scoring threats in the Norfolk-born ex-Colchester FW Ian Henderson (age 28), who has tallied 5 league goals this season so far; and a young potential phenom in the 21-year old striker Scott Hogan, who is Manchester-born and previously played for Conference side Hyde. Hogan has scored 6 league goals so far this season.
Exterior-view of main stand at Spotland, photo by David Dixon at geograph.org.uk.
Photo of 13/14 RAFC home jersey badge from football-shirts.co.uk/rochdale-shirt.
Interior photo of Spotland by 100groundsclub.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-matchday-223-spotland
Keith Hill celebrating May 2010 Rochdale promotion (during pitch invasion), photo from manchestereveningnews.co.uk.
Ian Henderson, photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Scott Hogan, photo from manchestereveningnews.co.uk.
Fleetwood Town, currently 4th place (28 points/+9 goal difference).
Fleetwood has a population of around 26,000 {2001 census figure}. Fleetwood is just north of Blackpool on the Fylde coast of west-central Lancashire.
Fleetwood Town manager Graham Alexander played 21 years for Scunthorpe United, Luton Town, Preston North End, and Burnley, as a defender and a holding midfielder. Alexander became the oldest player to make his Premier League debut at the age of 37 (when he played right back/defensive midfielder for Burnley in the 2008-09 Premier League). Alexander was also the third oldest goal scorer in Premier League history. A dead-ball specialist, he retired in 2012 with 837 league appearances and 107 league goals (130 goals in all competitions). In Graham Alexander’s final match in April 2012, he scored a 92nd-minute equalizer at Deepdale versus Charlton. Graham Alexander played well over one thousand games in all competitions, second-most as a pro in the English leagues only to Tony Ford {see this ‘Tony Ford (footballer born 1959)‘}.
Alexander made his coaching debut in December 2011 while still a player, as a joint-caretaker manager of Preston North End (along with David Unsworth), following Preston’s sacking of Phil Brown. That position only lasted 5 games, though, as Preston brought in tough guy Graham Westely, to poor results (Westley has slunk back to 3rd-division-but-relegation-threatened Stevenage now). Alexander was appointed manager of Fleetwood Town in December 2012, following the surprise sacking of Mickey Mellon. Mellon had gotten Fleetwood Town into the Football League in May 2012. Fleetwood Town is a former 9th- and 8th-division club which has won 5 promotions in the last decade. This is a club that was drawing just 206 per game nine seasons ago in 2004-05, and now draws in the vicinity of 2,800. Actually, at the time of his sacking last December, Mellon had the Cod Army in the play-off places (in 7th place). But Mellon’s squad had just lost 3 matches in a row including an FA Cup 2nd Round match to Aldershot. Graham Alexander didn’t exactly have too poor a run-in managing Fleetwood for the latter half of last season, but, for all intents and purposes, once the Fleetwood squad knew they were safe from relegation, they coasted, and Fleetwood finished in 13th place in 2012-13, losing their final 4 matches. In the off season there were a few key personnel moves. The headline-maker was the club’s biggest signing ever, of Jamaican-born almost-23-year-old FW Jamille Matt (bought from Kidderminster for an undisclosed sum above £200,000). There was also the signing of 21-year-old play-maker Antoni Sarcevic, a MF with real potential, who was instrumental in getting Phoenix-club Chester FC up into the Conference last season. Both have produced so far, with Matt scoring 5 league goals in 12 appearances and Sarcevic netting 3 times with 3 assists.
Aerial photo of Highbury Stadium, from fwpgroup.co.uk/job/fleetwood-town-football-club.
Photo of Graham Alexander, from skysports.com.
Photo of Jamille Matt, by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Photo of Antoni Sarcevic and Fleetwood teammates celebrating from visitfleetwood.info.
Thanks to footballfashion.org and Igloo Films, at footballfashion.org/wordpress/2013/07/29/portsmouth-fc-201314-sondico-home-and-away-kits/, for image of Portsmouth 13/14 home jersey badge.
Thanks to Football-shirts.co.uk for photo of Rochdale 13/14 home jersey badge, football-shirts.co.uk/rochdale-shirt.
Thanks to Torquay United shop for images which allowed me to assemble a 13/14 TUFC home jersey badge facsimilie {tufcshop.com/tufc-2013-coaster ; tufcshop.com/tufc-replica-kits }.
Thanks to the contributors at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2013–14 Football League Two‘.
England, 3rd division: Football League One – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 home kit badges. / Plus 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place as of 14 Oct. 2013: Leyton Orient, Peterborough United, and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Filed under: 2013-14 English Football,Eng-3rd Level/League One,Engl. Promotion Candidates,England & Scotland-Map/Crowds/Kit Badges — admin @ 9:12 pm
Note: to see my latest map-&-post of the English 3rd division, click on the following, Eng-3rd Level/League One.
England, 3rd division: Football League One – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 home kit badges
Facsimiles of each clubs’ home jersey badges for the 2013-14 season are shown, in alphabetical order, across the the top of the map page. Below that, at the lower left, is a location-map of the clubs in the 2013-14 Football League One. At the right-hand side of the map page is attendance data for current League One clubs from the two previous seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13). Change (by percent), as well as percent capacity (ie, how much the club filled their stadium on average) from last season, are shown. League movement (if any) of the clubs is shown as well.
Below, top 3 clubs in the League One table, as of 14 October 2013…
Leyton Orient, 1st place as of 14 October 2013.
Photo credits above -
Aerial photo of Brisbane Road from skysports.com.
Interior photo of Brisbane Road by Chris Eason at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brisbane_Road.jpg & at flickr.com/photos/45189308@N00.
Photo of Kevin Lisbie from leytonorient.com.
Photo of Russell Slade from london24.com.
Photo of David Mooney by Simon O’Connor at ilfordrecorder.co.uk/sport/sport-football/orient/orient_lose_perfect_record.
Photo of the old gabled Orient sign at Brisbane Road with a view of Waltahm Forest borough in the background, photo fro Getty Images via independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/giving-the-name-away-stadiums-named-after-sponsors-gallery.
Leyton Orient are a traditionally lower-leagues Football League club that is located in East London and who play at the 9,271-capacity Brisbane Road. Brisbane Road is also known as the Matchroom Stadium, and has, since 2007, multi-story apartment buildings in each of the 4 corners of the ground – see this photo from the following article by John Ashdown at Guardian.com/football, ‘At which grounds can you watch football for free?‘). [Note: the ground is named after Leyton Orient chairman Beary Hearn's sports promotion company, Matchroom Sport.].
The club now known as Leyton Orient was originally formed by members of the Glyn Cricket Club in 1881. The club began fielding a football team in 1888, under the name Orient Football Club. This name change came about on the suggestion of a player, Jack R Dearing, who worked for the Orient shipping line (later the P&O Line). This was a fitting moniker, as ‘orient’ means east and the club has always called East London its home. The club’s name was changed again to Clapton Orient in 1898 to represent the area of London in which they played at the time (their location back then was a few km. west of the O’s current location). As Clapton Orient FC, the club were, along with 5 other clubs, allowed to join the newly-expanded Second Division in 1905-06, when the Football League expanded by 4 teams (from 36 to 40) – with both the First Division and the Second Division expanding from 18 to 20 teams. {See this, ‘1905-06 Football League/Second Division‘ (en.wikipedia.org)}. Clapton Orient finished dead last in their first season in the League (there was no automatic relegation out of the League until 1986-87). Leyton Orient did end up being relegated 23 years later (in 1928-29), to the Third Division (South) [which had been instituted in 1920-21]. While still in the 3rd-division-South, the club (still known as Clapton Orient) moved a few kilometres east to their present location in Leyton, which was at that time a borough of Essex (see 2 sentences below), and into Brisbane Road, where the club have played ever since. A decade later, in 1947, to properly reflect their somewhat-recent location-change, their name was belatedly changed to Leyton Orient. That only lasted two decades, because there was yet another name change in 1966, to simply Orient FC – this after the borough of Leyton (which was at that point situated in Essex) was absorbed into the London Borough of Waltham Forest. 21 seasons later, in 1987, partly as the result of the wishes of many longtime Orient supporters, the club returned to their Leyton Orient name. The club has undergone several crises in its history, and another crisis might be looming on the horizon (see 4 paragraphs below).
Leyton Orient are the second-oldest League club in London, behind Fulham, and are the 24th-oldest club currently playing in the Football League. Leyton Orient have spent exactly one season in the first division. That was in 1962-63, at the early part of the Swinging London era, under the management of Johnny Carey, who got Leyton Orient into the top flight by finishing in second in the 1961-62 Second Division (Liverpool won the Second Division that season). Leyton Orient struggled in the top flight in 62/63, and were relegated as last-place-finishers with only 6 wins in 46 games. But they did defeat local rivals West Ham United at home that season. So there was at least that.
When Leyton Orient played that one season in the first division they wore blue and white colors – Leyton Orient wore blue jerseys and white pants from 1947-48 all the way to 1966-67 (19 seasons). In 1967-68, red jerseys were adopted once again (the club had started out in red jerseys back in the late 1800s/early 1900s, then played for around two decades with white-jerseys-featuring-a-large-red-V [from 1910 to 1931]). In 1970-71, the mythical beast the Wyvern first appeared on a Leyton Orient crest. {See this, Leyton Orient kit & crest history here (historicalkits.co.uk)}.
{note, attendance data for the following two sentences found here (european-football-statistics.co.uk)}.
When Leyton Orient had that solitary first-division season-in-the-sun in 62/63, they drew drew 16,206 per game, which is more than 3 times what the club draws these days. The club’s all-time biggest average crowd was in 1956-57, at 17,524 per game (56/57 was the first season that Leyton Orient were back in the second division after 20 seasons in the third tier [since 1928-29]). Compare that to last season [2012-13], when Leyton Orient drew just 4,006 per game. Last season, Orient started poorly under ex-Brighton and ex-Yeovil Town manager Russell Slade (who has been in charge at Brisbane Road since April 2010), but Leyton Orient’s second-half form was among the best in the third division, and they ended up just short of a play-off place in 7th (4 points behind Swindon). This season, Orient are continuing the fine form they displayed in the latter half of the last campaign. For their first 5 home matches in 13/14, attendance had picked up around 600 per game to a then-average of 4,605 per game. Then Orient drew 6,300 on 12 Oct. 2013, beating the reviled MK Dons 2-1, and so after 6 home matches this season, Orient’s current (12 Oct. 2013) average attendance is 4,940 per game.
After 10 or 11 games played by all League One clubs this season, the undefeated (9-2-0) Leyton Orient have scored the most, with 27 goals. David Mooney and Kevin Lisbie are Orient’s main scoring threats, and they boast a solid playmaker in the French 28-year-old MF Romain Vincelot (ex-Dagenham & Redbridge). David Mooney is a 28-year-old Dublin, Ireland-born ex-Shamrock Rovers, ex-Norwich City, ex-Charlton, and ex-Colchester FW. Mooney has scored 9 league goals for Orient this season so far, and [as of 14 Oct. 2013] is tied for second-most goals in League One along with MK Dons’ Patrick Bamford – behind only Coventry City’s Callum Wilson, who has scored 10 goals {click on the following for 13/14 League One top scorers (flashscores.co.uk)}. Mooney’s strike partner is the 34-year-old East-London-born/former Jamaica international, and ex-Colchester/Ipswich/Millwall FW Kevin Lisbie, who also is among the top scorers in the third tier this campaign – Lisbie has 7 league goals so far, including the winner on 12 October v. MK Dons. That goal, which was set up for Lisbie by Mooney, via a neat through pass in the 67th minute, put the score at 2-1 and kept the O’s in first place. There was 6,359 in attendance at Brisbane Road for that match last Saturday, which is about 2,300 more than Leyton Orient had averaged last season. This bodes very well for the traditionally low-drawing O’s, and if they can keep drawing this well and start to attract folks who don’t usually consider going to Brisbane Road, and if the Mooney/Lisbie strike partnership can continue to find the back of the net, the sky might be the limit for this un-fancied, chronically cash-strapped and oft-ignored East London club. Leyton Orient have not been in the second division in 32 years (since 1981-82). Leyton Orient’s fine form in 2013 is even more surprising when one considers this fact – Russell Slade has not spent one pound on any transfer in assembling his current squad. See this article, ‘Russell Slade: I don’t half get a buzz from a good free transfer – How are Leyton Orient top of League One and unbeaten, despite their manager having never paid for a player?‘ (theguardian.com from 11 October 2013 by Paul Doyle).
Leyton Orient in the League Championship next season would be brilliant, especially when you consider what is in store for this neck of the woods in the coming few years (see following link). From WSC.co.uk, from 19 Sept.2013, ‘Leyton Orient could fold over West Ham move” (wsc.co.uk).
Here is a nice feature (it has lots of photos), on Brisbane Road, from Who Ate All The Pies site, by Chris Wright, from 22 November 2013…’Around The Grounds: Brisbane Road, Home Of Leyton Orient (whoateallthepies).
Peterborough United, 2nd place as of 14 October 2013.
Exterior view of London Road, photo from mobile.swindontownfc.co.uk.
Aerial view of London Road, photo (unattributed) from andrewhowells.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/whats-so-bad-about-the-championship.
Britt Assombalonga goal celebration, photo from August 2013 from peterboroughtoday.co.uk.
Britt Assombalonga, action photo from planetf1.com/Dons-undone-by-nine-man-Posh.
Peterborough United are managed by Darren Ferguson (son of SAF), who is in his second spell as manager of the Posh. In January 2011, Darren Ferguson reconciled with Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony, and replaced current-Yeovil Town manager Gary Johnson. In his first spell at the helm at Peterborough, from 2007 to 2009, Ferguson had gotten the club promoted in consecutive seasons, both times getting automatic promotion by finishing in second (in League Two in 07/08, and then in League One in 08/09). Now back in the third tier, the Posh currently [14 October 2013] sit second in League One, 1 point behind Leyton Orient.
Peterborough entered the Football League from the old Midlands League and into the old Fourth Division in 1960-61, after having been elected into the League in June 1960 {see this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_League_Fourth_Division#Elections_to_the_Football_League}.The club’s home ground is London Road, which has an interesting mix of old stands and a relatively new stand (the Main Stand). London Road, which opened in 1913, has a current [league-game] capacity of 14,640 (with room for around 5,000 standing). A decade ago, Peterborough were only drawing in the 4 K to 5 K range, though around 20 years ago, during their first-ever spell in the second division (2 seasons in 1992-93 and 1993-94), the Posh were drawing around 6,000 per game. Since 2007-08, Peterborough have been drawing in the 6 K to 9 K range. Last season they drew 8,215 per game. Their highest average gate in the modern era was achieved 3 seasons ago in 2011-12, when they averaged 9,111 per game and finished 18th in the Football League Championship. Peterborough’s highest finish was in 10th place in the second tier in 1992-93.
Since 2007-08, when Peterborough were in the 4th division and won promotion (finishing in 2nd place, 5 points behind MK Dons), the Posh have either moved up or went down in 5 of the last 6 seasons (3 promotions and twice relegated). That makes Peterborough a 2nd division/3rd division yo-yo club, and their current form is only cementing that tag. The Posh can score seemingly at will, but they have in recent years fielded a sieve-like defense. It always seems like Peterborough play in 6- or 7-goal matches. In 2010-11, the season after relegation back to the third tier, they scored the most goals in the Football League that season, with 106 (but they conceded 75) – and bounced straight back up to the Championship via the playoffs. In 2011-12, the Posh scored 70 goals and finished 18th in the Championship – they managed to stay up that year despite the 77 goals they conceded (which was tied, with Ipswich Town, for second-worst in the league that season; only Doncaster was worse, giving up 80 goals).
Last season [2012-13], the Posh scored 66 goals and conceded 75 goals and were once again relegated back to the 3rd tier. Peterborough ended up just just one point away from safety, conceding an 89th-minute goal to eventual play-off winner Crystal Palace in the last game of the season. That late goal in south London allowed fellow-relegation-threatened Barnsley and Huddersfield – who were playing each other that day up in West Yorkshire and discovered the Posh’s 2-3 score – to collude a draw by spending the last 5 minutes of the match not attacking each other and passing only sideways-or-back…and thus seal Peterborough’s relegation. Those 77 goals allowed last season by Peterborough was only better than the last-place-finisher, Bristol City (with 84 goals allowed). The 2012-13 League Championship was a very tight affair, with just 14 points separating the play-off places from the relegation places (ie, 6th place had 68 points, while 22nd place had 54 points). {See this, ‘2012-13 League Championship league table‘ (flashscores.co.uk).}. In other words, Peterborough were hardly a typical relegated side last season.
Now, after addressing the squad’s deficiencies, Peterborough naturally splurged not on a defender (what fun would that be ?), but on a striker, breaking the club-record tranfer-fee (price undisclosed) with the July 2013 signing of ex-Watford, ex-Braintree Town, and ex-Southend FW Britt Assombalonga, who is only 20.8 years old and who scored 15 league goals in League Two for the Shrimpers in 2012-13. {See this from bbc.co.uk/football, from 31 July 2013, ‘Britt Assombalonga joins Peterborough in club record deal‘}. Assombalonga has scored 7 times in 11 league games for Peterborough this season. The 2013-14 Posh also feature 28-year-old ex-Crawley Town FW Tyrone Barnett, who has 6 goals so far this season (including the winner in their 0-1 victory in Burslem over Port Vale on 12 Oct.); as well as 24-year-old Winger Lee Tomlin, who previously played for the now-defunct Rushden & Diamonds (I), and who has made over 120 appearances for the Posh since 2010, and who has 2 goals and 4 assists this season so far. Anchoring the Posh midfield is old hand and Northern Ireland international Grant McCann, who is 33 years old (with over 100 appearances for Cheltenham Town, for Scunthorpe United, and for Peterbotough). McCann and has netted 4 times this season, with one assist.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, 3rd place as of 14 October 2013 (with a game in hand).
Speaking of odds-on-favorites for automatic promotion this season in League One, Wolves still have their 18 million pounds per season parachute payments, from when they got relegated from the Premier League in May 2012. They now have a proven League Championship-caliber manager in Kenny Jackett, and Wolves have finally brought back, from loan, Leigh Griffiths (who tore up the SPL last season, with 23 goals for Hibs). If they are not running away with it by the Holidays, look for the Black Country’s biggest club to splurge come the January transfer window.
Photo credits above –
Leigh Griffiths, photo from wolves.co.uk/match-report.
Kenny Jackett, photo from dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/Wolves-calm-waves-anger-faultless-Jackett-moves-hot-seat
From Bradford City fansite/badge pin purveyors Paraders.co.uk, ‘Summary history of club crests and characters adopted by Bradford City AFC since 1903‘ (paraders.co.uk).
Thanks to Bradford City official site for photo-segment of 13/14 City home kit, http://www.bantams-clubshop.co.uk/bc-6-ss-home-jsy-13-14-adult.
Thanks to Crawley Town official site for photo-segment of CTFC kit badge [gold-thread-outer-disc stitching], from banner ad at http://www.crawleytownshop.co.uk/ & for photo of large CTFC home kit badge [~wallpaper], crawleytownfc.com/news/article.
Thanks to Crewe Alexandra official site for photo-segment of Crew Alexandra 13/14 home jersey [background colors of red-&-dark-red-checkerboard] from thealexstore.com.
Thanks to Walsall broadcast journalist Jonathan Sidway for the image of the Walsall 125th anniversary kit badge, ‘Walsall FC 125th Anniversary: One To Remember?‘ (jonsidaway.wordpress.com).
Thanks to Soccerway.com for attendance data.
Thanks to the Football League official site for attendance figures, http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/DivisionalAttendance/0,,10794~201225,00.html.
Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, ‘2013–14 Football League One‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to the Footy-Mad sites for league histories -
Leyton Orient League history, http://www.leytonorient-mad.co.uk/league_history/leyton_orient/index.shtml.
Peterborough United League history, http://www.peterboroughunited-mad.co.uk/league_history/peterborough_united/index.shtml.
Thanks to Jonathan Kaye at Leyton Orient Fans Trust site, for information on the shell game that is the Brisbane Road lease arrangement (Brisbane Road is ultimately owned by the London Borough of Waltahm Forest, which was leased to LOFC for 999 years, who then ‘sold’ the lease and naming rights to Matchroom Sport, which then ‘sold’ back a temporary lease to LOFC).
England & Wales: Premier League, 2013-14 – location-map with attendance data. / Plus, a chart of metropolitan-area populations in the UK – the 40 largest Urban Areas in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), with clubs in the 2013-14 Premier League listed.
2013-14 Premier League map & attendance chart (12/13 attendances)
PREMIER LEAGUE – Fixtures, Results, Table (soccerway.com).
2012-13 – a banner year for pro football in Wales.
Of the 20 clubs in the Premier League this season, 2 are based in Wales – the newly-promoted Cardiff City, and the third-year-Premier League-club Swansea City AFC, both of South Wales (and separated by only 55 km. or 34 miles). It is the first time in the history of the English 1st division (which was established in 1888-89) that 2 Welsh clubs are playing in the top flight at the same time. This will be the 16th season in the top flight for Cardiff City (Cardiff City’s total seasons spent in the 1st division: 1921-22 to 1928-29 [an 8 season spell]; 1952-53 to 1956-57 [a 5 season spell]; 1961-62 to 1962-63 [a 2 season spell]; 2013-14). This will be the 5th season that Swansea City are playing in the top flight (Swansea City’s total seasons spent in the 1st division: 1981-82 to 1982-83 [a 2 season spell]; 2011-12 to 2013-14 [a 3 season spell so far]). No other Welsh club has played in the English top flight, but Wrexham spent 4 seasons in the Second Division from 1978-79 to 1981-82; while Newport County (I) played the 1946-47 season in the Second Division. {To see a post I made a couple years back about the 6 Welsh football clubs which are in the English football league pyramid, click here.}
More positive news for Welsh pro football can be seen in the fact that last season, Newport County (II) of South Wales won promotion to the Football League. So after a 25-year absence, the city of Newport, Wales again has a club in the Football League. Newport County accomplished this by defeating Wrexham (of North Wales) in the 2013 Conference National Play-off Final at Wembley. Congratulations to Newport City AFC and supporters of the Exiles. And congratulations to the the Bluebirds’ faithful (I refuse to call Cardiff the Red Dragons)…for their club’s first top-flight-promotion in 51 years. And congratulations to 20%-supporter-owned Swansea City, and its fans, for winning the League Cup, and for demonstrating that playing attractive passing football in the first division – and actually staying up and winning silverware – can still be achieved by modest clubs from relatively small cities. Swansea is a pretty small city to be having a successful first division club, and now Swansea City are advantageously set-up to become the first Welsh club to qualify for a European competition {see this, ‘2013–14 UEFA Europa League/Play-off Round‘.
The smallest cities to have an English 1st Division football club (since 1946-47)
Please note: all populations discussed below are not city populations, but rather metropolitan-area populations (which are also known as Urban Areas, and which are also known as Built-up areas). Why? Because there are not walls around these cities. People who live outside, but still nearby, any given city can and very often do attend home matches of a club in that city. Besides, some clubs (like Grimsby Town) don’t even play in the city or borough they are named after. This exercise is to look at what sort of population each club has as its potential catchment area. If I were to use populations from just within the city-limits of all these settlements, it would not accurately reflect the total population from which the club could reasonably expect (or hope) to draw upon as ticket-paying customers.
Here is my data source for metro-area populations – Source of data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom.
The Swansea Built-up area is the 27th-largest in the United Kingdom, with a metro-area population of only around 300,000 {2011 figure; see the chart I made further below}. (Actually, it might be surprising to some that Swansea’s metro-area is slightly smaller than the metro-area of Newport, Wales.). At present [2013-14], the only Premier League club from a metropolitan-area smaller than Swansea is Norwich City. The Norwich, Norfolk Built-up area has a population of around 213,000, and is the 38th-largest in the UK. It must be mentioned that Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire – home of just-promoted Hull City AFC – is slightly larger than Swansea, as is Sunderland, Wearside – home of Sunderland AFC. Hull has a metro-area pop. of around 314 K, making Hull the 24th-largest metro area in the UK; Sunderland has a metro-area pop. of around 335 K (that figure does not include any part of the Newcastle metro-area), making Sunderland the 21st-largest metro area in the UK.
In the past and recent past (going back to the post-War period [from 1946-47 on]), there have been 8 First Division/Premier League clubs from cities smaller than Norwich (ie, smaller than around 200,000). Below are listed the smallest cities to have an English 1st division football club since the post-War period (1946-47 to 2013-14), with each club’s total seasons and their last season in the top flight noted, and current metro-area populations listed…
{all figures from the following link unless otherwise noted – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom}.
-Swindon Town, 1 season in the 1st division (in 1993-94): Swindon, Wiltshire is the 40th-largest built-up area in the UK at 185,000 metro-population currently;
-Ipswich Town, 26 seasons in the 1st division (last in 2001-02): Ipswich, Suffolk is the 42nd-largest built-up area in the UK at 178,000 metro-population currently;
-Wigan Athletic, 8 seasons in the 1st division (last in 2012-13): Wigan is the 43rd-largest built-up area in the UK at 175,000 metro-population currently;
-Oxford United, 3 seasons in the 1st division (last in 1987-88): Oxford, Oxfordshire is the 45th-largest built-up area in the UK at 171,000 metro-population currently;
-Burnley, 52 seasons in the 1st division (last in 2009-10): Burnley, Lancashire is the 54th-largest built-up area in the UK at 149,000 metro-population currently;
-Blackburn Rovers, 72 seasons in the 1st division (last in 2011-12): Blackburn, Lancashire is the 56th-largest built-up area in the UK at 146,000 metro-population currently;
-Grimsby Town, 12 seasons in the 1st division (last in 1947-48): Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire is the 58th-largest built-up area in the UK at 134,000 metro-population currently;
-Carlisle United, 1 season in the 1st division (in 1974-75): Carlisle, Cumbria is about the 108th-largest settlement in the UK at around 73,000 {that and its city-size-ranking is from 2008, obtained here (citypopulation.de/UK-Cities)}.
Chart: Metropolitan-area populations in the United Kingdom – the 40 largest Built-up Areas in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). With clubs in the 2013-14 Premier League listed.
Click on image below.
Chart: Built-Up Area populations in the UK – the 40 largest Built-up Areas in the United Kingdom, with clubs in the 2013-14 Premier League listed
Source of data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom.
This chart was uploaded onto reddit.com/soccer by iam8mai, one day after I posted it… here is the thread – http://en.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1k9hoh/premier_league_team_population_size/. Thanks to all the 90+ folks who commented there, and thanks to those who spotted my errors, and thanks to that St Mirren fan [portaccio] who pointed out that Motherwell should have been listed in the list of clubs currently in the Scottish 1st division which are located in Greater Glasgow, which he did after he pointed out to the other (disgruntled) St Mirren fan that Paisley is indeed officially considered part of Greater Glasgow].
Thanks to D-maps.com, for the blank map of the UK, http://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=5546&lang=en.
Thanks to Soccerway.com for stadium capacities.
Thanks to the Footy-mad sites for their invaluable League Histories of every club in Levels 1 through 5, such as ‘Cardiff City’s complete league history‘ (cardiffcity-mad.co.uk/league_history); and ‘Swansea City’s complete league history‘ (swanseacity-mad.co.uk/league_history).
England, 2nd division: Football League Championship – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 home kit badges.
Filed under: 2013-14 English Football,Eng-2nd Level/Champ'ship,England & Scotland-Map/Crowds/Kit Badges — admin @ 10:29 pm
League Championship – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 kit badges
Note: to see my latest map-&-post of the English 2nd division, click on the following, category: Eng-2nd Level/Champ’ship.
Football League Championship – Fixtures, Results, Table (soccerway.com).
From bbc.co.uk, from 19 June 2013, ‘Championship fixtures 2013-14: QPR start against Sheff Wed‘ (bbc.co.uk/sport/football).
From bbc.co.uk, from 31 July 2013, by Phil Maiden, ‘Championship 2013-14 season: Club-by-club guide‘ (bbc.co.uk/sport/football
From Historical Football Kits site, ‘Sky Bet Championship 2013 – 2014 [Kits of all 24 Championship clubs in the 2013-14 season]‘ (historicalkits.co.uk).
From The Two Unfortunates, from 24 July 2013, by Lanterne Rouge, ‘TTU GO PREDICTING: A CLUB-BY-CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW‘ (thetwounfortunates.com).
From Guardian.com/football, from 27 July 2013, by Sachin Nakrani, ‘Twenty things to look out for in the Football League this season
How will Brighton fare without Gus Poyet, can Yeovil’s incredible rise go on and can Gianfranco Zola stir up the Hornets again?‘. (guardian.co.uk/football).
League Championship – 2013-14 Location-map, with attendance data & 2013-14 home kit badges.
Facsimiles of each clubs’ home jersey badges for the 2013-14 season are shown, in alphabetical order, across the the top of the map page. Below that, at the lower left, is a location-map of the clubs in the 2013-14 League Championship. Included on the map, this time, I have listed which historic county or metropolitan-area each club comes from. At the lower right of the map page is attendance data from the 2 previous seasons. Last season, of these 24 clubs which comprise the 13/14 Championship, Brighton & Hove Albion drew best at 26,236 per game (and with an impressive 85 percent-capacity at their excellent new two-year-old venue, the Amex at Falmer).
Meanwhile, the lowest-drawing club that is in the 2013-14 Championship is, of course, second-tier-debutantes Yeovil Town, of Yeovil, Someset (population of around 52,000 {2002 figure}). Yeovil Town drew 4,071 per game last season in League One. 72 other clubs in the Premier League or the Football League (the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th divisions) or the Conference (the 5th Level) drew higher than Yeovil Town drew last season {note: you can see each club’s 12/13 attendance-rank at the center of the attendance-data-chart on the map page]. Yeovil Town, nicknamed the Glovers, tried for years and years to get elected to the Football League back when you couldn’t play your way in (pre-1986-87). They found other ways to get their foot in, by turning into a Cup-specialist club (once beating Sunderland in the 4th Round of the FA Cup [in 1949]). 11 seasons ago, in 2002-03, Yeovil Town finally got into the League, winning the Conference National, led by a young Gary Johnson during his first spell (2001-05) as Yeovil’s manager. Then when Gary Johnson got them promoted to the 3rd tier, in 2004-05, folks were saying this little club from the West Country were punching above their weight. Now, a season after Johnson’s return and another promotion, the Glovers are REALLY punching above their weight. One usually does not see such a small club in the English second division…certainly not in the last 25 years. We haven’t seen such a small club from such a small town as Yeovil in the 2nd tier since current-4th-division-side Scunthorpe United were relegated from the Championship in 2011 (and Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire is a bit bigger – it has a population about 20,000 larger than Yeovil, at around 72,000 {2010 figure}). Before that, Crew Alexandra of Crewe, Cheshire were in the second division from 2003-04 to 2005-06 (Crew has a population of around 65,000 {2011 figure}). Before that, Bury FC of Bury, Greater Manchester were in the second division for a 2-year-spell from 1997 to ’99 (Bury has a borough population of around 60,000 {2001 figure}). Before that, Shrewsbury Town, of Shrewsbury, Shropshire were in the second division for a couple of spells, last in 1988-89 (Shrewsbury has a population of around 70,000 {2011 figure}. Before that, Carlisle United, of Carlisle, Cumbria were in the second division for a 4-season-spell from 1982 to ’86 (Carlisle has a population of around 71,000 {2001 figure}. So that is going back 30 years, and all these towns just listed above are all bigger than Yeovil. You have to go all the way back to 1982-83 (31 years ago) to find a second division club from a city smaller than Yeovil – and that is Wrexham, North Wales, home of the current-Non-League-side Wrexham FC (Wrexham, Wales has a population of around 42,000 {2001 figure}).
[sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_League_Championship ;
http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Second_Division_Tables_1946-47_to_1991-92.html; http://www.footymad.net.]
For Yeovil Town FC and their supporters this season, there will be good times in store at the 9,565-capacity Huish Park, there in south Somerset… even if the green-and-white hooped Glovers, led-by ex-Latvia and ex-Bristol City gaffer Gary Johnson, go straight back down (please don’t).
As to the kit badge facsimiles I have assembled, one club – Bolton Wanderers – have a new design for their official crest and their kit badge. It is actually a re-working of an older design, with those silly streaming red-and-blue ribbons now gone, and a more traditional horizontal-red-ribbon-with-red-rose-of-Lancashire device added, see this, ‘The Rose returns: Bolton Wanderers’ brand new badge is real‘ (lionofviennasuite.com [SB Nation]). Another club, the just-promoted AFC Bournemouth, have re-vamped their official crest {see it here at their Wikipedias page, but have kept the old one on their 13/14 kits. With the Cherries’ new crest, gone is the ribbon-banner that contained the club’s name, and gone are the red/white vertical-stripes. With the new crest, the shield is larger and contains the club’s name, which is now at the top of the shield and in a modern gold sans-serif font; also there are now some red/black vertical-stripes (to reflect the home jersey-style of recent years). Bournemouth’s main crest element – the player’s-head-with-stylized-motion-streaked-hair-who-is-heading-a-ball – remains, but now the red in the crest is darker and very slightly more raspberry-reddish – to reflect the shade of red that the Dorset-based club has been wearing the past few years {see this, http://www.afcb.co.uk/news/article/2013-06-01-cherries-launch-championship-kits-851694.aspx}.
Not counting background color or colors, this season, the League Championship has 9 clubs which sport home kit badges that are different from their official crest – here they are…
-Barnsley: a dark-red-bordered shield device frames the distinctive crest of the Tykes of South Yorkshire.
-Blackpool: the usual color-reverse for the text elements on the outer-rim of the Seasiders’ crest.
-Derby County: like last year, the Rams sport just the minimalist-ram-in-profile, shown larger and without the framing disc or the text elements. With black collars on their traditional whites, its a great look.
-Huddersfield Town: as with the last couple of seasons, the Terriers of West Yorkshire have a shield framing their crest, plus a three-star device at the top (the stars are for the cub’s 1923, 1924, and 1925 English titles); this year the shield has a dark blue border and the stars are gold (last season both were black).
-Ipswich Town: like last year, the Tractor Boys of Suffolk, East Anglia have a white three-star device at the top of their work-horse-in-crenellated-shield crest (the stars are for the cub’s 1962 English title, their 1978 FA Cup title, and their 1981 UEFA Cup title).
-Millwall: celebrating 20 years at their Bermondsey, South London home of the New Den, the Lions have a disc encircling their rampant-lion-crest, with the words [in all-caps] ‘Twenty Years At The New Den – 1993 -2013′; plus the home jersey features a nice double-thick-pinstripe effect in white-on-navy-blue.
-Nottingham Forest: as the club did last year, atop their singular modernist-tree-on-river crest [which is a color reverse of their official crest], there are 2 white stars for Forest’s two European titles (won in 1979 & 1980 when the legendary Brian Clough was their manager).
-Watford: here is the club’s announcement on their new kits: ‘Watford’s new kits for 2013/14 will feature stylish monochrome club crests – although the official club crest will remain absolutely unchanged’. So, this season, for the Hornets of Hertfordshire, in their home kit there is no red trim (besides sponsor logo), and in the club’s head-of-Hart-of-Hertfordshire-in-a-polygon crest their home kit badge has no red – only black-and-yellow. Why? Maybe their Italian owners think the stag on their crest looks more stylish this way.
-Wigan Athletic: this is the second straight year Wigan have featured a gold-disc-outline on their Wigan-Tree-in-crown badge. The disc-outline of the Latics’ official crest is in their ‘electric blue’ color; but actually, Wigan are sporting a darker shade of light royal blue this season, and have a thinner-vertical-stripe-pattern on their nice-looking home jersey {see this from (laticsshop.net) – old school style, harking back to Wigan’s late ’70s/early ’80s-first-years-in-the-Football-League era.
The just-relegated Wigan Athletic, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, have now become the only club in the history of association football to have won the FA Cup title and to have been relegated in the same season. Manager Roberto Martinez has moved on to a bigger club nearby (Everton), and ex-St. Johnstone, ex-Burnley, and ex-Bolton manager Owen Coyle is at the helm. Maybe another new arrival, burly-but-deft-touch-striker Grant Holt, will power Wigan right back to the Premier League so they can reclaim their 4-out-of-8-seasons’-status as the lowest-drawing top-flight club (QPR were the lowest-drawing club in the Premier League last season and in 2011-12, while in 2005-6 it was Portsmouth, and in 2010-11 it was Blackpool).
From en.wikipedia.org, ‘2013–14 Football League Championship‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to Football League site for 2012-13 attendance figures, football-league.co.uk//DivisionalAttendance. Thanks to European-Football-Statistics.co.uk, for the 2012-13 attendance figures of the 3 relegated teams (QPR, Reading, Wigan), european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm.
Thanks to Derby County online store for the photo segment of the 2013-14 home kit, dcfcmegastore.co.uk/item/mens-replicakit-homekit_1314-home-shirt.
Thanks to garibaldired for uploading a photo of the 2013-14 Nottingham Forest home kit at forestforum.co.uk/thread [image later scrapped, see comment #1 & 2 below]. / Thanks to nottinghamforestdirect.com for the Nottingham Forest 13/14 home kit badge photo, http://nottinghamforestdirect.com/stores/forest/products/kit_selector.aspx?selectorid=302&CMP=KNC-Google2&portal=nottppc&cur=USD..
Thanks to bogdan at lufctalk.com/forums for uploading a photo of the Leeds United kit badge at lufctalk.com/forums/index.php?topic=5589.
Thanks to FootyHeadlines.com for this gallery of the new Middlesbrough kits, http://www.footyheadlines.com/2013/05/middlesbrough-13-14-2013-14-home-and.html.
Thanks to FootyHeadlines.com for the photo of the Millwall 2013-14 badge, http://www.footyheadlines.com/2013/06/millwall-13-14-2013-14-home-and-away.html
Thanks to QPR shop, http://www.shop.qpr.co.uk/gb/item/adult-pre-match-jacket-102508.
Thanks to Footballkitnews.com, for photo of Watford 2013-14 kit badge, http://www.footballkitnews.com/9112/new-watford-kit-2013-2014-puma-watford-fc-home-shirt-13-14-138-com-sponsor/.
Thanks to htafcmegastore.com at htafc.com for 2013-14 Huddersfield Town kit badge.
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Biography – MCGREGOR, JAMES DUNCAN – Volume XVI (1931-1940) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
McGREGOR, JAMES DUNCAN, businessman, livestock breeder, rancher, and office holder; b. 29 Aug. 1860 in Amherstburg, Upper Canada, son of David McGregor, a livery-stable owner, and Annie Smith; m. 10 April 1883 Elizabeth (Lizzy) Murphy (d. 1902) in North Cypress, Man., and they had three sons, one of whom predeceased him, and one daughter; d. 15 March 1935 in Winnipeg.
Educated in Windsor, Upper Canada, James Duncan McGregor left school at age 15. In the spring of 1877 he moved with his parents and siblings to Winnipeg, where his father and uncle opened a sale-and-commission business dealing in horses, oxen, feed, harnesses, wagons, buggies, and carts. Two years later McGregor set himself up as a trader in the frontier settlement of Portage la Prairie. In 1881, when the Canadian Pacific Railway decided on the route through Brandon, McGregor arrived there before the line was completed and was soon in business, outfitting settlers with horses and cattle. In 1885 he created J. D. McGregor and Company, which auctioned horses, cattle, and sheep. Four years later, he co-founded Munn, McGregor and Company with Henry Toke Munn; its primary function was to purchase western range horses, tame them, and sell them to Manitoba farmers. They dissolved their partnership in 1893, probably at McGregor’s insistence, because of difficulties in collecting money owed to them by poor farmers, most of whom purchased on credit. Nevertheless, McGregor’s original firm stayed in business until at least 1895 and was quite successful. By 1889 he had built for his family a residence that the Brandon Mail described as “one of the handsomest” in the city.
McGregor’s dream was to find a breed of cattle that would “produce quality beef economically.” He first encountered such animals at the farm of Hiram Walker and Sons [see Hiram Walker*] in Walkerville (Windsor), Ont. He saw similar cattle at the Quorn Ranch [see John Ware*] in the District of Alberta. In 1889 Walter Frederick Campbell Gordon-Cumming, a shareholder in the Quorn, had imported 40 Aberdeen Angus heifers and 3 bulls from his farm in Scotland. Later that year McGregor brought 2,000 cattle to the Quorn Ranch to be fattened and noticed the Aberdeen Angus herd, which he subsequently purchased and moved to one of his farms south of Oak Lake, Man. In the early 1890s, under the firm name Glencarnock Stock Farms, he established several farms, among which were two main properties, Glencarnock Farm proper, three miles south of Brandon, and Griswold (Deer) Farm, 35 miles west of the city; as well, there was Gwenmar Farm, near the community of Kemnay. During the same period he also acquired fillies from California and prize-winning stallions, Shropshire sheep, and Tamworth hogs from England, either to sell in Canada or to improve his own stock.
With the creation of the Yukon judicial district on 16 Aug. 1897, McGregor was appointed one of two inspectors of mines, with an annual salary of $1,500, by his close friend Clifford Sifton*, federal minister of the interior. He left soon afterwards for Dawson. Now 37 years old, McGregor stood six feet tall, had broad shoulders, and weighed over 200 pounds. He was a strapping and courageous man, well suited for the rigours of the trek to the Yukon and life among the miners. A natural leader, he confronted tough situations head-on and built a reputation for being honest, forthright, and fair.
McGregor’s time in office, however, was not without controversy. In 1899 he was acquitted of charges of accepting bribes and illegally using official information. That year Sifton named him liquor commissioner for the Yukon, at which time he left his post as mining inspector. He would stay in the territory for about eight years in all, regularly returning to Brandon and his farms.
In 1901 McGregor obtained a lease of more than 47,600 acres of land near the junction of the Bow and Oldman rivers, west of Medicine Hat (Alta). Arthur H. Hitchcock, a banker from Moose Jaw (Sask.), took a lease for a slightly larger acreage adjoining McGregor’s holding. To manage the Bow River properties, they incorporated the Grand Forks Cattle Company on 28 Aug. 1903 with the help of other investors. The firm was successful, and by 1906 it had almost 6,000 head of range cattle, 875 pure-bred cattle, and 951 horses. McGregor, Hitchcock, and British partners began to organize a massive irrigation project. They established the Robins Irrigation Company to acquire additional land nearby. In the fall of 1906 ownership of the cattle and the irrigation companies was transferred to the Southern Alberta Land Company, which was funded by the Canadian Agency, a British investment firm. McGregor became manager and oversaw the diversion of water from the Bow River to an artificial reservoir (now McGregor Lake) and the building of canals, dams, and flumes to irrigate more than 95,000 acres. Construction began in 1909, but three years later, after the collapse of diversionary works, the chief engineer, Arthur Grace, resigned and McGregor was replaced as manager. He would remain with the company as its farm operations adviser.
The quality of the animals bred by Glencarnock Stock Farms, which McGregor had continued to oversee despite his absences, improved significantly in 1902 when he and James Bowman of Guelph, Ont., a noted breeder of doddies (as Aberdeen Angus were called), imported an outstanding bull from Scotland named Prince of Benton. In 1909 and again three years later McGregor arranged for significant importations of cattle from Scotland. The foundations were now laid for a breeding program that would produce one of the leading Aberdeen Angus herds in North America. Between 1908 and 1925 McGregor would show his cattle extensively across the continent, and during that period they were awarded “more prizes than any [other] herd in [Canada].” On 2 Dec. 1912 at the Chicago International Livestock Exposition his Aberdeen Angus steer Glencarnock Victor won the grand championship for the best fat animal. The following year McGregor won the same competition with Glencarnock Victor II. His success in Chicago did more than anything else to draw the attention of Canadian cattlemen to the merits of the breed. In 1923 he won his third grand championship, on this occasion with Blackcap Revolution, one of the greatest breeding bulls of his time. McGregor relied on the prepotency of the Aberdeen Angus bull “for the improvement of the common cattle of the country.”
In McGregor’s view expositions and fairs would “set the standard for [the] requirements of intelligent production and marketing [and serve as] an advertising medium for the producers of Canada.” This conviction gave him a strong motive for establishing, in 1907, the Brandon Winter Fair and Livestock Association, later the Manitoba Winter Fair and Fat Stock Association. The fair, over which McGregor would preside for 15 years, was first held in March 1908; it became the prime testing ground in Canada for the Aberdeen Angus breed and its crosses.
McGregor became famous within the beef industry for developing an innovative breeding technique: instead of using pedigreed cattle for reproduction, he selected bulls based on their individual characteristics, choosing ones whose aggregate of distinctive features matched those of the foundation cows. He gradually convinced prairie farmers of the importance of raising quality stock. In 1929 Maclean’s magazine applauded his method: “Shaggy, rough hides became smooth and glossy. Former canners were transformed into prime beeves.”
By urging farmers in Manitoba to stop depending solely on wheat and those in Saskatchewan and Alberta to cease concentrating on livestock, McGregor also played a role in diversifying western Canada’s monocultures. He pioneered the general cultivation of alfalfa there and helped establish the growing of sweet clover and fodder corn in Manitoba. In recognition of his “development of agricultural thought and practice, and in appreciation of his efforts as a breeder and exhibitor of Aberdeen Angus cattle,” the Agricultural College of Manitoba presented him with an honorary diploma on 3 April 1925. On 2 Dec. 1928 his portrait was hung in the Saddle and Sirloin Club of Chicago, the highest honour conferred by stockmen. The following year, on 25 January, McGregor succeeded Theodore Arthur Burrows* as lieutenant governor of Manitoba, a position he reluctantly accepted “as a compliment to the whole farming industry.” He would use this office to further the agricultural interests of Canada. Former business partner Munn described him as “a man of tremendous drive and energy, and with a remarkable imagination and vision as regards the development of the Canadian West.” With what the Winnipeg Evening Tribune described as “mingled benignity and quiet authority,” McGregor used the office as a platform for spreading his vision of Canada’s future, which involved building railways and roads to exploit the vast mineral resources of the north.
McGregor sold off his entire herd of cattle in October 1930. Although his sons and others had taken over Glencarnock Stock Farms, incorporating it a year and a half before the sale, the enterprise failed to flourish after the patriarch left, and the family had divested all their interests in the business by 1935.
An important influence on the development of the stock-raising industry in Canada, McGregor had been a member of the Canadian Aberdeen Angus Association and was its president from 1911 to 1921; he was also an organizer and president of the Manitoba Stock Association and a member of the Western Canada Live-stock Union. In 1918 he was appointed to the Canada Food Board as director of agricultural labour. In 1929 he became the founding president of the Canadian Council of Beef Producers, and the following year the Nor’‑West Farmer awarded him an honorary Master Farmer Medal. In addition, he headed the Dominion Agricultural Credit Company Limited, established in 1931 to help farmers diversify their production by raising livestock, but he resigned in 1934 because of ill health.
James Duncan McGregor was a bold and enterprising figure in the development of the beef industry in western Canada and in agriculture more generally, internationally known for his pioneering methods in stockbreeding. On 15 March 1935, shortly after retiring from the lieutenant governor’s office, McGregor died at his Winnipeg residence. He was buried in Brandon cemetery four days later, the opening day of the city’s 28th winter fair. In 1979 he was inducted into the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Peter Hanlon
AM, CCA (Companies office corporation docs.) 0059, GR6427, file 425g, Glucarnock Stock Farms, Q 24620. Brandon Univ., S. J. McKee Arch. (Man.), RG 5, James Duncan McGregor fonds. GA, M 2389/627; M 2389/1055. LAC, R190-138-X, files 419067, 429492; R7693-0-0. Man., Dept. of Justice, Vital statistics agency (Winnipeg), no.1883-001263. Manitoba Free Press, 3 Dec. 1912, 3 Dec. 1913, 5 Dec. 1923, 4 Dec. 1928, 16 March 1935. Nor’-West Farmer (Winnipeg), 5 May, 20 Oct., 30 Nov. 1930. Shath Square, “Lieutenant-governors of Manitoba: part eleven,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 July 1971, New Leisure: 22. Winnipeg Free Press, 16 March 1935. Edward Brado, Cattle kingdom: early ranching in Alberta (Vancouver, 1984). Kenneth Coates and Fred McGuiness, Pride of the land: an affectionate history of Brandon’s agricultural exhibitions (Winnipeg, 1985). Macdonald Coleman, The face of yesterday: the story of Brandon, Manitoba (Brandon, [1957]). Cornwallis Centennial Committee, Municipal memories ([Cornwallis, Man., 1984?]). F. W. Crawford, Aberdeen-Angus cattle in Canada (Winnipeg, 1944). J. F. Gilpin, Prairie promises: history of the Bow River irrigation district (Vauxhall, Alta, 1996). Griswold United Church Women, Bridging the years: Griswold centennial booklet, 1867–1967 ([Griswold, Man., 1967]). John Hurley, “From sombrero to cocked hat,” Maclean’s, 1 Nov. 1929: 11. H. T. Munn, Prairie trails and Arctic by-ways (London, 1932). A. H. Sanders, A history of Aberdeen-Angus cattle … (Chicago, 1928). F. H. Schofield, The story of Manitoba (3v., Winnipeg, 1913).
Agriculture – Stockbreeders
Agriculture – Farmers
Office Holders – Provincial and territorial
Business – Construction
Office Holders – Federal Government
North America – Canada – Ontario – Southwest
North America – Canada – Alberta
North America – Canada – Manitoba
North America – Canada – Yukon
BURROWS, THEODORE ARTHUR (Vol. 15)SIFTON, Sir CLIFFORD (Vol. 15)WALKER, HIRAM (Vol. 12)WARE, JOHN (Vol. 13)BEDFORD, SPENCER ARGYLE (Vol. 16)
WALKER, HIRAM
WARE, JOHN
SIFTON, Sir CLIFFORD
BURROWS, THEODORE ARTHUR
BEDFORD, SPENCER ARGYLE
Peter Hanlon, “MCGREGOR, JAMES DUNCAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed January 22, 2020, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mcgregor_james_duncan_16E.html.
Permalink: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mcgregor_james_duncan_16E.html
Author of Article: Peter Hanlon
Title of Article: MCGREGOR, JAMES DUNCAN
Publication Name: Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16
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Home » Interviews » THE BLACK SHEEP INTERVIEW: JAKE GYLLENHAAL (END OF WATCH)
THE BLACK SHEEP INTERVIEW: JAKE GYLLENHAAL (END OF WATCH)
Posted by Joseph Belanger on Sep 22, 2012 in Interviews | 0 comments
HE IS NOT HIS HAIR.
An interview with Jake Gyllenhaal, for END OF WATCH.
“And what was that other question you asked?” I heard a very relaxed and a very handsome, Jake Gyllenhaal, say to me early one morning during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. A very tired and a very frazzled me, sheepishly replied, “Uh, I was wondering if it was difficult for you to grow your hair back out after the shoot.” He smiles directly at me with those big, blue eyes and says, “Yeah, I just had to make you repeat that one.” Wow. Jake Gyllenhaal had just messed with me. Heaven.
To be fair, I preceded that hair question with a serious one about whether his time on END OF WATCH, his new badass cop film co-starring Michael Pena and written and directer by David Ayer (TRAINING DAY), was any more difficult to shake off at the end of each day.
“I’m just happy being in Toronto promoting this movie and having made this movie,” Gyllenhaal continues. “To me, honestly, this movie was not about vanity. I totally respect the intention of the question but it’s very hard for me to talk about hair when I feel like the police officers I worked with have much more important issues to think about. I feel like I’d be doing them a disservice.”
The great thing about Gyllenhaal, or what I can assess of him from the scant fifteen minutes we shared a room together, is that his earnestness is as plain as the nose on his face. Well, there’s nothing really plain about his nose but you get where I’m going with this. And it’s not like he didn’t give me a wealth of great material for my previous question.
“The process of making the movie, 22 day shoot in all, was probably the least intense part of the whole journey,” Gyllenhaal explains. He and on-screen partner, Pena, spent two to three nights a week for five months riding along with Los Angeles Police Department officers in preparation for the part, a lengthy prep period by any Hollywood standard. “When I would be driving home at 5:00 in the morning, having worked in South Central, it would take me a couple of hours just to get to sleep. I would also think, it’s not my job but i’m observing it and i’m continuously observing it. And yet you’re not really involved so there is this strange middle ground where you exist. This can make you weirdly feel even more alone.”
Aside from exposing Gyllenhaal, an Oscar nominee and Los Angeles native, to the harsh reality of the unfamiliar streets in South Central, the purpose of the ride alongs was to bond him to Pena. Ayer’s script called for Gyllenhaal and Pena to be so much more than mere partners; the script specifically refers to them as brothers.
“You have to have that brotherhood in order for the movie to work,” Pena explains, when asked about his chemistry with Gyllenhaal. “We didn’t get along like brothers instantaneously but after all that time together, I knew that Jake had my back.”
In Gyllenhaal’s mind, if they didn’t get this camaraderie just right, then END OF WATCH would not have worked at all. “To me, the movie is about a relationship, the movie is about a friendship, the movie or the reason I wanted to do the movie is not because it was about cops,” Gyllenhaal exclaims. For him, the buddy cop genre is entirely irrelevant in this case. “I think you can take these two guys out of uniform and put them in another context and it would still be an interesting movie to watch.”
Of course, if it were an entirely different movie, like if Gyllenhaal and Pena were playing say, I don’t know, extreme cupcake partners, or something just as equally ridiculous, I’m not sure END OF WATCH would have had the same impact on his life.
“I had never approached a film or a character in this way. It was really informative to me as an actor and really as a person,” a very appreciated and seemingly genuine Gyllenhaal reveals. “The relationships we made along those five months, the experiences we had together, they changed my life as a person. The movie for me almost feels like an after thought. It was a very special process for me. Michael and I will always share that and always be close because of that.”
Gyllenhaal is a self-professed actor’s actor, having worked opposite some of the best of them, from Heath Ledger (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) to Natalie Portman (BROTHERS). “I love actors!” I have no issue presuming an exclamation point there; he was that enthusiastic when he said. “I love watching them work. I love seeing somebody just kill it. It is the biggest joy that I have weirdly as an actor, that I get to be inside that process.”
Perhaps my favourite shot of Gyllenhaal, from BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
At just 31 years of age, and with upcoming projects as varied as Oscar-nominee, Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up to INCENDIES, ENEMY, in which he plays two polar opposite characters, to appearing an original off-Broadway play called, “If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet”, Gyllenhaal shows no signs of slowing or easing into simpler roles. This not only bodes well for his future but it means there will be plenty more opportunities for him to mess with me again. Either way, as long as he continues, Gyllenhaal will be happy.
“To me, playing a character and making relationships with people, really learning about their stories, is what I love to do. And hopefully that’s what will be it for the rest of my life.”
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Thus Spoke Montezuma: Luca di Montezemolo Unfiltered.
Above is an extended version of the interview Luca di Montezemolo gave to Italy's RAI. It's in Italian, which will make it hard on many of you, but I thought it was important to have the complete interview rather than have it filtered. The tendency sometimes is for creating headlines so after LdM's CNN interview you saw plenty of "Alonso is not number one at Ferrari" titles. That was not exactly what he said.
Of course since not everyone speaks Italian, like most F1 drivers apparently, I will try to bullet point as extensively as I can.
On 2013:
-Good thing it's over because it was a year to forget
-The issues of 2013 were three: Our inability to develop the car in the second half of the season. The change in tires damaged Ferrari which had designed the car around the original specs. Massa did not produce points towards the Constructors Championship.
On Ferrari's supposed diminished political power within F1.
"I've been hearing this theory every since I started working with Enzo Ferrari in the 1970s. We have signed an accord with Ecclestone and the FIA making us the only team with a right to veto any decision so, more power than that you cannot have" "We are also very conscious of out weight in F1 because F1 without F1 would be a very different thing" "but in the end, power comes from creating a winning car and that has been missing from us, everything else is just talk"
On losing second place in the Constructor's because of Massa's penalty
"the penalty was out of proportion with the offense, as was Hamilton's. Sometimes FIA stewards are just people with gold buttoned blazers who show up at these races and want to make a splash and have some rather ridiculous attitudes, this is something the FIA needs to address. When you have teams that invest so much and drivers who risk their lives, you cannot have someone with a little blue jacket trying to make a splash is not right"
On Alonso's frustrations
"Alonso is the strongest race driver in the field, he has lost three championships at the last race, I understand his frustrations, we have to give him a better car. I gave hims an 8 out of 10 but that's because one needs to keep 10 in your pocket to motivate"
"I was mad when he said he wanted an RB9 for his birthday, but I was mad because, mostly he was right! but he should not have said it publicly"
"Alonso is mistaken when he says he's competing against Newey, his real adversaries are other drivers, starting from Vettel who's a great driver, but also Hamilton and Rosberg and Raikkonen who will be there to try and win, to push Fernando and to get us more points"
On Raikkonen
"Raikkonen, like Alonso and in the past Schumacher and Barrichello know that whoever has the honor to drive for Ferrari will never be able to damage the team. No driver starts the season as number one. Alonso deserves an important role for all he's done and for being the strongest driver during a race I have ever met. We took Raikkonen because of his experience and popularity, he will get an equal chance to win for Ferrari. it will be a very strong team"
On Vettel
" A great driver, a serious kid, when a driver wins as much as he has won, he deserves respect. My compliments to him and Red Bull, but more to him."
"Will he land at Ferrari in the future? the ways of the Lord are infinite.... we'll see. For now our drivers are not the issue, we need to build them a better car and we hope that the new regulations will give us a chance to compete in areas where we are traditionally strong like, for example, engines"
On Alonso's Tweeting
We are going to not allow it, he can tweet all he wants, but not about team matters because things can be misconstrued and built up into issues that can damage the harmony of the team"
On The Future of the Sport
"We need fairness and openness, we need clear rules that are enforced fairly but also that on track penalties are handed out with more common sense, especially in cases where no advantage was gained. I expect Todt to work on renovating and improving the FIA in his second term."
On Ecclestone suggesting Christian Horner as his successor
"Ecclestone, as years pass enjoys making jokes more and more. I'm glad to see he's still having fun"
Labels: Formula 1, Formula 1 2013, Luca di Montezemolo at 12:21 PM
AxisAC Wednesday, November 27, 2013 8:43:00 PM
He had to eat some crow there regarding KIMI given some of his past statements about the Finn. I'm sure Kimi's happy to be back at Ferrari but I'm not sure how on board he is with the whole "Ferrari comes before the drivers" bit. That goes for Alonso as well, or any pure racer type.
Doc_V Sunday, December 01, 2013 2:16:00 AM
Agreed, Kimi most definite will not be anyone's monkey. And is it me, or is he relegating Kimi to the no. 2 driver here?
"Raikkonen, like Alonso and in the past Schumacher and Barrichello know that whoever has the honor to drive for Ferrari…" I have no idea what he means by, "not harm Ferrari", but it felt like he was saying Kimi would be like Rubens. Can someone clarify this?
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Ozzfest
Went to Ozzfest this Saturday. I missed two of my fave bands, Shadow's Fall and Killswitch Engage, but oh well...Cradle of Filth made up for it! They totally slayed. Voivod left a lot to be desired, but I did get to meet them and thank them for two great albums (Nothingface and Dimension Hatross). Finally, I was impressed with Marilyn Manson (I was expecting it to suck), but he put on a very good show. I was most disappointed with Disturbed (very average music and nothing to write home about...and what's the deal with beating up your mother?) and Korn (pure noise, hell, I wanted to beat up the singer after hearing his tripe and his really bad band). Finally, there was Ozzy and Zakk came out as a pimp. I could not stop laughing! Zakk and crew put on one hell of a show, but unfortuantely, try as he might, I think Ozzy is way over the hill. It was painful watching him, but the excellent backing band more than made up for it. Rusty, my bud that went with me, commented that Ozzy should only 2 songs per Ozzfest and then, I backed that up with Black Label Society being the headliners...Zakk is quite the showman and it would be great to see a full set of BLS...And hey, he can even throw in some Pride and Glory (which by the way, we stood in line to meet him, but he never showed! I wanted to beg for another P&G album!!!!!) Good time overall!
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LISWire: arXiv Now Part of EBSCO Discovery Service™
~ Cornell University’s e-print Service Included in Base Index of EBSCO Discovery Service™ ~
IPSWICH, Mass. — January 27, 2010 — arXiv is the latest content source to become available via EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Publishing. arXiv is an e-print service owned and operated by Cornell University offering an extensive archive of scientific papers. Metadata from arXiv will be added to the EDS Base Index, the most comprehensive and robust collection of metadata from the best content sources.
arXiv serves as an archive for more than 650,000 electronic preprints of scientific papers. The metadata from arXiv is a valuable resource for those with interests or research needs in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance and statistics.
arXiv joins a long list of publishers and other content partners who are taking part in EDS to bring more visibility to their content, such as: the British Library, Baker & Taylor, NewsBank, Readex, LexisNexis, JSTOR, Alexander Street Press, Oxford University Press, American Psychological Association, ABC-CLIO, ingentaconnect, Mergent Inc., Government Printing Office, ECONIS and for mutual customers Web of Science & H.W. Wilson—a growing list of information sources available to EBSCO Discovery Service users.
EBSCO Discovery Service is quickly becoming the discovery selection for many libraries (www.ebscohost.com/discovery/eds-news), and an obvious partner for content providers. Because the service builds on the foundation provided by the EBSCOhost platform, libraries gain a full user experience for discovering their collections/OPAC—which is not typical in the discovery space. Further still, in the many universities and other libraries where EBSCOhost is the most-used platform for premium research, users are not asked to change their pathways or habits for searching. There’s simply more to discover on the familiar EBSCOhost platform, and the same can be said for library administrators who can leverage their previous work with EBSCOadmin.
EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box—searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.
The EDS Base Index forms the foundation upon which each EDS subscribing library builds out its custom collection. Beginning with the Base Index, each institution extends the reach of EDS by adding appropriate resources including its catalog, institutional repositories, EBSCOhost and other databases, and additional content sources to which it subscribes. It is this combination that allows a single, comprehensive, custom solution for discovering the value of any library’s collection.
The EDS Base Index is comprised of metadata from the world’s foremost information providers. At present, the EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers. Although constantly growing, today the EDS Base Index provides metadata for nearly 50,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 100 million newspaper articles, more than 400,000 conference proceedings and hundreds of thousands of additional information sources from various source-types.
About EBSCO Publishing
EBSCO Publishing is the world’s premier database aggregator, offering a suite of nearly 300 full-text and secondary research databases. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals, magazines, books, monographs, reports and various other publication types from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). The company’s product lines include proprietary databases such as Academic Search™, Business Source®, CINAHL®, DynaMed™, Literary Reference Center™, MasterFILE™, NoveList®, SocINDEX™ and SPORTDiscus™ as well as dozens of leading licensed databases such as ATLA Religion Database™, EconLit, INSPEC®, MEDLINE®, MLA International Bibliography, The Philosopher’s Index™, PsycARTICLES®, PsycINFO® and RILM™. Databases are powered by EBSCOhost®, the most-used for-fee electronic resource in libraries around the world.
EBSCO is the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service™ a core collection of locally-indexed metadata creating a unified index of an institution’s resources within a single, customizable search point providing everything the researcher needs in one place—fast, simple access to the library’s full text content, deeper indexing and more full-text searching of more journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.
Kathleen McEvoy
kmcevoy@ebscohost.com
LISWire: LibLime Welcomes Senior Software Engineer Dr. Robert Phillips to the Team
Bethesda, MD – January 25, 2011 – LibLime, a Division of PTFS is proud to announce that Dr. Robert Phillips has joined the LibLime Development team as a Senior Software Engineer.
“I am excited to have Dr. Phillips join our engineering and development staff. He brings a broad educational background, including not only a Ph.D., but a J.D. from a prestigious university. His experience and interest in computer systems and software development has been constant throughout his professional career, and his knowledge of databases, Linux and associated tools will be a great complement to our current staff,” said Brett Smith, Vice President of Operations at PTFS.
Phillips, with a strong background in computational psychology, began applying this science to software development. As a student, he designed, developed, and sold a computer gaming software application to CBS Toys. During his graduate school years at the University of Florida, he developed a Cloud Computing Platform for Law Practice IT, which was widely used by the students in the UF Law School. He also holds a number of U.S. patents on other software applications.
Phillips began his corporate development work as lead developer in the AT&T Credit and Collections Systems. While there, he designed and developed a state of the art database validation system for credit security. He then moved to Lucent Technologies of Bell Labs as a Systems Engineer developing and maintaining several secure Apache websites. He was then recruited by Avaya Communications where he held several positions including Systems Engineer, Research Scientist, and Project Lead.
“Working in an agile development environment is fun,” said Robert, “I’ve been spending some time with Koha prior to learning about PTFS’ work with the application. I think this is a good fit for me here, working on such a challenging open source project with the LibLime team,” he finished.
About LibLime - PTFS
LibLime – PTFS is the global leader in open-source solutions for libraries. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, The PTFS LibLime Division educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. The PTFS LibLime Division then facilitates deployment of Koha in libraries by providing outstanding consulting, development, implementation, and support/hosting for libraries of all types and sizes. PTFS is also the developer of the world’s leading content management software, ArchivalWare, and specializes in meeting library personnel staffing requirements, digitization, and metadata keying services. For more information, see http://liblime.com or http://ptfs.com or http://archivalware.net.
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The Garver Board of Directors announces that Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Williams has been named president and chairman of the board, effective August 13.
Williams succeeds Wm. Brock Johnson, who is transitioning to retirement after a nine-year tenure as president. Johnson will remain chief executive officer and will work a reduced schedule as he focuses on health issues that have arisen. Williams will also continue to serve as COO.
Brock Johnson
"I'm delighted with Dan's appointment—he brings strong technical and administrative experience to the position, and I'm confident he will build on our successes here at Garver," Johnson said. "Throughout his career, Dan has served Garver with strong leadership and the highest ethical standards. Dan has been at my side and aided me in leading transformational growth at Garver. Garver will continue to grow and prosper under his leadership. Dan’s new role as president will free me up to spend some more time with friends and family as I focus on my health."
Williams has served as executive vice president and COO since April 2008. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and chief engineer for three years. Williams has spent more than 30 years with the company.
Posted by Jon Hetzel at 3:30 PM
Labels: Corporate news, Employee recognition
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Gawn Grainger Replaces John Hurt in Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company's 'The Entertainer'
Broadway World, 12 July 2016
By BWW News Desk
Thanks Jude
Gawn Grainger has joined the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company production of 'The Entertainer', which began rehearsals this week. Gawn is playing Billy Rice and replaces John Hurt who, on the advice of his doctors, recently had to withdraw from the production.
Preview performances for Rob Ashford's production at the Garrick Theatre begin on 20 August, with an official opening night on 30 August. Kenneth Branagh will play Archie Rice alongside Phil Dunster as Graham, Jonah Hauer-King as Frank Rice, Crispin Letts as Brother Bill, Sophie McShera as Jean Rice and Greta Scacchi as Phoebe Rice. Further casting also includes Lauren Alexandra, Yasmin Harrison, Pip Jordan and Kate Tydman as dancers.
Gawn Grainger began his career as the Boy Prince in Ivor Novello's 'King's Rhapsody' at the Prince's Theatre when he was twelve years old. Recent stage credits include 'The Cherry Orchard' (Young Vic), 'Macbeth' (Shakespeare's Globe) and 'The Recruiting Officer' (Donmar Warehouse). Other work in the West End includes 'Onassis', 'Absolutely Perhaps' and 'The Crucible'. Gawn was also a company member in Laurence Olivier's inaugural season at the National Theatre's South Bank venue in 1976. Previous productions at the National Theatre include 'A Woman Killed With Kindness', 'Some Trace Of Her', 'Sing Your Heart Out For The Lands', 'The Passion', 'The Seagull' and 'The Misanthrope'. At the Almeida Gawn has appeared in Harold Pinter's productions of 'No Man's Land', 'Party Time' and 'Mountain Language' and Rupert Goold's 'The Last Days of Judas Iscariot'.
Set against the backdrop of post-war Britain, John Osborne's modern classic conjures the seedy glamour of the old music halls for an explosive examination of public masks and private torment.
In partnership with Picturehouse Entertainment, 'The Entertainer' will be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on 27 October 2016. Participating cinemas and further information about Branagh Theatre Live can be found at branaghtheatrelive.com
'The Winter's Tale', 'Harlequinade / All On Her Own', 'Red Velvet', 'The Painkiller', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Entertainer' make up the year-long Plays at the Garrick season for the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company. For more information and to buy theatre tickets for these productions please see www.branaghtheatre.com
Back to Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company page | Back to Articles Listing | Back to the Compendium
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FREDDIE NELSON To Release Debut Shake The Cage In July
May 10, 2017, 2 years ago
news riff notes freddie nelson
Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer Freddie Nelson first came to international attention in 2010 when he collaborated with guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big) on their album, United States. Together they wrote, performed, and produced the recording that was released on Mascot Records and toured Japan and Europe shortly after.
Flash forward to 2017 and it’s now time for Pittsburgh’s Freddie Nelson to Shake The Cage with his self-produced debut solo album, due out July 7th. The album’s first single, “Hey Doll,” will be available at all digital retail outlets starting Friday, May 12th. The album will be available for pre-orders starting May 19th on iTunes, which will include an instant gratification track. Pre-orders for CD copies will be available on his official website the same day.
We live in an age where reality shows create superstars and the technology that once revolutionized music has become the crutch of the creative process. In an oversaturated industry where anyone can be discovered, we have lost sight of the unseen magic that embodies iconic musicians. The music of Freddie Nelson is here to remind us of that magic.
“The record is called Shake The Cage, because I feel that a lot of music has become one dimensional with tools such as pitch correction and formulated songwriting. There is no substitute for hard work and honing your craft, and it’s time to challenge mediocrity,” Nelson says.
With unprecedented attention to detail, Shake The Cage is truly a solo effort. All of the writing and producing was done by Nelson as well as all of the musical and vocal performances, with the exception of drums performed by the legendary Thomas Lang (who has played with Peter Gabriel, Kelly Clarkson, John Wetton and countless others). It was mixed by Rob Hill of X Music Studios in Los Angeles, CA and was mastered by Maz Murad at Metropolis in London, England.
Shake The Cage is a collection of eleven hook driven rock songs displaying Nelson’s impressive four octave vocal range and notoriously ferocious guitar playing. Intertwining elements of punk, pop, and blues, he has the uncanny ability to weave memorable melodies alongside intelligent lyrics to create a body of work that appeals to the masses.
“I let my instincts guide me,” Nelson explains, “and this album is the result of living in the moment.”
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You are here :: CES In the News » L.A. Plans to Reduce Rental Aid for the Poor
L.A. Plans to Reduce Rental Aid for the Poor
By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Times Staff Writer
More than 44,000 low-income families in Los Angeles whose rent is subsidized by a federal program will be forced to rent cheaper units and contribute more of their monthly income to housing costs under changes proposed by HUD and recently approved by the city housing authority’s board of commissioners.
The measure, which is part of an effort to address funding problems that have threatened the Section 8 program, decreases the monthly subsidy the program makes to house poor families.
Section 8 families that are planning to move will be affected immediately; subsidies will be lowered for all participants within the next two years, housing officials said.
In Los Angeles, about 95,000 people live in subsidized houses or apartments. Advocates and tenants worry that lower subsidies will make it tougher for families to find a place to rent _ and harder to make ends meet each month.
“That means I don’t get to have lights, gas and a phone,” said Delilah Bowen, a former social worker who is disabled and lives on welfare.
The change is just one of many underway at the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.
On Monday, the Housing Authority’s board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Housing and Urban Development that calls for the federal agency to play a greater role in its affairs.
The agreement calls for several changes, including the appointment of a new director of Section 8. Steve Renahan, the current director and a 20-year veteran of the agency, is expected to remain with the Housing Authority but not as the director.
At a meeting last week, Renahan told the agency’s board that the decrease in monthly subsidies and other changes were recommended by HUD officials as something “we should do promptly to reduce costs.”
The actions are in response to funding problems with Section 8. Under the program, participants pay about 30% of their income toward rent and the federal government pays the rest.
In February, the housing authority suspended the vouchers of 1,500 participants, citing a lack of funds. An additional 5,000 families in subsidized housing could have had their rental contracts canceled.
Local housing officials sought ways to reduce costs without displacing families, Renahan said.
“We want to try to find the balance between these two objectives,” he told the board.
The decision to lower monthly payments is a significant, and some say troubling, move in a high-rent market like Los Angeles.
In past years, tenants with housing vouchers struggled to find landlords willing to accept the vouchers at a time when much higher rents could be charged on the open market.
The agency launched an aggressive outreach program to property owners and increased rent subsidies to mirror rents on the open market. As a result, more families found housing and poor families rented higher-quality units in neighborhoods with less crime and poverty, according to an authority report.
Because of budget constraints, that strategy is no longer viable. Families will be notified of the proposed decrease in payments at their next annual review. The decrease would go into effect the following year, officials said.
For a family renting a two-bedroom apartment, for example, the subsidy would decrease from $1,204 each month to $1,005.
For a family renting a three-bedroom apartment, the subsidy would decrease from $1,625 to $1,276.
Tenants who already pay about 30% of their income would be forced to move or cover a greater portion of the rent, provided the total amount they paid did not exceed 40% of their income.
But many tenants may be unable to pay that much. To participate in Section 8, tenants must be designated under federal guidelines as either “very low income” or “extremely low income.”
In Los Angeles, a family of four, for example, with an income of $29,750 or less is considered very low income, according to HUD. A family of four with an income of $17,850 or less is considered extremely low income.
“This will make it more difficult for tenants to find landlords who will accept Section 8,” said Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival, which organizes tenants of public housing. “It will force Section 8 tenants into a smaller area, helping to ghettoize Section 8 tenants.”
Bowen, the former social worker, is already experiencing difficulty because her subsidy has been reduced. Bowen originally received a voucher that allowed her to rent a two-bedroom apartment for up to $1,250 a month.
“I was very fortunate to find [an] apartment,” Bowen said. “I did everything they asked me to do. I completed all of the paperwork.” But last week, housing authority staff informed her that the agency would pay only $1,125 for a comparable apartment in Pacoima, which is a 10-minute walk from her current one in Lake View Terrace.
“Because they haven’t accepted the voucher, I’m trying to come up with the extra money to cover the voucher,” said Bowen, whose arthritis and degenerative joint disease forced her onto disability, then welfare.
She and her 13-year-old son live on a monthly $511 welfare check while her application for Social Security is being processed. So far, she has not found the money to move to the new apartment, but has told the current owner she would move by Friday.
“I’m walking by faith, and I mean that,” she said.
Irene Molina, 75, has already experienced her share of stress. City officials and owners of the apartment she lives in wrangled over the Section 8 program. The owners, who had sought to remove the building from the program, last year agreed to accept vouchers from Molina and other tenants. Now she has new problems to anticipate.
“It’s a real big concern for her, because she is on Social Security,” said Molina’s daughter, Patricia. “She gets very little income as it is.”
Paying more rent would be tough, “but if she would have to move, it would be devastating,” said Patricia Molina, whose mother has lived in her apartment for 30 years.
Arnie Corlin, a property owner who sits on the board of directors for the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, criticized both the decision to lower rent subsidies and what he called the inefficiencies of the Housing Authority. Lowered subsidies might push away owners, said Corlin.
“I don’t feel it’s fair to the tenants,” Corlin said.
“I also don’t think it’s fair to the owners.”
In other action, the authority’s board last week imposed a minimum rent of $50, which will affect about 500 tenants who pay less than $50 each month because their incomes are extremely low.
The board also voted to limit the annual increase to 3% for owners who rent to Section 8 tenants and whose buildings are under rent control.
Linda Williams, a housing advocate with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, said the changes will hit especially hard because of the city’s housing shortage.
“The quick fix they are trying to implement is on the backs of individuals who can’t afford it: the elderly, the disabled, single moms with kids,” she said.
* Irene and Patricia Molina are CES members and tenant leaders
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Hopewell Music raises $50K in six days to keep school open 9:16 a.m. by Keith Harris
Next Dog hangs, a winter luau, clothing swap at Fair State: 30 free things to do this week
Walker's Out There series kicks off with civil disobedience and fallout in the Trump era
Friday, January 10, 2020 by Jay Gabler in Arts & Leisure
Paula Court courtesy of The Kitchen Half Straddle
"We're sitting on the stage?"
Is This A Room: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription
In the Walker Art Center lobby on Thursday night, one member of a group of young people attending the first performance of this year's Out There series could be heard learning that at Out There, you can't take anything for granted.
As it happens, Is This a Room is one of the most accessible, gripping productions in the recent history of the progressive performing art series. Reality Winner, the former U.S. intelligence specialist who's the subject of the show, once received a picture drawn by a 10-year-old who was moved by the production.
You may not want to bring your own schoolchildren to the show, but children even younger than 10 could pick up on the essence of what's happening in director Tina Satter's taut production, created under the auspices of the New York company Half Straddle.
Is This a Room is a dramatization of an encounter that unfolded in Augusta, Georgia, on June 3, 2017, when federal investigators arrived to search the home, car, and person of Reality Winner. Yes, that's actually her name; if it sounds familiar, it's because she subsequently pleaded guilty to a charge of leaking classified information. The 28-year-old is currently serving a five-year prison term.
The leaked information was a report on Russian attacks on American voting software during the 2016 election, part of that country's now-infamous campaign to disrupt the U.S. engine of democracy. Apparently frustrated by public debate over whether Russia was culpable, Winner mailed the report to The Intercept; clues in that publication's reporting put investigators onto Winner's trail.
That brings us to the hour-plus of Is This a Room, which takes the transcript of Winner's initial interrogation as its text. Frank Boyd and T.L. Thompson play FBI agents who arrive at Winner's home with a search warrant and some questions that they're pretty confident they know the answers to. As Winner, a stunning Emily Davis is ostensibly cooperative, though initially denying she did anything seriously wrong. By the end of the interrogation, Winner knows her life has changed forever.
At this harrowing moment in public life, the theatrical presentation of documentary evidence is becoming something of a trend. Last fall, Mixed Blood Theatre hosted a theatrical adaptation of the Mueller Report, with an all-star cast performing "a search for the truth in 10 acts."
Is This a Room, though, isn't a report: it's a verbatim account of a pivotal moment in the life of an American who committed an act of civil disobedience because, it seems, she thought U.S. taxpayers deserved to know what their government knew about Russian election interference.
The show may be especially difficult for animal lovers to watch. Much of the early business involves Winner's cat and rescue dog: first, securing them in safe spaces while the house is searched, and ultimately, figuring out who's going to take care of the animals if Winner goes into custody. At a terrifying moment, Winner thinks first and last of her vulnerable pets.
It's a bravura demonstration of the power of live theater, with Satter and her cast paying careful attention to every detail. Alternately friendly and aggressive, the agents obliterate Winner's bubble of personal space to dramatize the fact that her private world is no longer private. She hands over her keys, her phone, her computer password. No lawyer is present.
Throughout, actor Becca Blackwell paces around the lengthwise platform where the action transpires (a block of audience seats is positioned behind the platform on the McGuire Theater stage, across from the rest of the audience), filling in for an unnamed agent or agents heard on the interrogation recording. Thomas Dunn's lighting design underlines moments like the utterance of the show's title, a disconnected phrase that comes across like an absurdist nod to Kafka.
Is This a Room is a uniquely powerful show, easy to recommend to anyone. You're bound to come out of it with a complex stew of thoughts and feelings, and a new way of understanding the stakes of the challenges we're all facing together as the 2020 election approaches.
Even Donald Trump, to whom the entire national security apparatus ultimately reports, had thoughts to share about Reality Winner. "So unfair," he tweeted about her prison sentence. "Gee, this is 'small potatoes' compared to what Hillary Clinton did!"
Regarding Trump's statement, Winner — who told her FBI interrogators she'd complained about the NSA televisions being constantly turned to Fox News — said, "I can't thank him enough."
Is This a Room
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
CityPages Arts
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Ibsen inspires two very different works at the Jungle and Guthrie theaters January 22 by Jay Gabler
Gordon Parks' photography, Renaissance fonts: This week's great art happenings January 21 by Sheila Regan
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An interview with Comet ISON's co-discoverer
on Friday, August 2, 2013
A few weeks ago, our friends at Levenhuk Telescopes conducted an interview with Artyom Novichonok, who, along with his colleague Vitaly Nevsky, discovered Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) in 2012. Levenhuk has graciously allowed us to reproduce the interview here.
Artyom Novichonok is one of the discoverers of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), which will be brightest in November. // all photos courtesy Levenhuk Telescopes
LT: Artyom, stargazers the world over are looking forward to the arrival of Comet ISON. However, we hardly know anything about the person behind this discovery, apart from the fact that, following your discovery, the University of Cambridge bestowed the Edgar Wilson Award on you. Can you tell us something about yourself?
AN: With pleasure! However, I’d like to point out that Vladimir Gerke and I were given this prestigious award for the discovery of Comet Novichonok-Gerke (P/2011 R3) in 2011. This was the first comet discovered in the Russian Federation since 1989, and my first comet discovery, as well. The ISON comet is not named after the people who discovered it, so we can’t receive an award for its discovery.
I can’t remember how I became so fascinated with astronomy. I think it all started when I was a little kid, and the interest slowly grew into something more.
When I was young, we lived in a small village in the northern part of Karelia, where winter days are short and nights are extremely long. I remember lying in the snow, staring at the stars – the mysteries of the universe beckoning and inspiring me.
The night skies were always clear, with myriad stars shining bright, and I spent hours just lying there, watching. I was lucky, I guess, growing up in a small village. I know that most amateur stargazers live in cities, where light pollution is always a big problem. I didn’t have to worry about it back then.
When I learned how to read, I found Stars and Planets for Kids by Efrem Levitan, which we had at home, a fascinating read.
At some point, when I was in junior high, I learned that the universe is infinite. I was very much frightened by that notion, trying to understand it and unable to do so. I mean, how do you comprehend infinity? This question worried me so much that my interest in astronomy lessened.
LT: So, how did you become a professional astronomer? What made you want to solve the mysteries of the universe? When did you see the night sky through a telescope for the first time?
AN: It wasn’t until senior high that I returned to astronomy. We had just bought a PC and, for some reason (I can’t remember why), I had installed Red Shift 3 — a popular planetarium software. My interest was rekindled at once! Stars and planets were as close as ever, and once again I became enchanted. Around that time, my grandma gave me my first telescope as a birthday present.
The first object I observed was the Moon — the easiest object to observe. Most amateur stargazers begin their journey through the universe with Earth’s satellite. I did observe the Moon before because we had powerful binoculars at home, but with my new telescope, I was able to see so much more!
When I was in college, I became fascinated with comets. The interest grew over the years, and soon became my true calling. Nowadays, I’m studying comets at the Karelian Observatory, which I founded.
LT: When exactly did you realize that solving mysteries of the universe would become your career?
AN: Well, I did choose biology as my major in college. There was no astronomy college in Petrozavodsk, and I was scared of moving to a bigger city in pursuit of my dreams. I wasn’t really certain I was capable of seeing those dreams through. I was about to graduate, when I realized that there’s nothing to be afraid of, that there’s no denying this fascination.
It was then, about four years ago, that I made my first asteroid discoveries, started working with remote telescopes, and founded the College Astronomy Club.
Last year has seen the opening of the Petrozavodsk University Observatory. Currently, we are working closely with the management, constantly bringing new ideas for improvement. I sincerely hope that many more people will become interested in the field.
Artyom Novichonok begins an observing session by setting up a Levenhuk Skyline 90x900 EQ Telescope.
LT: Can you tell us about your first comet discovery? How did it happen, and what did you feel once you realized the significance of this discovery?
AN: I’ll be honest, I never even dreamt of discovering a comet. Certainly, even back in college, when I only began taking interest in comets, I was fascinated with stories of their discoveries. Just with basic telescopes, sometimes even binoculars, people searched the night sky, discovering these wanderers of the universe. But I never considered that I could make such a discovery myself.
Back in 2009, when I started doing CCD observations and photographing comets, I realized that such discoveries were well within my reach.
It took us some time to figure out the best way to image comets. The method that we have come up with has proven to be quite efficient, and by now I have performed about 1,500 observations of hundreds of comets.
You could say that I’m an avid collector – comet descriptions, photometry, tail measurements, etc. – I collect everything.
As I was observing comets, I was also searching for new ones. That was made possible by the Tzec Maun remote observatory. My colleague Dmitry Chestnov and I have discovered dozens of asteroids while working in the observatory. I was always searching the night sky, trying to find something new – it was as if I was enthralled. It was then that I realized there’s so much unknown in the universe that discovering a comet is not that hard.
Vladimir Gerke and I were working with a remote telescope of the Ka-Dar observatory. It had a field of view of only 0.28°, but had a high limiting stellar magnitude. One day, we were observing the sky, when suddenly we noticed an unknown comet that was a little bit brighter than 19th magnitude. To be honest, we did not expect this to happen.
I now realize that comet discovery is not that big of a deal. The way technology has advanced, with equipment we now possess, it is hard to miss an object in the night sky. Even though our comet was no brighter than 17th magnitude, I’m certain that someone would’ve discovered it sooner or later.
It was the same with Comet ISON — we discovered it only a day earlier than LINEAR. We got lucky both times, and now I know it. It turns out that luck plays a major role in most discoveries.
LT: I bet most readers of Astronomy.com would love to be in your shoes. Can you tell them about your life after the discovery?
AN: The comet discovery has been like a rite of coming of age. It’s as if I became older and wiser after this discovery. Most astronomers continue their search for unknown objects after their first find, but it’s different with me. I have already discovered two comets, and I do not feel the urge to continue the search. We are still scanning the sky for new objects, but it has since ceased to be my calling.
My discoveries gave me the sense of accomplishment, the desire to improve, to try my hand at something different. The experience is invaluable, but I’m slowly moving on.
Thanks to Levenhuk Telescopes, you can ask Artyom Novichonok a question online. Just visit Levenhuk.com.
And for everything Comet ISON related, visit www.Astronomy.com/ISON.
Tags: Michael Bakich , comets , Comet ISON
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The Thailand Years
Brian Duncan / Benen Hayden
Thailand and its people has always been a part of Cyril’s life.
Cyril was born in Dublin on the 3rd of May 1977. Cyril’s beloved mother, Lek, is from Nakhon Si Thammarat in Southern Thailand and has been living in Ireland since 1970. Lek grew up in a traditional Thai family. Her father, Shuman, was a noted Buddhist scholar and her mother, Lammair, was well known in her community for her culinary skills.
Cyril grew up with his parents and brother and sisters in Portmarnock in North County Dublin. Thai people, resident or visiting in Ireland, were constantly calling to the family home in Portmarnock. Lek was a great cook and served wonderful Thai dishes – not only to Thai visitors but to many appreciative Irish friends and neighbours, as well as to Cyril, Genevieve, Garmon and Pamela and their many friends.
As Cyril grew up, Thai Festivals like Songkhran were celebrated by the Thai community in Dublin. There were also many Thai parties, including an annual Christmas Party which Cyril and his brother and sisters attended. Cyril was very proud of his mother who did an exhibition of Thai dancing at some of the Christmas Parties.
The Thai language was heard regularly in the home. The home was decorated with Thai teak furniture and Thai artwork, as well as Thai Buddhist statues and Buddhist religious artworks. Cyril grew up in a Thai/Irish setting and was aware of his Thai family through telephone calls and general conversation with his Thai grandparents, Shuman and Lammai Boonchoo, as well as his uncle Wichan and his wife Chawee, and their son Meg. One person who called to visit the family home in Portmarnock in1984 was Lek’s sister, Punnipa. She was convalescing after a serious illness at the time. She stayed in the house for over three months and struck up a close relationship with all the children, especially Cyril. Cyril and Punnipa got on very well and he promised he would visit her and stay with her in Bangkok when he grew up. Unfortunately that was not to be as she died some years later. However, to compensate for this, Cyril developed a close relationship with her son Dang, who visited Ireland. When Cyril visited Thailand he was to become good friends with Dang’s wife, Toom, and their two children Put and Peet. Cyril got to know his uncle Wichan and his wife Chawee and their son Meg, as well as Lek’s cousin Toi and her partner, Champoon and their daughter, Balm. Once established, Cyril’s relationship with his Thai family flourished and developed over the years – especially after Cyril moved to work and live in Thailand in March 2007.
After many years of talking about Thailand and following events there, an opportunity came for the whole family to visit Thailand in April 1999. This arose because the Blazing Saddles cycling group, which is a fundraising arm of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), were organising their annual trip that year to Thailand. The Blazing Saddles group was set up by Brian and Lek’s great friend Eamon Duffy of the NCBI. Brian and Lek were long-standing members of the Blazing Saddles Group and on this occasion the whole Duncan family – Genevieve, Garmon, Cyril and Pamela – accompanied Brian and Lek on the trip to Thailand. The children’s job was to assist visually impaired members of the Blazing Saddles group on the trip. The Blazing Saddles group was led, as usual, by Eamon Duffy and his assistant and Brian and Lek’s friend, Eleanor Kirwan, who were delighted to have all the Duncan children on board, including Cyril.
Cyril with his granny Lammai Cyril with his grandad Shuman
This was a major event in the Duncan family - especially for Cyril. He told Brian during this trip that he really felt he was coming home and that Thailand was the place for him. He also said Bangkok was his favourite city.
On the morning after his arrival in Bangkok, Cyril and his brother and sisters had an emotional meeting with their grandparents, Shuman and Lammai, as well as all their uncles, cousins and extended family in Thailand. Cyril immediately fitted in and felt at home in these surroundings. He travelled around Bangkok and discovered the excitement of the Bangkok Tuk Tuk Taxi. He was delighted with the water taxi trip on the Chau Phraya River and was amazed at the vibrancy of the city. He fell in love with the city and its people, the night clubs and its food-stalls and markets.
After spending a few days in Bangkok Cyril, together with his family and fellow Blazing Saddles group, flew to Northern Thailand for the start of the cycling event in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second city. On the first morning in Chiang Mai, Cyril asked Brian to accompany him to a Buddhist temple. Cyril was very impressed with the temple and stayed there for many hours. He met all the monks, including the Abbot who could speak English. Cyril had a serious and pleasant talk with the English speaking monk. This was his first visit to a Thai Buddhist temple and it left a lasting impression on him. In life, Cyril had very little material possessions other than his motor bike and his Buddhist chain which he always wore around his neck.
Cyril enjoyed Chiang Mai. Both himself and Garmon enjoyed their Thai food – not to mention the local Singha and Chun beer and Thai whiskey. It could be argued they enjoyed it too much as, what was very unusual for them, after a night on the town a row broke out between them. They had to be separated by a Dublin fireman Dave McEvoy and Tom Kelly and his fellow firemen, who were all members of the Blazing Saddles group. On waking the following morning - much bruised and hung over - Garmon and Cyril made up and re-established their loving bond as brothers. In order to account for their bruising they came up with a plausible story. Their story was their injuries arose from an accident the night before when they took over Tuk Tuks from the taxi owners and they crashed them. Their story was so convincing that both Brian and Lek believed them. The true cause of their bruises was not revealed until Garmon’s wedding in Ko Samui in May 2007 (See Fintan Keating’s Tuk Tuk Story).
The cycle proceeded from Chiang Mai with trips into the Thai countryside – travelling through many town and villages. Cyril particularly liked the villages and he spoke to many of the Thai villagers, partially by sign language, as he accompanied the cycle by car. There was a tough cycle to the famous and beautiful Temple of Wat Chiang Man. This temple is situated on a hill outside Chiang Mai. Cyril visited the temple and was fascinated with its spiritual air and beauty. See some images here.
Cyril, along with his brother and sisters, accompanied the cyclists each day. He fell in love with the Thai countryside and the many Thai people he met on the way. There were special parties for the Blazing Saddles group and Cyril as well as Garmon, Genevieve and Pamela attended these parties. Some of the parties were organised by local Thai groups who launched special glowing lanterns into the night sky in honour of the Irish group.
The cyclists changed their base to an adjoining northern city called Chiang Rai and they continued to travel each day through the Thai countryside and villages. Cyril accompanied the tour by car and really enjoyed the event. The cycling group also went across the border and spent a few hours in neighbouring Burma.
By the time the actual cycle was completed in Northern Thailand, Cyril, along with Genevieve, Garmon and Pamela, felt totally at home in Thailand and they were at ease with the many Thai people they had the pleasure of meeting. They had bought clothes and presents at the famous Chiang Mai night market. They had eaten many Thai dishes at the abundance of restaurants and food stalls and they really enjoyed their Thai beer. Of all the family, Cyril especially enjoyed the very hot chilli based Thai food. A love of such food remained with him all his life. His trip to Thailand was becoming what Cyril called “living the dream”. This was an expression Cyril used many times when describing his travels around the world – especially by motorbike – and also his life in Thailand.
The Blazing Saddles group then moved to the seaside resort of Pattaya outside Bangkok. Cyril and his family were joined in Pattaya by Lek’s brother Wichan and his wife Chawee and their son Meg, as well as Dang and his wife Toom with their two children Put and Peet. Cyril, along with his family, spent his time in Pattaya with his Thai relations and got to know them all better.
The family enjoyed themselves in Pattaya and Cyril established a close relationship with his Thai family. This relationship remained with him for the rest of his life. When the main Blazing Saddles group returned to Ireland, Cyril and his family stayed on in Thailand and returned to Bangkok for a few days to stay with Cyril’s Thai family before returning to Ireland.
That was Cyril’s first trip to Thailand and it made a deep and fundamental impression on him. He told everyone that he felt he was coming home and in future he would have two homes – one in Ireland and the other in Thailand. From then on, when asked his Nationality Cyril, who loved to play with words (see Cyril’s Language), described himself as a “Thailander or a Thairish man” and he was very happy to be a ‘Thairish’ man for the rest of his life. Cyril resolved to return to live in Thailand on a long term basis. It was his ambition to travel the world and then settle in Thailand, his beloved mother’s homeland. Cyril’s special ambition was to learn the Thai language and ultimately have dual citizenship with both an Irish and a Thai passport.
Cyril travelled to Thailand again in late December 2001. He was with Caitríona and they were doing a ‘round the world’ trip. Cyril was delighted to meet all his relations again and to introduce them to Caitríona. The couple stayed with his cousin Dang and his wife Toom and their two children Put and Peet. He also met his uncle Wichan and his wife Chawee and their son Meg. They had many wonderful meals and parties together. They celebrated New Year with a big party in Dang’s house. Caitríona insisted that Cyril sing Karaoke with her.
After the New Year festivities Caitríona and Cyril went on what was a nostalgic trip to Chiang Mai - where Cyril had been some years earlier with the Blazing Saddles group. However, they travelled more extensively this time and went further North to Mae Hong Son in the very North of Thailand. Cyril and Caitríona did a bungi jump near Chiang Mai. Cyril was thrilled with this feat, as was Caitríona. Cyril was into exercising at that time and they rented mountain bikes. They both went cycling through the mountainous jungle. They also did yoga exercises and a meditation course in a Buddhist monastery. At this stage Cyril resolved to learn more about the Buddhist religion and to do meditation courses, including possibly one to become a Buddhist Monk at some future date. Cyril was very happy to be back in Thailand and was delighted to be re-acquainted with his Thai relatives. He was also delighted to show Thailand to Caitríona and to introduce her to his Thai family. The pair stayed in Thailand until mid-January 2002 and they then continued their travels into neighbouring Cambodia.
Cyril travelled around the world again in 2006. He travelled in India with his great friend Benen (see travel section of this website) and Benen’s story “The Tea Seller”. In March 2007 Cyril returned to Thailand to be the best-man at Garmon and Lisa’s wedding in the beautiful island of Ko Samui. The wedding took place there on the 7th of May 2007.
On returning to Bangkok, before the wedding, Cyril re-acquainted himself with his Thai relations. They went out for meals together. He was happy to report that the Singha and Chuun Beer was as nice as ever, and that the Thai food was (in his experienced opinion), the best cuisine in the world.
Cyril was joined in Bangkok by his friend Lorraine Close who travelled from India to Thailand for the wedding. Lorraine was from Glasgow and she had met Cyril in India (See ‘Travels with Lorraine’). They spent some time together in Bangkok and Cyril was able to show her city. Lorraine suffered a bad mosquito bite while in Bangkok and Cyril visited her in hospital every day. Eventually they made their way to Ko Samui to attend Garmon and Lisa’s wedding. Many of Cyril’s and Garmon’s friends were there for the wedding and Cyril regaled them with his many stories about his travels and adventures. (See Kevin Tighe’s story ‘The Rambling Man’).
On the 3rd of May 2007, accompanied by Lorraine, Garmon and Lisa, and many friends, Cyril celebrated his 30th birthday with a great party in Ko Samui. Despite the warm climate, a birthday cake was made in his honour and much Singha beer was drunk and Thai food eaten. A wonderful night was had by all. A few days to prior to the wedding, Cyril was joined by his parents Brian and Lek, his sisters Pamela and Genevieve, and Genevieve’s fiancé, Simon.
Cyril took his duties as best-man very seriously (see ‘Travels with Lorraine’). He was particularly anxious about his best-man’s speech. Months previously in India, every time Cyril mentioned the wedding to people he followed up by saying how nervous he was about the speech. On the very wonderful and happy day of the wedding on the 7th of May 2007 Cyril proved himself - as everyone knew he would - to be an excellent best-man. He made a very emotional and witty speech where he welcomed Lisa to the Duncan family and revealed for the first time the truth about the Tuk Tuk story with Garmon in Chiang Mai in 1998. He was then able to say to his beloved brother Garmon on that wonderful day that he, Cyril, was on that very special day the ‘Best-Man’.
After the wedding, Cyril and Lorraine stayed in Ko Samui and relaxed and travelled with all the Irish group to the neighbouring islands, including the island of Ko Pha Ngan. When the main Irish group returned to Ireland, Lorraine went back to India to continue her travels and Cyril returned with Brian Kenny to Bangkok. Brian Kenny was one of Garmon and Cyril’s great friends from Portmarnock and he had attended the wedding in Ko Samui. Brian had also been travelling the world and travelled to Thailand to attend the wedding.
Cyril always wanted to return to live and work in Thailand. Before leaving Ireland on his world trip, which was to end in Thailand, Cyril had completed an intensive TEFL English teaching course in Dublin. He undertook this course in order to ensure he could gain employment when he returned to Thailand. It was Cyril’s intention to remain on in Thailand teaching English after the wedding. He persuaded his friend Brian Kenny to return with him in Bangkok to see if they could get jobs there. They were very lucky and both got jobs teaching English in Bangkok.
What followed was one of the happiest periods in Cyril’s life. He got a job teaching English to young Thai children at the Trimitvitthoya School at Parsijaraun in Bangkok. Brian also got a job teaching English in a different school. Cyril proved to be a natural teacher and he was very fond of the children. He said “I’m now an English teacher working in a private school and I have to say I absolutely love it. I wake up in the morning, drive to work while passing temples and monks, only to arrive at my school and see a lot of bright-eyed kids smiling and excited to start a new day of fun. I love children – they cushion my delicate broken brain….. they certainly breathe new life into me. I have many stories to tell.”
He was voted best language teacher for the year 2007 in the school. He was back living in his mother’s homeland and was very proud when his young pupils began learning English from him. He also decided that for a few minutes each day he would teach them a very ‘special’ English – the English described by James Joyce and which was heard by Cyril growing up in Dublin. He taught all his class special ‘Dublin Expressions’. In time, the children began to say in a Dublin accent “What’s the Story?”, “Howya” “How’s it Going?”, “Hey Mister”, It’s Grand”, “Are You Going for a Few Scoops?” and many other Dublin expressions.
The children had difficulty in pronouncing Cyril’s name. Cyril, who called himself many names over the years (See Cyril’s Language), agreed that the children could call him “Teacher Cereal” and this they did. Cyril was a man of many names but, of all the names he was known by, it was the name “Teacher Cereal” which he took most pride in as this signified the bond between himself and the children he was so happy teaching.
Cyril, as a ‘Thairish’ man, was delighted to be the only foreign teacher who joined his fellow Thai teachers and pupils for morning assembly to stand and sing the Thai National Anthem at 8 a.m. each morning prior to classes commencing. He had achieved his ambition to live in his mother’s country. He thought of himself as a Thairish man and made many friends in Thailand. He was particularly friendly with Aaron, a fellow teacher in the school, who came from Belfast (See Aaron’s Story ‘Teacher and Friend’). Cyril and Brian made friends among the expatriate community in Thailand. They got to know Barry from Cavan and Adam from England, who also taught in Cyril’s school and who was known to all as ‘Hobbit’.
Cyril started to go out with his fellow teacher Jeab and they formed a close relationship together. Cyril was living in the same apartment block as Brian in Pinkcloi in Bangkok. As was his custom, Cyril became friendly with many people and he became particularly friendly with the security men in the apartment block. Brian Kenny always said that the only people who knew the security men were himself and Cyril. Brian also said the difference was that the security men knew Cyril’s name but they never got to know his name. This was because Cyril had a wonderful ability to reach out and make contact with all sorts of people – especially those on the margins of society.
He became friendly with Bia who had a herbal whiskey stall near his apartment (See Bia’s story ‘The Birthday Present’). Through all these contacts Cyril was able to teach himself Thai. He used to speak Thai on every possible occasion.
Cyril had fulfilled a longstanding ambition by buying a Royal Enfield motorcycle when he was travelling in India. He tried to import this motorbike into Thailand, but was unsuccessful. He then arranged for the bike to be shipped back to Ireland. This was a great relief to Brian and Lek who worried about him driving a motorbike around Bangkok. However, unknown to them he had bought a new Thai motorcycle after getting his job as a teacher. Cyril called his new motorbike ‘The Chopper’ (See Brian Kenny’s story ‘The Lonesome Blues’).
Cyril used the Chopper to travel to work and also to get to know the bustling city of Bangkok. He had the courage to immerse himself in the notorious Bangkok traffic and by doing so he became well acquainted with the whole city. On many occasions, Brian Kenny accompanied him as a pillion passenger and they travelled the city in pursuit of the hottest food available. Jeab, being aware of dangers on the road, wisely refused to travel with him on the back of the bike as she felt it was too dangerous. Cyril and Jeab started to see a lot more of each other. In addition to meeting in the school, they went out regularly together.
Cyril was able to indulge his love of Thai food. He particularly enjoyed Pad Krapow with a fried egg on top (See Aaron’s story ‘Friend and Teacher’). He was very familiar with the many different restaurants in Bangkok. Both himself and Brian Kenny prided themselves that they could eat any Thai dish – no matter how hot or spicy the dish was.
Christmas 2007 was special for Cyril. He was joined from Australia by his beloved sister Pamela and they celebrated Christmas together in Bangkok along with Cyril’s many friends. They had a traditional Christmas meal in an Irish pub. They also celebrated the New Year together and agreed to meet up soon again in Bangkok. Pamela returned to Australia where she was travelling and working. From time to time Brian and Cyril would get lonely in Bangkok. On many occasions Brian determined to go home to Dublin but Cyril always persuaded him to stay.
Cyril’s method was to get Brian to image he was driving a van stuck in traffic on Dublin’s M50. He would refer to the tunes Brian would probably hear on the car radio. Cyril would then start singing the various tunes to Brian - such as advertisements like ‘Northside, Northside, Northside Shopping Centre’. After Cyril had stopped singing his little Irish recital, Brian always confirmed that he was happy to stay in Bangkok.
One of the consequences of Cyril’s lifestyle in Bangkok - particularly his love of Thai food - was that he started to put on a lot of weight. However, despite putting on the weight he was extremely happy living in Bangkok. He was doing a job he loved - teaching young Thai children - and he was living in a city and culture which he loved. He had achieved his ambition and could speak Thai. He was going out with Jeab and had many friends in the City of the Angels. He wanted to continue living in Bangkok and had many plans for the future.
Cyril had another ambition. He decided that he wished to become a Buddhist Monk. He wanted to do this for his own sake, but he was also very aware how important it is for parents who are Buddhists that their sons become Buddhist Monks – even for a short period. He wanted to do this for his beloved mother Lek as, in Buddhism, if a son becomes a Monk it gives enormous merit to the parents and can even stop the chain of re-birth for the parent. This is an important doctrine in the Buddhist Religion. Cyril had visited many temples and had decided and informed his friend Brian Kenny that he was going to the Monastery at Wat Luang Phor Sodh Dhamakayaram which is situated in the Rajburi Province approximately 80 miles from Bankok. Cyril had visited this Monastery and was very impressed with the Monks there. He then decided that he was going to become Monk at that Monastery. He realised that he would have to do a lot of study and meditation before he would actually do this and had already started this process just before his death. He particularly wanted to do this to give it as a special gift to his mother, Lek. He also told his friend Brian he was not going to tell Lek until such time as he was about to enter the Monastery.
Cyril was the holder of an Irish passport and as an Irish citizen he could only obtain a two month visa in Thailand. This meant that, in common with many other expatriates like Brian Kenny, Cyril had to leave Thailand and take the visa run into an adjoining country – such as Malaysia or Laos. He could immediately re-enter Thailand with a new two month visa. As a result, Cyril could not own a business in Thailand. Together with Brian Kenny they had great plans for setting up a business in Thailand. Their plan included setting up and running an English language school for business people. Cyril was aware that the only way he could realise this ambition was to obtain dual Irish/Thai Citizenship and obtain dual passports. He spent a considerable amount of time checking how he could achieve this.
In April 2008 Cyril travelled to Dublin for Genevieve and Simon’s wedding. After the wedding he travelled to the Thai Embassy in London. He was accompanied by Brian and Lek. He was informed by the Embassy staff that he could obtain a Thai passport. In order to do this he was advised that Lek would have to renew her Thai passport as she had let it lapse when she obtained an Irish passport. Lek would have to travel to Nakhon Si Thammarat in Southern Thailand and renew her Thai I.D. form. Once this had been done, she could then renew her Thai Passport and thus have dual Irish and Thai Citizenship on the passport. Cyril was advised that once his mother had been issued with a Thai passport, it would be possible for him to get a Thai passport issued through the Thai Embassy in London. This was very good news and Lek planned to return to her native town of Nakhon Si Thammarat during her annual holiday to Thailand in July 2008 in order to renew her I.D. and obtain her Thai passport. Cyril then returned to Thailand in April 2008. He was happy that his future in Thailand was secure and that he would be getting his own Thai passport. Prior to returning to Thailand Cyril reached an agreement with his father, Brian, that he would immediately undertake a fitness regime and reduce his weight. As was usual with Cyril, he then put in place a new fitness diet with great enthusiasm. He joined a nearby gym and commenced a strict diet. He spent many hours in the gym training and reported his progress during his many telephone calls to his Dad, Brian. Cyril believed he was making progress. He kept up his social life and was in contact with his many friends – both Thai and expatriate in Bangkok.
On Friday the 6th of June 2008 he met up with some of his friends for some drinks and a meal after finishing his week’s work. As was the norm, they all retired to a nearby nightclub to continue their party. Tragically, in the presence of his friends in the early hours of the morning of 7th of June 2008 Cyril suffered a massive and unexpected coronary attack and he died instantly.
So, Cyril the Thairish man died in Bangkok – the City of the Angels. He died in his mother’s country not far from the school where he taught the wonderful Thai children.
Tragically on the 7th of June Cyril – the wonderful, kind, magical and adventurous Thailander – left the City of the Angels to join the Angels themselves.
Ní Bheidh a Leithéad Arís.
We Shall Not See His Like Again.
All About Cyril
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'Constantine' TV Series
Posted by Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) on October 26, 2014 at 1:43pm in Movies and TV
Surprised no one has started a thread on this, since I know there are Hellblazer fans around here. Of course this version of John Constantine is probably intended to be based on the New 52 version: I didn't see a Vertigo logo in the credits, just a DC one.
Constantine actually made the transition back to the DCU relatively intact. The main differences are no smoking, and frequent use of magic. In Hellblazer he did such a small amount of magic that it was often questionable that he could do it at all. He clearly preferred to get by on his wits, anyway. And he never used his fists.
Really good casting this time. Matt Ryan looks, acts and sounds just how I imagine Constantine. I like the rest of the cast, too, but none of them have nearly as well-defined a visual template to match up with. The first episode wasted no time establishing the most significant act in John's early life in magic: the failed summoning in Newcastle that damned young Astra to Hell.
His oldest friend Chas is on hand with his taxicab, too. The others aren't taken as directly from the comics. The appearance of the computer hacker Ritchie is a sufficiently obscure character that I'd consider it an Easter Egg.
The early scenes are set in England, as they should be. But the main action happens in Atlanta, of all places. Works fine, but I'll be curious if the location is ever explained. I don't remember that happening in this episode.
Off to a good start, all in all. I'll just have to accept Constantine doing lots of magic. It is more visual than him standing around smoking and looking moody.
Permalink Reply by Captain Comics on October 26, 2014 at 6:02pm
My wife and I enjoyed the series premiere, as well.
I was glad to see Chas, although there seems to be a bit of mystery about him, whereas in the comics he was a pretty straightforward character. And seeing him in a yellow cab instead of an English hack had me not really believing it was him at first. There's a story there, and I assume we'll get it eventually.
And I'm not worried about John's "magic" too much, as it seems primarily to be shouting Latin at bad things. He's not throwing bolts of bedevilment around, or launching ankhs from his fingers, like Drs. Strange and Fate. so I'm good.
The Constantine cosmology seems to have made the transition seamlessly as well, in that angels aren't necessarily what we think of as good guys. They have their own agenda, and don't mind a few mortal corpses along the way.
Permalink Reply by Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod) on October 28, 2014 at 4:50pm
I watched it the other night. I'm not overly familiar with the character other than the basics. I enjoyed the lead actor and the others were fine too. However while there was a lot going on and plenty of action, the show didn't really hook me. While it was entertaining there wasn't really anything that made me want to continue watching. Of course I may be one of the few who actually liked the Keanu Reeves Constantine film.
Permalink Reply by Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) on October 28, 2014 at 4:55pm
I'm actually OK with the film, too. It made a lot more changes to the Hellblazer mythos than the TV show is going to, based on the first episode and things I've read. But it was a good horror film, with a structure taken from Hellblazer, so I just took it as that.
But if you liked the movie, I bet the TV version will grab you if you give it a chance.
Permalink Reply by ClarkKent_DC on October 29, 2014 at 2:58pm
I watched the pilot episode of Constantine and quickly got thoroughly confused by the plot, but I didn't let that stop me (it doesn't for How to Get Away With Murder, which is deliberately confusing).
The lead very well captures John Constantine's look and personality, except that he makes the mistake of pronouncing the name "ConstanTEEN"; the comics well established he says it "ConstanTINE," even if nobody else does. And his accent slips at times. There are a lot of Britons, Scotsmen and Austrailians on TV playing Americans these days, but I never thought I would be able to catch a Welshman not sounding like a Londoner.
That said, I didn't mind it. Interesting thing they've done with Chas, making him incredibly hard to kill if not immortal. That's an explanation the comic series never gave us for why he's the only one of Constantine's friends who isn't dead yet.
As for the yellow cab, I just figured they went for a vehicle that says "cab," even though they stopped making that particular variety of vehicle three decades ago. An English hack would be too foreign, and a Ford Crown Victoria -- pretty much the fleet vehicle of choice for taxi companies and police departments all over the U.S. -- would be too modern.
About the action in this episode happening in Atlanta, well, John Constantine travels all over the world, so that didn't bother me.
I've been reading Hellblazer since issue #1 all the way to the end, so I guess I should give the TV show a shot.
Permalink Reply by Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) on October 29, 2014 at 9:24pm
I watched the pilot today, and I liked it. I've read a few of the trades, and I've liked them all, but I've never made a concerted effort to track down the whole series, and I've liked it enough I think I should at some point.
I loved the first episode taking place in Atlanta, and I don't care why. I was just happy it wasn't in NYC or LA.
I agree with Mark about the casting of Constantine it rings really true to me.
I love Harold Perrineau, so I really dig him as the angel in this series. A vastly under used actor.
Jeremy Davies as Ritchie reminded me in speech pattern and looks of his character Dickie Bennett in Justified except he was wearing glasses. Kind of weird.
Did anyone else hear the radio commercial for this show last week? Claiming Constantine was DC's 3rd most popular character? I thought, "No way! Maybe in Vertigo after Swamp Thing and Morpheus."
Permalink Reply by Richard Willis on October 29, 2014 at 9:45pm
I also enjoyed the pilot. My exposure to Constantine is limited at this point. I first "met" him in the Sandman saga when he was helping to retrieve Morpheus' bag of sand. Gaiman did a good job with him. Now I understand that he debuted in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, which I recently acquired in trade form but haven't read yet.
According to something I read they are reissuing all the Hellblazer books with volume numbers so delving into it should be less intimidating, and finding them shouldn't be a problem.
Oh crap! How could I forget? I loved seeing Fate's helmet in Winter's old house.
And they made sure we didn't miss it. Practically waved it at the camera. I loved it too.
Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) said:
Permalink Reply by Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod) on October 29, 2014 at 10:06pm
Yeah, there were a bunch of other Easter Eggs also. There's a rundown of them here. I mentioned Ritchie's appearance, because that was a subtle bit of purely Hellblazer history, I thought.
It's true about the reissued Hellblazer volumes. Not only are they in order and numbered, but they're finally filling in some huge gaps, e.g. the whole Paul Jenkins era (frequently with a young Sean Phillips on art). It would be far easier to catch up with the series than it's ever been.
Permalink Reply by Richard Willis on October 29, 2014 at 10:46pm
According to this Wikipedia article, Vertigo started printing the series in order (with numbers) starting in 2011. Also, they are including stories not previously reprinted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hellblazer_publications
The first nine volumes listed in the Wiki article (reprinted since 2011) are available now on Amazon and the tenth is available for pre-order.I assume they have all the material that was previously skipped. ALL volumes have numbers.
Permalink Reply by Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) on October 29, 2014 at 11:45pm
I will say that whenever I picked up a random trade that I I never felt lost on what was going on. A lot of the story arcs were so insular to themselves (IE. "Hard Times") you didn't need much if any other knowledge of the series. That is what I loved about it. Maybe others stories were more continuity driven.
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Doctor Who Reactions: "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel" (SPOILERS)
Posted by The Baron on March 2, 2012 at 10:30am in Movies and TV
1)So, now we get the new show's take on the Cybermen, in conjunction with the return of Peter Tyler. Certainly, the use of a parallel world is an acceptable science fiction way to bring back a dead character. On the other hand, I wasn't too wild at the time - I think I'm still not - about the fact that the Cybermen were strongly tied to the other Earth. I liked "our" universe's Cybermen, and would've preferred to see them brought back in some way. That said, I do like the design of the new Cybermen, and the way they are presented here. Davros Jr. Lumic was a bit overdone as a character, although he did have some good moments. I wasn't wild about the way he just let the Doctor drone on towards the end - didn't he remotely suspect that the Doctor was up to something?There were some nice shout-outs to the old show, the "International Electromatics" truck, particularly.
2)A good performance by Shaun Dingwall as Pete - interesting to see that financial success hasn't made him and Jackie any happier together. I liked the scene at the end with Rose where he just can't meeting the Daughter he never had.
3)Interesting that the parallel universe that the parallell universe ha sits own version of Torchwood (also apparently its own versions of Scooby-Doo and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", as well). Makes you wonder if it has its own answer to the Doctor also.
4)Nice outfit on parallel Jackie, there - warms my aging heart.
5)I particularly liked the Doctor's reaction to the fact that the parallel Tylers' dog was called "Rose". Makes you wonder if they still had the dog after the events of "Doomsday", and if they had to re-name it.
6)"My official biography says I was born on the same day as Cuba Gooding, Jr."
"February the first, Mum's birthday."
Hmm, so parallel Cuba Gooding, Jr. was born a month later. Or, maybe someone saw his birthdate as "1/2/68" and forgot that Americans list dates "month/day/year" instead of "day/month/year".
7)Lots of good creepiness in this - the shot of Lumic's factory was very "Mordor". Also, the scene in the tunnel and the encoutner with Sally Phelan, and "My name was Jacqueline Tyler".
8)Liked Don Warrington as the President - believable as an authority figure. Good actor.
9)A very good story for Noel Clarke, as we finally see Mickey come into his own, and get his own back a little for the way the Doctor and Rose have trampled on him over the years. I liked the scene with Mickey and his grandmother. And we finally got a pay-off on the "Mickey"/"Ricky" business. A good parting scene, as well. "Good luck - Mickey the idiot."
10)Cliffhanger (for "Rise of the Cybermen"): The Cybermen surround the Doctor and friends, shouting "Delete" at them!
I'm not wild about "Delete!" as a battlecry for the Cybermen. It's too much like trying to give them their own "Exterminate!" for my tastes.
I'm also not wild about the way this cliffhanger was resolved, with the sudden surprise reveal that the magic crystal can be used to zap the Cybermen. It's a little too "a wizard did it" for me.
11)Some Fun Quotes:
"And how will you do that from beyond the grave?"
"Or maybe our Lucy's just a bit thick."
"You are rogue elements." For some reason, my brain interpreted this as "You are rogue elephants", which would be an interesting line to have there.
"I've told you - I will only upgrade with my last breath." "Then breathe no more."
"We attack on three sides - above, between, below." A callback to "The Five Doctors".
"He will rewarded by force."
"Got a logo on the front - Lumic's turned them into a brand."
"That's the Doctor. In the TARDIS. With Rose Tyler."
"I once saved the universe with a big yellow truck."
Overall: I quite enjoyed this. I've always preferred the Cybermen to the Daleks, and it was good to see them come back well. Good character development, too - especially for Mickey.
Permalink Reply by Doc Beechler (mod-MD) on March 2, 2012 at 10:41am
"Makes you wonder if it has its own answer to the Doctor also."
Well...not yet, anyway. ;)
Permalink Reply by The Baron on January 16, 2014 at 11:51am
Roger Lloyd Pack, who played John Lumic in this story, has died.
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Large Turnout for Hong Kong Democracy Protest After Bookseller Revelations
Pro-democracy protesters fill the streets of Hong Kong on July 1, 2016. Photo Ⓒ REUTERS/Bobby Yip
Thousands of Hong Kong residents joined pro-democracy demonstrations last weekend, following local bookstore manager Lam Wing Kee’s revelation that he was involuntarily detained for eight months on the Chinese mainland as authorities there sought information about customers and the books he sold them. The incident represents the latest breakdown in the “one country, two systems” policy to which China agreed in 1997, when the former British territory of Hong Kong returned to Chinese control.
Demonstrations happen every year on July 1, the anniversary of the transfer, but in recent years “the turnout has served as a barometer of discontent,” according to the New York Times. Objective numbers are difficult to pinpoint, but this year’s turnout ranged from 20,000 (police estimate) to 110,000 (organizers’ estimate). Lam himself had planned to lead the march, but backed out at the last minute over concerns for his safety. For two days prior to the demonstration, he had been followed by “people he did not recognize.”
Lam was the manager of a Hong Kong bookstore owned by Mighty Current Press, which specializes in gossipy titles such as Overseas Mistresses of the Chinese Communist Party and Secrets of Wives of Chinese Communist Party Officials. In addition to Lam, four others associated with Mighty Current disappeared over a period of a few months last year: fellow store employee Cheung Jiping, the publisher’s co-owners Lu Bo and Gui Minhai, and editor Lee Bo.
While still in custody, Lam and three of his colleagues appeared on Chinese TV in February to confess to “illegal trading” of banned books, and to say that they had come to the mainland voluntarily. Unsurprisingly, Lam now says this confession was coerced: “It was a show, and I accepted it. They gave me the script. I had to follow the script. If I did not follow it strictly, they would ask for a retake.”
Hong Kong has no extradition agreement with the mainland, and Lam certainly has no plans to return there voluntarily despite Chinese authorities’ request. This week the Hong Kong secretaries for justice and security met with a mainland counterpart “about the booksellers’ case and the mechanism for informing Hong Kong about the detention of residents in the mainland.”
Mighty Current’s co-owner Gui Minhai is the last of the five men remaining in custody on the mainland. His daughter Angela Gui, a graduate student in the UK, has started a Twitter account to share updates on the case and pressure Chinese authorities to release him.
Help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work in 2016 by visiting the Rewards Zone, making a donation, or becoming a member of CBLDF!
Contributing Editor Maren Williams is a reference librarian who enjoys free speech and rescue dogs.
Tags: asia, china, gui minhai, hong kong, lam wing kee, mighty current
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Home » Howard's high scores list
Howard's high scores list
Burlingame, Jon
Daily Variety;7/17/2006, Vol. 292 Issue 9, Special Secion pA4
The article presents the comments of composer James Newton Howard on the scores he produced for ten motion pictures. Howard revealed that he started doing multiple versions in "The Prince of Tides." He also considered the scores in "Glengarry Glen Ross" as the busiest scores he ever wrote. He regarded half of the score in "The Fugitive" as a failure.
The man who gives films voices. Burlingame, Jon // Daily Variety;7/17/2006, Vol. 292 Issue 9, Special Section pA1
The article focuses on the efforts of composer James Newton Howard to produce a unique sound for every film he scores in the U.S. The films he scores include "Lady in the Water," "King Kong," and "Batman Begins." He admitted that it is only in the last few years that he was able to represent a...
Composer grows from monster undertaking. Burlingame, Jon; Knolle, Sharon // Daily Variety;7/17/2006, Vol. 292 Issue 9, Special Secion pA2
The article focuses on the production of scores by composer James Newton Howard for Peter Jackson's "King Kong" in the U.S. Jackson hired Howard seven weeks before the premiere of the film after Howard Shore left the project over creative differences. Jackson admitted that there is a great...
Tune titans team up for 'Batman Begins' Knolle, Sharon // Daily Variety;7/17/2006, Vol. 292 Issue 9, Special Secion pA4
The article focuses on the collaboration between composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard to produce the scoring for the motion picture "Batman Begins." Both composers work on every single scene of the film. They worked in two different rooms at a studio in London, England. Director Chris...
Pledges of allegiance. Knolle, Sharon // Daily Variety;7/17/2006, Vol. 292 Issue 9, Special Section pA2
The article presents the views of film directors on the scores and personality of composer James Newton Howard in the U.S. Lawrence Kasdan asserted that Howard's score is unique. P. J. Hogan considered Howard as brilliant. Hogan further added that he likes the passion of Howard for his job. Ian...
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (Film). Horowitz, Marc // Sound & Vision;Feb/Mar2003, Vol. 68 Issue 2, p117
Reviews the motion picture 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' directed by James Foley, released on digital video disc.
Machismo, thy name is Mamet. Speier, Michael // Variety;12/23/2002, Vol. 389 Issue 6, p33
Reviews the motion picture 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' directed by James Foley and starring Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino, released on digital video disc format.
Shyamalan's go-to tunesmith weaves music of the Night. Burlingame, Jon // Daily Variety;7/17/2006, Vol. 292 Issue 9, Special Section pA1
The article focuses on the scores produced by composer James Newton Howard for the motion pictures directed by M. Night Shyamalan in the U.S. Howard's collaboration with Bernard Herrmann yielded the suspense scores such as "Vertigo" and "Psycho." Howard always finds the movies of Shyamalan as...
Film reviews. Grant, Edmond // Films in Review;Mar/Apr93, Vol. 44 Issue 3/4, p125
Reviews the film `GlenGarry Glen Ross,' starring Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey, directed by James Foley.
Untitled. Sragow, Michael // New Yorker;10/5/92, Vol. 68 Issue 33, p164
Discusses the new film called `Glengarry Glen Ross,' directed by James Foley and adapted from David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same title.
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Eli Valley Speaks Out on His Notorious Meghan McCain Cartoon and the Power of Art
Gary Legum
The hosts of The View had an intense conversation last week about the uproar over critical comments of the pro-Israel lobby’s political influence by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Omar had received a great deal of criticism and vitriol from people who felt her remarks were antisemitic.
But more importantly, the controversy became an opportunity for Meghan McCain to tell the world about how it all affected Meghan McCain. Who is not, and I can’t stress this enough, Jewish.
“I would go so far as to say I verge on being a Zionist as well…Just because I don’t technically have Jewish family that are blood-related to me doesn’t mean I don’t take this seriously,” McCain said through tears, while noting that she takes antisemitism personally because Joe and Hadassah Lieberman are family friends.
Her performance incensed a lot of people. It also drove cartoonist Eli Valley to draw a caricature of McCain that mocked her appropriation of Jewish identity and pain:
Here’s @MeghanMcCain. Shabbat Shalom. pic.twitter.com/DvVH4pxKEf
— Eli Valley (@elivalley) March 8, 2019
McCain responded that the cartoon was “the most antisemitic thing I’ve ever seen,” which is incorrect. Valley was not mocking Jews but the way Christian Zionists like McCain fetishize Jews to justify defenses of Israel’s often-racist and anti-democratic practices. Also, Meghan McCain is not, as I have mentioned, Jewish.
The blow-up was really the perfect expression of the large and growing split in the American Jewish community over Israel. On the left, more and more Jews have come to question and reject the Zionism with which many were raised, particularly over the question of the hard-right, nationalist Israeli government’s continued mistreatment of Palestinians. On the right, a distinct minority of conservative Jews support the government of Bibi Netanyahu and remain seemingly unquestioning Zionists. It is this minority that has outsized political and cultural power in America, which fuels a great deal of anger among the majority.
Then there is the issue of the Republican Party being home to neo-Nazis and antisemites who were energized by Donald Trump. When white nationalists are marching and shouting “Jews will not replace us,” and the president and head of the party is defending that crowd as having “some very fine people,” it seems absurd to spend this much time parsing the words of one first-term, back-bench congresswoman.
Valley, who is Jewish and very much of the left, is known for his challenging, often-vicious, often-grotesque, often-hilarious cartoons questioning Zionsim, American and Israeli politics, and Jewish culture. I called him to talk about how the cartoon came to be, his surprise at the attention it received and what fuels him in the depths of an all-night creative binge. The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
What motivated you to respond to McCain with this cartoon? What was the process?
“When I came to decide to do this particular piece. I was on the subway, heading home. I know that the tears had come during The View earlier in the day…the subway I jokingly tweeted ‘Don’t make me draw Meghan McCain,’ not really intending to draw her. The response was kind of overwhelming but I must say I do not want to say that I respond to peer pressure in terms of my art, but it sort of galvanized me into realizing that this was sort of a cultural moment that I wanted to express through my art.
And so the actual art itself, it didn’t really require much of a twist because the reality was so automatically satirical. The satire was baked in. The Jewish left, in general, was feeling, based on my own friends and people that I follow and absorbing the conversation, it was a bit insulted that McCain was appropriating our history and our trauma. Whereas the Jewish right was celebrating it because they don’t give a shit about the Jewish left, they only give a shit about basically Likud. So I didn’t really twist it much. I only twisted it from her appropriating Jewish trauma and memory into her being Jewish.”
Did you think it was going to blow up as much as it did?
“I did not think that it would blow up. I did not think that she would respond to it. Normally, when I’m doing a sort of news-cycle-sensitive piece of art, I can either stay up all night or I can give myself a break at like four or five in the morning and catch some sleep then work on it later in the morning and maybe post it in the afternoon. I was aware that this was a fluid situation and that The View airs at 11:00. And I thought, you know, maybe she’ll do more of her tears in the morning, or maybe she’ll do something else. I don’t want it to be either out of date or have to catch up with the new satirical reality by the afternoon. I need to just stay up all night and just do this. So I did that, even though it was really difficult on my body and mind. But I was able to post at 9 A.M. as a result and I think that’s why it had that kind of a reaction.
If I waited until the afternoon it might have still had a reaction, but it was still fresh from the previous day’s tears.”
When working through the night on something like this, is it anger that’s fueling you?
“It’s the anger but also the inspiration, the absurdity, the comic inspiration of the little ridiculous Jewish ephemera on the table making it all the more absurd. It added to the sort of exhilarating nature of the art, just the preposterousness of the art I was using.”
Can your cartoons be effective pushing back on this sort of appropriation? You’re obviously unlikely to change Meghan McCain’s mind, but do you hope your work can educate someone who might otherwise be inclined to listen to her?
“Both. I obviously believe in the power of art or else I wouldn’t do that. I don’t think McCain herself is going to have her mind changed. I look at it as sort of galvanizing my side, which has been under siege, definitely under the Trump administration, when we have the hero of American Nazism in the Oval Office. But in terms of the Jewish left, we have been under siege by our own people, by the minority of Jews who claim to speak for us and have been erasing us for generations now. And so I do it sort of to give my own people, my own side, energy and power by mocking the hypocrisy and bullshit of the other side.”
Did you hear the new line from Trump and the GOP, that the Democrats are somehow now an antisemitic, anti-Jewish party?
“I just want to say that Trump is a demagogue, he is a bigot, he is the worst of the twentieth century incarnate, in the Oval Office, and so of course he’s going to try and use this to paint the other side as evil. If you’re a Trump supporter, you’re a member of the GOP Nazi Party, and that’s all we need to know about you.”
Anti-SemitismEli ValleyIsraelJewishMeghan McCainPolitical CartoonsatireZionism
Gary Legum has written about politics and culture for Independent Journal Review, Salon, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, AlterNet and McSweeney's, among others. He currently lives in his native state of Virginia.
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Richard Walters – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Release date: 18-Dec-2019
The Orb – Hawk Kings
Stone Sour – Hello You Bastard’s Live In Reno
Deap Lips – Hope Hell High
‘Lissie – Live At Union Chapel’ has been released!
“Don’t be deceived by US folk singer Lissie’s gentle demeanor; she’s got the sort of agreeably huge voice that catches you off guard and stops you in your tracks.”
– Red Bull Music
The album features 13 solo acoustic songs recorded at Lissie’s Union Chapel show in London last year, including a special cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River”.
Live at Union Chapel has been released on the heels of Lissie’s latest studio album, My Wild West, which dropped earlier this year via Lionboy Records and Thirty Tigers in the US and Cooking Vinyl in the UK. Her most personal album to date, My Wild West is a fitting tribute to Lissie’s life in California, from her arrival as a fresh-faced singer-songwriter to now, leaving for the Midwest wiser and more self-assured. My Wild West represents both a new beginning and a return to Lissie’s Midwestern roots. The album hit #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and Top 10 on the Independent Album chart!
One of Lissie’s most powerful tracks on the album, “Daughters” is a pro-feminist call-to-arms that took its cue from Liberian peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, subject of the documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell. In March, Lissie partnered with charity:water in support of International Women’s Day to raise awareness surrounding the non-profit’s mission to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. She released a pay what you want download of her song ‘Daughters’ which raised over $4500 for clean water projects in developing countries and performed the song on CNN International to spread word of the cause.
lissie.com
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Lewis Watson – Meant For Me
Dotan – Numb
Will Young – My Love
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Applications Invited for Preservation and Conservation Studies
Preservation and Conservation Studies (PCS) of the University of Texas at Austin School of Information is accepting applications for entry for summer and fall 2003 to study conservation or preservation administration.
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MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL)
Volume 156: symposium m – high temperature superconductors: ...
Variation of Superlattice Struc...
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García-Alvarado, F. Mor´n, E. Alario-Franco, M.A. Gonz´lez, M.A. Vicent, J.L. Cheetham, A.K. and Chippindale, A.M. 1990. High Tc Superconductor Materials. p. 643.
Shen, Y. Richards, D. R. Hinks, D. G. and Mitchell, A. W. 1991. Structural modulations of Bi2Sr2CuO6studied byinsitux‐ray diffraction. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 59, Issue. 13, p. 1559.
Shen, Y. Richards, D.R. Hinks, D.G. and Mitchell, A.W. 1992. Chemistry and structural modulations in Bi2Sr2CuO6. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 7, Issue. 4, p. 844.
Namgung, C. Lachowski, E.E. Irvine, J.T.S. and West, A.R. 1992. Indexed Powder Data for Incommensurate Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3Oz. Powder Diffraction, Vol. 7, Issue. 1, p. 49.
Smith, R. I. 1993. RICICLE: A FORTRAN program to refine unit cell parameters of incommensurate structures. Powder Diffraction, Vol. 8, Issue. 3, p. 168.
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Volume 156 (Symposium M – High Temperature Superconductors: Relationships Between Properties, Structure, and Solid State Chemistry)
1989 , 329
Variation of Superlattice Structure of the Bi2Sr2−xCuO6-y Superconductor with Composition and Thermal History
B. C. Chakoumakos (a1), J. D. Budai (a1), B. C. Sales (a1) and Edward Sonder (a1)
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6056.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-156-329
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Single crystals of Bi2Sr2−xCuO6−y, (0.1 < x < 0.5, 0 < y < 0.5), were examined using x-ray diffraction techniques. Ditfractometer scans of θ-2θ taken normal to the cleavage planes displayed the even ( ) reflections from = 2 to 26. Weak satellite peaks were observed on either side of each main ( ) reflection, and their intensities relative to the main peak increased as 2θ was increased. With decreasing Sr content, the satellite peaks systematically moved away from the position of the main reflection. In contrast, the positions of the satellite peaks did not change with oxygen content which was varied by up to 0.5 oxygen atoms per formula unit. Since Tc in these crystals is sensitive to oxygen content while the superstructure modulation is not, it is unlikely that superconductivity and the structure modulation are directly related. As shown by a more detailed study of these peaks using a four-circle diffractometer and x-ray precession methods, the satellites that appear in θ-2θ scans are actually the mosaic tails of relatively intense superstructure peaks, positioned off from c* in the b* direction of reciprocal space. Depending on the Sr content of the crystals, generally incommensurate modulations were found with the superstructure periodicity ranging between ˜1/5b* + 0.29c* and ˜1/5b* + 0.65c*. The modulation in Bi2Sr2−xCuO6−y has two components. The component along the b* direction is similar to the superstructure observed in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O7 crystals and thus is probably due to the mismatch between the Bi2O2 layer and the CuO2 layer. The additional component along c* may be due to the ordering of Sr vacancies.
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1. Torardi, C. C., Subramanian, M. A., Gopalakrishnan, J., McCarron, E. M., Calabrese, J. C., Morrissey, K. J., Askew, T. R., Flippen, R. B., Chowdhry, U., and Sleight, A. W., in High Temperature Superconductivity edited by Metzger, R. M. (Gordon and Breach Science Pub., New York, 1989), p. 217.
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A conjecture on the Feldman bandit problem
Sequential methods
Maher Nouiehed, Sheldon M. Ross
Journal: Journal of Applied Probability / Volume 55 / Issue 1 / March 2018
We consider the Bernoulli bandit problem where one of the arms has win probability α and the others β, with the identity of the α arm specified by initial probabilities. With u = max(α, β), v = min(α, β), call an arm with win probability u a good arm. Whereas it is known that the strategy of always playing the arm with the largest probability of being a good arm maximizes the expected number of wins in the first n games for all n, we conjecture that it also stochastically maximizes the number of wins. That is, we conjecture that this strategy maximizes the probability of at least k wins in the first n games for all k, n. The conjecture is proven when k = 1, and k = n, and when there are only two arms and k = n - 1.
Grounding the Space Race
Take Three: The Moon Landing
Neil M. Maher
Journal: Modern American History / Volume 1 / Issue 1 / March 2018
On July 15, 1969, while more than one million space enthusiasts flocked to Florida's Cape Canaveral to celebrate the final countdown of the Apollo 11 launch the following day, a less festive gathering took place just a few miles away in an empty field outside the western gate of the Kennedy Space Center. On one side of the clearing stood NASA's chief, Thomas O. Paine, with several space agency administrators, while at the other end waited the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) president, Ralph Abernathy, with twenty-five poor African American families, four scruffy mules pulling two rickety wagons, and, much to Paine's dismay, a phalanx of newspaper reporters and television news crews. When Abernathy's group began slowly marching hand-in-hand singing “We Shall Overcome,” Paine and his entourage walked forward to meet them in the middle of the field. Abernathy then took a microphone, nodded toward the Apollo 11 rocket towering in the distance, and explained that his Poor People's Campaign had not traveled to the cape to protest the Apollo launch, but instead to demonstrate against the country's distorted sense of national priorities. “I want NASA scientists,” he explained to the gathered press, “to tackle problems we face in society”.
HIV treatment is associated with a twofold higher probability of raised triglycerides: pooled analyses in 21 023 individuals in sub-Saharan Africa
K. Ekoru, E. H. Young, D. G. Dillon, D. Gurdasani, N. Stehouwer, D. Faurholt-Jepsen, N. S. Levitt, N. J. Crowther, M. Nyirenda, M. A. Njelekela, K. Ramaiya, O. Nyan, O. O. Adewole, K. Anastos, C. Compostella, J. A. Dave, C. M. Fourie, H. Friis, I. M. Kruger, C. T. Longenecker, D. P. Maher, E. Mutimura, C. E. Ndhlovu, G. Praygod, E. W. Pefura Yone, M. Pujades-Rodriguez, N. Range, M. U. Sani, M. Sanusi, A. E. Schutte, K. Sliwa, P. C. Tien, E. H. Vorster, C. Walsh, D. Gareta, F. Mashili, E. Sobngwi, C. Adebamowo, A. Kamali, J. Seeley, L. Smeeth, D. Pillay, A. A. Motala, P. Kaleebu, M. S. Sandhu
Journal: Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics / Volume 3 / 2018
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 May 2018, e7
Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) regimes for HIV are associated with raised levels of circulating triglycerides (TGs) in western populations. However, there are limited data on the impact of ART on cardiometabolic risk in sub-Saharan African (SSA) populations.
Pooled analyses of 14 studies comprising 21 023 individuals, on whom relevant cardiometabolic risk factors (including TG), HIV and ART status were assessed between 2003 and 2014, in SSA. The association between ART and raised TG (>2.3 mmol/L) was analysed using regression models.
Among 10 615 individuals, ART was associated with a two-fold higher probability of raised TG (RR 2.05, 95% CI 1.51–2.77, I2 = 45.2%). The associations between ART and raised blood pressure, glucose, HbA1c, and other lipids were inconsistent across studies.
Evidence from this study confirms the association of ART with raised TG in SSA populations. Given the possible causal effect of raised TG on cardiovascular disease (CVD), the evidence highlights the need for prospective studies to clarify the impact of long term ART on CVD outcomes in SSA.
The influence of organic matter content and media compaction on the dispersal of entomopathogenic nematodes with different foraging strategies
APOSTOLOS KAPRANAS, ABIGAIL M. D. MAHER, CHRISTINE T. GRIFFIN
Journal: Parasitology / Volume 144 / Issue 14 / December 2017
In laboratory experiments, we investigated how media with varying ratio of peat:sand and two levels of compaction influence dispersal success of entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) species with different foraging strategies: Steinernema carpocapsae (ambusher), Heterorhabditis downesi (cruiser) and Steinernema feltiae (intermediate). Success was measured by the numbers of nematodes moving through a 4 cm column and invading a wax moth larva. We found that both compaction and increasing peat content generally decreased EPN infective juvenile (IJ) success for all three species. Of the three species, H. downesi was the least affected by peat content, and S. carpocapsae was the most adversely influenced by compaction. In addition, sex ratios of the invading IJs of the two Steinernema species were differentially influenced by peat content, and in the case of S. feltiae, sex ratio was also affected by compaction. This indicates that dispersal of male and female IJs is differentially affected by soil parameters and that this differentiation is species-specific. In conclusion, our study shows that organic matter: sand ratio and soil compaction have a marked influence on EPN foraging behaviour with implications for harnessing them as biological pest control agents.
Efficacy of a Sleep Quality Intervention in People With Low Back Pain: Protocol for a Feasibility Randomized Co-Twin Controlled Trial
Marina B. Pinheiro, Kevin K. Ho, Manuela L. Ferreira, Kathryn M. Refshauge, Ron Grunstein, John L. Hopper, Christopher G. Maher, Bart W. Koes, Juan R. Ordoñana, Paulo H. Ferreira
Journal: Twin Research and Human Genetics / Volume 19 / Issue 5 / October 2016
Print publication: October 2016
Poor sleep quality is highly prevalent in patients with low back pain (LBP) and is associated with high levels of pain, psychological distress, and physical disability. Studies have reported a bidirectional relationship between sleep problems and intensity of LBP. Accordingly, effective management of LBP should address sleep quality. In addition, genetics has been found to significantly affect the prevalence of both LBP and insomnia. Our study aims to establish the feasibility of a trial exploring the efficacy of a web-based sleep quality intervention in people with LBP, with the genetic influences being controlled for. 30 twins (15 complete pairs) with subacute or chronic LBP (>6 weeks) will be recruited from the Australian Twin Registry. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups with each twin within a pair receiving either an interactive web-based sleep intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles (intervention) or a web-based education program (control) for 6 weeks. The feasibility of the trial will be investigated with regard to recruitment rate, feasibility of data collection and outcome measure completion, contamination of intervention, acceptability and experience of intervention, and sample size requirement for the full trial. Patient outcomes will be collected electronically at baseline, immediately post-treatment, and at 3-months’ follow-up post-randomization. This trial employs a robust design that will effectively control for the influence of genetics on treatment effect. Additionally, this study addresses sleep quality, a significant but under-explored issue in LBP. Results will inform the design and implementation of the definitive trial.
Protective lifestyle behaviours and depression in middle-aged Irish men and women: a secondary analysis
Gillian M Maher, Catherine P Perry, Ivan J Perry, Janas M Harrington
Journal: Public Health Nutrition / Volume 19 / Issue 16 / November 2016
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2016, pp. 2999-3006
To examine the association between protective lifestyle behaviours (PLB) and depression in middle-aged Irish adults.
Secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study. PLB (non-smoker, moderate alcohol, physical activity, adequate fruit and vegetable intake) were assessed using a general health and lifestyle questionnaire and a validated FFQ. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. A score of 15–21 indicates mild/moderate depression and a score of 22 or more indicates a possibility of major depression. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the association between PLB and depression.
Livinghealth Clinic, Mitchelstown, North Cork, Republic of Ireland.
Men and women aged 50–69 years were selected at random from a list of patients registered at the clinic (n 2047, 67 % response rate).
Over 8 % of participants engaged in zero or one PLB, 24 % and 39 % had two and three PLB respectively, while 28 % had four PLB. Those who practised three/four PLB were significantly more likely to be female, have a higher level of education and were categorised as having no depressive symptoms. Engaging in zero or one PLB was significantly associated with an increased odds of depression compared with four PLB. Results remained significant after adjusting for several confounders, including age, gender, education and BMI (OR=2·2; 95 % CI 1·2, 4·0; P for trend=0·001).
While causal inference cannot be established in a cross-sectional study, the findings suggest that healthy behaviours may play a vital role in the promotion of positive mental health or, at a minimum, are associated with lower levels of depression.
Clinical predictors of involuntary detention among voluntary inpatients in St Patrick’s University Hospital (SPUH)
B. Masood, S. O’Ceallaigh, T. Thekiso, M. Nichol, P. Kowalska-Beda, M. Murphy, J. Creedon, T. Maher, D. McLoughlin, N. Kennedy
Journal: Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine / Volume 34 / Issue 1 / March 2017
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 September 2015, pp. 13-18
Few studies have described clinical characteristics of patients subject to an involuntary detention in an Irish context. The Irish Mental Health Act 2001 makes provision under Section 23(1), whereby a person who has voluntary admission status can be detained.
This study aimed to describe all involuntary admissions to St Patrick’s University Hospital (SPUH) (2011–2013) and to evaluate clinical characteristics of voluntary patients who underwent Mental Health Act assessment during 2011 to determine differences in those who had involuntary admission orders completed and those who did not.
All uses of Mental Health Act 2001 within SPUH 2011–2013 were identified. All uses of Section 23(1) during 2011 were reviewed and relevant documents/case-notes examined using a pro forma covering clinical data, factors recognized to influence involuntary admissions and validated scales were used to determine diagnoses, insight, suicide and violence risk.
Over 2011–2013, 2.5–3.8% of all admissions were involuntary with more detained after use of Section 23(1) than Section 14(2). The majority of initiations of Section 23(1) did not result in an involuntary admission (72%), occurred out of hours (52%) and many occurred early after admission (<1 week, 43%). Initiation of Section 23(1) by a consultant psychiatrist (p=0.001), suicide risk (p=0.03) and lack of patient insight into treatment (p=0.007) predicted conversion to involuntary admission.
This study predicts a role for patient insight, suicide risk and consultant psychiatrist decision making in the initiation of Mental Health Act assessment of voluntary patients. Further data describing the involuntary admissions process in an Irish setting are needed.
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder: System Architecture and Specifications of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array
A. W. Hotan, J. D. Bunton, L. Harvey-Smith, B. Humphreys, B. D. Jeffs, T. Shimwell, J. Tuthill, M. Voronkov, G. Allen, S. Amy, K. Ardern, P. Axtens, L. Ball, K. Bannister, S. Barker, T. Bateman, R. Beresford, D. Bock, R. Bolton, M. Bowen, B. Boyle, R. Braun, S. Broadhurst, D. Brodrick, K. Brooks, M. Brothers, A. Brown, C. Cantrall, G. Carrad, J. Chapman, W. Cheng, A. Chippendale, Y. Chung, F. Cooray, T. Cornwell, E. Davis, L. de Souza, D. DeBoer, P. Diamond, P. Edwards, R. Ekers, I. Feain, D. Ferris, R. Forsyth, R. Gough, A. Grancea, N. Gupta, J. C. Guzman, G. Hampson, C. Haskins, S. Hay, D. Hayman, S. Hoyle, C. Jacka, C. Jackson, S. Jackson, K. Jeganathan, S. Johnston, J. Joseph, R. Kendall, M. Kesteven, D. Kiraly, B. Koribalski, M. Leach, E. Lenc, E. Lensson, L. Li, S. Mackay, A. Macleod, T. Maher, M. Marquarding, N. McClure-Griffiths, D. McConnell, S. Mickle, P. Mirtschin, R. Norris, S. Neuhold, A. Ng, J. O’Sullivan, J. Pathikulangara, S. Pearce, C. Phillips, R. Y. Qiao, J. E. Reynolds, A. Rispler, P. Roberts, D. Roxby, A. Schinckel, R. Shaw, M. Shields, M. Storey, T. Sweetnam, E. Troup, B. Turner, A. Tzioumis, T. Westmeier, M. Whiting, C. Wilson, T. Wilson, K. Wormnes, X. Wu
Journal: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia / Volume 31 / 2014
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 November 2014, e041
This paper describes the system architecture of a newly constructed radio telescope – the Boolardy engineering test array, which is a prototype of the Australian square kilometre array pathfinder telescope. Phased array feed technology is used to form multiple simultaneous beams per antenna, providing astronomers with unprecedented survey speed. The test array described here is a six-antenna interferometer, fitted with prototype signal processing hardware capable of forming at least nine dual-polarisation beams simultaneously, allowing several square degrees to be imaged in a single pointed observation. The main purpose of the test array is to develop beamforming and wide-field calibration methods for use with the full telescope, but it will also be capable of limited early science demonstrations.
Genetic Variation in Cytokine-Related Genes and Migraine Susceptibility
Shani Stuart, Bridget H. Maher, Heidi Sutherland, Miles Benton, Astrid Rodriguez, Rod A. Lea, Larisa M. Haupt, Lyn R. Griffiths
Journal: Twin Research and Human Genetics / Volume 16 / Issue 6 / December 2013
Migraine is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as being one of the top 20 most debilitating diseases. According to the neurovascular hypothesis, neuroinflammation may promote the activation and sensitisation of meningeal nociceptors, inducing the persistent throbbing headache characterized in migraine. The tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene cluster, made up of TNFα, lymphotoxin α (LTA), and lymphotoxin β (LTB), has been implicated to influence the intensity and duration of local inflammation. It is thought that sterile inflammation mediated by LTA, LTB, and TNFα contributes to threshold brain excitability, propagation of neuronal hyperexcitability and thus initiation and maintenance of a migraine attack. Previous studies have investigated variants within the TNF gene cluster region in relation to migraine susceptibility, with largely conflicting results. The aim of this study was to expand on previous research and utilize a large case-control cohort and range of variants within the TNF gene cluster to investigate the role of the TNF gene cluster in migraine. Nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected for investigation as follows: rs1800683, rs2229094, rs2009658, rs2071590, rs2239704, rs909253, rs1800630, rs1800629, and rs3093664. No significant association with migraine susceptibility was found for any of the SNPs tested, with further testing according to migraine subtype and gender also showing no association for disease risk. Haplotype analysis showed that none of the tested haplotypes were significantly associated with migraine.
By Sarah Adriance, Andrei V. Alexandrov, Hardik Amin, Catherine Amlie-Lefond, Martinson K. Arnan, Réza Behrouz, Eric Bershad, Romergryko G. Geocadin, Richard P. Goddeau, Philip B. Gorelick, Diana Greene-Chandos, David M. Greer, Noah Grose, Ann K. Helms, Jason M. Johnson, Angelos Katramados, Joshua Kornbluth, Michael H. Lev, Rafael H. Llinas, Stephan A. Mayer, Laura Pedelty, Alex Perchuk, Ciaran J. Powers, Maher Saqqur, Eric Sauvageau, Magdy H. Selim, Vijay Sharma, Jose I. Suarez, Andrew W. Tarulli, Michel T. Torbey, Panayiotis Varelas, Katja Elfriede Wartenberg, Susan Yeager
Edited by Michel T. Torbey, Ohio State University, Magdy H. Selim
Book: The Stroke Book
Print publication: 18 July 2013, pp vii-x
A structured process for reviewing the operation of the Mental Health Act 2001 in an Irish mental health service
M. Mulligan, T. Maher, J. V. Lucey
Journal: Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine / Volume 30 / Issue 2 / June 2013
This paper provides a description of a structured template which allows review of the operation of the Mental Health Act 2001 at St Patrick's Mental Health Services (incorporating St Patrick's University Hospital, St Edmundsbury Hospital and Willow Grove Adolescent Unit). These structured processes were implemented to ensure rigorous monitoring of all clinical governance activities associated with adherence to the Mental Health Act (MHA) 2001. The paper describes in detail the information contained in the St Patrick's Mental Health Services dashboard for 2012. The dashboard displays the key performance indicators that are monitored and the paper describes how these were reviewed by the Hospital's Clinical Governance Committee on a weekly basis for the three approved centres. The dashboard has also been used by the Clinical Governance Committee to provide ongoing education and engagement with staff in order to improve the operation of the MHA 2001. The use of this structured monitoring process has allowed the hospital to measure adherence to the MHA 2001 and also to measure activities that impact directly on the care and treatment of patients detained under the Act. The use of structured monitoring tools (i.e. the dashboard) to review the operation of the MHA 2001 allows for coherent observation of key events and issues which can cause concern in terms of the operation of the Act.
By J. William Allwood, Eleni T. Bairaktari, Jean-Pierre Bellocq, Malika A. Benahmed, Hanne Christine Bertram, Zaver M. Bhujwalla, Ulrich Braumann, Juan Casado-Vela, Marta Cascante, Arancha Cebrián, Albert Chen, Man Ho Choi, Bong Chul Chung, Yuen-Li Chung, Morten Rahr Clausen, Patrick J. Cozzone, Ralph J. DeBerardinis, Julien Detour, Santiago Díaz-Moralli, Warwick B. Dunn, Karim Elbayed, Udo Engelke, Teresa W.-M. Fan, Ana M. Gil, Kristine Glunde, Markus Godejohann, Teresa Gómez del Pulgar, Royston Goodacre, Angelina Goudswaard, Gonçalo Graça, Richard W. Gross, Herbert H. Hill, Ralph E. Hurd, Alessio Imperiale, Kimberly A. Kaplan, Neil L. Kelleher, Michael A. Kiebish, Ann M. Knolhoff, Christina E. Kostara, Juan Carlos Lacal, Andrew N. Lane, Martin O. Leach, Norbert W. Lutz, Elizabeth Maher, Craig R. Malloy, Isaac Marin-Valencia, Laura Menchén, Bruce Mickey, Fanny Mochel, Éva Morava, François-Marie Moussallieh, Izzie J. Namer, Peter Nemes, Ioanna Ntai, Geoffrey S. Payne, Marie-France Penet, Martial Piotto, Stanislav S. Rubakhin, Elsa Sánchez-López, A. Dean Sherry, Bindesh Shrestha, Jonathan V. Sweedler, Akos Vertes, Mark R. Viant, Ralf J. M. Weber, Ron Wehrens, Ron A. Wevers, Catherine L. Winder, David S. Wishart, Kui Yang, Yi-Fen Yen
Edited by Norbert W. Lutz, Jonathan V. Sweedler, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ron A. Wevers
Book: Methodologies for Metabolomics
Print publication: 21 January 2013, pp viii-xii
By Maher M. Dabbah, University of London
General editor Maher M. Dabbah, Queen Mary University of London, Paul Lasok QC
Book: Merger Control Worldwide
Barbados has been making significant progress in its efforts towards removing major longstanding cultural, social and economic problems. The Barbadian economy has long suffered from under-development particularly in financial and credit markets. The enactment of a new competition law and the establishment of a new competition authority have been part of a wider effort to enhance technical and business knowledge, protect consumers and improve enterprise and productivity.
Relevant legislation and statutory standards
Mergers are regulated under section 20 of the Fair Competition Act 2002–2019 (Chapter 326C) (FCA2002 or ‘the Act’) which prohibits any relevant merger unless specifically pre-approved by the Fair Trading Commission. The law therefore requires prior notification and approval for all mergers satisfying certain size thresholds.
Decision-making bodies and enforcement authority(ies)
The Fair Trading Commission (‘the Commission’) is an independent body – created on 2 January 2001 pursuant to section 3 of the Fair Trading Commission Act (CAP. 326B) – responsible for assessing and investigating mergers in Barbados and determining whether they comply with the terms of the FCA2002. The Commission may also direct that a given merger be subject to an assessment by it. Its responsibilities under the Act include the following:
promotion and maintenance of fair competition;
investigating the conduct of trade to prevent practices contravening the Act;
review of commercial activities to ensure prevention or termination of practices adverse to the interests of consumers;
taking necessary action to prevent abuse of a dominant position, eliminate anti-competitive agreements and control mergers;
advising the Minister responsible for Commerce and Consumer Affairs on matters of operation of the Act;
other functions required to give effect to the Act.
Despite concerted governmental efforts directed at improving Kenya’s economy, the country still faces significant hurdles to achieving consistent economic growth. Indeed a Report prepared by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2003 stated that Kenya’s economic performance remains well below its potential. Clearly, this can be expected to affect the development of competition law and policy in the country and on the whole it has done so.
Mergers and acquisitions in Kenya are governed by Part III of the Restrictive Trade Practices, Monopolies and Price Control Act, Chapter 504, Laws of Kenya 1989 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the RTPMPCA1989’ or ‘the Act’). The Act is in place to encourage a healthy system of competition, by reducing participation in restrictive trade practices and controlling monopolies and concentrations of economic power. In general, any agreements or trade associations featuring the following are defined as restrictive trade practices which shall not be enforceable in legal proceedings:
Refusal and discrimination in connection with the sale or supply of goods.
Resale price maintenance.
Price discrimination.
By Maher M. Dabbah, University of London, Carlos A. Patrón, Payet, Rey, Cauvi Abogados, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
Print publication: 31 May 2012, pp 1054-1068
At the start of the 1990s, the Peruvian government implemented a profound macroeconomic stabilisation and structural adjustment programme that led to the abandonment of all forms of import-substituting industrialisation policies, eliminated price controls, freed the exchange rate and interest rates, liberalised trade, gave equal treatment to foreign investors, initiated a comprehensive tax reform and redefined the state’s involvement in the economy, moving it away from the role of directly producing goods and services and towards the role of supervisor and regulator of private actors and privatised companies in a competitive environment.
Among the pillar reforms implemented, between November 1991 and late 1992, Peru enacted for the first time legislation on competition, consumer protection, commercial advertisement and unfair competition, all of which had a primarily facilitative function of bringing into being and strengthening competitive markets.
Consolidating these reforms, the Peruvian Political Constitution of 1993 adopted a social market economy model, based on the recognition and protection of fundamental individual economic freedoms (i.e. free trade and freedom of enterprise, freedom of contract, property rights, equal treatment of domestic and foreign investment, among others) and the subsidiary role of the state in economic activities. Within this framework, Section 61 of the Peruvian Constitution proclaims that ‘the State combats all practices that limit [competition] and the abuse of dominant or monopolistic positions in the marketplace’, explicitly prohibiting the authorisation or establishment of monopolies through laws or cartels. Interpreting this constitutional provision, the Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal has afirmed that the acquisition of a dominant position or a monopoly through the legitimate means of the competitive process is not in itself illegal.
Table of Legislation and Official Guidance
Print publication: 31 May 2012, pp lxxi-cxc
By Maher M. Dabbah, University of London, Humberto Pacheco, Pacheco Coto, San José, Costa Rica, Freddy Fachler, Pacheco Coto, San José, Costa Rica, Jolene Knorr, Pacheco Coto, San José, Costa Rica
Costa Rica has witnessed an interesting economic transition since the early 1990s, with more efforts being directed at making the country an attractive destination for tourists and a lucrative investment opportunity for foreign hi-tech firms following many years of focus originally on the production of bananas and coffee and, later, in textile drawback operations.
Several key sectors are still controlled by state monopolies, although some considerable political efforts have been made over the last 4 years or so to privatise as many sectors as possible. The latest and perhaps the most relevant effort, has been the liberalisation of the telecommunications market as a result of the Free Trade Agreement with the Caribbean and United States. Of course, the success of these privatisation efforts will have a direct impact on the role and standing of competition law and policy in Costa Rica, including the country’s mechanism for merger control.
Merger and acquisition activities are regulated under the Law on Promotion of Competition and Effective Defence of the Consumer1 (‘the Act’). The Act is supplemented by the Regulations of the Law on Promotion of Competition and Effective Defence of the Consumer2 (‘the Regulations’). In post-merger and acquisition situations, in which the right to private enforcement and the right to appeal arise, the provisions of the General Law of Public Administration3 and the Law for the Regulation of Jurisdiction on Administrative Law4 apply respectively (see below).
Print publication: 31 May 2012, pp x-xxi
Cyprus (Republic of Cyprus)
By Maher M. Dabbah, University of London, Elias Neocleous, Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC, Nicosia, Cyprus, Eleana Spyris, Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC, Nicosia, Cyprus
The Republic of Cyprus has a well-documented history of conflict concerning, largely, the legitimacy of its government and the relationship of its populace to influential mainland powers. Since the 1974 invasion of the north part of the island by the Turkish army resulting in a de facto division of the island into the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (recognised only by Turkey) and the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot administration in the south (which claims dominion over the whole republic), the economy of the island as a whole has suffered from foreign investors’ reluctance to invest in a ‘war zone’ and has faced immeasurable lost trading opportunities arising out of the UN-maintained ‘buffer zone and demarcation line’. Furthermore, until recently North Cyprus faced a European Union (EU) trade embargo which greatly weakened its economy.
The goal of acceding to the EU has been part of a longstanding struggle to bring peace and economic stability to the troubled island and to define its identity on the world stage. European countries have been understandably eager to settle the internal conflict before admitting the country to the EU (not least to avoid undermining relations with Turkey). The European Council resolved in 2002 to admit Cyprus as a whole if the North and South could reach a UN-brokered solution by 28 February 2003. Failing that, the application of North Cyprus would be suspended. The settlement foundered when simultaneous referenda were put forward on 24 April 2004 and passed by North Cyprus but rejected by the Greek Cypriots. The latter therefore acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004, while the former remains outside as, according to the EU, ‘areas of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control’. The EU subsequently decided to put an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community. On 7 July 2004, the European Commission announced draft regulations aimed at the following: establishing financial support and encouraging contacts between the two communities; facilitating direct trade with the north with a preferential import regime; defining special rules for intra-island trade and authorising the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce to certify import items.
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The Welsh Chronicles Research Group holds an annual meeting at which relevant issues in the study of the chronicles are discussed.
Annual meetings are listed below.
There are no forthcoming events in the calendar
No Current News
Welsh Chronicles Research Group
The Welsh Chronicles Research Group is a consortium of researchers studying the chronicles of medieval Wales and promoting further dialogue and research into this important group of texts.
Medieval Welsh chronicles are unique, multilingual, spanning great geographical and temporal distances, and sometimes fragmentary both in themselves and with regard to secondary resources. They span the entirety of the middle ages, from the early medieval period to the fifteenth century, and survive in both Welsh and Latin.
This body of important historical writing has received increased attention in recent decades, and yet it is still in need of a great deal of further study, including new editions and reassessments of historical contexts. The implications for further study in the fields of textual history, Welsh history, and manuscript transmission networks are considerable.
This website draws together resources and ideas in a central location, facilitating and encouraging new research in this important field and engagement with these valuable sources. Here you will find information on each chronicle, including a list of available editions and translations (with links where applicable) as well as bibliographies of secondary scholarship.
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» Conferences
Friday, September 9, 2011 - 3:30pm to 10:30pm
Katja Vogt
Francesco de Angelis (Columbia University), Clemente Marconi (NYU), Silvia Montiglio (Johns Hopkins), Neville Morley (Bristol), Leah Whittington (Columbia University, Society of Fellows), Katja Vogt (Columbia University)
Philosophy Hall 716, Columbia University
Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, Columbia University, and the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University
Beginning with Plato’s Theaetetus, philosophers have considered it a difficult task to formulate a coherent version of relativism. According to one long-standing intuition, people can live in radically different ways, where this involves holding different values and conceptualizing the world in different ways – so much so that, in a sense, each way of life constitutes its own ‘world.’ The Odyssey is an obvious place to start if one wants to explore this idea. The stages of Odysseus’ travels can be thought of as sojourns in different worlds, worlds with their own kinds of inhabitants, food, customs, values, etc. In an intriguing phrase, the shorelines of Polyphemus’ island are described in the very terms that are otherwise used for the limits of the world: peiras gaiês (9.284) – it is a world to itself, as are the other places that Odysseus encounters.
The conference is devoted to an inter-disciplinary study of this aspect of theOdyssey and the afterlife of this range of ideas in later writings and art. How does the Odyssey conceptualize different ways of life? How does Herodotus relate to the Odyssey’s quasi-ethnographic dimension? What kind of inspiration are the inhabitants of the many worlds of theOdyssey for ancient art? How do Roman writers develop the relevant ideas? How do ideas of the limits of the world, and the question of whether other worlds can be imagined, shape ancient thought about values?
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Written by Tamsin Hanly
Edited & illustrated by Ruth Lemon
A critical guide to Māori and Pākehā histories of Aotearoa
The CPR
Written by Tamsin Hanly, edited by Ruth Lemon
This section contains information about the rationale for the CPR, the structure and content of each of the books, acknowledgements and a best practice delivery model.
Rationale for the CPR
A best practice delivery model
There are a lot of links that have been collated to support the planning and delivery of the CPR. In this section, we share the links digitally.
These testimonials come in a variety of forms: written, audio and film.
View the testimonials
Margaret Holmes - about the CPR.
What are people saying about the CPR?
Margaret Holmes
M.Ed., Adv.Dip.Tchg., Dip.Ed.Man., Dip.T.L.
Former Principal Hurupaki School Whangarei
When listening to Tamsin Hanly talk to Principals about her 'Histories of Aotearoa' resource at a M.A.C. hui in Auckland in 2014, I had a 'light bulb' moment. I had been trying ever since I was first Principal of Hurupaki School, to establish a true bi-cultural environment that valued the 25% Maori children, the 65% Pakeha children and the 10% 'others' - very small numbers of many other races - as well as pay tribute to the unique place of New Zealand in this mix.
Looking at MOE guidelines and publications that were available, I found them helpful in the 'why' we should be honouring Treaty of Waitangi principles in our schools but no-one seemed to have the 'how'. That was when the light went on - I could finally see how to lead this development in my school.
I pursued Tamsin, who was busy completing the writing of her resource, until she agreed to come and lead a Teacher-Only Day for us at the beginning of 2015. I had no pre-conceived ideas about how it would go, and I don't think Tamsin did either. Suffice to say, that the whole day was a huge success and the staff came on board with it very quickly. They were enthusiastic to include the first unit in the 2015 programme and made plans for how it would become an integral part of our school curriculum after that.
The 'Histories of Aotearoa' is such a comprehensive resource that it could take several years to complete the work in its entirety. The Hurupaki staff were keen to commit to at least two of the units each year as a start, to build a foundation for our children as they moved up through the school.
This was due in part, I believe, because of Tamsin's delivery of the topic. She was articulate, informative and had full command of her subject - albeit a potentially sensitive area to deal with. The staff warmed to her immediately and were able to see why I had insisted that she introduce the resource to us in person.
The age-old problem of 'you don't know what you don't know' was at last being addressed for our predominantly pakeha staff and I know that their confidence in including 'things Maori' in their day to day teaching and interactions will be considerably enhanced. Having the 'Histories of Aotearoa' available to increase their own personal knowledge will be a huge advantage. The fact that the units are written for schools, makes it a unique resource, I believe, and the best part - not a black-line master in sight! Teachers are free to explore and develop each topic as befits their own school and students.
Unfortunately, I have now retired and so cannot comment on the programme in action - only its promise. I would recommend Hanly's 'Histories of Aotearoa' to you - it might just be the light at the end of the tunnel for you and your school.
Former Principal
Hurupaki School
CPR Home
A critical guide to Māori and Pākehā histories of Aotearoa - A curriculum programme resource (CPR) for schools & teachers
Tāmaki makaurau
+64 21 216 2332 tamsinhanly@xtra.co.nz
© Copyright 2015-2020 Tamsin Hanly
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Declare a Climate Emergency
We the undersigned petition the council to 1. Declare a Climate Emergency 2. Pledge to make South Lakeland District carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions. 3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible. 4. Work with other governments (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C. 5. Continue to work with partners across the region and the county to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans. 6. Report to Full Council within six months with the actions the Council will take to address this emergency.
1. Humans have already caused irreversible harm to life on earth, the impacts of which are being felt around the world. Global temperatures have already increased by 1 degree Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Atmospheric CO2 levels are above 400 parts per million. This far exceeds the 350 parts per million deemed to be a safe level for humanity.
2. In order to reduce the chance of runaway Global Warming and limit the effects of Climate Breakdown, it is imperative that we as a species reduce our CO2eq (carbon equivalent) emissions from their current 6.5 tonnes per person per year to less than 2 tonnes as soon as possible.1
3. Individuals cannot be expected to make this reduction on their own. Society needs to change its laws, taxation, infrastructure, etc., to make low carbon living easier and the new norm.
4. The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, published last October, describes the irreversible harm that a temperature rise of 2°C and beyond would cause. Nevertheless the panel concludes that 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities.2
5. Carbon emissions result from both production and consumption.3
6. Our current plans and actions are not enough. The world is on track to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit before 2050.2,3
7. Many Councils around the world are responding by declaring a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committing resources to address this emergency.5,6
We the undersigned believe that:
1. All governments (national, regional and local) have a duty to limit the negative impacts of Climate Breakdown, and local governments that recognise this should not wait for their national governments to change their policies. It is important for residents that South Lakeland District Council and Cumbria County Council commit to carbon neutrality as quickly as possible.
2. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site we are uniquely placed to lead the world in reducing carbon emissions.
3. The consequences of global temperature rising above 1.5°C are so severe that preventing this from happening must be humanity’s number one priority.
5. Bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities as well as improved well-being for people worldwide.
1. Fossil CO2 & GHG emissions of all world countries, 2017:
http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/overview.php?v=CO2andGHG1970-2016&dst=GHGpc
2. The IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC:
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/
3. Scope 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol explained:
https://www.carbontrust.com/resources/faqs/services/scope-3-indirect-carbon-emissions
4. World Resources Institute:
https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/10/8-things-you-need-know-about-ipcc-15-c-report
5. The motion brought forward by the Green group on the Bristol City Council:
https://bristolgreenparty.org.uk/library/FC_motion_13th_Nov_-_Climate_Emergency.pdf
6. Bristol City Council:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/nov/14/bristol-plans-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2030
7. Zero carbon London: A 1.5ºC compatible plan December 2018: https://cdn.locomotive.works/sites/5ab410c8a2f42204838f797e/content_entry5ab410faa2f42204838f7990/5ab4117174c4833febe6c89e/files/1.5c_compatible_plan.pdf?1547756098
Started by: Kathleen Wyburn (Ambleside Action For A Future)
172 people signed this ePetition.
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Al Jazeera releases free online graphic novella by Michael Keller and Josh Neufeld (Apparently)
October 29, 2014 admin 1 Comment
Al Jazeera America, the U.S. arm of the international newsgathering and reporting agency, today released its first graphic novella, about ‘Big Data’ and our interaction with companies . It’s called Terms of Service, it’s by Michael Keller and Josh Neufeld, and it’s free to read online at http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/terms-of-service/index.html.
I’ve read the first few chapters and it’s neat stuff, definitely worth your time. I’m kind of surprised because I got a PR about this at noon today, and I can’t find any record of this announcement at the major comic sites. So, uh, I guess I will break this news…? Enjoy.
Edit: Full Press Release under the cut below.
– Chris @ The Beguiling
Continue reading Al Jazeera releases free online graphic novella by Michael Keller and Josh Neufeld (Apparently) →
A few changes…
October 29, 2014 admin Leave a comment
Although most people seem to have missed it, I mentioned here on the blog about three years ago that I had come on board as the Marketing Director of Canadian Publisher UDON Entertainment. For the past three years I’ve been happy to work with a Publisher like UDON, doing great work, producing comics, manga, and anime and video game artbooks, both original and licensed from Japan. I’ve worked with some very dedicated folks, and I’ve learned a tremendous amount from being on the “other side” of the industry for a few years.
However, as of September 30th, 2014, I’ve unfortunately had to step down from that position. I’ve continued to work with The Beguiling and TCAF–The Toronto Comic Arts Festival–during my time with UDON, and recently those organizations have started to demand more of my time and attention. TCAF in particular has some big stuff on the horizon, and ultimately, something had to give (before I did!). I’m proud that UDON’s output increased significantly, to more than 30 books a year during the past few years, and I was happy to be there for some of the company’s greatest publishing successes. I’ll still be working with UDON a little at some of their convention appearances, particularly the two PAX shows, and helping to organize their presence at San Diego Comic-Con. I’m even maybe editing a special project for late next year…? But the day to day is pretty much done. 🙂
I’d like to thank my friend and UDON Chief Erik Ko for the tremendous opportunity to step in to support the company in this way. I’d also like to thank all of my co-workers for providing new learning opportunities, and for busting their buts to put out great work, and to all of the great members of the press I’ve gotten to work with too. Finally, to UDON’s fantastically passionate fans, thanks for all of your support.
UDON has a tremendous 2015 in store, with Street Fighter, Manga Classics, Kill la Kill, Osamu Tezuka, Robotech, Professor Layton, and so much more on the horizon. I’m leaving UDON with quite possibly the strongest line-up of books in the history of the company ahead of them, and so much more that hasn’t been announced. 😉
As for me, I’m looking forward to reinvesting my energies back into The Beguiling and into The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and all the great stuff ahead.
– Christopher Butcher
P.S.: If you’re looking to contact UDON about their projects, the best way to do so is via fans@udonentertainment.com. Someone will get back to you tout de suite!
Header image from my favourite UDON book published during my time at the company, the beautiful Midori Foo’s Book of Pictures. Available wherever great books are sold!
Conventions, General
Report: The Lakes International Comic Art Fest 2013
In October of 2013, I headed out on my first trip to The United Kingdom as a guest of inaugural Lakes International Comic Arts Festival – http://www.comicartfestival.com/. Held in the village of Kendal, the gateway to the Lake District (and about 2 hours North of Manchester), I was glad to be on hand to witness the birth of a new comics event and especially one of such great ambition and vision. The festival took place October 18th through 20th, and I was on hand from the 17th to the 21st to observe the goings on.
I’ve been meaning to write a little report on the Festival for, oh, about a year now, but I wasn’t writing very much and things just sort of came up in the general. However, I’m set to be headed back to the second iteration of the event which is taking place THIS WEEKEND, from October 16th through the 20th, and hopefully you are too. Again, more details at http://www.comicartfestival.com/.
I’ve basically taken a whole year to write this and I’m literally on my way out the door…Apologies for spelling, grammar, forgotten names, and for taking so long!
Now, on with the show:
First things first: Kendal, and so far as I can tell, The Lake District, is gorgeous. However when I was down in Manchester for the few days before the event, when people could immediately tell I was from out of town (and I immediately had to say “I’m from Canada” to get those frowns to turn upside down), people would be like “Oh you’re going up to the Lake District? Oh it’s lovely up there…” like a mantra. You get the sense that it’s ‘cottage country’, that nothing’s thought to be going on… and that was an idea that the organizers of this festival were desperately fighting back against.
The festival takes place in the old buildings scattered around town, in the city hall clocktower, in the mall, and in the art school with its beautiful modern buildings. The town was energetic, decorated, and full of unique buildings and spaces. As I was saying, they really are trying for a very ambitious program.
Speaking of, I was happy to host this drawing demonstration with Luke Pearson, creator of the Hilda series of books. Luke was sweet and charming and drew like magic, for an hour, for the standing-room-only crowd. It’s only just filling up in this photo…
Afterwards, Luke stayed and signed and sketched for fans for another hour as well, what a gentleman! His presentation, as most, took place in one of the large classroom buildings and the signing in an anterior building. Despite the drizzle, people had no problem showing up adequately attired, and spirits were very high.
I think things like decorating and branding the spaces with pennants, posters, and merchandise, make a huge difference for these sorts of events. What might be a somewhat boring classroom becomes a “Festival Space”, and it’s one of the things that I thought LICAF did very well indeed.
Seen above is some of the custom merchandise, and a few of the wonderful volunteers who helped for the weekend.
One of the two main spaces was “The Comics Clocktower”, or city hall, and you can see the decoration continued throughout the whole town and into all spaces. Banners and signage, both hung and freestanding, dotted all of the festival spaces and the spaces in between, and it really did lift the atmosphere wonderfully. Of course, when you have as naturally photogenic a town as this, that doesn’t hurt either.
The comics clock tower featured multiple floors of exhibitors, including a special room for an on-site show store and sponsor. The space reminded me very-much of TCAF 2007, which was held in Victoria College, with exhibitors lining the walls of smaller rooms and customers invited to explore both the lovely old building and all of the wonderful art on display.
Of course I may be biased, but my favourite space was the large, high-ceilinged main room, held for town meetings, plays, and presentations, and repurposed to hold a number of wonderful artists and their creations.
There’s my friend Adam Cadwell, chatting up a potentional customer.
The fine folks of Nobrow, including Luke Pearson on the left, Sam in the middle, and you’ll have to pardon me as I forgotten then chap on the right’s name.
Of course it isn’t a comic show without back issue bins… I guess? I found it hilarious to come across this on the first floor, but a few quid for an old issue of Sandman is hard to argue with at a comics festival.
Also, that fireplace is something else? That’s the best part of repurposing existing buildings.
Look! Another Canadian! It’s Anthony Del Col of Kill Shakespeare.
Kristina Baczynski selling some amazingly lovely comics and art…!
Here’s Stephen Robson from Fanfare UK, and a wonderful selection of his new projects (well, new a year ago, heh). He’s also started distributing some other wonderful works, very exciting!
And of course TCAF exhibitor Darryl Cunningham!
Friend of TCAF Paul Gravett, showing of his newest survey of the medium, Comics Art.
Really, the town is quite lovely, and even with a bit of rain it was marvelous to walk through the spaces, from venue to venue, and see all of the great sites along the way.
Speaking of, the other major venue is the Brewery Arts Centre, a massive arts complex converted from a brewery! Featuring several restaurants, theatre screens/auditorium, and a gorgeous outdoor space, BAC is where many of the large-scale and keynote events were held, and the town and the Festival are certainly lucky to have such a large and gorgeous space to use. You could pop by any time of the weekend (or to the bar round the corner) to meet many of the participating cartoonists as they grabbed a beer or a bite, and that greatly contributed to the warm and positive feeling of the event.
And we’ve reached the end, more or less.
I’ve probably got another few thousand words in me about the first Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, but I’m actually now just about to head to the airport in time to attend the second. I will say that the show was very well organized and really took advantage of its locale in the way that very few shows do. I think it’s a sterling and necessary addition to a comics scene that already includes wonderful events like Thoughtbubble, and I hope to see it continue a long and healthy life.
If you’re within a few hours of Kendal (2 or 3 hours from either Manchester or Glasgow, 4 hours from London), I’d strongly recommend attending. Comics events are so far apart and expensive to get to in the U.S. and Canada… for us 3 or 4 hours away IS considered a local show.
Congrats to the organizers and volunteers on an excellent event, and I look forward to the next one with great anticipation… in about 48 hours.
– Christopher
Lakes International Comic Arts FestivalLICAF
Convention Culture and the Modern Artist
October 7, 2014 admin 18 Comments
So, I’d been meaning to write something about this since things erupted last month on Denise Dorman’s blog [link]. But the topic is a very, very big one, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the entirety of it, and still can’t, and so I’d resisted anything other than a few tweets on the subject. I do think, though, that there are a couple of very basic truths on the subject that I can get out here, so let’s dive in and see where this takes us:
1. The make-up of the attendees of comic book conventions is changing.
I’d say this is a no-brainer, but for those in the cheap seats: There are more fans of nerd-culture things, like superhero comics and science-fiction, than there have been in a very, very long time. The success of DC and Marvel’s movies, the easy availability of sci-fi and fantasy on specialty cable networks, the goddamned Big Bang Theory, all of it has contributed to ‘geek’ culture being embraced by the widest swath of people in history–with the possible exception of Star Wars and Star Trek on the big screen from 77-85. Despite the fact that I have been going to comic-cons since 1994, and despite the fact that I have been going to Comic-Con since 1999, my mom finally figured out what Comic-Con was last year and that’s basically the only dividing line that anyone needs.
Because of this, the interest in comic-cons is increasing, attendance is up at most shows, and the audience is significantly different from the ‘initiated’ or ‘hardcore’ fans that made up the bulk of attendees as little as five years ago now.
2. The make-up of comic convention organizers is changing, too.
Here’s the one that’s not getting as much play. Comic-cons have always been half way between a labour of love and something resembling a scheme, but their incredible success has attracted a lot of people and organizations in recent years that had previously stayed away due to the specialized nature of the events. Because the sorts of material covered by comic-cons is now material that’s largely in the mainstream, it has gotten much, much easier for those sorts of organizers only tangentially in the know to put together a show that will draw a crowd. The ‘gentleman’ who’s running the Salt Lake Show trying to challenge San Diego’s TM on Comic-Con, or the large-scale trade show organization that has been buying up medium-sized and large-sized shows, like the one in Toronto a few years ago… Comics conventioneering has a long and great history of events being run by passionate businesspeople, passionate groups of fans getting together to organize events, and other only-vaguely capitalist types. It has a history of hucksterism and scam artists too, but it’s getting a heckuva lot tougher to tell the well-funded and well-run show from the guy who’s trying overselling admissions to cram as many people through that door and who doesn’t give a damn about the exhibitors, attendees, or the fire code for that matter…
The person in charge of an event matters, a lot. Most fans don’t really do the research or even care who’s running the show, as long as they get the access that they crave (access to guests, access to goods, access to other fans). I’d even wager to say most attendees don’t really know the actual name of the show they’re at. Speaking from personal experience we still get fans, exhibitors, and artists that can’t tell the difference between TCAF (indy show, May every year since 2009, set in a library since 2009) and Fan Expo (fan show, August every year for a decade, at the convention centre). That sort of… undiscernment… is to everyone’s own detriment, but you can’t force people to be good consumers, and that lack of discretion always has collateral damage, as badly run shows negatively impact impression of all shows.
3. Professional Fans & ‘Personalities’, which is to say Youtubers, Professional Cosplayers, etc.
I think Denise Dorman’s railing against the ‘instagram’ generation is hilarious but actually has a point–she’s just not using the best terminology to describe what is an actual phenomenon–before 5 years ago, no one (in their right mind) would go to a show thinking that they were an ‘attraction’ without buying themselves an exhibition space, a booth, an artist alley table, something. However, in the last few years the number of people who think that a badge (whether paid for or comped) entitles them to an audience within a convention space is on the rise dramatically. It’s been pegged as cosplayers, and honestly there are more cosplayers at shows than ever, and more professional cosplayers who are going to shows to make money and build an audience. Cosplayers attending shows as businesspeople, who aren’t contributing to the economy of the show.
But professional cosplayers (and I think there’s an important distinction there between people who cosplay and people who earn money cosplaying) are literally nothing compared to the other social media personalities who have begun to call comic-conventions theirs. Where previously you had nerdlebrities like Wil Wheaton building a social media empire out of their cred, today’s social media personalities have amassed huge followings through their postings, videos, and photos on YouTube (largely) and other video and media services. They are the product, they have 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 subscribers on social media, and they announce that they’re going to COMIC-CON X and all of their fans should meet them there. It’s easy to see how that’s a boon for a convention looking to sell tickets… they get a crazy-popular ‘guest’ and they don’t have to do any of the work of actually bringing this personality as a guest. The dude with the media badge AS the thing being covered. But tell me that a fan motivated to go to a comic show to see a dude who talks about shit on Youtube is gonna buy the same way, at the same level, as the fan motivated to go to a comic show because she likes comics.
(This also includes the type of Pro-Fan who has a thriving eBay store, an Amazon store, who is a toy-hunter or exclusive-hunter, basically any sort of fan actively deriving income from attending a convention)
Which brings us to point four.
4. Comic Conventions Are Filling Up And Selling Out, Earlier and Earlier
So all of the above, all of it, almost-completely doesn’t matter at a comic convention with infinite size and infinite space. In that situation, then, yes, it DOES come down to how good of a salesperson Denise Dorman’s husband is, because (in theory) every potential customer will walk by his booth and make a decision about purchasing his wares.
But comic conventions are not infinite. San Diego sells out the year before. New York sells out months out. Emerald City sells out eight months out. I could name a dozen more shows that sell all of their tickets well before the doors open. What that means is that demand is higher for tickets than there were tickets available. So when that happens, you’ve got to ask yourself, what ‘type’ of fan got the tickets before they sold out? Probably the most-dedicated fans. The fans most-in-the-know about how shows are run these days. And, probably, The Professional Fans, who while not exhibiting nonetheless derive income from being at that show. And when your casual buyer who just wants to go to a show and maybe drop some money on comics can’t make it, because she didn’t want it bad enough, well sir I think it’s safe to say that it’s going to be a different kind of sales show for exhibitors, that’s for sure.
Now until this point, all of this has been more or less neutral, as far as I’m concerned. Like I said, I believe that these are truths about the business–the way things are. I don’t particularly think these new fan economies within shows are good or bad, because there’s clearly a give and a take between all involved. Capitalism, you know? It’s where advice like the somewhat facile “Adapt or Die” comes into play… If the economy of shows is changing, adapt to it and make your money. Sure, why not.
However, I actually do have opinions about this stuff, beyond the statement of simple truths. Here goes.
The changing convention landscape is inherently shitty for people who make comic books. Art comix, indy comics, mainstream comics, whatever comics, the changing makeup of conventions is hostile to people who want to make and sell comics at comic conventions. And let me be clear, this is comic books and graphic novels, as opposed to ‘prints’ or crafts or whatever manner of tchotchkes makeup most exhibitor tables these days. Basically, comic book conventions are aggressively attracting an audience who don’t necessarily value books, or comic books.
This is sure to be controversial, so before you scroll down to leave an angry comment, please hear me out.
Let’s go back to points 1 to 4 a bit, and talk about those points okay?
1. I think it is a very safe assumption that people who come to comic books, sci-fi, or fantasy through adaptations in other media like television, film, video games, don’t necessarily place the same value on the medium as the message. Sure, some of them become converts–it’s hard not to! Comics are great. Novels are great. But I’d say a large percentage don’t really care about the original media, they’re just interested in the story (or if I’m being less generous, the ‘property’). This is bourne out by my experience as a comic retailer and convention exhibitor for the past 20 years or so.
2. The changing make-up of convention runners means that more and more people are entering the field who could give two-shits about anything other than paid admissions and filling the con floor with whomever has the money to pay. There are still lots of great shows, lots of great con-runners, but their are very few shows at all with an ideology, particularly one that values comics. This has a pronounced effect.
3. I don’t mean to beat this particular horse any further, but let me just say there are no vloggers or YouTube personalities with 300k followers regularly talking about comics, to my knowledge. Games, current events, their own lives, but if there’s some sort of comics vlogger out there that’s defining a generation of criticism and winning new fans, please let me know! I’d love to subscribe. Professional fans, again, are there for their own reasons.
4. I’d say hardcore comics fans are just as likely to be extremely motivated to jump through the necessary hoops as Pro-fans, as personalities, as people heading to shows like they’re a “Nerd-Happening”, to attend sold-out shows. But that does leave the casual attendee or comics fan out in the cold, and being able to convert those casual attendees is what the prior economy of shows is built on.
All of this adds up to fewer folks that actually care about getting comics at a comic con. Again, I want to stress: I have 20 years of exhibiting at shows, including Comic-Con, backing this up.
When you have people who are attending and otherwise interacting with comic conventions who aren’t coming at them from the direction of comic books (whether physical or digital, I should clarify), then the folks who aren’t selling books are at a tremendous advantage in battling for the dollars to be earned from an attendee’s wallet. There is a very different perception in value of a book or a comic book, or a print/craft/tchtchoke. At a show like this, if you’ve got a $20 Punisher comic on a table, a $20 Punisher action figure, and a $20 11×17 colour photocopy depicting The Punisher next to each other on a table, you are going to sell that 11×17 Punisher colour photocopy 7 times out of 10, the toy twice, and the comic book once. And it doesn’t matter if the comic is full price at $20, half price at $20, or if the artist himself is there and selling the Punisher comic with an autograph. The print, almost always the print.
Example: I have exhibited at shows for UDON, and had a $40 (really nice lithograph) Street Fighter print on the table, and a 200 page Street Fighter book which contained the image on the print and 190 other images, also for $40, and the print always sold first. When I asked the customer why they didn’t go for the book with the image they loved (reproduced at a nice size, I should add) instead of the single image, the answer always came down to the print feeling like an object with higher perceived value.
The same goes for other merch. There’s a thriving world of grey-market collectibles based on other peoples’ intellectual property out there, and honestly as long as the creators (if not the IP holders…) are fine with it I don’t really care. But being an exhibitor, or being in artist alley, and having a book versus having a piece of merchandise is not a level playing field, it just isn’t. Which, again, is not to say that the unleveled field cannot be overcome. In a vacuum, again, that’s fine, that’s capitalism, but:
It’s not a vacuum, because of points 1, 2, 3, and 4, and
Comic-cons have traditionally (and until very recently) been places that have been immersed in book-culture, have been pro-book, and whose attendees value the medium.
Saying “Adapt or Die” to someone who has been placed at a severe economic disadvantage by forces entirely beyond their control in the space of 2 or 3 years is, at best, terribly unsympathetic. And I don’t mean to pick on the writer of that piece specifically, but that response is emblematic of the responses I’ve seen to Denise Dorman’s pieces, that (without knowing anything about her or her husband’s con setup) they just weren’t trying hard enough, ‘and have you considered making eye contact with people and not hating cosplayers.’ I mean… ugh. That poor woman. Anyway.
So, in short: The makeup of contemporary comic conventions has changed dramatically, and is changing, at every single level. The deck has become stacked against people selling book product (and particularly original book product versus licensed or tie-in material, in my opinion). I think every creator out there should think long and hard about the shows they do, how much money is being charged of attendees, who their fellow exhibitors and guests are and what that says about what sort of show they’re likely to have. Moreover, it would be nice if more comic book conventions made a concerted effort to privilege comic books (and novels) in the make-up of their shows at all levels, to at least attempt to level that playing field a little. Creating an environment where comics, and their creators, are celebrated is positive in a great number of ways, not the least of which because those television shows, films, and video games are going to have to come from somewhere, and it would be nice if comics creators could at least break-even at a show where they’re trying to promote their work, and the medium.
So those are my thoughts–a few things that I don’t think are being talked about, and some conclusions I’ve drawn from them. I’ve enjoyed reading other folks’ responses to this issue, and if you’re reading this 2500 words later I appreciate you taking the time to read mine.
P.S. and Full Disclosure: For those of you new to my writings, hi! I Manage a shop called The Beguiling in Toronto. I co-founded and am Festival Director of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I’ve also been involved in the running of comics conventions, and have been making and promoting comics for quite a while now.
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John Simpson is right, the BBC did let audiences down with its EU referendum coverage. But not in the way he thinks
Guest / Blog / bbc, Brexit, eu, EU referendum, european union, john simpson / 0 comments
BBC editor John Simpson said that in its referendum coverage the BBC had “let our viewers and listeners down”. It did, but not in the way he thinks
By Sam White
BBC world affairs editor John Simpson said in an interview during the One Young World Summit on Sunday that in its pre-referendum coverage the BBC had “let our viewers and listeners down”.
According to the veteran broadcaster, the corporation, due to its obligation “to be balanced between different political ideas and different political viewpoints”, had allowed both Leave and Remain campaigners “to lie their heads off about… what might happen if we left or if we didn’t leave the EU”.
He went on, “if people looked to television and radio for a clear guidance about what to do, we certainly didn’t give them clear enough guidance about the lies that were being told. I suspect that if people had known the facts and had judged in a more balanced way the outcome would have been a bit different”.
This is a patronising analysis and shows that even now, more than a hundred days after the referendum result, there are still influential media figures proving themselves incapable of comprehending the thought processes of ordinary people.
The first problem is with Simpson’s rueful, “we let them down”. The implication is that something undeniably bad has happened, and that we are now lumbered with a national catastrophe. Regretful and distraught, the BBC must shoulder its fair shame of the blame for not averting disaster, and Simpson is a man with integrity enough to begin the flagellation.
The problem with this conclusion is that the majority of voters, obviously, won the referendum. They’re happy, the result is a good one, and the short lived notion of ‘Bregret’ was fabricated anyway. In the absence of a catastrophe—no matter how much some Remainers might be willing one—nobody can have been let down.
The second misapprehension is in saying that had the BBC done its job properly then the result would have been different. But if the BBC had held campaigners to account, fact checked, and reported without favour, then their coverage would have become much less biased toward Remain and more open to the Leave argument. The BBC has hardly been a bastion of impartiality around the subject of Europe, and remains very clearly pro-EU, evidenced in fact by this very interview.
So should it have done its job properly? Absolutely, and that would have meant cutting out the bias for Remain, leading to, if anything, even more people opting for Brexit.
However, that raises Simpson’s other conceit—that a significant number of voters make decisions at least partly based on what the BBC tells them. He condescendingly underestimates us to be a nation of children, whose empty minds are easily manipulated by the lofty-thinkers at the BBC. As mentioned though, the corporation was heavily biased in favour of Remain, and despite that, Leave still managed to take a majority. This is an emphatic sign that when making decisions, nobody gives a second thought to what the BBC might want them to do, and in the referendum an enormous number of people did the precise opposite of what BBC executives had implicitly instructed.
Simpson and others like him are operating under a strange delusion that millions of their fellow citizens are credulous naifs who have gone through their entire lives without noticing that people lie. He also seems to have forgotten that of all the professions, it’s journalists and politicians who are the least trusted by the public. When a journalist interviews a politician, most people’s default setting is to doubt every word they hear.
But Simpson is apparently unaware of this. Or perhaps he thinks the BBC is different. Sure, we might take the red tops with a pinch of salt, and everyone knows the Guardian has an agenda, but the Beeb is a paragon of journalistic virtue, isn’t it? Well, sorry as I am to shatter such illusions, the BBC is about as widely trusted as Michael Gove, and its values are openly at odds with a significant faction of the population.
Simpson is right to say that people have been let down by the BBC, but it’s not in the way that he thinks. If he could identify that audiences have become disillusioned by a lack of balanced reporting, or fatigued by an absurd barrage of unrealistic catastrophising, then he might be on to something.
Those at the top of the corporation have clear ideas about what’s good for people, and in the interests of bringing us up to their virtuous moral standards, they aren’t averse to impartially hectoring their audiences. The good news is, as Brexit showed, nobody is paying a blind bit of notice.
Sam White is a writer and journalist, follow him on Twitter: @SamWhiteTky
Follow @con4lib on Twitter
The views expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conservatives for Liberty
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For other uses, see Caste (disambiguation).
The Basor weaving bamboo baskets in a 1916 book. The Basor are a Scheduled Caste found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.
Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution.[1][2][3] Its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting to the present time.[1][4] However, the economic significance of the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanization and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions existing outside Hinduism and India. The term "caste" is also applied to morphological groupings in female populations of ants and bees.[5]
2 Caste system in India
3 Caste systems in the rest of South Asia
3.1 Nepal
3.2 Pakistan
3.3 Sri Lanka
4 Caste-like stratification outside South Asia
4.1.2 Philippines
4.2 East Asia
4.2.1 China and Mongolia
4.2.4 North Korea
4.2.5 Tibet
4.3 West Asia
4.3.2 Yemen
4.4.1 West Africa
4.4.2 Central Africa
4.4.3 Horn of Africa
4.5.1 France and Spain
4.5.2 United Kingdom
EtymologyEdit
The English word "caste" derives from the Spanish and Portuguese casta, which, according to the John Minsheu's Spanish dictionary (1569), means "race, lineage, tribe or breed".[6] When the Spanish colonized the New World, they used the word to mean a "clan or lineage". It was, however, the Portuguese who first employed casta in the primary modern sense of the English word 'caste' when they applied it to the thousands of endogamous, hereditary Indian social groups they encountered upon their arrival in India in 1498.[6][7] The use of the spelling "caste", with this latter meaning, is first attested in English in 1613.[6]
Caste system in IndiaEdit
Main article: Caste system in India
Modern India's caste system is based on the artificial superimposition of a four-fold theoretical classification called the Varna on the natural social groupings called the Jāti. From 1901 onwards, for the purposes of the Decennial Census, the British classified all Jātis into one or the other of the Varna categories as described in ancient texts. Herbert Hope Risley, the Census Commissioner, noted that "The principle suggested as a basis was that of classification by social precedence as recognized by native public opinion at the present day, and manifesting itself in the facts that particular castes are supposed to be the modern representatives of one or other of the castes of the theoretical Indian system."[8] The system of Varnas propounded in ancient Hindu texts envisages the society divided into four classes: Brahmins (scholars and yajna priests), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (farmers, merchants and artisans) and Shudras (workmen/service providers). The texts do not mention any separate, untouchable category in Varna classification. Scholars believe that the Varnas system was never truly operational in society and there is no evidence of it ever being a reality in Indian history. The practical division of the society had always been in terms of Jātis (birth groups), which are not based on any specific principle, but could vary from ethnic origins to occupations to geographic areas. The Jātis have been endogamous groups without any fixed hierarchy but subject to vague notions of rank articulated over time based on lifestyle and social, political or economic status. Many of India's major empires and dynasties like the Mauryas,[9] Shalivahanas,[10] Chalukyas,[11] Kakatiyas[12] among many others, were founded by people who would have been classified as Shudras, under the Varnas system. It is well established that by the 9th century, kings from all the four castes, including Brahmins and Vaishyas, had occupied the highest seat in the monarchical system in Hindu India, contrary to the Varna theory.[13] In many instances, as in Bengal, historically the kings and rulers had been called upon, when required, to mediate on the ranks of Jātis, which might number in thousands all over the subcontinent and vary by region. In practice, the jātis may or may not fit into the Varna classes and many prominent Jatis, for example the Jats and Yadavs, straddled two Varnas i.e. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, and the Varna status of Jātis itself was subject to articulation over time.
Starting with the British colonial Census of 1901 led by Herbert Hope Risley, all the jātis were grouped under the theoretical varnas categories.[14] According to political scientist Lloyd Rudolph, Risley believed that varna, however ancient, could be applied to all the modern castes found in India, and "[he] meant to identify and place several hundred million Indians within it."[15] In an effort to arrange various castes in order of precedence functional grouping was based less on the occupation that prevailed in each case in the present day than on that which was traditional with it, or which gave rise to its differentiation from the rest of the community. "This action virtually removed Indians from the progress of history and condemned them to an unchanging position and place in time. In one sense, it is rather ironic that the British, who continually accused the Indian people of having a static society, should then impose a construct that denied progress"[16] The terms varna (conceptual classification based on occupation) and jāti (groups) are two distinct concepts: while varna is the idealised four-part division envisaged by the Twice-Born, jāti (community) refers to the thousands of actual endogamous groups prevalent across the subcontinent. The classical authors scarcely speak of anything other than the varnas, as it provided a convenient shorthand; but a problem arises when even Indologists sometimes confuse the two.[17] Thus, starting with the 1901 Census, Caste officially became India's essential institution, with an imprimatur from the British administrators, augmenting a discourse that had already dominated Indology. “Despite India's acquisition of formal political independence, it has still not regained the power to know its own past and present apart from that discourse”.[18]
Upon independence from Britain, the Indian Constitution listed 1,108 castes across the country as Scheduled Castes in 1950, for positive discrimination.[19] The Untouchable communities are sometimes called Scheduled Castes, Dalit or Harijan in contemporary literature.[20] In 2001, Dalits were 16.2% of India's population.[21] Most of the 15 million bonded child workers are from the lowest castes.[22][23]
Independent India has witnessed caste-related violence. In 2005, government recorded approximately 110,000 cases of reported violent acts, including rape and murder, against Dalits.[24] For 2012, the government recorded 651 murders, 3,855 injuries, 1,576 rapes, 490 kidnappings, and 214 cases of arson.[25]
The socio-economic limitations of the caste system are reduced due to urbanization and affirmative action. Nevertheless, the caste system still exists in endogamy and patrimony, and thrives in the politics of democracy, where caste provides ready made constituencies to politicians. The globalization and economic opportunities from foreign businesses has influenced the growth of India's middle-class population. Some members of the Chhattisgarh Potter Caste Community (CPCC) are middle-class urban professionals and no longer potters unlike the remaining majority of traditional rural potter members. There is persistence of caste in Indian politics. Caste associations have evolved into caste-based political parties. Political parties and the state perceive caste as an important factor for mobilization of people and policy development.[26]
Studies by Bhatt and Beteille have shown changes in status, openness, mobility in the social aspects of Indian society. As a result of the modern social pressures on the country, India is experiencing a change in their social sphere dynamic as well as economically in the caste system.[27] While arranged marriages are still the most common practice in India, the internet has provided a network for younger Indians to take control of their relationships through the use of dating apps. This remains isolated to informal terms, as marriage is not often achieved through the use of these apps.[28] Hypergamy is still a common practice in India and Hindu culture. Men are expected to marry within their caste, or one below, with no social repercussions. If a woman marries into a higher caste, then her children will take the status of their father. If she marries down, her family is reduced to the social status of their son in law. In this case, the women are bearers of the egalitarian principle of the marriage. There would be no benefit in marrying a higher caste if the terms of the marriage did not imply equality.[29] However, men are systematically shielded from the negative implications of the agreement.
Geographical factors also determine adherence to the caste system. Many Northern villages are more likely to participate in exogamous marriage, due to a lack of eligible suitors within the same caste. Women in North India have been found to be less likely to leave or divorce their husbands since they are of a relatively lower caste system, and have higher restrictions on their freedoms. On the other hand, Pahari women, of the northern mountains, have much more freedom to leave their husbands without stigma. This often leads to better husbandry as his actions are not protected by social expectations.[30]
Chiefly among the factors influencing the rise of exogamy is the rapid urbanisation in India experienced over the last century. It is well known that urban centers tend to be less reliant on tradition and are more progressive as a whole. As India’s cities boomed in population, the job market grew to keep pace. Prosperity and stability were now more easily attained by an individual, and the anxiety to marry quickly and effectively was reduced as traditional marriage was viewed as a means to attain these principles. Thus, younger, more progressive generations of urban Indians are less likely than ever to participate in the antiquated system of arranged endogamy.
India has also experimented with Affirmative Action, locally known as “reservation groups”. Quota system jobs, as well as placements in publicly funded colleges, hold spots for the 8% of India’s minority, and underprivileged groups. As a result, in states such as Tamil Nadu or those in the north-east, where underprivileged populations predominate, over 80% of government jobs are set aside in quotas. In education, colleges lower the marks necessary for the Dalits to enter.[31]
A page from the manuscript Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India, which consists of 72 full-color hand-painted images of men and women of various religions, occupations and ethnic groups found in Madura, India in 1837, which confirms the popular perception and nature of caste as Jati, before the British made it applicable only to Hindus grouped under the varna categories from the 1901 census onwards.
Caste systems in the rest of South AsiaEdit
NepalEdit
Main article: Caste system in Nepal
The Nepalese caste system resembles that of the Indian jāti system with numerous jāti divisions with a varna system superimposed for a rough equivalence. But since the culture and the society is different some of the things are different. Inscriptions attest the beginnings of a caste system during the Licchavi period. Jayasthiti Malla (1382–1395) categorized Newars into 64 castes (Gellner 2001). A similar exercise was made during the reign of Mahindra Malla (1506–1575). The Hindu social code was later set up in Gorkha by Ram Shah (1603–1636).
PakistanEdit
Main article: Caste system among South Asian Muslims
McKim Marriott claims a social stratification that is hierarchical, closed, endogamous and hereditary is widely prevalent, particularly in western parts of Pakistan. Frederik Barth in his review of this system of social stratification in Pakistan suggested that these are castes.[32][33][34]
Sri LankaEdit
Main article: Caste system in Sri Lanka
The caste system in Sri Lanka is a division of society into strata,[35] influenced by the textbook varnas and jāti system found in India. Ancient Sri Lankan texts such as the Pujavaliya, Sadharmaratnavaliya and Yogaratnakaraya and inscriptional evidence show that the above hierarchy prevailed throughout the feudal period. The repetition of the same caste hierarchy even as recently as the 18th century, in the British/Kandyan period Kadayimpoth – Boundary books as well, indicates the continuation of the tradition right up to the end of Sri Lanka's monarchy.
Caste-like stratification outside South AsiaEdit
Southeast AsiaEdit
A Sudra caste man from Bali. Photo from 1870, courtesy of Tropenmuseum, Netherlands.
IndonesiaEdit
Main article: Balinese caste system
Balinese caste structure has been described in early 20th-century European literature to be based on three categories – triwangsa (thrice born) or the nobility, dwijāti (twice born) in contrast to ekajāti (once born) the low folks. Four statuses were identified in these sociological studies, spelled a bit differently from the caste categories for India:[36]
Brahminas – priest
Satrias – knighthood
Wesias – commerce
Sudras – servitude
The Brahmana caste was further subdivided by these Dutch ethnographers into two: Siwa and Buda. The Siwa caste was subdivided into five: Kemenuh, Keniten, Mas, Manuba and Petapan. This classification was to accommodate the observed marriage between higher-caste Brahmana men with lower-caste women. The other castes were similarly further sub-classified by these 19th-century and early-20th-century ethnographers based on numerous criteria ranging from profession, endogamy or exogamy or polygamy, and a host of other factors in a manner similar to castas in Spanish colonies such as Mexico, and caste system studies in British colonies such as India.[36]
PhilippinesEdit
A Tagalog royal couple (maginoo), from the Boxer Codex (c. 1590)
In the Philippines, pre-colonial societies do not have a single social structure. The class structures can be roughly categorized into four types:[37]
Classless societies - egalitarian societies with no class structure. Examples include the Mangyan and the Kalanguya peoples.[37]
Warrior societies - societies where a distinct warrior class exists, and whose membership depends on martial prowess. Examples include the Mandaya, Bagobo, Tagakaulo, and B'laan peoples who had warriors called the bagani or magani. Similarly, in the Cordillera highlands of Luzon, the Isneg and Kalinga peoples refer to their warriors as mengal or maingal. This society is typical for head-hunting ethnic groups or ethnic groups which had seasonal raids (mangayaw) into enemy territory.[37]
Petty plutocracies - societies which have a wealthy class based on property and the hosting of periodic prestige feasts. In some groups, it was an actual caste whose members had specialized leadership roles, married only within the same caste, and wore specialized clothing. These include the kadangyan of the Ifugao, Bontoc, and Kankanaey peoples, as well as the baknang of the Ibaloi people. In others, though wealth may give one prestige and leadership qualifications, it was not a caste per se.[37]
Principalities - societies with an actual ruling class and caste systems determined by birthright. Most of these societies are either Indianized or Islamized to a degree. They include the larger coastal ethnic groups like the Tagalog, Kapampangan, Visayan, and Moro societies. Most of them were usually divided into four to five caste systems with different names under different ethnic groups that roughly correspond to each other. The system was more or less feudalistic, with the datu ultimately having control of all the lands of the community. The land is subdivided among the enfranchised classes, the sakop or sa-op (vassals, lit. "those under the power of another"). The castes were hereditary, though they were not rigid. They were more accurately a reflection of the interpersonal political relationships, a person is always the follower of another. People can move up the caste system by marriage, by wealth, or by doing something extraordinary; and conversely they can be demoted, usually as criminal punishment or as a result of debt. Shamans are the exception, as they are either volunteers, chosen by the ranking shamans, or born into the role by innate propensity for it. They are enumerated below from the highest rank to the lowest:[37][38][39]
Royalty - (Visayan: kadatoan) the datu and immediate descendants. They are often further categorized according to purity of lineage. The power of the datu is dependent on the willingness of their followers to render him respect and obedience. Most roles of the datu were judicial and military. In case of an unfit datu, support may be withdrawn by his followers. Datu were almost always male, though in some ethnic groups like the Banwaon people, the female shaman (babaiyon) co-rules as the female counterpart of the datu.
Nobility - (Visayan: tumao; Tagalog: maginoo; Kapampangan ginu; Tausug: bangsa mataas) the ruling class, either inclusive of or exclusive of the royal family. Most are descendants of the royal line or gained their status through wealth or bravery in battle. They owned lands and subjects, from whom they collected taxes.
Shamans - (Visayan: babaylan; Tagalog: katalonan) the spirit mediums, usually female or feminized men. While they weren't technically a caste, they commanded the same respect and status as nobility.
Warriors - (Visayan: timawa; Tagalog: maharlika) the martial class. They could own land and subjects like the higher ranks, but were required to fight for the datu in times of war. In some Filipino ethnic groups, they were often tattooed extensively to record feats in battle and as protection against harm. They were sometimes further subdivided into different classes, depending on their relationship with the datu. They traditionally went on seasonal raids on enemy settlements.
Commoners and slaves - (Visayan, Maguindanao: ulipon; Tagalog: alipin; Tausug: kiapangdilihan; Maranao: kakatamokan) - the lowest class composed of the rest of the community who were not part of the enfranchised classes. They were further subdivided into the commoner class who had their own houses, the servants who lived in the houses of others, and the slaves who were usually captives from raids, criminals, or debtors. Most members of this class were equivalent to the European serf class, who paid taxes and can be conscripted to communal tasks, but were more or less free to do as they please.
East AsiaEdit
China and MongoliaEdit
During the period of Yuan Dynasty, ruler Kublai Khan enforced a Four Class System, which was a legal caste system. The order of four classes of people was maintained by the information of the descending order were:
Semu people
Han people (in the northern areas of China)
Southerners (people of the former Southern Song dynasty)
Today, the Hukou system is considered by various sources as the current caste system of China.[40][41][42]
There is also significant controversy over the social classes of Tibet, especially with regards to the serfdom in Tibet controversy.
JapanEdit
Main article: Edo society
Social classes during the Edo period (Tokugawa shogunate)
In Japan's history, social strata based on inherited position rather than personal merit, were rigid and highly formalized in a system called mibunsei (身分制). At the top were the Emperor and Court nobles (kuge), together with the Shōgun and daimyō. Below them, the population was divided into four classes: samurai, peasants, craftsmen and merchants. Only samurai were allowed to bear arms. A samurai had a right to kill any peasants, craftsman or merchant who he felt were disrespectful. Merchants were the lowest caste because they did not produce any products. The castes were further sub-divided; for example, peasants were labelled as furiuri, tanagari, mizunomi-byakusho among others. As in Europe, the castes and sub-classes were of the same race, religion and culture.
Howell, in his review of Japanese society notes that if a Western power had colonized Japan in the 19th century, they would have discovered and imposed a rigid four-caste hierarchy in Japan.[43]
De Vos and Wagatsuma observe that Japanese society had a systematic and extensive caste system. They discuss how alleged caste impurity and alleged racial inferiority, concepts often assumed to be different, are superficial terms, and are due to identical inner psychological processes, which expressed themselves in Japan and elsewhere.[44]
Endogamy was common because marriage across caste lines was socially unacceptable.[44][45]
Japan had its own untouchable caste, shunned and ostracized, historically referred to by the insulting term Eta, now called Burakumin. While modern law has officially abolished the class hierarchy, there are reports of discrimination against the Buraku or Burakumin underclasses.[46] The Burakumin are regarded as "ostracised".[47] The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaidō and those of residents of Korean and Chinese descent.
KoreaEdit
Joseon Caste System
Yangban 양반 兩班 aristocrats
Jung-in 중인 中人 middle people
Sangmin 상민 常民 commoners
Cheonmin 천민 賤民 vulgar commoners
• Baekjeong 백정 白丁 untouchables
• Nobi 노비 奴婢 slaves or serfs
V・T
A typical Yangban family scene from 1904. The Yoon family had an enduring presence in Korean politics from the 1800s until the 1970s.
The baekjeong (백정) were an "untouchable" outcaste of Korea. The meaning today is that of butcher. It originates in the Khitan invasion of Korea in the 11th century. The defeated Khitans who surrendered were settled in isolated communities throughout Goryeo to forestall rebellion. They were valued for their skills in hunting, herding, butchering, and making of leather, common skill sets among nomads. Over time, their ethnic origin was forgotten, and they formed the bottom layer of Korean society.
In 1392, with the foundation of the Confucian Joseon dynasty, Korea systemised its own native class system. At the top were the two official classes, the Yangban, which literally means "two classes". It was composed of scholars (munban) and warriors (muban). Scholars had a significant social advantage over the warriors. Below were the jung-in (중인-中人: literally "middle people". This was a small class of specialized professions such as medicine, accounting, translators, regional bureaucrats, etc. Below that were the sangmin (상민-常民: literally 'commoner'), farmers working their own fields. Korea also had a serf population known as the nobi. The nobi population could fluctuate up to about one third of the population, but on average the nobi made up about 10% of the total population.[48] In 1801, the vast majority of government nobi were emancipated,[49] and by 1858 the nobi population stood at about 1.5% of the total population of Korea.[50] The hereditary nobi system was officially abolished around 1886–87 and the rest of the nobi system was abolished with the Gabo Reform of 1894,[50] but traces remained until 1930.
The opening of Korea to foreign Christian missionary activity in the late 19th century saw some improvement in the status of the baekjeong. However, everyone was not equal under the Christian congregation, and even so protests erupted when missionaries tried to integrate baekjeong into worship, with non-baekjeong finding this attempt insensitive to traditional notions of hierarchical advantage.[citation needed] Around the same time, the baekjeong began to resist open social discrimination.[51] They focused on social and economic injustices affecting them, hoping to create an egalitarian Korean society. Their efforts included attacking social discrimination by upper class, authorities, and "commoners", and the use of degrading language against children in public schools.[52]
With the Gabo reform of 1896, the class system of Korea was officially abolished. Following the collapse of the Gabo government, the new cabinet, which became the Gwangmu government after the establishment of the Korean Empire, introduced systematic measures for abolishing the traditional class system. One measure was the new household registration system, reflecting the goals of formal social equality, which was implemented by the loyalists' cabinet. Whereas the old registration system signified household members according to their hierarchical social status, the new system called for an occupation.[53]
While most Koreans by then had surnames and even bongwan, although still substantial number of cheonmin, mostly consisted of serfs and slaves, and untouchables did not. According to the new system, they were then required to fill in the blanks for surname in order to be registered as constituting separate households. Instead of creating their own family name, some cheonmins appropriated their masters' surname, while others simply took the most common surname and its bongwan in the local area. Along with this example, activists within and outside the Korean government had based their visions of a new relationship between the government and people through the concept of citizenship, employing the term inmin ("people") and later, kungmin ("citizen").[53]
North KoreaEdit
Main article: Songbun
The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea reported that "Every North Korean citizen is assigned a heredity-based class and socio-political rank over which the individual exercises no control but which determines all aspects of his or her life."[54] Called Songbun, Barbara Demick describes this "class structure" as an updating of the hereditary "caste system", a combination of Confucianism and Stalinism.[55] She claims that a bad family background is called "tainted blood", and that by law this "tainted blood" lasts three generations.[56]
TibetEdit
See also: Social classes of Tibet
Heidi Fjeld [no] has put forth the argument that pre-1950s Tibetan society was functionally a caste system, in contrast to previous scholars who defined the Tibetan social class system as similar to European feudal serfdom, as well as non-scholarly western accounts which seek to romanticize a supposedly 'egalitarian' ancient Tibetan society.
West AsiaEdit
Further information: Yazidi
Yezidi society is hierarchical. The secular leader is a hereditary emir or prince, whereas a chief sheikh heads the religious hierarchy. The Yazidi are strictly endogamous; members of the three Yazidi castes, the murids, sheikhs and pirs, marry only within their group.
IranEdit
Pre-Islamic Sassanid society was immensely complex, with separate systems of social organization governing numerous different groups within the empire.[57] Historians believe society comprised four[58][59][60]social classes:
priests (Persian: Asravan)
warriors (Persian: Arteshtaran)
secretaries (Persian: Dabiran)
commoners (Persian: Vastryoshan)
YemenEdit
Further information: Al-Akhdam
In Yemen there exists a hereditary caste, the African-descended Al-Akhdam who are kept as perennial manual workers. Estimates put their number at over 3.5 million residents who are discriminated, out of a total Yemeni population of around 22 million.[61]
AfricaEdit
Main article: Caste system in Africa
Various sociologists have reported caste systems in Africa.[62][63][64] The specifics of the caste systems have varied in ethnically and culturally diverse Africa, however the following features are common – it has been a closed system of social stratification, the social status is inherited, the castes are hierarchical, certain castes are shunned while others are merely endogamous and exclusionary.[65] In some cases, concepts of purity and impurity by birth have been prevalent in Africa. In other cases, such as the Nupe of Nigeria, the Beni Amer of East Africa, and the Tira of Sudan, the exclusionary principle has been driven by evolving social factors.[66]
West AfricaEdit
A Griot, who have been described as an endogamous caste of West Africa who specialize in oral story telling and culture preservation. They have been also referred to as the bard caste.
Among the Igbo of Nigeria – especially Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Edo and Delta states of the country – Obinna finds Osu caste system has been and continues to be a major social issue. The Osu caste is determined by one's birth into a particular family irrespective of the religion practised by the individual. Once born into Osu caste, this Nigerian person is an outcast, shunned and ostracized, with limited opportunities or acceptance, regardless of his or her ability or merit. Obinna discusses how this caste system-related identity and power is deployed within government, Church and indigenous communities.[62]
The osu class systems of eastern Nigeria and southern Cameroon are derived from indigenous religious beliefs and discriminate against the "Osus" people as "owned by deities" and outcasts.
The Songhai economy was based on a caste system. The most common were metalworkers, fishermen, and carpenters. Lower caste participants consisted of mostly non-farm working immigrants, who at times were provided special privileges and held high positions in society. At the top were noblemen and direct descendants of the original Songhai people, followed by freemen and traders.[67]
In a review of social stratification systems in Africa, Richter reports that the term caste has been used by French and American scholars to many groups of West African artisans. These groups have been described as inferior, deprived of all political power, have a specific occupation, are hereditary and sometimes despised by others. Richter illustrates caste system in Ivory Coast, with six sub-caste categories. Unlike other parts of the world, mobility is sometimes possible within sub-castes, but not across caste lines. Farmers and artisans have been, claims Richter, distinct castes. Certain sub-castes are shunned more than others. For example, exogamy is rare for women born into families of woodcarvers.[68]
Similarly, the Mandé societies in Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone have social stratification systems that divide society by ethnic ties. The Mande class system regards the jonow slaves as inferior. Similarly, the Wolof in Senegal is divided into three main groups, the geer (freeborn/nobles), jaam (slaves and slave descendants) and the underclass neeno. In various parts of West Africa, Fulani societies also have class divisions. Other castes include Griots, Forgerons, and Cordonniers.
Tamari has described endogamous castes of over fifteen West African peoples, including the Tukulor, Songhay, Dogon, Senufo, Minianka, Moors, Manding, Soninke, Wolof, Serer, Fulani, and Tuareg. Castes appeared among the Malinke people no later than 14th century, and was present among the Wolof and Soninke, as well as some Songhay and Fulani populations, no later than 16th century. Tamari claims that wars, such as the Sosso-Malinke war described in the Sunjata epic, led to the formation of blacksmith and bard castes among the people that ultimately became the Mali empire.
As West Africa evolved over time, sub-castes emerged that acquired secondary specializations or changed occupations. Endogamy was prevalent within a caste or among a limited number of castes, yet castes did not form demographic isolates according to Tamari. Social status according to caste was inherited by off-springs automatically; but this inheritance was paternal. That is, children of higher caste men and lower caste or slave concubines would have the caste status of the father.[64]
Central AfricaEdit
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Ethel M. Albert in 1960 claimed that the societies in Central Africa were caste-like social stratification systems.[69] Similarly, in 1961, Maquet notes that the society in Rwanda and Burundi can be best described as castes.[70] The Tutsi, noted Maquet, considered themselves as superior, with the more numerous Hutu and the least numerous Twa regarded, by birth, as respectively, second and third in the hierarchy of Rwandese society. These groups were largely endogamous, exclusionary and with limited mobility.[71]
Horn of AfricaEdit
The Madhiban (Midgan) specialize in leather occupation. Along with the Tumal and Yibir, they are collectively known as sab.[72]
In a review published in 1977, Todd reports that numerous scholars report a system of social stratification in different parts of Africa that resembles some or all aspects of caste system. Examples of such caste systems, he claims, are to be found in Ethiopia in communities such as the Gurage and Konso. He then presents the Dime of Southwestern Ethiopia, amongst whom there operates a system which Todd claims can be unequivocally labelled as caste system. The Dime have seven castes whose size varies considerably. Each broad caste level is a hierarchical order that is based on notions of purity, non-purity and impurity. It uses the concepts of defilement to limit contacts between caste categories and to preserve the purity of the upper castes. These caste categories have been exclusionary, endogamous and the social identity inherited.[73] Alula Pankhurst has published a study of caste groups in SW Ethiopia.[74]
Among the Kafa, there were also traditionally groups labeled as castes. "Based on research done before the Derg regime, these studies generally presume the existence of a social hierarchy similar to the caste system. At the top of this hierarchy were the Kafa, followed by occupational groups including blacksmiths (Qemmo), weavers (Shammano), bards (Shatto), potters, and tanners (Manno). In this hierarchy, the Manjo were commonly referred to as hunters, given the lowest status equal only to slaves."[75]
The Borana Oromo of southern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa also have a class system, wherein the Wata, an acculturated hunter-gatherer group, represent the lowest class. Though the Wata today speak the Oromo language, they have traditions of having previously spoken another language before adopting Oromo.[76]
The traditionally nomadic Somali people are divided into clans, wherein the Rahanweyn agro-pastoral clans and the occupational clans such as the Madhiban were traditionally sometimes treated as outcasts.[77] As Gabboye, the Madhiban along with the Yibir and Tumaal (collectively referred to as sab) have since obtained political representation within Somalia, and their general social status has improved with the expansion of urban centers.[72]
EuropeEdit
France and SpainEdit
For centuries, through the modern times, the majority regarded Cagots who lived primarily in the Basque region of France and Spain as an inferior caste, the untouchables. While they had the same skin color and religion as the majority, in the churches they had to use segregated doors, drink from segregated fonts, and receive communion on the end of long wooden spoons. It was a closed social system. The socially isolated Cagots were endogamous, and chances of social mobility non-existent.[78][79]
United KingdomEdit
In July 2013, the UK government announced its intention to amend the Equality Act 2010, to "introduce legislation on caste, including any necessary exceptions to the caste provisions, within the framework of domestic discrimination law".[80] Section 9(5) of the Equality Act 2010 provides that "a Minister may by order amend the statutory definition of race to include caste and may provide for exceptions in the Act to apply or not to apply to caste".
From September 2013 to February 2014, Meena Dhanda led a project on "Caste in Britain" for the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).[81]
United StatesEdit
Main article: racial segregation in the United States
In W. Lloyd Warner's view, the historic relationship between Blacks and Whites in the US showed many caste-like features such as residential segregation and marriage restrictions.[82] Discrimination based upon socio-economic factors are historically prevalent within the country.
According to Gerald D. Berreman, in the two systems, there are rigid rules of avoidance and certain types of contacts are defined as contaminating. In India, there are complex religious features which make up the system, whereas in the United States race and color are the basis for differentiation. The caste systems in India and the United States have higher groups which desire to retain their positions for themselves and thus perpetuate the two systems.[83]
The process of creating a homogenized society by social engineering in both India and the US has created other institutions that have made class distinctions among different groups evident. Anthropologist James C. Scott elaborates on how “global capitalism is perhaps the most powerful force for homogenization, whereas the state may be the defender of local difference and variety in some instances.”[84] The caste system further emphasizes differences between the socio-economic classes that arise as a product of capitalism, which makes social mobility more difficult. Parts of the United States are sometimes divided by race and class status despite the national narrative of integration.
As a result of increased immigration, many Indian Americans have brought their traditional caste values to the United States. A survey commissioned by Equality Labs finds that caste discrimination is also playing out in the United States. 2/3 of the members of the lowest caste, called Dalits, said that they have faced workplace discrimination due to their caste. 41% of the Dalits who were surveyed said that they have experienced discrimination in education because the caste system is now being practiced in the United States.[85]
Estates of the realm
Kamaiya
Propiska
Warrior caste[disambiguation needed]
Lagasse, Paul, ed. (2007), "Caste", The Columbia Encyclopedia, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-14446-9, retrieved 24 September 2012 Quote: "caste [Port., casta=basket], ranked groups based on heredity within rigid systems of social stratification, especially those that constitute Hindu India. Some scholars, in fact, deny that true caste systems are found outside India. The caste is a closed group whose members are severely restricted in their choice of occupation and degree of social participation. Marriage outside the caste is prohibited. Social status is determined by the caste of one's birth and may only rarely be transcended."
Madan, T. N.; Editors (2012), caste, Encyclopæida Britannica Online CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) Quote: "caste, any of the ranked, hereditary, endogamous social groups, often linked with occupation, that together constitute traditional societies in South Asia, particularly among Hindus in India. Although sometimes used to designate similar groups in other societies, the “caste system” is uniquely developed in Hindu societies."
Gupta, Dipankar (2008), "Caste", in Schaefer, Richard T. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Thousand Oaks: SAGE, pp. 246–250, ISBN 978-1-4129-2694-2, retrieved 5 August 2012 Quote: "Caste: What makes Indian society unique is the phenomenon of caste. Economic, religious, and linguistic differentiations, even race-based discrimination, are known elsewhere, but nowhere else does one see caste but in India."
Béteille, André (2002), "Caste", in Barnard, Alan; Spencer, Jonathan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, New York, NY; London, UK: Routledge, pp. 136–137, ISBN 978-0-415-28558-2 Quote: "Caste: Caste has been described as the fundamental social institution of India. Sometimes the term is used metaphorically to refer to rigid social distinctions or extreme social exclusiveness wherever found, and some authorities have used the term 'colour-caste system' to describe the stratification based on race in the United States and elsewhere. But it is among the Hindus in India that we find the system in its most fully developed form although analogous forms exist among Muslims, Christians. Sikhs and other religious groups in South Asia. It is an ancient institution, having existed for at least 2,000 years among the Hindus who developed not only elaborate caste practices hut also a complex theory to explain and justify those practices (Dumont 1970). The theory has now lost much of its force although many of the practices continue."
Mitchell, Geoffrey Duncan (2006), "Castes (part of SOCIAL STRATIFICATION)", A New Dictionary of the Social Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction Publishers, pp. 194–195, ISBN 978-0-202-30878-4, retrieved 10 August 2012 Quote:"Castes A pure caste system is rooted in the religious order and may be thought of as a hierarchy of hereditary, endogamous, occupational groups with positions fixed and mobility barred by ritual distances between each caste. Empirically, the classical Hindu system of India approximated most closely to pure caste. The system existed for some 3,000 years and continues today despite many attempts to get rid of some of its restrictions. It is essentially connected with Hinduism."
"caste, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition; online version June 2012, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1989, retrieved 5 August 2019 ) Quote: "caste, n. 2a. spec. One of the several hereditary classes into which society in India has from time immemorial been divided; ... This is now the leading sense, which influences all others."
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^ "Class, Ethnicity and Nationality: Japan Finds Plenty of Space for Discrimination". Hrdc.net. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
^ William H. Newell (December 1961). "The Comparative Study of Caste in India and Japan". Asian Survey. 1 (10): 3–10. doi:10.1525/as.1961.1.10.01p15082. JSTOR 3023467.
^ Rodriguez, Junius P. (1997). The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery. ABC-CLIO. p. 392. ISBN 9780874368857. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
^ Kim, Youngmin; Pettid, Michael J. (1 November 2011). Women and Confucianism in Choson Korea: New Perspectives. SUNY Press. p. 141. ISBN 9781438437774. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
^ a b Campbell, Gwyn (23 November 2004). Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 9781135759179. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
^ Kim, Joong-Seop (1999). "In Search of Human Rights: The Paekchŏng Movement in Colonial Korea". In Gi-Wook Shin and Michael Robinson (ed.). Colonial Modernity in Korea. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-674-00594-5.
^ Kim, Joong-Seop (2003). The Korean Paekjŏng under Japanese rule: the quest for equality and human rights. p. 147.
^ a b Hwang, Kyung Moon (2004), University of Southern California. Citizenship, Social Equality and Government Reform: Changes in the Household Registration System in Korea, 1894–1910
^ 06 Jun 2012 (6 June 2012). "North Korea caste system 'underpins human rights abuses'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
^ Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Love, Life and Death in North Korea, Fourth Estate, London, 2010, pp. 26–27.
^ Demick, pp. 28, 197, 202.
^ Nicolle, p. 11
^ These four are the three common "Indo-Euoropean" social tripartition common among ancient Iranian, Indian and Romans with one extra Iranian element (from Yashna xix/17). cf. Frye, p. 54.
^ Amir Taheri. The Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist Revolution. Encounter books. p. 1982.
^ Kāẓim ʻAlamdārī. Why the Middle East Lagged Behind: The Case of Iran. University Press of America. p. 72.
^ "Yemen's Al-Akhdam face brutal oppression". CNN iReport. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
^ a b Elijah Obinna (2012). "Contesting identity: the Osu caste system among Igbo of Nigeria". African Identities. 10 (1): 111–121. doi:10.1080/14725843.2011.614412.
^ James B. Watson (Winter 1963). "Caste as a Form of Acculturation". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 19 (4): 356–379. doi:10.1086/soutjanth.19.4.3629284.
^ a b Tal Tamari (1991). "The Development of Caste Systems in West Africa". The Journal of African History. 32 (2): 221–250. doi:10.1017/S0021853700025718.
^ Leo Igwe (21 August 2009). "Caste discrimination in Africa". International Humanist and Ethical Union.
^ SF Nadel (1954). "Caste and government in primitive society". Journal of Anthropological Society. 8: 9–22.
^ "Kingdoms of Ancient African History". www.africankingdoms.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
^ Dolores Richter (January 1980). "Further considerations of caste in West Africa: The Senufo". Africa. 50 (1): 37–54. doi:10.2307/1158641. JSTOR 1158641.
^ Ethel M. Albert (Spring 1960). "Socio-Political Organization and Receptivity to Change: Some Differences between Ruanda and Urundi". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 16 (1): 46–74. doi:10.1086/soutjanth.16.1.3629054.
^ Jacques J. Maquet (1962). The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda: A Study of Political Relations in a Central African Kingdom. Oxford University Press, London. pp. 135–171. ISBN 978-0-19-823168-4.
^ Helen Codere (1962). "Power in Ruanda". Anthropologica. 4 (1): 45–85. doi:10.2307/25604523. JSTOR 25604523.
^ a b Lewis, I.M. (2008). Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society. Columbia University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0231700849.
^ D. M. Todd (October 1977). "La Caste en Afrique? (Caste in Africa?)". Africa. 47 (4): 398–412. doi:10.2307/1158345. JSTOR 1158345.
^ Pankhurst, Alula. 1999. "'Caste' in Africa: the evidence from south-western Ethiopia reconsidered". Africa 69(4), pp. 485–509.
^ p. 299. Sayuri Yoshida. "Why did the Manjo convert to Protestant? Social Discrimination and Coexistence in Kafa, Southwest Ethiopia?" Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Trondheim 2009. pp. 299–309.
^ Diedrich Westermann, Edwin William Smith, Cyril Daryll Forde (1981). Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 853.
^ I. M. Lewis, A pastoral democracy: a study of pastoralism and politics among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa (LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: 1999), pp. 13–14
^ Sean Thomas (28 July 2008). "The last untouchable in Europe". London: The Independent, United Kingdom.
^ Anders Hansson (1996). Chinese Outcasts: Discrimination and Emancipation in Late Imperial China. Brill. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-90-04-10596-6.
^ Government Equalities Office, Caste legislation introduction – programme and timetable, accessed 2 June 2016
^ "Research report 91: Caste in Britain: Socio-legal Review | Equality and Human Rights Commission". www.equalityhumanrights.com. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
^ Warner, W. Lloyd (1936). "American Caste and Class". American Journal of Sociology. 42 (2): 234–237. doi:10.1086/217391.
^ Berreman, Gerald (September 1960). "Caste in India and the United States". American Journal of Sociology. 66 (2): 120–127. doi:10.1086/222839. JSTOR 2773155.
^ https://libcom.org/files/Seeing%20Like%20a%20State%20-%20James%20C.%20Scott.pdf
^ Subramanian Shankar Feed Subramanian Shankar, and University of Hawaii.“Does America Have a Caste System?” CityLab, The Atlantic Monthly Group, 26 Jan. 2018, www.citylab.com/equity/2018/01/does-america-have-a-caste-system/551591/.
Béteille, André (2002), "Caste", in Barnard, Alan; Spencer, Jonathan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, New York; London: Routledge, pp. 136–137, ISBN 978-0-415-28558-2
Doniger, Wendy, ed. (1999), "Caste", Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, p. 186, ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0, retrieved 24 September 2012
Gupta, Dipankar (2008), "Caste", in Schaefer, Richard T. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 246–250, ISBN 978-1-4129-2694-2, retrieved 5 August 2012
Lagasse, Paul, ed. (2007), "Caste", The Columbia Encyclopedia, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-14446-9, retrieved 24 September 2012
Madan, T. N.; Editors (2012), caste, Encyclopæida Britannica Online CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
Mitchell, Geoffrey Duncan (2006), "Castes (part of Social Stratification)", A New Dictionary of the Social Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction Publishers, pp. 194–195, ISBN 978-0-202-30878-4, retrieved 10 August 2012
Morris, Mike (2012), "caste", Concise Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, p. 33, ISBN 978-1-4443-3209-4, retrieved 10 August 2012
Nagar, Richa (2011), "caste", in Derek Gregory (ed.), The Dictionary of Human Geography, Ron Johnston, Geraldine Pratt, Michael Watts, Sarah Whatmore, John Wiley & Sons, p. 72, ISBN 978-1-4443-5995-4, retrieved 10 August 2012
Oxford English Dictionary ( "caste, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition; online version June 2012, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1989, retrieved 5 August 2012 ) Quote: caste, n. 2a. spec. One of the several hereditary classes into which society in India has from time immemorial been divided; ... This is now the leading sense, which influences all others.
Parry, Jonathan (2003), "Caste", in Kuper, Adam; Kuper, Jessica (eds.), Social Science Encyclopedia, London and New York: Routledge, p. 131, ISBN 978-0-415-28560-5
Pavri, Firooza (2004), "Caste", in Tim Forsyth (ed.), Encyclopedia of International Development, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, pp. 63–, ISBN 978-0-415-25342-0
Ramu, G. N. (2008), "Caste", in William A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, (Macmillan social science library), Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference US, ISBN 978-0-02-865967-1, retrieved 24 September 2012
Roberts, Nathaniel P. (2008), "Anthropology of Caste", in William A. Darity (ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Macmillan social science library, Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference US, ISBN 978-0-02-865967-1, retrieved 24 September 2012
Salamone, Frank A. (1997), "Caste", in Rodriguez, Junius P. (ed.), The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Volume 1, Santa Barbara, CA; Oxford, UK: ABC-CLIO, p. 133, ISBN 978-0-87436-885-7, retrieved 5 August 2012
Scott, John; Marshall, Gordon (2005), "caste", A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, p. 66, ISBN 978-0-19-860987-2, retrieved 10 August 2012
Sonnad, Subhash R. (2003), "Caste", in Christensen, Karen; Levinson, David (eds.), Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 115–121, ISBN 978-0-7619-2598-9, retrieved 5 August 2012
Sooryamoorthi, Radhamany (2006), "Caste Systems", in Leonard, Thomas M. (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Developing World, New York: Routledge, pp. 252–, ISBN 978-0-415-97662-6, retrieved 5 August 2012
Winthrop, Robert H. (1991), Dictionary of Concepts in Cultural Anthropology, ABC-CLIO, pp. 27–30, ISBN 978-0-313-24280-9, retrieved 10 August 2012
Spectres of Agrarian Territory by David Ludden 11 December 2001
"Early Evidence for Caste in South India", pp. 467–492 in Dimensions of Social Life: Essays in honor of David G. Mandelbaum, Edited by Paul Hockings and Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam, 1987.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castes.
Look up caste in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Auguste Comte on why and how castes developed across the world - in The Positive Philosophy, Volume 3 (see page 55 onwards)
Robert Merton on Caste and The Sociology of Science
Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age - Susan Bayly
Class In Yemen by Marguerite Abadjian (Archive of the Baltimore Sun)
International Dalit Solidarity Network: An international advocacy group for Dalits
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caste&oldid=935920558"
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Information and Decision Support Centre: 40.5 pct of citizens want presidential elections first
According to a survey conducted in late December, 82.8 percent of Egyptians will vote in favour of the new constitution; more want presidential elections first than otherwise
Ahram Online , Thursday 2 Jan 2014
Egypt worst country in Arab world for women: Thomson Reuters Foundation survey
A survey for the Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) has found that 82.8 percent of Egyptian citizens will vote 'Yes' for the draft constitution in the upcoming referendum to be held 14-15 January, and that 40.5 percent want presidential elections to be held before parliamentary elections.
IDSC, which provides data for the Egyptian cabinet, compared the results of its survey with a previous survey, conducted 21 December 2013, where 78.3 percent of the sample stated they would vote "Yes" for the draft constitution.
State news agency MENA reported that 72.4 percent of the sample will vote in the referendum, compared to 48 percent of the sample in a previous survey, conducted 28 November 2013, according to the new survey.
Sherif Badr, the IDSC's director, told MENA that the survey showed that 40.5 percent of Egyptians sampled prefer to have presidential elections before parliamentary elections, while 26.7 percent preferred the reverse, in accordance witho the roadmap adopted after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi 3 July 2013.
According to IDSC, the sample encompassed 1,174 Egyptians interviewed by phone 28-30 December.
Information and Decision Support Centre
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An Egyptian artifact has been found in Mexico
A mix up of what we knew about the ancient world
Recently, an artifact found in Mexico was confirmed to be an Ancient Egyptian Ushabti figurine.
Shabab Abdel-Gawad, the leader of the Egyptian Antiquities Repatriation Department, shared his great news with Ahram Online. The statuette was recently found by a resident of Mexico at his new house. Realising the importance of the find, he handed over the little statue to the Egyptian embassy located in Mexico.
(Ushabti figure)
After the statue found its way back home to Egypt, it was carefully analysed by a committee of archaeologists in the Egyptian museum in Tahrir. The head of the team says the statue goes back to the 19th dynasty. It is speculated to have been illegally smuggled out of the country.
The statue was carved from wood and has been engraved with hieroglyphics meaning “honest man”. The artifact has luckily been recovered after being gone from home for far too long.
Another object was discovered in Toluca that is shockingly similar to the Ankh that originated in ancient Egypt. The Ankh represented eternal life and is believed to have been one of the most famous and important aspects of ancient Egyptian culture.
Even though experts understand the meaning of the hieroglyphics, the true meaning and origin of the symbols is still a giant mystery. There are tons of theories behind the meaning of “ankh” but none have been accepted as fully true. Ankh has been featured in tombs and other important pieces of art. It’s typically found at the fingertips of Egypt’s most important gods of the ancient culture’s afterlife.
(Ankh)
This same symbol shows up often in Minoan and Mycenaean sites. It also is featured in ancient coins inside of Cyprus and Asia Minor. It’s also been known to represent Venus and the precious metal copper, Ahramonline reported.
What will Mexico bring next to mix up the theories of the ancient world?
Tags With: ancient egyptAnkharchaeologyAsia MinorcyprusegyptgreecehieroglyphicshistorymexicoMinoanmycenaeanstatue
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US Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board: Hanford Nuclear Waste Tanks Could Explode Because of Hydrogen Buildup
Hanford tanks are not only leaking but they could also explode. That would be spectacular, wouldn't it? (Defense in Depth, anyone? NRC commissioners?)
But the Board's comment came during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, which will hold confirmation hearing next week for the new Energy Secretary nominee. As AP's article indicates, it's part political jockeying among Senators, although the danger is real.
From Huffington Post quoting AP in its entirety, it seems (4/2/2013; emphasis is mine):
Hanford Nuclear Waste Tanks Could Explode, Agency Warns
By SHANNON DININNY
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Underground tanks that hold a stew of toxic, radioactive waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site pose a possible risk of explosion, a nuclear safety board said in advance of confirmation hearings for the next leader of the Energy Department.
State and federal officials have long known that hydrogen gas could build up inside the tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, leading to an explosion that would release radioactive material. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board recommended additional monitoring and ventilation of the tanks last fall, and federal officials were working to develop a plan to implement the recommendation.
The board expressed those concerns again Monday to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and had sought the board's perspective about cleanup at Hanford.
The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. It spends billions of dollars to clean up the 586-square-mile site neighboring the Columbia River, the southern border between Washington and Oregon and the Pacific Northwest's largest waterway.
Federal officials have said six underground tanks at the site are leaking into the soil, threatening the groundwater, and technical problems have delayed construction of a plant to treat the waste for long-term safe disposal.
Those issues are likely to come up during confirmation hearings next week for Energy Secretary-nominee Ernest J. Moniz. The fears of explosion and contamination could give Washington and Oregon officials more clout as they push for cleanup of the World War II-era site.
Central to the cleanup are the removal of 56 million gallons of highly radioactive, toxic waste left from plutonium production from underground tanks. Many of the site's single-shell tanks, which have just one wall, have leaked in the past, and state and federal officials announced in February that six such tanks are leaking anew.
"The next Secretary of Energy - Dr. Moniz - needs to understand that a major part of his job is going to be to get the Hanford cleanup back on track, and I plan to stress that at his confirmation hearing next week," Wyden said in a statement Tuesday.
The nuclear safety board warned about the risk of explosion to Wyden, who wanted comment on the safety and operation of Hanford's tanks, technical issues that have been raised about the design of a plant to treat the waste in those tanks, and Hanford's overall safety culture.
In addition to the leaks, the board noted concerns about the potential for hydrogen gas buildup within a tank, in particular those with a double wall, which contain deadly waste that was previously pumped out of the leaking single-shell tanks.
"All the double-shell tanks contain waste that continuously generates some flammable gas," the board said. "This gas will eventually reach flammable conditions if adequate ventilation is not provided."
It also noted technical challenges with the waste treatment plant, which is being built to encase the waste in glasslike logs for long-term disposal. Those challenges must be resolved before parts of the plant can be completed, the board said.
The federal government spends about $2 billion annually on Hanford cleanup – roughly one-third of its entire budget for nuclear cleanup nationally. About $690 million of that goes toward design and construction of the plant. Design of the plant, last estimated at more than $12.3 billion, is 85 percent complete, while construction is more than 50 percent complete.
The problems identified by the board show that the plant schedule will be delayed further and the cost will keep rising, Wyden said, adding: "There is a real question as to whether the plant, as currently designed, will work at all."
Dr. Ernest J. Moniz, President Obama's Energy Secretary nominee, is a nuclear physicist at MIT. He is a founding member of The Cyprus Institute, based in Nicosia, Cyprus, a private, "non-profit research and education institution with a scientific and technological orientation" according to Wikipedia.
Whatever this institution is, I wonder if they managed to move their money out of Cyprus in a timely manner.
Labels: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Hanford, Secretary of Energy
Darth 3.11 said...
When I was an OSU student (Oregon state, USA), the science department was already tracing radioactive particles from Hanford groundwater into the Columbia River and out to sea, right in the face of all the salmon returning, etc. And this was in 1970!
My grandmother worked at Hanford during WWII as it was a good job. Or, perhaps as a single mother (to my father) she did not have many options. The workers were not told what they were working on building. After Hiroshima/Nagasaki, they discovered they had been making those bombs. Many, like my grandmother, quit in huge distaste. She was followed by federal agents for years, with disastrous results for her mental health. No one believed her, of course.
Now those tanks are ready to go. There is not any more time to put off fixing this one. Given the endless pussyfooting around here in Japan, I really fear for the Columbia River's future.
Water Radiolysis: Influence of Oxide Surfaces on H2
Production under Ionizing Radiation (.pdf format)
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/1/235/pdf
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Home > Laws > 2016 Florida Statutes > Title X > Chapter 120 > Section 574
Title X PUBLIC OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND RECORDS
Chapter 120 ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT Entire Chapter
Summary hearing.
120.574 Summary hearing.—
(1)(a) Within 5 business days following the division’s receipt of a petition or request for hearing, the division shall issue and serve on all original parties an initial order that assigns the case to a specific administrative law judge and provides general information regarding practice and procedure before the division. The initial order shall also contain a statement advising the addressees that a summary hearing is available upon the agreement of all parties under subsection (2) and briefly describing the expedited time sequences, limited discovery, and final order provisions of the summary procedure.
(b) Within 15 days after service of the initial order, any party may file with the division a motion for summary hearing in accordance with subsection (2). If all original parties agree, in writing, to the summary proceeding, the proceeding shall be conducted within 30 days of the agreement, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2).
(c) Intervenors in the proceeding shall be governed by the decision of the original parties regarding whether the case will proceed in accordance with the summary hearing process and shall not have standing to challenge that decision.
(d) If a motion for summary hearing is not filed within 15 days after service of the division’s initial order, the matter shall proceed in accordance with ss. 120.569 and 120.57.
(2) In any case to which this subsection is applicable, the following procedures apply:
(a) Motions shall be limited to the following:
1. A motion in opposition to the petition.
2. A motion requesting discovery beyond the informal exchange of documents and witness lists described in paragraph (b). Upon a showing of necessity, additional discovery may be permitted in the discretion of the administrative law judge, but only if it can be completed not later than 5 days prior to the final hearing.
3. A motion for continuance of the final hearing date.
4. A motion requesting a prehearing conference, or the administrative law judge may require a prehearing conference, for the purpose of identifying: the legal and factual issues to be considered at the final hearing; the names and addresses of witnesses who may be called to testify at the final hearing; documentary evidence that will be offered at the final hearing; the range of penalties that may be imposed upon final hearing; and any other matter that the administrative law judge determines would expedite resolution of the proceeding. The prehearing conference may be held by telephone conference call.
5. During or after any preliminary hearing or conference, any party or the administrative law judge may suggest that the case is no longer appropriate for summary disposition. Following any argument requested by the parties, the administrative law judge may enter an order referring the case back to the formal adjudicatory process described in s. 120.57(1), in which event the parties shall proceed accordingly.
(b) Not later than 5 days prior to the final hearing, the parties shall furnish to each other copies of documentary evidence and lists of witnesses who may testify at the final hearing.
(c) All parties shall have an opportunity to respond, to present evidence and argument on all issues involved, to conduct cross-examination and submit rebuttal evidence, and to be represented by counsel or other qualified representative.
(d) The record in a case governed by this subsection shall consist only of:
1. All notices, pleadings, motions, and intermediate rulings.
2. Evidence received.
3. A statement of matters officially recognized.
4. Proffers of proof and objections and rulings thereon.
5. Matters placed on the record after an ex parte communication.
6. The written decision of the administrative law judge presiding at the final hearing.
7. The official transcript of the final hearing.
(e) The agency shall accurately and completely preserve all testimony in the proceeding and, upon request by any party, shall make a full or partial transcript available at no more than actual cost.
(f) The decision of the administrative law judge shall be rendered within 30 days after the conclusion of the final hearing or the filing of the transcript thereof, whichever is later. The administrative law judge’s decision, which shall be final agency action subject to judicial review under s. 120.68, shall include the following:
1. Findings of fact based exclusively on the evidence of record and matters officially recognized.
2. Conclusions of law.
3. Imposition of a fine or penalty, if applicable.
4. Any other information required by law or rule to be contained in a final order.
History.—s. 21, ch. 96-159; s. 10, ch. 97-176; s. 11, ch. 2000-158; s. 10, ch. 2000-336.
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MI's
PARISH RELIEF
MILLS & MINES
Walsden
The Cross Keys pub is closely connected with the story of Abraham Law, a clog maker of Square in Walsden, and it is worth telling his story as he is the one who built the Cross Keys and as such is the main person involved in its history.
Possibly the cottage where Abraham was born
He was born in 1796 at Square in Walsden, one of the youngest of an enormous family. He became a clog and pattern maker, as his father had been. Whilst only about 19 years old, he married Susan Fielden and they settled at Winterbutlee in Walsden where they had a family of four children before Susan died prematurely in 1822, just 6 months after the death of their 4th child. Abraham moved back to his own family home at Square where he continued with his trade.
It was not long before he took a second wife. She was Nancy Crabtree, a neighbour from Square. Nancy looked after her three stepchildren and provided Abraham with a further nine. They lived at the present number 10 Square Road, and following the 1830 Act, they opened a beerhouse calling it the Cloggers Arms.
About 1840, when the railway was being built, the area was full of railway labourers, and the beerhouse did well. However, the Railway Company was building a new road, which by-passed the old highway along a piece of land between it and the canal. The photo shows the old road (Square) and the new.
This old photo shows the old and new roads runing parallel to each other with a pavement separating them, looking towards the Cloggers Arms, which is in the middle of the terrace of cottages on the left of the picture.
Abraham was worried this new road would prove detrimental to his trade. Travellers on the highway would no longer pass his door. He and Nancy decided to build a brand new beerhouse right on the new road between it and the canal. The front door would attract the road travellers and the back door would be a welcome sight to the canal men. The beerhouse was built with four attached cottages, known as Birks Cottages, and Abraham and Nancy moved in.
The rear entrance to the pub from the canal tow path
The extra space that the building gave them would be welcome with the amount of children they had. Another good reason, which may have swayed Abraham into its construction. The story of one of their sons, Tom Law, can be read HERE.
The name of Cloggers Arms was retained initially and the business thrived. In addition to selling wines, ales and porter, the beerhouse was also a family grocers and tea merchants.
Walsden Church was also built during the 1840's. In 1848, it was consecrated and dedicated to St. Peter. The sign associated with St. Peter is, apparently, crossed keys. It seems that for this reason, the beerhouse was re-named the Cross Keys; a name it still carries today.
Abraham died at the relatively early age of 54 in 1850 whilst living at the Cross Keys. Nancy lived on at the beerhouse, keeping the business running successfully at least until 1866 by which time James Crowther was the landlord. She died in 1869 aged 64 and is buried at St. Peter's, Walsden.
James Crowther had been a grocer at Strines before he moved to the Cross Keys. He had a good business and had been running it for many years, so his trade and his good name would no doubt follow him to the Cross Keys. James' sister Jane was the first wife of the noted local historian John Travis.
James married Mary Unsworth, a local girl, in 1843 and they had three daughters and a son, all born before they moved to the Cross Keys. The son, Joseph, later married Elizabeth Hudson, who was the sister of Mary Jane Hudson wife of Oscar Howarth, who was to become the next landlord of the pub after James Crowther.
Trade must have been good as James was able to retire by 1881, and the pub passed to Oscar Howorth, who as mentioned, had a slight connection to the Crowthers by marriage. Oscar was the son of William and Mary Howorth of Pexwood, a family of mill workers. He married Mary Jane Hudson, daughter of John and Mary and they had one son, Albert, born in 1875.
A boarder at the pub in 1881 was a blacksmith, who may have found work in the pub stables, as many horses would have stopped at this convenient location. The carters with their horses and carts at the front and the canal horses at the back would all need some attention at times.
Oscar moved on from the Cross Keys to become a hotel keeper at Station Road, Haslingden, which is where he died. His brother William then took over as landlord of the Cross Keys with his wife Lydia and their three children, Fielden, John William and Arthur. William died in 1895 but his wife and son Fielden carried on running the pub. Lydia Howorth became a well-respected landlady and when she died in 1905, her death was reported in the yearly Almanac, remarking that she had been the landlady for nearly 21 years. This left Fielden, the son, to be the last representative of this family's connection with the Cross Keys. He died in 1929, still at the pub and his death ended nearly 50 years of the Howorth family's connection with this popular local hostelry.
A later landlord in the 1930's was John Williams. He and his wife Janie were the licensees when Janie died in 1935. He left the pub some time after and died 11 years later in 1946. They are buried together at St. Peter's.
It is interesting to note the various different addresses for the pub taken from the census:
1851: Birks Cottage
1871: 5, Birks Terrace
1881: 5, Square
1891: 5 & 7 Birks Cottages
1901: 649 & 651 Rochdale Road
From this, it looks as if the pub was enlarged in the late 19th century by taking over one of the original cottages. This can bee seen by the photo, showing the Cross Keys and three cottages where once there were four.
Almanac shows, which were very popular, were held regularly at the Cross Keys, and one in 1881 had 58 almanacs on show, with one almanac dating back to 1702 that was the star attraction. A year later, 240 were entered, showing how the popularity of these entertainments had grown. They would have generated a lot of trade for the pub and became quite a social event.
A fair share of tragedy also occurred, and one such case happened in the January of 1889, when William Blezzard was found dead in the stables. He was 42, the chance child of Ellen Blezzard and he lived at High Wicken, Moorcock. His work was as a collier and at times, a coal carter. A sad end for a hard working chap.
More lighthearted entertainment was had by bets of various sorts. One of the most popular was taking bets on how far and fast could be walked or run in a stated time. In May 1900, George Pearson, a local chap undertook to walk from the Cross Keys to the Moorcock up Inchfield and back in 30 minutes. He did it with 3minutes to spare, so winning his 10 shillings, which he no doubt spent at the bar. He was obviously a very fit man, or he knew a few short cuts.
The Cross Keys eventually got a full licence in 1960 and it continues to offer food, drink and a warm welcome to travellers, be they local people, walkers, cyclists on the canal towpath, passers by in cars on the busy road, or holiday makers on barges who can moor right outside the back door, which is a very convenient arrangement. What could be more agreeable on a lovely English summer's day and what perfect setting.
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Lewis on transposition
C. S. Lewis’s essay “Transposition” is available in his collection The Weight of Glory, and also online here. It is, both philosophically and theologically, very deep, illuminating the relationship between the material and the immaterial, and between the natural and the supernatural. (Note that these are different distinctions, certainly from a Thomistic point of view. For there are phenomena that are immaterial but still natural. For example, the human intellect is immaterial, but still perfectly “natural” insofar as it is in our nature to have intellects. What is “supernatural” is what goes beyond a thing’s nature, and it is not beyond a thing’s nature to be immaterial if immateriality just is part of its nature.)
By “transposition,” Lewis has in mind the way in which a system which is richer or has more elements can be represented in a system that is poorer insofar as it has fewer elements. The notion is best conveyed by means of his examples. Consider, for instance, the way that the world of three dimensional colored objects can be represented in a two dimensional black and white line drawing; or the way that a piece of music scored for an orchestra might be adapted for piano; or the way something said in a language with many words at its disposal might be translated into a language containing far fewer words, if the relevant latter words have several senses.
As these examples indicate, in a transposition, the elements of the poorer system have to be susceptible of multiple interpretations if they are to capture what is contained in the richer system. In a pen and ink drawing, black will have to represent not only objects that really are black, but also shadows and contours; white will have to represent not only objects that really are white, but also areas that are in bright light; a triangular shape will represent not only two dimensional objects, but also three dimensional objects like a road receding into the distance; and so on. In an orchestral piece adapted for piano, the same notes will have to stand for those that would have been played on a flute and those that would have been played on a violin. In a translation into a less rich language, words that have one meaning in one context will have to bear a different meaning in another context. In general, the relationship between the elements of a richer system and the elements of the poorer system into which it is transposed is not one-to-one, but many-to-one.
You cannot properly understand a transposition unless you understand something of both sides of it, as Lewis illustrates with a vivid example. He asks us to consider a child born to a woman locked in a dungeon, who tries to teach the child about the outside world via black and white line drawings. Through this medium “she attempts to show him what fields, rivers, mountains, cities, and waves on a beach are like” (p. 110). For a time it seems that she is succeeding, but eventually something the child says indicates that he supposes that what exists outside the dungeon is a world filled with lines and other pencil marks. The mother informs the child that this is not the case:
And instantly his whole notion of the outer world becomes a blank. For the lines, by which alone he was imagining it, have now been denied of it. He has no idea of that which will exclude and dispense with the lines, that of which the lines were merely a transposition… (Ibid.)
(Though Lewis does not note it, the parallel with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is obvious.)
Now, transpositions in Lewis’s sense do not exist merely where we are trying to represent something (in words, drawings, music, or whatever). Lewis points out that a similar relationship holds between emotions and bodily sensations. The very same sensation -- a twinge of excitement felt in the abdomen around the diaphragm, say -- may in one context be associated with romantic passion and be taken to be pleasant, and in another context be associated with a feeling of distress and be taken to be unpleasant. Very different emotions can be transposed, as it were, onto one and the same bodily sensation in something like the way very different meanings might be associated with the same word. And as with the other sorts of transposition, you will not understand what is going on if you look to the lower medium alone. In this case, you will not know what emotion is being felt, or even what an emotion is, if you look to the bodily sensation alone.
As Lewis points out, the notion of transposition is useful for understanding the relationship between mind and matter and the crudity of the errors made by materialists. Lewis, like Aristotelians and Thomists, is happy to acknowledge that “thought is intimately connected with the brain,” but, also like them, he insists that the conclusion “that thought therefore is merely a movement in the brain is… nonsense” (p. 103, emphasis added). As I have argued many times (at greatest length and most systematically here), there is no way in principle that the conceptual content of our thoughts can be accounted for in materialist terms, because concepts have an exact or determinate content that no material representation or system of representations can have, and a universal reference that no material representation or system of representations can have. The relationship between thought and brain activity is accordingly somewhat analogous to the relationship between the meaning of a written sentence and the physical properties of the ink marks that make up that sentence. If the ink marks are damaged or destroyed, it will be difficult or impossible for the sentence to convey its meaning. But of course it doesn’t follow that the meaning of the sentence is reducible to or knowable from the physical properties of the ink marks alone. Similarly, if the brain is damaged, then thought is impaired, but it doesn’t follow that thought is reducible to brain activity. (I do not say that the analogy is perfect, only that it is suggestive.)
Now, suppose someone noted that sentences are always embodied in some physical medium or other -- ink marks, pixels, sound waves, etc. -- and concluded that the meaning of a sentence must therefore be reducible to or deducible from the physical and chemical properties of ink marks, pixels, sound waves, etc. alone. He would be conflating the two sides of a transposition, and in particular trying to reduce the richer system (the system of meanings) to the poorer system (the system of physical marks or noises). He would be like the child in the dungeon who thinks that the outside world must be “nothing but” what can be captured in black and white line drawings, or like someone who thinks that the richness of an emotional state can be reduced to a mere bodily sensation, or like someone who thinks that the most complex orchestral piece must really be “nothing but” whatever noises can be made on a piano.
Now, anyone who seriously thinks that thought can be reduced to brain activity, or who suggests (as an eliminative materialist, as opposed to a reductive materialist, would) that the notion of thought can be eliminated entirely and replaced by the notion of brain activity, is like that. Actually, he is much worse than that. He is not like the child in the dungeon who has never seen the outside world and thus makes an innocent, though egregious, error in supposing that it must be reducible to what can be captured in a line drawing. The materialist is more like the woman, if we imagine that for some bizarre reason she somehow talks herself into believing that the outside world contains nothing more than what is in a black and white pencil drawing -- even though she has actually seen the outside world and thus knows better. The materialist knows full well that thought is real, and that the conceptual content of thought is as different from the physical properties of brain activity -- electrochemical properties, causal relations, etc. -- as apples are from oranges. It is only an ideological fixation on one side of the transposition involved here that leads him to insist otherwise. Suppose the reason the woman fell into a delusion like the one in question is because she had spent so long a time in the dungeon that she came to love it, and could barely remember the outside world. The materialist has so fixated upon and fallen in love with the less rich side of the transposition (brain activity) that, at least in his philosophical moments, he can barely keep in mind what the richer side (thought) is really like.
This error of conflating the two sides of a transposition is rife within reductionist philosophical theorizing. Think, for example, of Hume’s claim that concepts are “nothing but” impressions or mental images, or Berkeley’s claim that physical objects are “nothing but” collections of the perceptions we have of them, or subjectivist theories of value that claim that judgments about what is good or bad are “nothing but” expressions of various sentiments. Whenever we consciously entertain some concept, we tend to form a mental image of some sort. For example, when we entertain the concept triangularity, we form a mental image of a triangle or of the written or spoken word “triangle.” But it doesn’t follow that the concept is to be identified with such mental images, and indeed (and contra Hume) it cannot be. The concept, being completely abstract and universal, is richer than any mental image or set of mental images, which are always concrete and particular. What the mind does when it makes use of mental imagery as an aid to thought is to transpose, in Lewis’s sense, the richer conceptual order into the poorer order of mental imagery. Similarly, in perception, the mind transposes the richness of physical substances (the full nature of which can be grasped only by the intellect and not by sensation or imagination) into the poorer medium of sense images. Berkeley’s idealism in effect collapses that richer order into the poorer one. And in conscious acts of moral judgment, our grasp of something as good is associated with a feeling of approval, while our judgment that something is bad is associated with a feeling of disapproval. The mind transposes the former, cognitive order into the latter, and very different, affective order. The subjectivist theorist of value makes the mistake of collapsing the former into the latter.
As Lewis notes, however, it isn’t just materialists and other reductionists who are guilty of confusion where transpositions are concerned. Religious believers are prone to it as well to the extent that they collapse the supernatural into the natural. For example, Lewis notes the danger of confusing one’s emotional state with one’s spiritual state. Obviously there is a rough and ready correlation here. Being close to God and morally upright is often associated with a feeling of well-being. But feelings are fickle things and subject to distortion. A scrupulous person takes his feelings of guilt to be a sign that he has sinned, when in fact he has not. A lax person takes the absence of any feelings of guilt as evidence that he has not sinned, when in fact he has. Highly emotional styles of worship seem to some to be evidence of genuine devotion, whereas more sedate forms of worship might seem spiritually arid. But the former sort of devotion can also be superficial and fleeting, and the latter deeper and more enduring. Pop spirituality tells us “Don’t think, feel!” but the reverse is much closer to the truth.
(Notice that I say only that it is closer to the truth, not that it is the truth, full stop. I do not for a moment deny that feelings have a role in the religious life, and I think Lewis would not deny it either. We are, after all, feeling creatures by nature, not bloodless Cartesian intellects trapped in bodies. The point is just that feelings are the lower, poorer side of the transposition, whereas the intellect -- which alone can ultimately judge one’s true spiritual state -- is the higher, richer side. Here as in every other aspect of life, the affective tail must not be allowed to wag the cognitive dog.)
Lewis also notes how religious people are prone to mistake the earthly images of Heaven for the real thing, and sometimes feel let down when they are told that this is a mistake. How could Heaven be eternal bliss without eating, drinking, and (my example, not Lewis’s) playing Frisbee with Fido? Deleting such earthly pleasures from our picture of Heaven seems to leave nothing in its place. Heaven comes to seem arid, bleak, and boring. But this is precisely the wrong lesson to draw, comparable to the error the child in the dungeon makes when he is told by his mother that the world outside the dungeon lacks pencil lines. As Lewis writes:
The child will get the idea that the real world is somehow less visible than his mother’s pictures. In reality it lacks lines because it is incomparably more visible.
So with us. “We know not what we shall be”; but we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth. Our natural experiences (sensory, emotional, imaginative) are only like the drawing, like pencilled lines on flat paper. If they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape, not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun. (pp. 110-11)
Descriptions of Heaven that make use of earthly images are transpositions of a higher, richer order into a lower, poorer one. The religious believer who cannot understand how Heaven can lack earthly delights is like the materialist who cannot understand how thought could be more than brain activity, or the subjectivist ethical theorist who cannot understand how judgments of moral goodness and badness can be anything more than the expression of feelings.
I would say that a similar mistake is made by many of those who resist classical theism in favor of the more anthropomorphic “theistic personalist” conception of God. When told by Thomists that we have to understand language about God in an analogical sense, they think that this entails thinking of God in a cold, abstract, and impersonal way. (One mistake they sometimes make is to think that the Thomist is saying that descriptions of God are merely “metaphorical.” That is not what the Thomist is saying. Not all analogical use of language is metaphorical. The Thomist takes talk about God’s power, knowledge, goodness, etc. to be literal, and thus not metaphorical. The claim is rather that such talk is not to be understood in a univocal way. For discussion of the Thomist theory of analogy, see pp. 256-63 of Scholastic Metaphysics.)
In fact, to think of the God of classical theism as cold, abstract, and impersonal is as clueless as the child in the dungeon thinking that the world outside must be very cold and abstract if it does not contain the pencil lines he sees in his mother’s drawings. Just as the world outside the dungeon is in fact far more warm and concrete than the pencil drawings, so too is the God of classical theism infinitely more “personal” than the lame man-writ-large “God” of theistic personalism. The theistic personalist is like the boy who comes to prefer the drawings to ever leaving the dungeon, or the like the denizen of Plato’s cave who thinks it insane to believe tales of a world more real than the shadows on the wall. Or if you prefer a more earthy biblical analogy, he is like Esau, trading his birthright for a mess of pottage and thinking he’s gotten the better deal.
[Lewis] asks us to consider a child born to a woman locked in a dungeon, who tries to teach the child about the outside world via black and white line drawings. Through this medium “she attempts to show him what fields, rivers, mountains, cities, and waves on a beach are like” (p. 110). For a time it seems that she is succeeding, but eventually something the child says indicates that he supposes that what exists outside the dungeon is a world filled with lines and other pencil marks. The mother informs the child that this is not the case: ...
... I wish I had this thought experiments back when I was writing a paper arguing along similar lines, against Tegmark, that while mathematical instantiations are a feature of the universe, the universe isn't entirely reducible to them. What an eloquent guy.
Edward Feser May 12, 2015 at 2:39 PM
What an eloquent guy.
Yes indeed. I think that people sometimes suspect that because Lewis is such a popular writer with non-academics, he must be lightweight. I always say that the best cure for this misconception is actually to read him. He really is very deep and wise.
DNW May 12, 2015 at 2:50 PM
Lewis' writings were the first place, many years ago, I had ever come across a reference to Abbott's "Flatland"; a reference Lewis had made many years before that.
It has since the 1980's become - unless I am merely primed to notice it, a more common reference in quasi-metaphysical or pop-science ruminations and essays.
I never quite grasped his concept of the psychological act of "enjoyment" as it relates to his theory of knowledge, though I felt it was probably a relatively profound take on the subject. Something I should probably revisit.
http://www.academia.edu/5815829/C._S._Lewis_on_the_Enjoyment-Contemplation_Distinction
" ... these examples indicate, in a transposition, the elements of the poorer system have to be susceptible of multiple interpretations if they are to capture what is contained in the richer system. In a pen and ink drawing, black will have to represent not only objects that really are black, but also shadows and contours; white will have to represent not only objects that really are white, but also areas that are in bright light; a triangular shape will represent not only two dimensional objects, but also three dimensional objects like a road receding into the distance; and so on.
Yes ... and not to flog a dead and unwelcome non-philosophical horse here, but what did stay with me from listening to a number of the more sober sounding NDE accounts, was the strange transposition implied by, or outright stated to be the case by, those who were profoundly convinced they had undergone an objective, extra-mental, experience.
Whatever the objective reality or locus of such a transpositional experience, it seems we, or some of us, are subject or disposed to experience it on one level or another; be that purely psychological or something in addition.
Keen Reader May 12, 2015 at 3:19 PM
"Heaven comes to seem arid, bleak, and boring."
Or rather, on this view, unimaginable and therefore indescribable (as only the saints victorious have seen outside the dungeon).
Lebuinus May 12, 2015 at 4:09 PM
Consider, for instance, the way that the world of three dimensional colored objects can be represented in a two dimensional black and white line drawing; or the way that a piece of music scored for an orchestra might be adapted for piano[.]
What I miss in Professor Feser’s essay is a note of praise for the usefulness of these humble transpositions. What is lost in richness is often gained in concentration and insight. When I was training as an archaeologist, we were always encouraged to make drawings “because you only really see the object when you try to draw it, however badly”. And I remember reading a music critic from the 1890s who maintained that you could only judge the merits of a symphony by reading or playing the piano score. Different parts, tone colour etc. were only distracting from what really mattered, the musical structure.
And what is science, but the world transposed to equations?
Lebuinus,
I've always been fond of the picture Penelope Maddy paints:
To appreciate just how closely [mathematics and reality] are intertwined [...] try to separate them. A purely mathematical world would be empty. What would a purely physical world be like? As soon as there are number properties, there are sets that bear them, so a world without mathematical things would be a world without any things, a completely amorphous mass: the Blob. To add even the structuring into individual physical objects is to admit singletons, to broach the mathematical. The only way to confine ourselves to the purely physical is to refrain from any differentiation whatsoever.
Perhaps such a world is possible, but it clearly isn't our world, with its objects, kinds, patterns, and structures of so many, widely varied sorts. [...] Physics and mathematics, on this new picture, are two sciences, along with chemistry, biology, psychology and the rest, that study aspects of this reality. Each science has its own vocabulary and laws, its own techniques and methods, but this doesn't mean that the world itself is divided into the physical, the mathematical, the chemical, the biological, the psychological and so on. (Realism in Mathematics)
But as well as using mathematics, science also investigates other sensual facts about the physical such as sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch — facts that one can only fully know by participating directly in a causal process, and can't (I think) be completely captured by mathematical formulae. So, though science is heavily indebted to mathematics, I would answer that science also investigates other important, empirical facts that simply can't be captured by mathematical models or known through mathematics.
... Among other things, that should probably read "sensory", not sensual.
What I miss in Professor Feser’s essay is a note of praise for the usefulness of these humble transpositions
Hello Lebuinus. I hereby praise them. Keep in mind that as an Aristotelian and a Thomist -- and thus as someone generally keen to emphasize the earthy, corporeal side of human nature and to warn against any Platonizing or Cartesian denigration of the material world -- I am far from denying the importance of those "humble transpositions." (On the contrary, we A-T types are often accused of being too friendly toward the earthy, the bodily, and the material more generally.) It's just that praising them wasn't the subject of this particular post.
Keep in mind also that any time someone tries to correct an imbalance, he is bound to be misinterpreted as attacking the thing he says is being emphasized at the expense of something else. "Yes, A is important, but let's not forget B." "Hey, why are you attacking A?" "I'm not attacking A. I'm just saying, don't forget B."
@ Professor Feser
I hereby praise [those humble transpositions].
Duly noted, professor.
@ John West
I would answer that science also investigates other important, empirical facts that simply can't be captured by mathematical models or known through mathematics.
I agree it should investigate this other aspects of reality. Does it?
I was thinking here of the text of the later Russell, professor Feser loves to cite: “It is not always realised how exceedingly abstract is the information that theoretical physics has to give. It lays down certain fundamental equations which enable it to deal with the logical structure of events, while leaving it completely unknown what is the intrinsic character of the events that have the structure. We only know the intrinsic character of events when they happen to us. Nothing whatever in theoretical physics enables us to say anything about the intrinsic character of events elsewhere. They may be just like the events that happen to us, or they may be totally different in strictly unimaginable ways. All that physics gives us is certain equations giving abstract properties of their changes. But as to what it is that changes, and what it changes from and to—as to this, physics is silent. (My Philosophical Development, p. 13)”
But I should add that I don’t know the first thing about the philosophy of science
Oh, sure. Theoretical physics, you're probably right. But we shouldn't forget the rest of the natural sciences.
Lewis was of course a drug (tobacco) addict.
As such, every time that he inhaled he was flooding his lungs, and thereby his bloodstream and every cell in his body with toxic chemicals. As such he was effectively slowly destroying the intrinsic biological integrity/intelligence of his body, and thus effectively committing (slow) suicide.
And yet, in some circles at least, he is considered to be an "authority" on some/all of the great matters of human existence.
Was he in any sense aware of the all pervading spirit-energy which we inhale with every breathe indicated or pointed to in the phrase "a feather on the breathe of God"
Lebuinus May 13, 2015 at 12:56 AM
Was [Lewis] in any sense aware of the all pervading spirit-energy which we inhale with every breathe indicated or pointed to in the phrase "a feather on the breathe of God"[?]
He would have read Chesterton, and Chesterton most certainly was:
'I guess you got me wrong,' said the man from Oklahoma, almost eagerly. 'I guess I'm as much of an atheist as you are. No supernatural or superstitious stuff in our movement; just plain science. The only real right science is just health, and the only real right health is just breathing. Fill your lungs with the wide air of the prairie and you could blow all your old eastern cities into the sea. You could just puff away their biggest men like thistledown. That's what we do in the new movement out home: we breathe. We don't pray; we breathe.'
'Nothing supernatural,' continued Alboin, 'just the great natural fact behind all the supernatural fancies. What did the Jews want with a God except to breathe into man's nostrils the breath of life? We do the breathing into our own nostrils out in Oklahoma. What's the meaning of the very word Spirit? It's just the Greek for breathing exercises. Life, progress, prophecy; it's all breath.'
'Some would allow it's all wind,' said Vandam; 'but I'm glad you've got rid of the divinity stunt, anyhow.'
(The Miracle of Moon Crescent, 1924)
seanrobsville May 13, 2015 at 1:07 AM
Minds can understand mechanisms.
Mechanisms can't understand minds.
Joe Calandrino May 13, 2015 at 5:03 AM
Thanks for the CS Lewis reference in general and his 'transposition' in particular. I have been doing some exploration in the area of simultaneity and causality on my own blog and I have been grappling with a fascinating article by Dan Censor (http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~censor/simcausa.pdf) , "Simultaneity, Causality and Spectral Representations." While one needn't be a mathematician to get through the article, it certainly helps. I am reading the article now as an exercise in 'transposition' as it appear this blog entry.
Basically (and I mean very basically), Censor uses the Fournier Transform to map every point in the spatiotemporal view of reality into the 'spectral' view and comes out with some astonishing effects. He does not argue that one view is poorer or richer than the other, but that they are different, and sentient beings in each reality experiences that reality according to its mapping/transposition/representation.
It seems to me that Censor has captured the metaphysical problem elegantly, and in a way that would be illuminating for this discussion.
Lewis was definitely a Scholastic thinker. Is there a better nontechnical description of the act/potency distinction than the following?
"God is basic Fact or Actuality, the source of all other facthood. At all costs therefore He must not be thought of as a featureless generality. If He exists at all, He is the most concrete thing there is...He is unspeakable not by being indefinite but by being too definite for the unavoidable vagueness of language. The words 'incorporeal' and 'impersonal' are misleading, because they suggest that He lacks some reality which we possess. It would be safer to call Him trans-corporeal, trans-personal. Body and personality as we know them are the real negatives-they are what is left of positive being when it is sufficiently diluted to appear in temporal or finite forms."
Miracles, p. 381 (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics Edition)
Jules May 13, 2015 at 8:34 AM
Sorry about the off-topic post, but for fans of James Franklin I've just heard that his "The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability before Pascal" which has been out of print for some time (only available 2nd-hand at extortionate prices) has now been republished and is available for pre-order at Amazon.
Apparently I can claim some minor credit for this, since I've been nagging Prof. Franklin for some time to get the book reprinted, but the publisher (John Hopkins University Press) only got off their backsides when he sent them my emails. He had previous requested that the book be reprinted, but to no avail.
Glenn May 13, 2015 at 8:44 AM
Perhaps the man from Roccasecca would reply to the man from Oklahoma by saying, "Isidore says (Etym. x) that 'to pray is to speak.' Now speech belongs to the intellect. Therefore prayer is an act, not of the appetitive, but of the intellective power. [And so it follows that to refrain from praying is to refrain from engaging in an act of the intellective power.]"
(The only real right science is just health, and the only real right health is just breathing.
(A person in a coma doesn't do much more than just breath, so maybe there's a little more to real right health than just breathing. Indeed, Aristotle mentions that where there is motion, there are three things: the moved, the movement, and the instrument of motion. And Aquinas identifies the breath as the first instrument of motion. So, if both Aristotle and Aquinas are correct, then, important as breathing is -- Aquinas says that the union of the body and the soul ceases when breathing ceases -- it doesn't seem to be the be all and end all of things.)
The only real right science is just health, and the only real right health is just breathing
I'll remember that next time someone advocates deliberately starving to death the mentally incapacitated.
BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN.
"A scrupulous person takes his feelings of guilt to be a sign that he has sinned, when in fact he has not. A lax person takes the absence of any feelings of guilt as evidence that he has not sinned, when in fact he has."
When something like this becomes apparent to you in your meditations (as it did for me this morning), reading about it hours later is pretty impactful.
Brilliant blog. One of the gems of the internet.
young and rested May 13, 2015 at 11:31 AM
Would it be fair to think of Jesus as in some sense being close to the the picture of God that theistic personalists subscribe to? e.g. God having transposed Himself down into a form that humans can better understand.
That Jesus was quite clearly a person makes it hard for me to see exactly how to understand the claim that he was also God when God is not a person or a being, but being itself.
thefederalist May 13, 2015 at 1:56 PM
The Miracle of Moon Crescent was always my favorite Father Brown mystery for the insights it provided.
Natural Mind May 14, 2015 at 1:32 PM
Fascinating article. I have a clarificational question for Dr. Feser or anyone else kind enough:
What does it mean for the concept to be "richer" than the mental image? What are the criteria of "richness?" It doesn't seem to be anything like, say, the information content of the more inclusive, general/generative form: the particular has more information than the universal. What notion of "richness" is being used here?
Glenn May 14, 2015 at 2:14 PM
Natural Mind,
If you're willing to brook a poor explanation until a rich explanation is provided...
Bob has many dollars in assets for each single dollar in assets that Paul has. Ergo (and assuming their liabilities are roughly the same), Bob is richer and Paul is poorer.
"In general, the relationship between the elements of a richer system and the elements of the poorer system into which it is transposed is not one-to-one, but many-to-one."
There are many elements in the former system for each single element in the latter system. Ergo, the former system is richer, and the latter system is poorer.
Rich: plentiful, abundant, etc.
Poorer phrasing: "assuming their liabilities are roughly the same"
Richer phrasing: "assuming their respective liabilites are approximately equivalent."
Thank you for your reply. I do understand what the words "rich" and "poor" mean in the general sense that you elucidate, but I don't see how a concept of a triangle, for example, is "richer" than a mental image of a triangle.
So: what exactly are the enumerable elements of the triangle concept, and what are the enumerable elements of a particular image of a triangle, such that one might plausibly evaluate which one is richer?
Thursday May 14, 2015 at 2:54 PM
If particular misunderstandings (eg. classical theism is too impersonal) keep coming up, then perhaps there is something wrong with how scholastic ideas are being presented.
The presentation of classical theism on this site was certainly offputting, until I started to think through the ideas themselves.
Consider the comparison between a diagram of a geometrical sphere, and a 9-ball that instantiates that sphere. The 9-ball instantiates all the elements of the geometrical sphere (a structure), but it also instantiates non-mathematical elements such as colour, smoothness, heaviness. It's not just that the 9-ball has more elements, but that it also has additional kinds of elements.
I should probably add to that, similarly, the concept of the triangle has details that can't be captured in a mental image, so it's richer.
If you're asking for specifics on what those details might be, let me join your chorus of inquiry. But I think it's just that the concept includes all the elements of the triangle (or 9-ball), whereas the mental image does not or cannot.
... Though the concept triangularity is going to account for all there is about triangles, whereas the mental image is going to be an instance of triangularity, one image of one triangle of one type.
@John West,
Thanks for the elucidation. The problem I have is that the particular image seems to me to be a richer object than the concept, in much the way that a real eight-ball is a richer object than the concept of a sphere, in that it has "more properties," so to speak. The concept involves certain abstract parameters that I can definitely elucidate with a single mathematical formula. But any actual eight-ball is an immensely complex object, full of mass, color, deviations from the perfect sphericity it aims at, history, uses, purposes, and so on all of which one could write endless novels about and never contain. And even my image of it is a much more lively and volatile thing than my concept of it.
I believe these details matter -– let us sing together this chorus of inquiry -– because there is an argument to be made that the immaterial concept is in fact not richer, in the sense of enumerability, but simpler than any instantiation or physical correlate.
How simplicity can be related to richness is interesting question. And it has a theological parallel: we understand God as supremely simple – and yet supremely rich.
If that's on the right track, then there's something on the wrong track about the analogy of transposition, which assumes a reduction in dimensionality, a decrease in information, is ultimately impoverishment. Somewhere along the line the calculus that ties together richness with complexity, and simplicity with poverty, breaks down.
Well, the concept triangularity is abstract and universal. So, I think the point is that elements of the triangle mental image are a subset of the elements of triangularity.
For example, the mental image is going to be (say) a specific right isosceles triangle; in contrast, triangularity accounts for the right isosceles triangle, as well as acute equilateral triangularity, obtuse triangles, triangles with different side lengths etc.
To add to John West's point some level of detail:
A mental image of a triangle (better: an instantiation represented in the imagination) is necessarily a triangle of a particular species: either scalene or isosceles or equilateral, and either acute, right angled, or obtuse. So any specific image in the imagination is particularized to ONE of these, say scalene acute. That instance CANNOT equally represent an isosceles right triangle. You could, for example, establish something true ABOUT that scalene triangle, but you would have no way of asserting whether it might or might not be true of a right isosceles triangle. In fact, you would have no particular way of affirming it of any OTHER scalene acute triangle, except by individual examination for each one.
Yet the concept of "triangle" includes equally all triangles of all sub-species. Hence you can prove a truth about "triangles" that is true of all (plane) triangles equally: that their angles add up to 2 right angles. And that truth then is known about all triangles whether you have instantiated one in the imagination or not, whether when you imagine one as scalene or equilateral or whatnot. And thus, all of the many proofs about triangles (about interior angles, exterior angles, bisectors, etc) in Euclid's and Archimedes' geometry ENRICH our concept of "triangle" in ways that are irrelevant to the particular sub-species imagined.
These truths apply to all of the individual triangles imagined, but not on the basis of the particularities imagined (color, size, weight, etc), rather on the basis of the conceptual universal realities of "triangle" as understood distinctly from concrete instances thereof. These imagined particularities, of themselves, could never GIVE RISE to the vast array of proven theorems giving us specific truths that comprise our understanding of "triangle". They cannot give rise to those truths because those truths are not in any way dependent on the characteristics like scalene, red, large, steel, etc.
The concept of triangularity is broader and more encompassing, and admits of an untold number of instantiations (as it were). The mental image of a triangle, on the other hand, is just that -- a single, instantiation (as it were) of the broader, more encompassing concept of triangularity.
Tony's comment wasn't on my screen when I posted my reply to you. Now that it is, I'd like to amend my reply to you to read as follows: see Tony's addition to John's point. (It's much richer by far.)
Craig Payne May 14, 2015 at 8:20 PM
By the way, it wasn't "playing Frisbee with Fido" in Heaven. It was playing Frisbee in Heaven with Blossomchops, or Featherdown, or whatever those names were. A much richer experience, probably.
Craig Payne,
The actual experience of playing frisbee with Blossomchips or Feartherdown may be richer than the actual experience of playing frisbee with some generic Fido. Due to the alliteration involved, however, the idea of playing frisbee with Fido is richer than the idea of playing Frisbee with Blossomchips or Featherdown.
Natural Mind May 15, 2015 at 5:03 AM
These illustrations restate the problem. The more general is the more impoverished; it is more inclusive because it has fewer properties. So the "richness" of the concept assumed in Feser's argument cannot have anything straightforwardly to do with its generality.
Again, what property does a concept have that makes it richer than the representation? Feser's argument, I believe, stands or falls on this.
Brandon May 15, 2015 at 5:53 AM
The more general is the more impoverished; it is more inclusive because it has fewer properties.
This is not true on most understandings of what a 'property' is -- 'triangle' would have infinitely many properties, since it would have the property of pertaining to triangle A and the property of pertaining to triangle B and the property of pertaining to triangle C, and the property of pertaining to all scalene triangles, and so forth. So one would need to specify the technical sense of 'property' on which it would actually be more impoverished, given that infinitely many things may actually be said of it.
@Brandon: You're quite right. I meant "property" in terms of defining characteristics, as for example the genus requires less definitional information than the species. This is the sense Lewis and Feser are using with the transposition analogy: the piano transcription has less information than the orchestral score.
So the question remains: what kind of "richness" is Dr. Feser talking about with regard to the concept? What is being evaluated? What are the properties construed of the concept that are missing from the mental image, what "information" gets lost?
I don't see that there's any real sense in which a piano transcription has less definitional information than an orchestral score, or, for that matter, that the genus, as such, has less definitional information than the species, as such. The genus, by being a genus, does not rule out all the possibilities needed to get this particular species, whereas the species trivially does, but this is a relative difference, not one that tells us anything about the genus qua genus or the species qua species.
Likewise, in the transposition case, Ed's examples are in terms of signification, that is, the many-to-one nature is in terms of how one thing is a sign of another; it doesn't seem right to conflate signification and definition.
Scott May 15, 2015 at 8:18 AM
@Natural Mind:
What are the properties construed of the concept that are missing from the mental image, what "information" gets lost?
The relevant properties are not those of the "concept" but those of its referents. An image of a triangle has the properties of one particular triangle; the concept "triangle" refers to all triangles (real or possible) and thus to all the properties that a triangle can have qua triangle.
Of course even if we restrict ourselves to the "properties" of the concept and ignore those of its referents, it's still the case that the concept has the property of "referring" and the image does not. That seems pretty crucial in the present context.
Brandon posted as I was composing my own post, and we seem to be saying more or less the same thing in different words (e.g reference vs. signification). At any rate I agree with his comments.
Your wording is such as to associate a piano transcription with 'genus', and an orchestral score with 'species'. These associations imply that a transcription for a piano by itself is a genus, and a score for a collection of instruments including, e.g., violins and cellos, flutes and oboes, timpanis and cymbals, as well as, perhaps, a piano, is a species of that genus.
gcallah May 15, 2015 at 9:17 AM
Very nice! (Except for the mistake on Berkeley, of course.)
Sorry, I missed your comment before!
I don't see how the fact that the concept of triangle includes all specific triangles make it a "richer" object than any specific triangle. Any specific triangle meets the requirements of the concept, and adds to it further specifications, such as actual angles and side lengths. In going from a specific triangle to the triangle concept, one is losing that information, just as one loses information when going from the orchestral score to the piano transcription.
I did not mean, by the way, to equate the transcription with genus and orchestral score with species! It is the analogous difference in information content that I was referring to.
@Brandon,
The piano score has considerably less information than the orchestral score since it indicates a given note without needing to specify which instrument it is to be played on. The orchestral score is thus richer in information.
The genus (say, Panthera) is less specific than the species (say, onca vs. tigris) in the same way: an an individual belonging to a genus may be of unknown species, but an individual belonging to a species is of known genus. The genus specifies less information; it is a less rich concept. The words "specify" and "species" are of course related.
@Scott,
Thanks for your input.
It is true that a concept is something which may refer, but it is also true that a mental image is something I can see. Yes, they have different properties, but I still don't see any way of determining the relative richness of the concept. No measure of the relative richness of those properties has been proposed, and the transcription analogy appears to work in precisely the wrong direction.
Brandon May 15, 2015 at 10:17 AM
I am aware of what the examples are. But, again, nothing about either of the cases has anything to do with definitional information. The first concerns signification, and the second is a relative and not absolute comparison, as I noted previously.
It is true that a concept is something which may refer, but it is also true that a mental image is something I can see. Yes, they have different properties, but I still don't see any way of determining the relative richness of the concept. (from your reply to Scott)
Strictly, this is too broad a manner of speaking (and could result in confusion). The triangle mental image does not have different properties from the concept “triangle”. The properties of the mental image are a subset of the properties of the concept "triangle". The concept “triangle” does, however, have different properties from the mental image, because it has more properties.
Natural Mind May 15, 2015 at 10:34 AM
I don't believe the mental image has only a subset of the properties of the concept. I can see the mental image, for example; I can manipulate it in my mind's eye by rotating it or changing its color, I can sense how sharp its points are, and so on; I can't do any of these things with the concept of a triangle.
They seem to me to be ontologically utterly distinct and not capable of comparison in terms of "richness" at all.
It's worth mentioning that on Aristotelianism, you can see universals like "triangle". You may not be able to see them all at once (though I suppose it's in principle possible using telescreens). But on Aristotelianism, universals like "triangle" are a real part of the world.
edit: "You may not be able to see [all the instantiations of the universal "triangle"] at once."
I certainly have no idea what my concept of "triangle" looks like! Take another concept, say, "justice," or "the history of Cuba." One cannot picture such a thing. One recognizes that one has a concept in a completely different way than one recognizes a mental image.
Scott May 15, 2015 at 10:59 AM
It is true that a concept is something which may refer, but it is also true that a mental image is something I can see.
As I said, that's not the relevant difference in the context about which you're asking.
I still don't see any way of determining the relative richness of the concept. No measure of the relative richness of those properties has been proposed[.]
At least three of us have proposed the relevant one (including me, in the part of my post that you ignored while replying to my secondary and much less important point).
You're also (your remark to the contrary notwithstanding) ignoring Glenn's related point that it's not correct to conflate the relation between a concept and its referents with that between genus and species. A concept—that in your intellect by which you refer to objects—refers to more than its "definition."
Your question was what sort of "richness" Ed had in mind in writing The concept, being completely abstract and universal, is richer than any mental image or set of mental images, which are always concrete and particular. . I think that question has been satisfactorily answered, and it's irrelevant whether you can think of other senses in which it's not the case. Perhaps instead of looking for those, you might try dealing seriously with the responses you've already received.
Glenn May 15, 2015 at 10:59 AM
What is lost in going from a specific triangle to the triangle concept is a particular instantiation of something, and not the something that had been, no long is, but again can be instantiated.
If I have a right triangle, and I want an isosceles triangle, I can get from the former to the latter in either of two ways: 1) I can make changes to the right triangle such that an isosceles triangle results; or, 2) I can go up from the right triangle to the triangle concept, and then come back down with an isosceles triangle.
Notice that 1) involves a (kind of) horizontal movement and a change to the right triangle, while 2) involves a (kind of) vertical movement but no change to the triangle concept.
Notice also that 1) isn't possible unless you already have some sense of the unchanging triangle concept, i.e., method 1) of getting from a right triangle to an isosceles triangle necessarily involves an employment of the triangle concept.
Notice further that a right triangle cannot account for an isosceles triangle, or vice versa, while the triangle concept can account for both a right triangle and an isosceles triangle.
If you're right that a right triangle has more information than the triangle concept, then it would seem to be somewhat of a mystery as to how and why it is that with less information (the triangle concept on your account) which is better able to account for more than that with more information (the right triangle on your account).
E.Seigner May 15, 2015 at 11:03 AM
Natural Mind
The property that the concept has and the mental image hasn't is determinacy. Ed mentions this.
Particular objects lack universality and this actually a decisive decline in richness. Compared to universals, particular objects are like projections, mirror images. You may consider some of them a perfect mirror image, but there's an insurmountable difference in kind. A perfect mirror image of your tasty dinner is not a dinner; it's a mirror image.
And the properties that seem to be added to particulars (compared to universals) are actually inevitable contingencies, limitations. A particular triangle must have a colour and size, and its lines must have thickness. This is precisely which makes it lose its universality.
It seems to me you're equivocating on Ed's use of "rich". It's been explained to you what he means by "rich", and your reply was to reject his usage. But that's what he meant.
If you have some argument for why we should instead use your "rich", then I'm sure people here will give it a fair assessment.
But at very least, you're going to have unpack your problem with Ed's usage as it relates to his argument (ie. outline your objection to Ed's argument).
Natural Mind May 15, 2015 at 12:26 PM
Thank you for your excellent summary of the state of things. I'll do my best to answer it later in the evening.
Any difference between the concept and the image is relevant to the extent that it bears on the issue of how "rich" these two things are, is it not? If, compared with the concept, the image has new properties, then it is arguably richer along that dimension.
I have done my best to address everyone's claims directly, though I see now that my comment concerning your point about reference should have been more explicit. What is under discussion is the concept, and not what it refers to, which may well be nothing at all, so I don't understand why you move from concept to reference as being relevant to the issue.
Nor have I ignored Glenn's point, and I am in any case certainly not conflating the relation between a concept and its referents with the relation between genus and species; I hadn't said anything about a concept's relation to its referents. Please read my posts carefully before asking me to deal more seriously with those of others. I'm take everyone seriously (espcially you!), and do so in a spirit of exploration and clarification.
Where Feser writes The concept, being completely abstract and universal, is richer than any mental image or set of mental images, which are always concrete and particular, he has already invoked a quite specific notion of richness, by analogy with Lewis' "transposition." This notion explicitly involves a very clear difference in specificity. The relation between concept and mental image, insofar as it is a relation between the abstract/universal and the concrete/particular, does not reflect this difference.
Sorry, I got overwhelmed and missed your post!
Yes, the concept of "triangle" includes all specific triangles, but it does so precisely by being more abstract, less specific, than any specific triangle.
I'm not sure what you mean in your last post by "account for," so I can't follow your argument well.
You seem also to be comparing concepts with other concepts, for example, "right triangle" with "triangle." The former is a "richer" concept in one sense: in that it has properties that do not hold of triangles in general. The latter is a "richer" concept in another sense, in that it includes more kinds of shapes than the former.
So I wouldn't be at all surprized to find that there is some notion of "richness" with which we could say that the concept is richer than the image. But there is clearly a notion of "richness," the one I have suggested, for which the image is richer than the concept: it is more specific. So "richness" gets us nowhere – yet it is crucial to Feser's analogy.
@E.Seigner,
Yes, the concept has determinacy. How does that make it "richer?" The mental image has temporality. Does that make it richer?
Properties that are limitations add structure to the object. If I have an undeveloped piece of photographic paper, do I have a richer object than when I have fully developed an image (hopefully by Cartier-Bresson) on it? No; the limitations that have been set on the paper are precisely what enrich it, if by "rich" we mean having an image as opposed to none. There is more "information" there.
E.Seigner May 15, 2015 at 12:32 PM
"Properties that are limitations add structure to the object. If I have an undeveloped piece of photographic paper, do I have a richer object than when I have fully developed an image (hopefully by Cartier-Bresson) on it? No; the limitations that have been set on the paper are precisely what enrich it, if by "rich" we mean having an image as opposed to none. There is more "information" there."
Do you notice how you compare differences of degree, whereas we are comparing differences of kind? Looks like this topic is over your head in many ways.
You mention Cartier-Bresson. I wonder if this might be the same Cartier Bresson who is credited with having said:
o Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.
o We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.
Daniel May 15, 2015 at 3:31 PM
I think the Concept/Phantasm arrangement is one area where Aristotelian psychology has aged badly. It's not that arguments such as those put forward by Ed in his 'Think McFly, Think!' entry don't work; on the contrary, they work too well and call into question the idea of there being any strict concept/phantasm binary. This is an area where good old Husserl's work can really enrich Scholastic thought: both 'picturing' and higher level categorical thought are built up out of inter-weaving intentional acts which we can study via phenomenological methods (btw Husserl, a die-hard opponent of Imagism, wrote an entire book on pictorial consciousness and the sort of intentionality involved in it).
A brief thought on the Particular/Universal aspect of Concepts/Phantasms: when I think of an individual property-instance such as the brittleness of this cup I am thinking of a specific singular entity yet that entity cannot be captured in pictorial thought any more than say, the universal Wisdom, or the specific instance of Wisdom in Socrates can.
Less than on-topic stuff:
Does anyone know a good contemporary essay defending Prime Matter as the principle of Individuation? Most contemporary discussions don’t even mention it going straight for Bundle, Spatio-Temporal location or Bare Particular.
I see two responses to my previous post (from Glenn and E.Seigner), but the post itself no longer appears here, though it did an hour or two ago. Can anyone else see it? It was rather long; I would hate for it to have been lost. . . and I don't have another copy. Is it possible for anyone to repost it? I'd be much obliged!
Does Blogger do that from time to time, eat posts?
Brandon May 15, 2015 at 4:40 PM
Identifying a species involves identifying a specific difference in a genus at least vaguely known so that it can be assumed. But insofar as the genus is clearly known, it would have to involve massively more than this. The genus 'triangle', qua genus, has more structure than any specific difference of any species of triangle, because the genus carries modal information about what is possible for any and every specific triangle, and also how all different specific triangles would relate to each other. How the right triangle relates to any other kind of triangle can only be determined through general information and not through that which makes a triangle a specific triangle (i.e., the specific difference). 'Right triangle', merely considered as the concept of a right triangle and not another triangle, tells us nothing about other triangles. This means that there is always an immense amount of information in a genus that is only found in triangles if we consider them generally and not in terms of what makes them distinctive species in that genus. Specific difference limits genus in one way (that's the whole point); but the genus will tend to introduce massively more limitations than any particular specific difference does. And this follows from the hierarchy of genus and species; most of the limitations of anything will derive from its genus, not what makes it the specific kind of thing it is in that particular genus. We learn most of what we know about anything from its genus, which is why progress in knowledge tends to be toward the more general, not toward the more specific; beginning to identify the species is the beginning of understanding, not the end.
All the specific difference does is (so to speak) switch one of the limitations that the genus tags as [possible] to [actual]. There is information you can get from the flipping of a switch that you cannot get from contemplating the specification of the switchboard as a whole; but it would be simply an error to assume that a recognizably flipped switch carries more information than the entire switchboard that relates switches to each other and makes flip-switching possible in the first place. Yes, flipping the switch adds a limitation or difference to the switchboard; but the switchboard adds far more limitations or differences to the flipping of the switch.
flip-switching
Or switch-flipping, I suppose.
In any case, yet another way to look at it is to recognize that every genus is represented by an entire system of classification (some more local than others), but the species relative to the genus corresponds to one branch in that classification. It's a mistake to think that identifying one branch itself involves more information than the entire classification system; full knowledge will certainly include clear understanding of the latter, but the entire classification system is far more than is needed to identify a branch in it.
Daniel D. D. May 15, 2015 at 5:11 PM
As far as I'm aware (and there are many people far more knowledgable on this then myself), I'm not aware of any thinkers who defended prime matter itself (pure potency). Some thinkers, such as St. Thomas, seem to have thought that "dimensionized" matter was the principle of individualization, matter that has a "position" in space and time (and this is a generalization: Thomas himself seems to have changed his positions a bit through the his life on this topic).
I'm still trying to understand myself how dimension corresponds only to matter, rather than form as well. It seems, to me at least, that dimension would be of the form, or at least the form-matter, of a thing.
Christi pax.
As far as I'm aware (and there are many people far more knowledgable on this then myself), there are not any thinkers who defended prime matter itself (pure potency) as the principle of individualization. Some thinkers, such as St. Thomas, seem to have thought that "dimensionized" matter is the principle of individualization, matter that has a "position" in space and time (and this is a generalization: Thomas himself seems to have changed his positions a bit through the his life on this topic).
Scott May 15, 2015 at 5:32 PM
@The Daniels:
Yes, Aquinas defended not "prime matter" but "designated matter" as the principle of individuation. For a good summary (including the point that prime matter has dimensions only when it has been actuated by form), see the seventh section of this.
Well, it is remarkably annoying that my post should have vanished. I am not sure what to make of it.
Given how much effort has gone down the tubes, I'll reply to just one post, by John West, for which many thanks, as it makes the clearest demand.
@John West
It is true that Feser's use of the word "rich" has been explained here. My posts have indicated resistance to the way he has used it, not because I have some "other" definition, but because Feser appears to use it in two contradictory senses. Let me lay out what we have so far.
In the case of the transposition, the "richer" object is the more specific object, the one that bears more information and less ambiguity. In the case of the concept/image distinction, the "richer" object is the abstract/general/less specific object, namely the concept. (Some posts argued that the more general concept is "richer" than the more specific; with this I can now only assert disagreement, suggesting as an example that the concept "thing" is not "richer" than the concept "triangle," though it is more general.)
At best: we have here two reasonable construals of the word "rich," but they are contradictory. If we consistently choose the former, then concepts are in fact poorer than their instantiations, and Feser's argument fails. If we choose the latter, then Feser's point about the concept succeeds – but the analogy of transposition can't be appealed to any more. In which case more work needs to be done to seal up the argument.
For now, we are left without a single, consistent definition of "richness" that can support the weight Feser's argument puts on it.
I apologize to those of you who commented on my posts without receiving a reply; I replied to all of you, but you perhaps did not see it due to my deleted message. I don't have enough time now to recreate it all. Quality, not quantity, indeed.
Blogger put it in the spam folder, but I've liberated it -- I assume that's it several posts above.
Sorry for the delay, I've been away for much of the day.
Any difference between the concept and the image is relevant to the extent that it bears on the issue of how "rich" these two things are, is it not?
No, obviously not, if the purpose to which it's supposed to be relevant is that of understanding the specific notion of "richness" on which Ed is relying.
What is under discussion is the concept, and not what it refers to[.]
What is under discussion, according to your original question and those of us who have been answering it, is what notion of "richness" Ed is employing when he says that a concept, being abstract and universal, is than a mental image. How you expect to understand the relevance of universality (or even the nature of a concept) by ignoring referents/signification from the outset, I do not know.
Fortunately for you, though…
I hadn't said anything about a concept's relation to its referents.
…you seem perfectly willing to invoke that relation without acknowledgement, as e.g. in your latest reply to Tony ("Yes, the concept of 'triangle' includes all specific triangles"), which makes no sense whatsoever if you're ignoring the relationship between a concept and its referents. The only way in which the concept of a triangle "includes" all specific triangles is by referring to them.
And it's only by explicitly ignoring this fact, even while implicitly relying on it, that you can somehow manage to confuse the difference between a concept and a mental image with the difference between an undeveloped and a developed photograph. E.Seigner is right that you're ignoring differences in kind and looking only at differences in degree.
It is true that Feser's use of the word "rich" has been explained here. My posts have indicated resistance to the way he has used it, not because I have some "other" definition, but because Feser appears to use it in two contradictory senses.…At best: we have here two reasonable construals of the word "rich," but they are contradictory.
No, we just have the one, and it makes sense to those of us who have been replying to you about it. Ed appears to be using the word in two contradictory senses only because you haven't yet quite gotten your mind around the sense in which he is using it.
Hello Dr. Feser,
In regards to the prime mover of Aristotle and Aquinas, both of them state it cannot be composite even of it was eternal as there would have to be something external to put it's parts together and it would have to be dependent on these parts to exist. But could it be said that these parts themselves have it in their nature to be together and don't require something external to put them together, and something like an eternal multiverse could be the prime mover, and even if it was dependent on those parts those parts themselves are necessary and need no external cause? This is common argument I hear from atheist, and I wonder if there is a rebuttal to it.
Daniel May 16, 2015 at 4:30 AM
@Anon,
But could it be said that these parts themselves have it in their nature to be together
Can you elaborate on this part of the argument? As it stands it sounds like it either amounts to an admission of Brute Fact or arbitrarily proclaiming that X being (which behaves in a contingent way) is in fact Necessary.
But could it be said that these parts themselves have it in their nature to be together and don't require something external to put them together, and something like an eternal multiverse could be the prime mover, and even if it was dependent on those parts those parts themselves are necessary and need no external cause?
Quentin Smith has given an argument somewhat like this in the past. Let's avoid the Prime Mover part since it just causes confusion - what the argument depends on is the bold premise that said parts exist Necessarily, that their non-existence entails a Broadly Logical contradiction. In other words they just claim the Multiverse is a necessary being*. Why should this be so though: why is it that the Multiverse has the characteristic of Necessity? One cannot make a being e.g. an island or a unicorn into a necessary being just by claiming it falls into that Modal class - one must show why that is so.
* A word of caution: the Multiverse is a collective term. The entities that form its Parts are contingent; with that in mind I don't think it would be unfair riposte that a necessary Whole cannot be made up of solely contingent Parts. The atheist knows this and wants to get round it by claiming that certain base particles are in fact Necessary. In this case the main criticism still holds.
@Scott and Daniel D,
Thanks for the response fellows. I'm sorry; I spoke lazily in my request - I know about the Prime Matter <> Quantified Matter/Materia Secunda distinction. I'm looking for something which contrasts this view with Bare Particularism e.g. something like Vallicella's:
Ontological Analysis in Aristotle and Bergmann: Prime Matter Versus Bare Particulars
@Daniel the parts that I said were admissions of it being a brute fact or saying that X being which behave contingently is necessary. This is what I commonly see atheist do and when I try to tell them that this is what their doing they ask me why, and I can't really explain it to them well enough, so they think I'm wrong,which is why I posed this question.
@Edward Feser,
many thanks for your retrieving my post! I greatly appreciate your work here, which is exceptional not only for its excellent writing, but for the often very interesting exchanges that come through the comboxes - a rarity in this troll infested and uncivilized digital age.
The specific notion of richness on which Feser's argument relied invoked, explicitly, the matter of presence or absence of properties of the type I described: information. Your assertion that this is irrelevant contradicts this.
You state,
No concept is dependent on, much less identical with, its referents (which may, I repeat, not even exist, even in principle). How you expect to understand the nature of a concept (or the relevance of universality) in terms of reference/signification I do not know. A concept may have everything or nothing to do with reference.
In response to my claim that there are two senses being used by Feser, you simply say, no, "we have just the one," but you quite remarkably don't say which one. And then you tell me I haven't got my head around the sense in which he's using it.
So tell us: which sense is he using "the one?” Is the richer the more concrete and particular, or the more abstract and general?
Spryness is not an adequate substitute for paying attention.
No concept is dependent on, much less identical with, its referents (which may, I repeat, not even exist, even in principle).
I think the statements about not all concepts referring distracts from the point of Ed's post. We can quickly draw a distinction between concepts-with-referrents and concepts-without-referrents. Ed's example of “triangles” indicates he means concepts-with-referrents. Also, the post culminates in a point about Heaven which, at least for the sake of the post, is assumed to exist (ie. we could argue about it, but that would be a different post).
You can argue that concepts-without-referrents aren't richer than mental images, but even if you're right, it's trivial. Ed's argument isn't talking about concepts-without-referrents.
Perhaps you might consider taking him at his word:
The concept, being completely abstract and universal, is richer than any mental image or set of mental images, which are always concrete and particular.
Much of your argument seems to proceed on the assumption that the general is just the specific considered in a vague, and thus less informative, way; but this is not something anyone here would accept uncritically, and at least a number of people here would not accept at all, arguing that the specific vaguely considered is still just the specific, however vaguely you consider it.
I'll limit this reply to one fundamental point, as other posters have already addressed most of the other issues.
A concept may have everything or nothing to do with reference.
On the contrary, a concept is pretty much nothing but reference. I take it you mean here that a concept may not have real referents in the external world—which is true but irrelevant: any concept has what might be called a virtual referent or an intentional object, and it is from that object that a concept takes its character as a concept. Divest a concept of its intentionality, its directedness toward its object, and you're left with a big ol' handful o' nothin'.
Or at least that's the view underlying the claim you're trying to criticize; you may of course disagree. But if you do, that's irrelevant to your stated aim of understanding the claim in question. Ed meant just what he wrote, even if you think he should have meant something else instead.
The universal is infinitive. Therefore it is simple because it expresses limitless possibilities under one subject. 'The Idea of Walking' is limitless modes of walking.
A concept is a symbol first and then a sign. First it expresses itself and then it actually signifies this or that particular. A concept, either general or specific, is a general sign. A mental image is a particular sign. The concept is first intelligible and then it is a sign; therefore the concept is essentially a symbol before it is a sign. What is a concept that doesn't signify? A privative universal. It is the universal conformed to a finite mind. Then it is the universal conformed to a finite mind within a position. Then it is the universal, conformed to a finite mind, within a position and signifying an object. Then it is the universal, conformed to a finite mind, within a position, signifying an object which is also in a position. And so on.
A symbol possesses abstract content, but a sign contains a reference to a concrete object. The letter 'A' symbolizes 'beginnings' and signifies the beginning of the alphabet as well as elements of speech. The letter 'A' as a symbol is different from the letter 'A' as a sign. The letter 'A' signifies one type of beginning or a particular beginning (an actual instance of pronouncing the alphabet), but once it is taken as a symbol it possesses limitless content since 'to be a beginning' is infinitive. The limit of contemplation is reached in conforming the infinitive to a finite mind.
Theses:
1. A general concept is a symbol for the universal.
2. A specific concept is a general sign.
3. A specific concept is decomposed into general concepts.
4. A mental image is a particular sign.
5. A mental image in itself is never conceptual, but requires a concept.
Example: I have a specific concept of my cat, Friedrich, which may be decomposed into general concepts. No mental image by itself is the same as my concept, but signifies the concept. The specific concept is a general sign and may be significantly specified as I intend Friedrich the concrete particular cat in some position, etc.
Hypotheses:
1. The infinitive is indivisible. Therefore it is a simple subject.
2. The mind intuitively converts subjects and objects. ('X' is an object of experience which is a subject which is an object of intellection, etc.)
3. This intuitive conversion is the efficient cause of discursive intellection.
4. Discourse intensifies any subject insofar as it is an object of intellection.
5. The final cause of discursive intellection is the purification of primitive intuition.
6. Purification is perfect objectification of the infinitive by an intellect.
7. Perfection is infinity.
8. The finite mind obtains intellectual intuition at its own limit wherein the infinitive is conformed to the finite intellect.
Ian Wardell May 17, 2015 at 5:07 AM
I see nothing wrong with Berkeley's claim that physical objects are nothing but a family of perceptions. There might be a mind-independent reality. It might even be like what we perceive it to be i.e having colour, sounds etc. But it is also possible that it is nothing but our experiences.
Contrariwise it seems to me to be simply false to say that brain activity is the very same thing as thoughts. The former might produce the latter, but they are not literally the same since they are wholly dissimilar to each other.
could you elaborate more on why Quentin Smith's eternal multiverse could not be the necessary reality, even it if was eternal and would require an actual necessary being to sustain it due to it being composed of parts
Why don't you search this blog for "simplicity"? I'd recommend starting here.
One short (and incomplete) answer to your question is that even if the "parts" of a multiverse (or anything else) somehow have it in their natures to "go together," that fact implies that each part has potencies in its nature that require the existence of the other part(s) in order to be actualized. Each such act of existence itself stands in need of explanation; there's no way to get a self-contained ultimate explanation from anything whose essence doesn't include existence.
Daniel D. D. May 17, 2015 at 8:56 AM
How do you view the universe? Is it a thing, or a sum of things? Is the universe a substance or an aggregate? Is the universe a box where there may be or may not be other things inside it, or is it a pile of things?
@Daniel, I think it is a sum of things, but I'm having trouble understanding that if the universe was composed of parts(I do believe it is composed of parts), but eternal how would it still require an external source to make sure all of its parts came together and stayed that way, because doesn't eternal mean necessary? This may seem like an amateur question but this is a common argument I see atheist use as they always seem to play this card to object to a first cause.
Daniel May 17, 2015 at 10:39 AM
An aside but if parts 'have it in their nature to go together' then we're well on the way to the Fifth Way.
could you elaborate more on why Quentin Smith's eternal multiverse could not be the necessary reality, even if it was eternal and would require an actual necessary being to sustain it due to it being composed of parts
Well if the emboldened phrase is taken into account then the multiverse is only necessary in the sense that it has always and always will exist, which is just what Aristotle himself (not to mention the Neoplatonists thought). For the sake of the argument the theist can, and in Thomas case does, admit this. Ed discusses this explicitly in the context of our conversation in his overview of the Third Way in Aquinas.
My own preferred way of tackling the problem would be to ask why is the being the atheist posits i.e. the necessary part of which we know nothing, necessary? What aspect of it makes it so? For God, the Perfect Being, we have an answer: a Perfect Being is of its nature a necessary being (one capable of existing in all Possible Worlds to put it in modern speak) and thus if coherent to witt logically possible then it exists necessarily. What justification of Necessity can the atheist give for their part?
(Of course they could accept the above Ontological Argument and claim that the multiverse conceived pantheisticaly is the Perfect Being, a claim which is dubious to say the least)
If people can get access to it through a library or similar there's a great essay on Divine Necessity by Brian Leftow in The Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology. There's a couple of video clips of him explaining it simplified language on his Closer to the Truth page too.
http://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/brian-leftow/profile
[D]oesn't eternal mean necessary?
Not at all. For example, Aquinas holds that God's willing the creation of our universe is eternal, but it's not necessary (absolutely necessary, that is; there's a sense in which God didn't have to create just this universe and "could have done otherwise").
Even if all we mean by "eternal" is "everlasting in time," Aquinas didn't see any contradiction in the universe's having existed forever; he thought we needed special revelation in order to know that it hadn't. But he also thought it could be shown through natural reason that God willed/wills its creation eternally.
"[I]f the universe was composed of parts…but eternal how would it still require an external source to make sure all of its parts came together and stayed that way[?]"
As I said above, the existence of the "parts" still requires explanation. Nothing can be self-explanatory unless existence is included in its essence, and we know that's not the case for any "part" that has a potency to come together with another "part," since it requires that other "part" in order to reduce that potency to act. (Follow the link, and the advice, that I've already provided in order to see why something whose essence is existence must itself be Pure Act—i.e., without potencies.)
None of that changes just because the "parts" have existed forever.
Scott May 17, 2015 at 12:03 PM
I've put this somewhat confusingly and, in at least one respect, altogether incorrectly. What I meant is this.
Aquinas thought that, without special revelation, we can't tell whether the universe has existed forever. He also thought, however, that we can know via natural reason that God doesn't create this universe out of (absolute) necessity and thus that it doesn't exist (absolutely) necessarily. So by "necessity" he clearly didn't (just) mean everlasting existence.
Eternal means necessary. Divine Ideas are necessary in relation to material entities, but not necessary in relation to God. For in metaphysics there is a triadic hierarchy:
Absolute Subject->Specific subjects (infinite in a secondary mode; Divine Ideas and Angels)->material subjects (composed in time)
Necessity depends upon ontological status. God is Absolutely necessary and Divine Ideas or Universals are relatively necessary.
It seems plausible to me that if such a place as Heaven exists, humans are conceptually closed to it.
@Scott and Daniel,
Just to to be clear, you guys are saying that even if there was an eternally existant multiverse composed of parts that were always together, they would still require a prior cause due to those parts needing each other to actualize their potential(being together), and couldnt n=be the first cause, otherwise it would just be a brute fact? I told this to an atheist, and they replied they would rather believe in a brute fact than go on further and just accept all of the above I stated about the multiverse being eternal.
Nice to see "relatively necessary" getting some use.
Think, Mcfly, think! by Edward Feser
Eternal means necessary.
'Fraid not. They'd mean two different things even if they entailed one other, just as "triangular" and "trilateral" do.
I told this to an atheist, and they replied they would rather believe in a brute fact than go on further and just accept all of the above I stated about the multiverse being eternal.
In which case they've just thrown up their hands and refused point-blank to give an explanation at all for fear it be one they dislike. Now why does this all sound hauntingly familiar?
"Nice to see "relatively necessary" getting some use."
If there are Divine Ideas then there is God. Therefore contingency.
If there are material entities then there are Divine Ideas. Necessity.
If there is God then there is God. Absolute necessity.
If there is anything other than God then there is God. Therefore there are relative necessities subordinate to God's Absolute Necessity.
What is eternal is timeless, but may be specifically limited by eternal acts proceeding from the First. Temporal entities are limited through their essence as well as their temporal composition or existence. Ideas or Universals are limited by definition alone, but are infinite in there kind, not limited by what may be posited through them, 'infinitive', 'infinitum secundum quid', etc.
Basically, whatever is eternal is necessary although not absolutely necessary.
I'll probably go along with that, but I still have to disagree that eternity (or eternal) means necessity (or necessary).
Just to to be clear, you guys are saying that even if there was an eternally existant multiverse composed of parts that were always together, they would still require a prior cause due to those parts needing each other to actualize their potential(being together), and couldnt n=be the first cause, otherwise it would just be a brute fact?
I think that's a fair summary of what we're saying in combination.
I'm saying that if A's nature is such that it can combine with B as a part of a greater whole, then the potency to do so must be part of A's nature, and this potency can't be actualized without B. In that case neither A alone nor the composite entity A-B can be pure act, even if A-B has always existed, because even in that case A includes an actualized potency. It can be argued on other grounds (again, follow the link) that the Prime Mover must be pure act, without any potencies (actualized or not), and so we can't have arrived at the Prime Mover with A-B.
Would there still be a prime mover even if there was an eternal quantum field as some atheist uses this as an excuse instead of the multiverse.
The point is that the Prime Mover whose existence is established by the cosmological argument(s) has to have certain features (unity, simplicity, aseity, and so forth) that a quantum field doesn't have. It doesn't make any difference whether the quantum field is "eternal," any more than it makes any difference whether the parts of the "multiverse" were ever in fact physically separate. Both require further explanation in terms of something else.
Thanks for all of your help as I now better understand the cosmological argument. It is not whether or not the universe began to exist, but about how change occurs in the first place. Though I still have one more question I would like to ask. Since humans and animals are self-movers could it be said that an eternal multiverse/quantum field is also a self-mover like humans but eternal and therefore requires not external cause. I don't endorse this view, but I want to properly understand and defend the argument.
The Thomist would say that though there is a strong sense in which humans determine their movements they are not 'self-moved' the sense we're talking about.
Even if we grant that humans are self-moved it's only because we're beings possessed of volition and free choice, something a quantum field lacks (if the quantum field has material parts the problem arises anyway).
If rational agents are self-moved could an immaterial being that isn't God be the cause of the universe? and claim this is as far as the First Way can go. Since the immaterial being would be contingent and thus have essence separate from existence arguments like the Second Way would still hold.
That should read 'Scotus and Kenny would claim this is as far as the First Way can go'
It is not whether or not the universe began to exist, but about how change occurs in the first place.
Yes, Aquinas's First Way in particular is about how changes can be occurring here and now and not how they may have gotten started somewhere way back in time. In general, the present existence of something requires an explanation no matter how long (even infinitely long) the thing may have existed in the past.
Since humans and animals are self-movers could it be said that an eternal multiverse/quantum field is also a self-mover like humans but eternal and therefore requires not external cause.
Humans and (nonrational) animals are "self-movers" only conditionally and only in a sense. What happens when "I" move "myself" is really that some part of me moves another part of me, and even this power involves secondary causation, which I don't have apart from God's primary causation.
And here again, the reason we require external causes isn't that we aren't "eternal" but that our existence isn't self-explanatory. No matter how we analyze our self-motion, we clearly do require external causes in order to exist; so, by analogy, should an allegedly self-moving quantum field, whether or not it's "eternal."
If an Atheist said that an eternal multiverse/quantam field is the first cause , I could just reply that it cannot be so due to the fact that based on what we know about them they are changing, and they cannot do so on their own as in order for them to go from potency to act in the same regard would mean that they would be potency and act at the same time, which would be impossible, and they would require further explanation for these changes, otherwise it would just be a brute fact
I'm not sure “just” is the right word here. Glancing through Scott's replies he's discussed the act/potency analysis of change (which your interlocutor probably denies), the Principle of Sufficient Reason, the real distinction (between essence/existence), the distinction between temporal first causes and logical first causes (this is particularly important to understanding his point about eternality not cutting it). His replies are obviously on point, but (while I don't think anyone's made it) I think we should avoid the mistake of acting like they're “easy” replies. It may take some footwork to unpack all of that, especially to atheists.
Make sure your interlocutor's doing some work to explain his proposals. We're not even sure there is a multiverse or quantum fields (is Everett's even compatible with quantum field theory?), or that if there is a multiverse, that multiverses have quantum fields, or that if there is a multiverse with a quantum field, that it's possible for a quantum field to have eternality. Don't let your interlocutor just keep throwing baloney at you to keep you on the ropes. Make sure he's doing some work too.
John West writes:
I think we should avoid the mistake of acting like they're “easy” replies.
Absolutely agreed. I don't think anyone has claimed otherwise either, but it's certainly worth emphasizing that nothing we've said in this thread amounts to a knockdown reply that's guaranteed to drop an atheist in his/her logical tracks. Entire books have been written about every one of the sub-points at issue here.
E.Seigner May 18, 2015 at 9:44 PM
If an Atheist said that an eternal multiverse/quantam field is the first cause , I could just reply that... otherwise it would just be a brute fact
The problem is that atheists are generally comfy with brute facts. There's hardly ever any certainty you can change anyone's mind. You can only make sure you don't stop your inquiries at brute facts yourself.
Yes. George H. Smith's Atheism: The Case Against God, for example, is quite explicit in its rejection of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and its acceptance of the physical universe as brute fact.
@Scott, Daniel,
Thank you guys for your help,
I found some articles on why an eternal something could still not be the first cause and God would still be required
https://thomists.wordpress.com/2014/06/22/notes-on-the-relationship-between-faith-and-reason/
https://thomists.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/hume-causality-and-the-fallacy-of-composition/
Do you think they accurately represent why only God is the first cause.
PS does anyone know where dguller is, I heard he embraced the first cause argument a while ago and Aristotalein philosophy and I was thinking about asking him why stuff such as an eternal multiverse/quantum field did not suit with him(as he used to be an atheist, and this is what they commonly use as the first cause instead) and why he accepted it must be something like God.
Glenn May 19, 2015 at 12:28 PM
Smith does say that on p. 146:
"The 'principle of sufficient reason' is false; not everything requires an explanation. As repeatedly emphasized, the natural universe sets the context in which explanation is possible, so the concept of explanation cannot legitimately be extended to the universe as a whole. Even the advocate of sufficient reason cannot adhere to this principle consistently: after applying it to the universe, the theist attempts to offer god as an exception to the principle, usually under the guise that god is his own sufficient reason for existing. But if god can be his own sufficient reason, there is no basis on which to argue that the universe cannot likewise be its own sufficient reason, in which case there is no need to posit god in the first place."
It may be noticed that he uses the term 'god' and not the term 'God'. Back on p. 5, he explains why he might use one term and not the other:
"[I]t is necessary to mention that I employ the term 'god' in two different ways. I use it with a lower case 'g' (god) to refer to the generic idea of a god, i.e., the general notion of a supernatural being, apart from any specific characteristics. I use the term 'God' (with an upper case 'G') to refer specifically to the God of Christianity, along with its various attributes, such as omnipotence, omniscience and so forth."
If Smith's employment of the term 'god' on p. 146 is consistent with his explanation on p. 5 for how he'll intends on using the term, then when he asserts on p. 146 that there is no need to posit god in the first place, he is saying there is no need to posit God as devoid of omnipotence, omniscience, etc.
I think I'll concur.
(s/b "...he intends...")
Anonymous wrote: PS does anyone know where dguller is, I heard he embraced the first cause argument a while ago and Aristotalein philosophy and I was thinking about asking him why stuff such as an eternal multiverse/quantum field did not suit with him(as he used to be an atheist, and this is what they commonly use as the first cause instead) and why he accepted it must be something like God
The legendary DGuller -- again!
For what it's worth, Anonymous, the terms "quantum field" and "multiverse" really just obscure the issue. At root, "quantum field" is just a placeholder for "most fundamental unit of physical matter" in your interlocutor's objection. The quantum fieldness of the quantum field doesn't actually play any part in it. It's just the old necessarily existent philosophical atom, or atomos, objection to cosmological arguments with a bunch of extra baggage that isn't actually doing anything in the objection.
Likewise, the "multiverse" objection is just the "necessarily existent universe" objection, moved a step back to accommodate the (ever more contrived) Big Bang Theory. So neither objection is new, and there are oodles of work refuting both of them.
Might I take this opportunity to recommend Stephen Parrish's God and Necessity: A Defense of Classical Theism, which contains a nice section on Necessary Universe theories along with the more boring Brute Fact alternative.
(He has another book, The Knower and the Known, which deals with the Mind/Body problem and supposedly contains a variation on the Proof from Eternal Truths though I haven't checked it out yet)
Both of those links take me to The Knower and the Known Here's God and Necessity.
Thanks. They look interesting.,
Young and Rested: That Jesus was quite clearly a person makes it hard for me to see exactly how to understand the claim that he was also God when God is not a person or a being, but being itself.
Au contraire, it makes it easier to understand! Remember that God is not "impersonal"; we should think of Him as being more than personal, not less. But if God were a person, like a man or some other creature, then it would be problematic for Him to be both one kind of person and a human kind of person at the same time. Having two different natures would seem to be contradictory since having a nature just means being this kind of thing and not something else. But it is because God as divine is beyond having a nature (strictly speaking, God is supernatural), that taking on a human nature does not contradict His beyond-natural-ness. The non-classical theist depicts God as having a nature, albeit a really big one, which is too limiting.
Glenn: Smith does say [...] But if god can be his own sufficient reason, there is no basis on which to argue that the universe cannot likewise be its own sufficient reason
The next time I hear that line, I think I'll invite the speaker to jump off a cliff. You know, on the grounds that if a bird can fly, there is no basis on which to argue that a man cannot do likewise.
Greg May 19, 2015 at 2:38 PM
As repeatedly emphasized, the natural universe sets the context in which explanation is possible, so the concept of explanation cannot legitimately be extended to the universe as a whole.
I'd also be interested to take a look at the book on this point, since he says "As repeatedly emphasized". One has to be clear about what the 'natural universe' is. If it's everything that exists, in the sense of everything you can quantify over, then it doesn't exclude God. If it's everything mutable, then it is not clear what would prevent us from extending the concept of explanation to it as a whole, especially if some analysis forced us to (i.e. showed that, if the universe does not have an explanation other than itself, then some thing in the universe does not have an explanation other than itself). If it's something else, then one has to be careful that one doesn't rule out other legitimate forms of explanation or otherwise beg any questions.
It's a lot like Russell's assertion that causality only makes sense within the universe. But if you want to grant some principle of causality in the universe, then you open yourself up to the argument that that principle of causality cannot hold only in the universe.
@Mr. Green and Glenn:
If I recall correctly, that line appears not far from the part where Smith approvingly quotes Nathaniel Branden to the effect that "Existence—not 'God'—is the First Cause." What's interesting (and ironic) is that, understood correctly and without the false contrast between "God" and "existence," that statement would basically be right.
Unfortunately both of them, despite their regular bandying about of the term "existence," treat it in the end as synonymous with the physical/natural universe. That their own outlook doesn't entitle them to treat "existence" as anything over and above specific existents occurs to them no more than it did to their hero Rand.
Thus we get Smith "arguing" that if anything can be its own sufficient reason, then everything can be.
That criticism is derived from Kant ('causation' having no application beyond the phenomenal) and thus singularly irrelevant without that former's system of Transcendental Categories.
Good memory. Smith's quoting of Branden to the effect that "Existence—not 'God'—is the First Cause" is just 7 pages prior.
Two sentences later, Smith opines, "[B]efore something can act as a cause, it must first exist—i.e., it must first be part of the universe."
What I find, let me say, interesting about his book, in which he not infrequently appeals to the need for logic and evidence (which logic and evidence seems to be curiously absent re the above opining), is that Smith, having dispensed with the preface, begins his case against God by quoting from Thomas Paine: "I put the following work under your protection. It contains my opinion upon religion. You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine..."
It's almost as if he means to advise or warn his readers that his case against God is founded on his opinion.
@Glenn:
And, heh, the first part of that statement is not only true but admitted by every classical theist who has ever lived (with the possible but arguable exception of those who have held God to be beyond the distinction between existence and nonexistence). That's exactly why Ayn Rand was wrong (and culpably silly) to characterize theism as premised on the "primacy of consciousness" as opposed to the "primacy of existence" (a point on which I took her to task in my world-renowned book).
But if the bit after the "i.e." means "part of the physical/natural universe"—as it must if it's to make the point that Smith wants to make—then there's some equivocation in the air, not to mention the faint aroma of a question being begged.
So it seems Smith's almost-warning is well taken. His case is founded on his opinion, even when he doesn't know it.
All the talk of Simplicity in this thread and elsewhere reminds me of something that's been on my mind for a while. I wonder: might we offer a slight emendation of Scotus' Modal Argument using a Simple being instead of an Uncaused Cause?
1. A concrete Simple Being possible
2. Of its nature a Simple Being cannot come to be or pass away
3. If such a being cannot come to be (be caused) but is possible it cannot be contingent and therefore must be necessary
4. A concrete Simple Being is necessary
Conclusion (follows from 1 and 2): a concrete Simple Being exists
The phraseology would need tightening up, especially for premise 3, but it seems fairly sound. One point in its favour is that it can encompass accounts of Divine Simplicity which don't involve the Real Distinction.
I haven't read Ross's "Scotist" argument and I wouldn't presume to evaluate it based on a blog post that even the poster admits isn't necessarily a good match with what Ross actually wrote. But two premises seem to me to be pretty questionable.
1. An Uncaused Producer [or, in your version, a Simple Being] is logically possible.
I think Aquinas, at least, would say that this is just what we don't know. That's the basis of his objection to Anselm's ontological argument, namely that although the argument is sound if the notion of a maximally perfect being contains/implies nothing repugnant to reason, we simply don't have sufficient direct insight into the divine nature to know whether that's the case. I think he's probably right, and if so, a similar objection should apply to the two versions of premise 1 above.
2. Anything logically possible is either actual or potential.
On the face of it this premise seems to me to be, not to put too fine a point on it, not altogether unfalse. There appears, for example, to be nothing contradictory in the notion of a mermaid, a phoenix, or a unicorn, but we can't conclude from that fact that our universe harbors any real potencies (actualized or otherwise) for any of them.* And in this argument, we'd be begging the question if we assumed there was anywhere beyond our own world for such potencies to "live," as it were. Assuming there are no actual mermaids, we have no reason to think that mermaids are "potential" just because they're (so far as we can see) logically possible.
In that case, the argument at issue shows only that if an Uncaused Producer or a Simple Being exists, then it's actual. Which we kinda knew anyway, didn't we?
* If those examples don't persuade you, try a Euclidean isosceles right triangle. We have every reason to think the notion of such a triangle is logically consistent, but we also have every reason to think that our universe harbors exactly zero potency to produce anything other than more or less close approximations to it.
Greg May 20, 2015 at 9:46 AM
I think Scott's complaints are well-founded. I also think that they more or less apply to Ross's version of the argument.
John Zeis (I think a theist and one of Ross's students) wrote an article "Ross's antimony and modal arguments for God's existence" that gives similar objections to (1).
Interestingly he doesn't take as much issue with (2). But I suspect that even the later Ross would take issue with (2). In Philosophical Theology, though, he certainly did hold that if God did not exist, then his non-existence would have to be rendered explicable by some inconsistency in the concept of God. (Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Zeis's paper contains a concise rendition of Ross's argument.)
I asked the atheist what he meant by eternal quantum field/multiverse and he said that he meant eternal inflation where this occurs: "the very early Universe was dominated by exponential growth, and at some point the growth needed to stop and the energy needed to be converted into matter and radiation. The difference is that in eternal inflation, the growth need not have stopped all at once. Instead, little bubbles of space could have randomly stopped inflating, or fallen onto trajectories which would lead to inflation’s end. The bubbles’ interiors would be in a lower energy state (less vacuum energy means slower inflation), and since they’re in an energetically favorable state they would expand into the inflating exterior. This is much the same as little bubbles of steam growing and expanding in a pot of boiling water: a steam bubble nucleates randomly, and then grows by converting water into more steam. If the Universe weren’t expanding, or if it were expanding slowly, each bubble would eventually run into another bubble and the entire Universe would be converted to the lower vacuum energy. But, in a rapidly expanding universe, the space between bubbles is growing even as the bubbles are themselves growing into that space. If the expansion is fast enough, the growth of inflating space will be faster than its conversion into lower-energy bubbles — inflation will never end." and that "ternal inflation would mean that everything that we see, plus a huge amount that we don’t see (hidden behind our cosmological horizon), all came from a single bubble amongst an infinity of other bubbles. ". I'm not sure how I could respond to this, and I'm wondering if you can help
I'm not sure how I could respond to this[.]
The best way, I think, is to continue studying the basics yourself and stop worrying about how to answer off-topic "replies." There's nothing in this latest reply that we haven't already been addressed, and indeed there's nothing in it that even attempts to explain how a "single bubble amongst an infinity of other bubbles" could possibly fail to require further explanation. But you need to have a pretty firm grasp on the essential arguments yourself in order to able to present cogent responses along those lines, and having such a grasp has much more important rewards than being able to tell atheists when their arguments miss the point.
In short, the atheist copy-pasted what this guy said on January 21, 2014:
http://www.earlyuniverse.org/eternal-inflation-and-colliding-universes/
I should probably make explicit that your own premise 3
raises a question similar but not identical to that raised by Codgitator's premise 2. It's simply not clear that anything logically possible must be either contingent or necessary—as opposed to, say, merely nonexistent. The most you can get from your premise, it seems, is that if such a being did exist, it would be necessary rather than contingent. But you can't get its actual existence just from its logical possibility.
A couple of posts back, "that we haven't already been addressed" s/b "that we haven't already addressed."
Thanks for the responses.
The old saw that we do not know if a maximally great being or what have you is possible... The main problem I have with this objection is the theist is committed to hold that it is possible - if the theist cannot make this claim and defend it then the criticism holds for any theist argument*. True there may be some hidden inconsistency theists haven't noticed but that holds for any argument or concept. In short we can only seek to prove what hold to be possible.
(Ofcourse Theists including Thomas lay out arguments for the coherence of the Divine Attributes and such all the time)
To give a rough analogy: suppose one is responding to a Theist Personalist’s arguments for the incoherency of Divine Simplicity. One points out how these objections fail and thus we have no substantial reason to doubt the coherency (thus possibility) of Divine Simplicity. True the critic may then say ‘well, for all we know there may be an objection that does show DS is incoherent; we just haven’t found it yet’ but until such time as they follow up on their prediction we have no need to grant them anything.
*This of course is what a lot of early atheist philosophers of Religion e.g. Flew, Martin et cetera pressed forward that the notion of God was incoherent independent of any OA worries. Without the assumption of the coherence/possibility the Natural Theological project cannot get off the ground.
Which for one reason is why I was careful not to conflate potency with possibility. If the moral of the previous thread was not to take modality as solely reducible with act and potency then I agree.
It raises a question similar but not identical to that raised by Codgitator's premise 2. It's simply not clear that anything logically possible must be either contingent or necessary—as opposed to, say, merely nonexistent. The most you can get from your premise, it seems, is that if such a being did exist, it would be necessary rather than contingent. But you can't get its actual existence just from its logical possibility.
How so? Taking the above distinction in hand if a being does not exist it must either be contingent or contradictory i.e. impossible. To make points like this clear the argument could be hashed out in terms of Possible Worlds.
@Greg,
I’ll look up the article. Not that you implied so but I was of course not necessarily endorsing Ross’ own approach to Natural Theology or views on said argument as much as the argument itself.
Greg May 20, 2015 at 11:39 AM
The main problem I have with this objection is the theist is committed to hold that it is possible - if the theist cannot make this claim and defend it then the criticism holds for any theist argument*. True there may be some hidden inconsistency theists haven't noticed but that holds for any argument or concept. In short we can only seek to prove what hold to be possible.
The theist does hold that it is possible, but he doesn't have to hold that one can advance a probative argument against an atheist in which the possibility is known prior to the actuality.
In other words, Aquinas shows that God exists and has these attributes. We don't understand them fully, but the via negativa shows us something more about them than we could have come to know prior to knowing of God's existence. But if the theist wants to turn around and construct a modal argument, he would have to establish the coherence of the concept of God apart from whatever he has learned from pursuing one of the non-modal arguments. It's not quite a matter of avoiding hidden inconsistencies but of having something to talk about.
Well, hold on a second. when a proposition isn't contingent, all that says is that it's not (possibly true and possibly false, but not (necessarily true or necessarily false)).
In contrast, if a proposition is possibly true, then it's (possibly true, possibly false, or necessarily true, but not necessarily false). So given the proposition "Possibly, (a Simple Being exists)", the proposition “A Simple Being exists” can still be false, even if it's shown that it can't be contingent.
edit: So given "Possibly, (a Simple Being exists)", the proposition “A Simple Being exists” can still be false, even if it's shown that it can't be contingent.
Off topic, but I have GOT to read Feser's take on Jerry Coyne's new book, preferably a chapter-by-chapter takedown a la Alex Rosenberg...
The main problem I have with this objection is the theist is committed to hold that it is possible - if the theist cannot make this claim and defend it then the criticism holds for any theist argument*.
Most theistic arguments aren't modal arguments. (They also don't purport to prove the real existence of a definiendum from nothing more than its definition.) Greg has already explained the importance of this point, so I won't rehearse his explanation here.
Which for one reason is why I was careful not to conflate potency with possibility.
It's unfortunate, then, that as your example you linked to a version of the argument that wasn't so fastidious. ;-)
Taking the above distinction in hand if a being does not exist it must either be contingent or contradictory i.e. impossible.
Not if you intend these terms to have anything like the meanings they have for Aquinas and Thomism. For Thomists, something is "contingent" if it has an inherent tendency toward corruption or nonexistence, and "necessary" otherwise. That something does not in fact exist does not in any way show that if it did exist, it would have any such inherent tendency.
As a counterexample, consider the soul of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes never existed as anything other than a fictional character, so there isn't any "soul of Sherlock Holmes" in the real world. But if there were, it would be immortal just as our souls are, and for the same reasons. For Aquinas it would therefore, if it existed, be a necessary being, albeit one that received its necessity from God rather than possessing it of itself. The one thing it couldn't be is contingent.
Now, you can of course use those words with other meanings. But if you do, your replies won't have any bearing on my objections. (They'll also be vulnerable to John Wests's, but again, I won't rehearse those here.)
To make points like this clear the argument could be hashed out in terms of Possible Worlds.
Only at the risk of removing them even farther from the realm of relevance to Thomism. As you well know, from a Thomistic point of view, "possible worlds" ontology gets things entirely the wrong way round and in any case has nothing to say about the sort of necessity and contingency at issue in the arguments you're discussing.
Oops, I wound up with an extra "@Daniel" in that post. The whole post is a reply to the same Daniel, so ignore the second occurrence.
Why so? Surely the coherence of the concepts involved underpin those other arguments. How we first arrive at the concepts in question is a genetic issue irrelevant to their coherence. Even when we set out to prove something’s actual we tacitly presuppose that it’s possible.
And that brings us to the second point: one can understand the concepts discussed by Thomas or any theist without necessarily accepting the argument in context of which they were originally discussed. For instance a Scotist might say that God as Actus Purus in the First Way is coherent but cannot be reached by that argument. One might even hold that as they stand all of Thomas' own arguments fail but that the notion of God he derives from them is coherent.
(On the epistemic side the OA proponent gets the initial ‘something to talk’ about from being acquainted with degrees of Being and Goodness in the word – that though is strictly speaking a detail about the cognitive possibility of metaphysics in general and isn’t specific to this argument)
@John,
I wasn't talking about the modal status of propositions though but beings e.g. a contingent being is one which exists in at least one possible world and an impossible being on which exits in none (as opposed to doing so in terms of act and potency).
I should probably have written: For Thomists, something is "contingent" if it has an inherent tendency toward corruption or nonexistence, and (metaphysically) "necessary" otherwise.
Sorry - I posted the response to Greg before seeing your reply.
Does not the Thomist hold that something contingent if its essence is distinct from its existence? Hence the angels being contingent despite having no potency and thus tendency towards corruption.
To which I have replied saying that to ask how we arrive at the concepts is to change the subject.
As you well know, from a Thomistic point of view, "possible worlds" ontology gets things entirely the wrong way round and in any case has nothing to say about the sort of necessity and contingency at issue in the arguments you're discussing.
Not to get pernickety but I was using Possible World Semantics to illustrate a point not necessarily endorse any contemporary ontological account of said semantics.
Even when we set out to prove something’s actual we tacitly presuppose that it’s possible.
But we don't use that presupposition as a premise in the proof.
Moreover, if we do succeed in proving that it's actual, then we've also proven that our presupposition was correct: it is possible. That's different from a modal argument, which can show only that if something is possible, then it exists.
Why? If, as you say, you're being careful not to conflate potency with possibility, then your possible-worlds analysis can't possibly capture what Thomism means by contingency. (It doesn't even capture what Thomism means by possibility, but that's another subject.)
I see upon previewing this post that you've replied again while I was composing it, but I'm afraid I don't have time to incorporate a response; we have dinner guests arriving shortly.
It might not given the enlarged account vis via derived necessity you gave earlier but it's a close enough analogy with the essence distinct from existence meaning I had in mind. I’m aware the possible world and modern account of essences differ but its broad enough to illustrate the point I had in mind. If it helps people we can speak of ‘Objective Potency’ for this kind of logical possibility.
Important point was what Thomists mean by contingency. Anyway hope the evening goes well.
Surely the coherence of the concepts involved underpin those other arguments. How we first arrive at the concepts in question is a genetic issue irrelevant to their coherence. Even when we set out to prove something’s actual we tacitly presuppose that it’s possible.
I really don't think that this is true.
If we have to know that something is possible before proving that it is actual, then all proofs that purport to prove that some being necessarily exists beg the question.
Whatever is actual is possible. That's a necessary condition. In trying to show that something is actual, we cannot know that any one of its necessary conditions do not obtain. If we are to prove that God exists, we have to presuppose that it has not been shown that it is impossible that God exists. But that is not the same as presupposing that it is possible that God exists (unless we are equivocating between metaphysical and epistemic possibility).
If some set of conclusions follows from first principles, then that set of conclusions is consistent. That's at least my presupposition, that the human intellectual task is not entirely hopeless. But prior to the argument I haven't assumed the possibility of God's existence.
I'm aware of that. That's why I assumed possible worlds semantics.
But having run it through a proof tree (after a couple initial mistakes, from trying to scratch it out in a combox), it seems possible falsehood doesn't follow from non-contingency and possible truth. So, that checks out.
One other problem though, how do you ground possible worlds semantics without tacitly presuming God exists?
I should add that I'm assuming that there's some cogency to the line against Plantinga's ontological argument, that it begs the question in the premise that a maximally great being possibly exists.
But suffice it to say: It could not be a presupposition of all arguments for God's existence that God's existence is possible. For take one of those arguments like Aquinas's First Way. Aquinas's argument doesn't use that tacit premise, to be sure; I would be interested to hear which inference he makes demands it. So then you can delete the tacit premise and the argument remains sound, if it were sound before.
I want to think a bit more about this point. I am inclined to reject it as well, for one theme of Aquinas's arguments that I have always liked is that it is difficult to give a satisfactory account of the divine attributes apart from arguments for God's existence (though I think this claim has to be weakened somewhat). For instance, omnipotence is notoriously difficult to formulate; the Thomist almost picks the attribute out ostensively (or, I suppose more accurately, by the description: the attribute that makes that possible).
You raise a slightly different issue (or, at least, this is what you have said suggests to me). Maybe one could find the Thomistic account of the attributes coherent if one follows the arguments, even though one goes on to reject the arguments. But I think I am still inclined to doubt that one really comes to the same understanding; I think that, insofar as one finds several of the Five Ways deficient, he will find that the Thomistic account of omnipotence lacks something, misses some point, glosses over a distinction, or emphasizes something that is not an issue. (These are, admittedly, not all issues of coherence.)
Ah okay, thank you. The argument structure I gave in the combox was pretty thrown together - I'll go through it properly later on or over the weekend.
Yes, that's a worry for me as well. As yet I can't give any clear solution to it. My stop-gap is something to the effect that both Platonism and God do the same work - if it can be proved on the grounds of the former that the latter is workable then it can be collapsed into the former.
(Maybe though is the admission that beings have modal properties is enough to employ the semantics even before we find out what ultimately grounds such properties)
I'll slot in my response to what you said in the previous post about epistemic and metaphysical possibility here. The onus is on the critic so show that Plantinga or anyone else's claim that said being is metaphysically possible (the proponent will typically argue the individual coherence of the attributes he takes to comprise the being in question) is false. Until such time as they do the proponent has prima facia justification in his claim to metaphysical possibility.
The proponent of these arguments doesn't just assert possibility - he or she backs up this claim by analysing the concepts involved and defending them against prior objections. So we're not getting our justification for metaphysical possibility from nowhere.
Thanks for the further responses. As with Scott earlier they crossed as I was writing that reply. I'll give a proper response later I hope.
One quick point: Surely your last sentence about someone finding the Thomist account of an Attribute lack something, misses a vital distinction et cetera could equally hold for someone who accepts the or any of Thomas arguments? Or (more interestingly) even if one accepts the account given and Five Ways could still claim they fail to establish that account by themselves.
I am inclined to reject it as well, for one theme of Aquinas's arguments that I have always liked is that it is difficult to give a satisfactory account of the divine attributes apart from arguments for God's existence (though I think this claim has to be weakened somewhat). For instance, omnipotence is notoriously difficult to formulate; the Thomist almost picks the attribute out ostensively (or, I suppose more accurately, by the description: the attribute that makes that possible).
I would contest this. Surely an educated layman could come to understand Omnipotence as the power to bring about whatever's possible and good without any knowledge of specifically philosophical notions like the Thomist account of causality and such? Ditto for the other Divine Attributes.
If it's a question of how God has these attributes e.g. God Omnipotence's being due his nature as Pure Act and the Principle of Proportionate Causality then I concede it's very hard if not impossible to talk about it away from the context of other proofs.
[With apologies for the previous typos]
On the other hand, Daniel, why couldn't the concrete, Simple Being exist only in worlds where it exists, rendering it possible in the other worlds? So, on the supposition that the concrete, Simple Being exists, it is unable to at some point have not existed or to cease to exist. But I'm not sure it follows from the truth that the concrete, Simple Being is unable to have at some point not existed or to cease to exist in the worlds it exists, that it exists in every possible world (PW). In other words, I'm not sure the sense of “necessary” used when you say that “Of its nature a Simple Being cannot come to be or pass away" is the same as the sense you're using when you say “necessary” in the PW sense of “existing in every PW”.
On the subject of Epistemic and Metaphysical Possibility. One might make the same claim about any being: let us say that one makes it about a unicorn, in other words though they claim for all we know a unicorn might be possible we have no ground for saying that it is metaphysically possible. But I think that's highly dubious - surely we can make plausible claims to a unicorn being metaphysically possible based on our knowledge of similar existent beings e.g. horses, horned ungulates and so forth.
The same however can be said in the case of a Maximally Great Being. Throughout our worldly existence become acquainted with Being, Goodness, Causal Powers (Active Potencies) and more. Of course there is a gap between common tangible properties and mereological parts as in the case of the unicorn and the rarefied transcendental properties now under question, but that does not de facto bar us from making the case, particularly as we do so more thoroughly by unpacking the coherence of each Divine Attribute or 'Great Making Property'.
Not that it's a particularly strong factor but there are professional atheist philosophers of religion who consider some of the Divine Attributes to be coherant
... To draw an analogy, say you have an immortal guy. Since he's possible, he exists in at least 1 possible world (we'll say only one to keep it simple). In that one world, it's impossible for him to have not existed or to cease to exist. But does that mean that he exists in every other PW, or just that there's just an immortal guy, living in one PW?
That's actually the part which concerns me most. The phraseology there may have too strong a temporal overtone. What I'm asking is what could explain the Concrete Simple being’s existence in the world in which it exists: I’m tactically assuming that a being which is not caused by another is either A. a Brute Fact (which I'd say is incoherent) or B. a Necessary being. Of course if it can be a Necessary being in that one world the argument gets going properly.
I’m tactically assuming that a being which is not caused by another is either A. a Brute Fact (which I'd say is incoherent) or B. a Necessary being
But I think this implies that there's an implicit, abductive inference in the argument of the form (not a quote) "the only beings that are not caused by another are either Brute Facts or Necessary Beings" (A v B). Since the PSR holds, brute facts are metaphysically impossible. Hence, the only beings that are not caused by another are Necessary Beings. Ergo, ...
But the problem is that if the argument has -- requires -- an abductive inference, the argument's conclusion no longer follows with deductive certainty.
Apologies, with that admission I can just conclude that I've made the argument dependent on some version of the PSR and thus far less interesting.
(Also that last post was a mess of conflicting usages of 'necessity')
Final Divine Attribute thought: Most atheists seem committed to the coherence of at least one Divine Attribute i.e. Omnibenevolence. That wasn't what I had in mind though.
Sorry posts crossed - yes, I think you're right there.
The onus is on the critic so show that Plantinga or anyone else's claim that said being is metaphysically possible (the proponent will typically argue the individual coherence of the attributes he takes to comprise the being in question) is false. Until such time as they do the proponent has prima facia justification in his claim to metaphysical possibility.
Well, the first point I would make is Zeis's: A parallel argument, premising the possibility of God's non-existence is apparently possible. The atheist can defend that against objection, since what objection could there be to it other than an argument that God exists?
But then one can also ask why the coherence of individual attributes (or all of them, for that matter) should support the thesis of metaphysical possibility. I think that view was a bit more plausible when Ross and Plantinga were writing. But as I said, the Ross who wrote Thought and World would presumably reject it.
I don't know, perhaps I just don't feel the force of the claim of metaphysical possibility. I might be wrong in that. I don't think it's a matter of 'onus,' though; I don't think any philosophy is a matter of onus. Claims and disclaims alike should be substantiated.
Surely your last sentence about someone finding the Thomist account of an Attribute lack something, misses a vital distinction et cetera could equally hold for someone who accepts the or any of Thomas arguments? Or (more interestingly) even if one accepts the account given and Five Ways could still claim they fail to establish that account by themselves.
I am not certain that I see what you are getting at here, but if you are asking whether someone could find (some of) the Five Ways sound but reject some of the arguments for divine attributes, then I say: of course.
Surely an educated layman could come to understand Omnipotence as the power to bring about whatever's possible and good without any knowledge of specifically philosophical notions like the Thomist account of causality and such?
I am still not settled on what I want to claim here. But the simple account of "Omnipotence as the power to bring about whatever's possible and good" is, while I think intuitively fairly informative, circular. For what's possible other than what God can bring about?
I think the classical theist answer to these questions is most satisfying and intelligible if one accepts one or multiple of the Five Ways. What it's possible for God to create are instances of those forms possessed by the divine intellect. But this is a very incomplete answer without knowing what the divine intellect is and in what sense it can possess 'forms'. Those answers demand and account of simplicity and, I think, proportionate causality. But by that point, I think one is close to providing a sketch of one of the Five Ways.
As I've said, I am a bit on the fence about these claims.
One might make the same claim about any being: let us say that one makes it about a unicorn, in other words though they claim for all we know a unicorn might be possible we have no ground for saying that it is metaphysically possible. But I think that's highly dubious - surely we can make plausible claims to a unicorn being metaphysically possible based on our knowledge of similar existent beings e.g. horses, horned ungulates and so forth.
Well, I am pretty sympathetic to Kripke's view that unicorns are not metaphysically possible (unless, that is, it turns out - epistemically speaking - that they are actual).
It is possible for there to be a horse with a horn glued to its head. Perhaps it's also possible that there be some being that resembles a horse and has a horn that it grows 'naturally'. Setting aside that the latter case isn't sufficient for unicorns existing, these judgments of possibility have a lot to do with our knowledge of potencies: that we could glue a horn to the head of a horse, or that there might be some possible evolutionary chain that leads to the being that resembles a horse and has a horn that it grows 'naturally'.* I think those are the most reliable sorts of modal judgments we can make. But we aren't doing something analogous in Plantinga's argument; in the unicorn case, I don't think our judgment of metaphysical possibility is linked to conclusions about coherence of horse properties with the property of having a horn.
*I actually remember someone on here arguing that unicorns are biologically impossible. I think it's likely that there are no plausible evolutionary chains, but I would doubt that someone could really argue that it is metaphysically impossible for such a being to arise. The disagreement probably arises from different senses in which biologists and metaphysicians talk about possibility.
In any case, Kripke, though he'd agree that unicorns are metaphysically impossible, would probably not sympathize with the person who argues they are biologically impossible. His complaint is that the fictional natural-kind term for unicorns is fixed in myth, and therefore the sort of species with which unicorns could be identified is underdetermined. The biologist proceeds by assuming that unicorns, if they existed, would be some species immediately descended from horses, possessing a horn.
Does not the Thomist hold that something contingent if its essence is distinct from its existence?
That's a different sense of contingency, and my understanding is that although Aquinas relied on it in some of his early work, it doesn't represent his mature views. At any rate it's not the sense at issue in my objection to the proposed argument.
Aquinas acknowledges in his Third Way that there are absolutely necessary beings that receive their necessity from another (and are therefore not God). In particular he's well known to have held that angels and the human soul are by nature incorruptible, and thus "necessary beings" in the sense I've described.
PeterJ May 20, 2015 at 8:14 PM
Thanks, I just read Lewis's essay. " He asks us to consider a child born to a woman locked in a dungeon, who tries to teach the child about the outside world..."
That made me think of a lovely 14th-century Irish poem by Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dalaigh, "A Child in Prison", also inspired by Plato's allegory of the cave. Maybe a little off-topic here—but it's a beautiful religious poem—any excuse to share it!
A pregnant woman (sorrow's sign)
once there was in painful prison.
The God of Elements let her bear
in prison there a little child.
And the child, knowing nothing of any other world, doesn't understand his mother's sadness:
He said one day, beholding
a tear on her lovely face:
'I see the signs of sadness;
now let me hear the cause.'
The mother tries to tell her child about the outer world:
'A great outer world in glory
formerly was mine.
After that, beloved boy,
my fate is a darkened house.'
But the boy (lucky for him!) can't grasp all that, and continues happy:
And so is the moral given:
the people there in prison
are the people of this world,
imprisoned life their span.
This can be found in "An Duanaire: Poems of the Dispossessed," an Irish anthology with translations by Thomas Kinsella.
Certainly the atheist can argue for impossibility in which case it's up to challenger i.e. the theist to show the falsity of their first premise. Both the atheist and the theist should present prima facie reasons in support of their point - in the atheist's why X Attribute is incoherent or incompatible with another. Obviously as a theist I hold that we can give a preliminary account and that the contrary arguments the atheist gives to support his fail.
If on the other hand the atheist dos what you mention above and claims that it's possible for God not to exist then they just beg the question (or deny that God is the being the OAer talks of) since a Maximally-Great Being's being a Necessary Being is true by definition.
But then one can also ask why the coherence of individual attributes (or all of them, for that matter) should support the thesis of metaphysical possibility
Because it shows them as free from any internal contradiction which is the mark of impossibility. That they are compossible is of course a further question.
I don't think one would classify possibility in terms of what God can do - something's possible if its nature does not contain a contradiction. The layman wouldn't put it quite that way but it's a fairly intuitive account which one could draw out by thinking of things like square-circles et cetera. (Of course this dove-tails nicely with Divine Exemplars)
The accounts of Omnipotence in question aren't as muscular as those derived from Five Ways type arguments but they would permit the adherent to answer prima facia objections to the Attribute - for instance could give the correct answer to the Paradox of the Stone or the question of whether God can sin.
Have not theologians been contemplating and answering objections to the various Divine Attributes for longer than they have been setting out strictly structured Five Ways style arguments? I’m thinking of Augustine, and some of the very early Fathers e.g. Justin Martyr in particular. Also later on one had Kantian inspired philosophers and theologians who would have defended certain Attributes against charges of incoherence though not endorse any argument from Natural Theology (except maybe moral ones).
Regarding Kripke and unicorns I am strongly opposed to references for fictional beings at any rate. I'm going to stick with the unicorn in this instance though for the sake of the argument we can substitute any non-existing animal of a reasonably familiar type.
But we aren't doing something analogous in Plantinga's argument; in the unicorn case, I don't think our judgment of metaphysical possibility is linked to conclusions about coherence of horse properties with the property of having a horn.
Re the last part, why so? Surely this is the way we arrive at the majority of possibility claims throughout our lives even in something as simple as what we intend to do later that day (thinking of how the world might be and how things could be).
@Greg (continued),
I don't think it's a matter of 'onus,' though; I don't think any philosophy is a matter of onus. Claims and disclaims alike should be substantiated.
I thought the standard was that the onus is on the critic of an argument. I agree though that both the theist and the atheist Ontological Arguer should flesh out their claims that such and such is coherent/incoherent.
I don't know, perhaps I just don't feel the force of the claim of metaphysical possibility. I might be wrong in that.
For my part I’m happy to admit such arguments aren’t undoubtable or even the strongest the Natural Theologian has access to – I think they are plausible though and that the Thomism rejection of them stems largely from ‘custom and habit’ (it’s interesting to compare with the Thomist’s long-held suspicions to arguments purporting to demonstrate the finitude of the past). At the end of the day the theist is going to have to answer incoherence/impossibility objections anyway so they may as well go with it and turn their replies into a prima facie argument for coherence/possibility.
In most formal debates, the onus is on the person putting forward (or "for") the proposition. So, if I propose a cosmological argument, the burden of proof is on me. In contrast, if an atheist puts forward an argument from evil, the burden of proof is on him. He's the one making the argument.
(Though, I agree that everyone has the onus or at least ought to, even in formal debates.)
In most formal debates, the onus is on the person putting forward (or "for") the proposition
Doesn't it amount to something like this for instance
The atheist states their argument e.g. the Logical Problem of Evil giving at least plausible reasons to take each premise e.g. gratuitous Evil exists because of squashed children, injured bambi deer et cetera as true.
Now that they have presented their argument and given justification for each premise the burden shifts to me to point out where their argument fails.
(So in the case of the Ontological Argument the proponent sets out reasons to think each premise plausibly true when presenting the argument. Once they've done that it's over to the other side to try and spot faults)
Oh, okay. I see what you're saying. Yeah, that's right. I mean, it depends a little on the format of the debate (ie. the other side might have their own opening before doing rebuttals). But yeah.
How can this be begging the question, unless the OA-proponent is begging the question too? The OA-proponent argues:
(1) It's possible that God exists.
(2) If God possibly exists, then God necessarily exists.
(3) Therefore God necessarily exists.
(4) Therefore God exists.
The OA-opponent argues:
(1') It's possible that God does not exist.
(3') Therefore God does not necessarily exist.
(4') Therefore God does not possibly exist.
(5') Therefore God does not exist.
If defending against objections and sketching out the divine attributes is sufficient to support (1), then why should not similar approaches be sufficient to support (1')? There is less to demonstrate as being consistent, but that certainly isn't a demerit of (1'). (For that reason, "defending against objections" is something of an odd, certainly imperfect measure of plausibility of a modal claim. Defending against specious objections would not support a claim. So how does one individuate non-specious objections? There are probably fewer non-specious objections to true claims.) But if (1') begs the question against the theist, who believes God necessarily exists, then certainly (1) begs the question against the atheist, who believes God necessarily does not exist.
And as I've said, how could one argue against (1') except by providing an argument that God exists? Due to the stalemate, the OA is unavailable. This can be drawn out, I think, if you consider what sort of objections you would have to raise to God's possible nonexistence. You would, presumably, have to argue that something remains unexplained if God does not exist in some possible world. At that point, you are treading on the domain of traditional arguments for God's existence.
For that reason, prima facie at least, it seems that the atheist can raise much more serious objections to (1) (problem of evil, for instance) than the theist can raise against (1'). Unless, that is, the theist wants to adopt a different approach entirely, which is what I recommend.
Regarding Kripke and unicorns I am strongly opposed to references for fictional beings at any rate.
I think Kripke would agree, if I understand you correctly. 'Unicorn' does not refer to a fictional being; it pretends to refer to a real being. But since there are no unicorns by whose "overflow conditions" (to use Ross's term) future reference is constrained, it remains undetermined whether any actual entity would in fact be a unicorn.
Surely this is the way we arrive at the majority of possibility claims throughout our lives even in something as simple as what we intend to do later that day (thinking of how the world might be and how things could be).
Well, I like Scott's example of a Euclidean isosceles right triangle. The concept is evidently coherent, but I couldn't claim that it is possible, because it may not be the case that anything has the potential to create one.
In general, I believe our modal intuitions about what could come about (i.e. what existents or potential existents have the potencies to bring about) largely match up with those things that have coherent natures. Whatever has an incoherent nature is impossible. But there might be things that cannot be brought about even though their nature is coherent; so I disagree that "free[dom] from any internal contradiction" is "the mark of impossibility."
I think they are plausible though and that the Thomism rejection of them stems largely from ‘custom and habit’ (it’s interesting to compare with the Thomist’s long-held suspicions to arguments purporting to demonstrate the finitude of the past).
I think I agree here. I am sometimes suspicious of the Thomist line on both counts. (I tend to try to argue against the OA whenever it comes up because it makes me uncomfortable, but it would be nice if some version of it worked.)
When I was a materialist, I would say that my chief suspicion of OAs was more that I didn't think that things like 'power' and 'good' were meaningful predicates - or, if they were, that they had any ontological import.
To what formulation of the PSR were we all referring?
I just want to be sure, because I think there is a case that can be made against every necessary truth having an explanation. Consider, for example, Goedelian undecidables.
For my part, it's either Pruss's "Necessarily, every contingently true proposition has an explanation." or Davies's (which I think matches Thomism's) version that applies only to existents.
I'm undecided when it comes to necessary truths.
I think Kripke would agree, if I understand you correctly. 'Unicorn' does not refer to a fictional being; it pretends to refer to a real being.
Sorry - I went to verify Kripke's views, and while he does talk about pretending, he does also allow that there are fictional beings.
But I think the point about the impossibility of unicorns existing holds whether or not you reject his fictional ontology. (Though it's also not that relevant to the rest of our discussion.)
One other quick criticism of OAs, which may be redundant at this point. One subject that comes up in philosophy of mathematics is that some proofs are more explanatory than other proofs. For instance, brute force proofs rarely explain much about why the theorem holds. In contrast, the proof for infinite primes explains precisely why there are infinite primes. The Five Ways are extremely explanatory demonstrative proofs, but I don't think the ontological argument explains much. Since I don't actually care much about apologetic uses of the proofs, I think that counts against them.
"... counts against [ontological arguments]"
Proper post to Greg coming later on
I disagree in as much as once we admit an Omnipotent Necessary Being with casual powers the temptation to ground the existence of contingent things in its activity becomes almost impossible. Once we have the being we can use it for hypothetical explanations.
(Leftow has added that we can bring OAs more in line with CAs by considering 'being that which the existence of all contingent beings depend' as a further Great-Making property)
I'm going to have to get you to unpack that.
Very sorry - totally misread your hypothetical atheist's agreement as claiming that God was being which could possibly not exist as in a contingent being,
To clarify are we taking 'Euclidean isosceles right triangle' as analogues to the good old 'Square-Circle'? I didn't take up Scott's mention of it as I wasn't sure if he meant this or something which could exist but not in the merely three dimensional space of our universe (assumedly the former?). If the former then I'm guilty of being rather slack with terminology - I was giving something as incoherent if any of its component properties are incompatible on Broadly Logical grounds. Of course here I'm tacitly saying that our modals intuitions begin with experience i.e. being acquainted with things like colours, shapes et cetera, which you agree with. In that case though aren't we at least prima facia justified in claiming 'Euclidean isosceles right triangle' is incoherent (maybe we can flesh this out by asking for numeral statements since these have an even sharper modal outline as it were).
I don't see why the incompatibility of varying properties need always be explained in terms of anything other than the properties themselves (which is what I mean by the freedom from internal contradiction as a mark of the possible).
I agree though that there are going to be points when our modal intuitions falter and become less reliable.
Continued.
If defending against objections and sketching out the divine attributes is sufficient to support (1), then why should not similar approaches be sufficient to support (1')?
Well, if the opponent wants to do the same then they have to give reasons equivalent to the sketching out part. So if that's what you mean then yes they can take a similar approach - the theist is just going to challenge the reasons they give (regardless of whether said theist endorses the OA or not). But if they just assert (1') against the theist who has given a prospect analysis of the Divine Attributes for (1) then their argument is far the weaker.
For that reason, prima facie at least, it seems that the atheist can raise much more serious objections to (1) (problem of evil, for instance) than the theist can raise against (1').
Would not the objection they raise against (1) be the very same elaboration they use to support (1')? Depending on the sort of argument they give e.g. Logical as opposed Evidential Problem of Evil I think one would still have to reply to it even if one offered a different proof like the Cosmological Argument - otherwise there would be an epistemic stalemate.
I would agree in the case of something like 'Omnibenevolent’ which in a hard-naturalist scheme like Mackie’s would be absolutely relative. One of the more interesting strategies a naturalist could take is to try and turn the argument round and use it in favour of a (more) Naturalist friendly Spinozism.
Well, there are always variants like the Gödelian version which treat the issues of properties and possibility differently. Don't really know enough about them to comment at any depth though.
I think the great appeal with OAs and their like is that they establish they go straight to the core of what God has to be. Even if one does not except the conclusions one sees that the being Natural Theologians are talking about cannot be something on a par with a flying pig or a teapot orbiting the sun, something, however, improbable that just happens not to exist. Also for myself there’s a special interest in arguments that do not make knowledge of God's existence counter-factually dependent on the existence of contingent beings (of course I can't push this too far or we but up against the point Descartes was trying to make with the cogito).
I am obviously very sympathetic to the Five Ways arguments I’ve studied in any depth (as well PSR arguments) though I sometimes worry the Real Distinction is going to prove agonizingly difficult to establish, particularly in the case of any temporally limited debate.
If we have a priori reason to think a Necessary Being with immense casual powers exists then it's plausible that said being might be the answer to various questions such as why the universe exists. Since we already have the being we are spared the need to struggle for exact formulations of the PSR which avoids Modal Collapse problems - there might even be Brute Facts, only since know there is a being capable of these things already it seems reasonable to take it as the prime suspect.
(Even the proponents of Brute Facts may well admit an explanation is better than a Brute Fact - and that their Brute Fact option only comes in when all available cosmological arguments are shown to be wanting for other reasons)
To clarify are we taking 'Euclidean isosceles right triangle' as analogues to the good old 'Square-Circle'?
No. An isosceles right triangle isn't a contradiction in terms; it's just a right triangle with two equal legs, and therefore with sides in the ratio 1:1:√2 (the last being the hypotenuse).
The reason it can't exist/be produced in our physical universe is the same reason any Euclidean plane figure can't: it's a Euclidean plane figure. Any actual "triangly thing" in our universe is going to be three-dimensional (even if it's really thin), its sides will have nonzero thickness, and so forth.
Well, if you already have God in your ontology, you may as well put him to work.
My concern had more to do with learning about God. It was more that I'm not sure the OA tells us much about why God is a Necessary Being with Causal Power. While obviously such concerns don't effect the strength of the argument, I think there is something positive to be said for proofs that give us more information.
Whether there are brute facts is a subject that interests me, because I would like there to be an explanation for every mathematical truth. It's at least intuitively plausible that there is. Unfortunately, Gödelian undecidables give reason to suspect there are brutely factual necessary truths, unless perhaps those truths is grounded in something deeper.
That should read: "... are grounded"
@Scott, and everyone else
I'm still discussing with my opponent on whether or not the multiverse is necessary, and I made these points against it.
1. In the multiverse our universe is contingent and depends upon the mutliverse in order to exist and be the way it is. Since the multiverse itself is composed of universes that like our own depend on the existence of other universe and our contingent, this would mean the multiverse is composed of contingent beings and if so, it cannot be necessary, as I believe it is metaphysically not possible for it to do so. It's like saying having an infinite series of red bricks will somehow produce a blue wall.
2. Science tells us how in our universe things could have been different such as the gravitational constant and so on. If this is the case than that means it is logically possible and coherent for our universe to have been different a different one and that means it did not have to be the way it is, which makes it contingent according to Leibniz. If our universe is part of a number of a multiverse, then this would mean that a different universe could have taken the spatial temporal location of ours in the multiverse as a result of what I said above, and it would be logically possible and coherent. This would mean that the multiverse itself could have been different and did not have to be the way it is due to this possibility, and once again it would fall under the contingent category.
3. According to scientist such as Paul Davies, the multiverse's behavior itself would depend on physical laws that govern it, which would render it contingent upon those laws in order to be the way it is is, and it would be a contingent being.
She hasn't responded yet and I would like to know what you guys think about my reasons.
There is nothing logically incoherent about a Euclidean isosceles right triangle. It would look something like this triangle. It's just that we all live in non-Euclidean space (our universe is non-Euclidean). Since we live in non-Euclidean space and a Euclidean isosceles right triangle is Euclidean, it's impossible for there to exist an instantiation of a Euclidean isosceles right triangle -- despite that "Euclidean isosceles right triangles" are logically coherent.
At least, it seems that's what's being said.
It would look something like this triangle.
Just to make that explicit: "It would look similar to ΔABC in the linked diagram."
@John West:
It's just that we all live in non-Euclidean space (our universe is non-Euclidean).
That's also true, but (see my previous post) it's not the main thing I had in mind. (Partly that's because there's no obvious reason why a non-Euclidean space couldn't have local "flat patches" where the metric was exactly rather than only approximately Euclidean.)
You had that it's a plane figure in mind, and not a 3D figure, right? So at bottom, the example is that a 2D figure can't exist in 3D space, even though a 2D figure is completely logically coherent.
Yep, exactly. See my previous post for that too.
And just to be as close to absolutely clear as I can manage: I'm talking about physical triangles, not beings of reason. There doesn't seem to be any reason, for example, why we can't think of a certain set of points in three-dimensional physical space as a Euclidean isosceles right triangle, at least on the assumption that physical space is infinitely divisible (and maybe we don't even need that strong a condition). But there's no physical triangular thing there.
I'm not even sure that beings of reason exist, so you may have been safe even before clarifying. Authors like Quine and Armstrong would say there is only one way to be, and probably collapse the distinction. But as I understand, Scholastics would say existence is a property of individuals, whereas being is rather more broad and neutral.
Glemm May 23, 2015 at 1:37 PM
I'm not even sure that beings of reason exist, so you may have been safe even before clarifying.
If beings of reason don't exist, then the clarification attributed to Scott does not exist.
And it wouldn’t be merely case that the clarification attributed to Scott just does not exist now, but also that it did not exist before ceasing to exist some time prior to now.
Of the clarification attributed to Scott:
I presume that you apprehended it -- else why would you have commented on it?
I presume also that Scott apprehended it -- else why would he have articulated it?
And I presume that I myself apprehended it -- else why would I have experienced a small pleasure in the apprehension of it?
In short, if beings of reason don't exist (in some sense), then how might we account for the apprehension of things which do not exist (in any sense)?
("...apprehension of things..." s/b "...apprehension of these things...")
Gle[nn],
Well, on that distinction (though I originally heard it as coming from Russell), they may have being. They're real. I was saying I'm not sure they exist, though.
I have no position on the matter*. I'm not sufficiently well informed in it, and need to read way more Kit Fine before cementing a stance.* But I'm not saying they have no being. Only that I'm not sure that, if things can be real but not exist, beings of reason qualify as having existence.
*Actually, when it came up in a paper I had to write, I took the "There is only one way to be." line.
Well, my understanding was that existence requires mind independence. In which case, the clarification would be real, but it wouldn't exist because its dependent on minds (which is why I said I was unsure it existed).
It's not exactly clear to me how one determines the relative strengths of an analysis of the divine attributes and... God's non-existence.
If it weren't a necessary being whose existence were in question (or something known to be necessary, I suppose), then the 'proponent' is making the modal claim that something that is F and G possibly exists. The 'opponent' is making the modal claim that it is possible that nothing is both F and G. Here they aren't contradicting each other necessarily; that's why I put scare quotes around 'proponent' and 'opponent'.
Maybe the 'proponent' can analyze F and analyze G and claim that they're likely to be compossible. What is the 'opponent' supposed to analyze? His claim is prima facie weaker. We don't want to discredit him a priori (i.e. discredit all claims that it is possible that something does not exist a priori), since we know that there are tons of true propositions "it's possible that there is nothing F and G". If those claims are unsupportable, or always less supportable than the corresponding claim that "it is possible that something F and G exists", then it seems to me that something has gone wrong.
Maybe the 'opponent' can do more than assert his possible non-existence claim. In the case of God, he might say that he can imagine a world in which children are tortured endlessly and gratuitously. That world isn't compossible with any omnibenevolent being.
As I write this response, I find it kind of hard to think about one of F or G itself being necessary existence. Though as I understand it, different people formulate modal OAs that treat God's necessity differently. But it seems to me that if one is treating necessary existence as a property, then it is less than obvious that the possibility claim is as innocuous as other possibility claims. That is to say, grant that in general it is legitimate to support the claim "it is possible that something F and G exists" by giving an analysis of F and G according to which they are apparently consistent, where neither F nor G is necessary existence. Necessary existence is clearly, though, and odd sort of property to think about when we are trying to establish the compossibility of it with other properties. Why should we assume this modal intuition to be supportable in the same way as in the general case? Isn't the fact that one of the properties that must be shown to be compossible with the others a modal property grounds for substantial suspicion?
I'll leave it there, since I might be walking down a road that OA-defenders would not.
I did it again. Sorry. Let me correct that now: "John West, [etc.]"
As for what I was getting at, it is nothing more than the suggestion, for consideration, that it may be possible that something exists in one way (or in one sense), but not in some other way (or in some other sense).
One way I've the seen distinction between real beings and beings of reason put, is that real beings are in nature and therefore are independent of the mind, whereas beings of reason are not in nature but in the reason and therefore are dependent on the mind. If this distinction is fairly accurate, then it would seem to follow that beings of reason do exist in some way or sense, though in the same way or sense that, say, an oak tree does.
John West,
You had said that you weren't sure whether beings of reason exist, so I offered something for consideration. That's all.
(Well, honestly, that is part of it. The other part of it is that I had appreciated Scott's distinction (that he had been talking about a being of reason rather than a real being), and wanted to flesh it out (just a little).)
Aristotle watches Blade Runner
D. B. Hart and the “terrorism of obscurantism”
Stupid rhetorical tricks
A linkfest
Animal souls, Part II
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STEPHEN EDWIN KING Biography - Royalty, Rulers & leaders
Biography » royalty rulers leaders » stephen edwin king
STEPHEN EDWIN KING
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Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is a prolific American author best known for his horror novels. King’s books have been extremely popular, and are among the top-selling books ever, fiction or non-fiction. King’s stories frequently involve an unremarkable protagonist�middle-class families, children, and often writers�being submerged into increasingly horrifying circumstances. He also produces more typical literary work, including the novellas The Body and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (later adapted as the movies Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption, respectively), as well as The Green Mile. King evinces a thorough knowledge of the horror genre, as shown in his nonfiction book Danse Macabre, which chronicles several decades of notable works in both literature and cinema.
2 Car accident
3 Writing style
4 King’s recent years
7 Films and TV
Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine to Donald and Ruth Pillsbury King. When Stephen was two years old, his father (born David Spansky) deserted his family and Ruth raised Stephen and his adopted older brother David by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. The family moved to Ruth’s home town of Durham, Maine but also spent brief periods in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Stratford, Connecticut. King attended Durham Elementary grammar school and then nearby Lisbon High School.
Stephen King has been writing since an early age. When in school, he wrote stories plagiarized from what he’d been reading at the time, and sold them to his friends. This was not popular among his teachers, and he was forced to return his profits when this was discovered.
The stories were copied using a mimeo machine that his brother David used to copy David’s newspaper, “Dave’s Rag", which he self-published. “Dave’s Rag” was about local events, and Stephen would often contribute. At around the age of thirteen, Stephen discovered a box of his father’s old books at his aunt’s house, mainly horror and science fiction. He was immediately hooked on these genres.
From 1966 to 1970, King studied English at the University of Maine at Orono. There, King wrote a column, “King’s Garbage Truck", in the university magazine. He also met Tabitha Spruce there and they married in 1971. King took on odd jobs to pay for his studies. One of them was at an industrial laundry, from which he drew material for the short story “The Mangler". The campus period in his life is readily evident in the second part of Hearts in Atlantis.
After finishing his university studies with a Bachelor of Science in English and obtaining a certificate to teach high school, King took a job as an English teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. During this time he and his family lived in a trailer. Making ends meet was sometimes difficult, and the money that came from short stories, published mainly in men’s magazines, was very useful. King also developed a drinking problem which stayed with him for over a decade.
During this period, King began a number of novels. One of them told the story of a young girl with psychic powers. Frustrated, he threw it into the trash. Later, he discovered that Tabitha had rescued it; she encouraged him to finish it as Carrie. He sent it to Doubleday and more or less forgot about it. Some time later, he received an offer to buy it with a $2,500 advance (not a large advance for a novel, even at that time). Shortly after, the value of Carrie was realized with the paperback rights being sold for $400,000. Before the book was published his mother died of uterine cancer, in February 1974.
In On Writing, King admits that at this time he was consistently drunk and that he was an alcoholic for well over a decade. He states that he’d based the alcoholic father in The Shining on himself, though he didn’t admit that for several years.
Shortly after the publication of The Tommyknockers, King’s family and friends finally intervened, dumping his trash on the rug in front of him to show him the evidence of his own addictions: beer cans, cigarette butts, grams of cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil. He sought help, and quit all forms of drugs and alcohol in the late 1980s.
King fans will note that the relative wealth of King’s characters has risen through the decades, but not as precipitously as King’s wealth itself: his earliest works (Carrie, The Shining, as well as much of the work in Night Shift) dealt with working-class families struggling from paycheck to paycheck in minimum-wage jobs; his late-80s work involved middle-class people like teachers and authors; his late 90s work sometimes dealt with airplane pilots, writers and others who can frequently afford a second home. All throughout, his work has remained immensely popular.
In the summer of 1999, King was in the middle of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft; he’d finished the memoir section and had abandoned the book for nearly eighteen months, unsure of how to proceed or whether to bother. King reports that it was the first book that he’d abandoned since writing The Stand decades earlier. He had just decided to continue the book. On June 17, he had written up a list of questions that he was frequently asked about writing, as well as some that he wished he would be asked about it; on June 18, he had written four pages of the section on writing. On June 19, he was taking a walk after driving his son to the airport, intending to return home to go see The General’s Daughter with his family. As he walked up a hill, a Dodge van crested the top on the shoulder of the road and hit him, throwing him about 14 feet (4.2 m) in the air. Bryan Smith was the driver of the van. King barely missed the driver’s side support post in the van and also barely missed a spread of rocks on the ground near where he landed, either of which would likely have killed him or put him in a permanent coma. Unable to get up, King was rushed to a local hospital, which reported that they could not treat him. He was then flown to another hospital; in the helicopter he suffered a collapsed lung. In addition to the collapsed lung, King suffered a leg broken in at least nine places, a split knee, a broken right hip, four broken ribs, and a spine chipped in eight places. Coincidentally, that same year King had written most of From a Buick 8, in which one of the characters dies in an automobile accident, but King says that he “tried not to make too much of it.”
King was released from the hospital after three weeks, then went through half a dozen surgeries on his leg and the accompanying physical therapy. In July 1999, he continued On Writing, though his hip was still shattered and he could sit for barely forty minutes at a stretch before the pain became intolerable. Over time his condition improved. It was reported that Mr. King forgave the driver and actually purchased the van in question for $1,500 (and later had it crushed and disposed to avoid its reappearance on eBay).
King has appeared in his Dark Tower series. King incorporated his accident into the final novel, in which the hero Roland Deschain and his friends try to stop King from being fatally injured by the van.
In King’s nonfiction book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, King discusses his writing style at great length and depth. King believes that good stories cannot be called consciously and should not be plotted out beforehand but are better served by focusing on a single “seed” of a story and letting the story build itself from there. King often begins a story with no idea how the story will end. He mentions in the Dark Tower series that half way through its lengthy writing period, nearly 30 years, King was approached by a woman with cancer who asked how the book would end as she would unlikely live long enough to hear it. He stated that he didn’t know. King believes strongly in this style, stating that all of his better books came from freewriting.
He is known for his great detail to continuity and inside references; many stories that may seem unrelated are often linked by secondary characters, fictional towns, or off-hand references to events in previous books. Taken as a whole, King’s work (which he claims is centered around his “Dark Tower” magnum opus) creates a remarkable history that stretches from present day all the way back to the beginning of time (with a unique creation myth).
King’s books are also filled with references to American history and American culture, particularly the darker, more fearful side of these. These references are generally spun into the stories of characters, often explaining their fears. Recurrent references include crime, war (especially the Vietnam War), and racism.
King is also known for his folksy, informal narration, often referring to his fans as “Constant Readers” or “friends and neighbors.” He uses this style to contrast with the often gory or scary content of many of his stories.
King has a very simple formula for learning to write well: Read four hours a day and write four hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, he says, you cannot expect to become a good writer.
King also has a simple definition for talent in writing: “If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn’t bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented” (from “Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes").
Shortly after his accident, King wrote the first draft of the book “Dreamcatcher” with a notebook and a Waterman fountain pen, “the world’s finest word processor". However, he normally uses an Apple Macintosh computer.
King’s recent years
In 1994, King won an O. Henry Award for his short story, “The Man in the Black Suit", and in 2003 King was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Book Awards.
Stephen King has also written six books under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. King staged a mock funeral for Bachman after the pseudonym was made public, which in turn inspired the book The Dark Half, in which a novelist stages the burial of his horror author pseudonym after having a “serious” novel published, only to find that his alter ego does not want to leave quite so easily.
King also wrote one short story under the name John Swithen - ‘The Fifth Quarter’.
King used to play guitar in the band Rock Bottom Remainders but has not joined them on stage for some years. The band’s members include: Dave Barry; Ridley Pearson; Scott Turow; Amy Tan; James McBride; Mitch Albom; Roy Blount Jr.; Matt Groening; Kathi Kamen Goldmark; and Greg Iles.
King is also a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox, and is frequently found at both home and away baseball games. In 1999 he wrote the book “The Girl who loved Tom Gordon", which involved former Red Sox team member Tom Gordon as a major character. He recently co-wrote a book with Stewart O’Nan chronicling their roller coaster reaction to the Red Sox’s 2004 season, culminating in their winning the 2004 American League Championship Series and World Series. It is titled Faithful.
Stephen King lives in Bangor, Maine with his wife Tabitha King, who is also a novelist. They also own a house in the Western Lakes District of Maine. He spends winter seasons in an oceanfront mansion located off the Gulf of Mexico in Nokomis, Florida. Their three children, Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill (who appeared in the film Creepshow), and Owen Phillip, are now grown and living on their own. Owen’s first collection of stories will be published in 2005.
Naomi shared a “ceremony of union” with her partner and theology professor, Thandeka, at a Unitarian Universalist Assembly in 2000 in Tennessee.
1974 Carrie
1975 ‘Salem’s Lot
1977 Rage (as Richard Bachman)
1977 The Shining
1978 Night Shift (stories)
1978 The Stand
1979 The Dead Zone
1979 The Long Walk (as Richard Bachman)
1980 Firestarter
1981 Cujo
1981 Danse Macabre (nonfiction about horror)
1981 Road Work (as Richard Bachman)
1982 Creepshow (comic book, illustrated by Berni Wrightson)
1982 The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
1982 Different Seasons (novellas)
1982 The Running Man (as Richard Bachman)
1983 Cycle of the Werewolf (illustrated by Berni Wrightson)
1983 Pet Sematary
1984 The Eyes of the Dragon
1984 The Talisman (written with Peter Straub)
1984 Thinner (as Richard Bachman)
1985 Skeleton Crew (stories)
1985 The Bachman Books (novel collection)
1986 It
1987 Misery
1987 The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
1988 The Tommyknockers
1988 Nightmares in the Sky (gargoyle photo book with text by King; photos by f-stop fitzgerald)
1989 The Dark Half
1989 Dolan’s Cadillac (limited edition)
1989 My Pretty Pony (limited edition)
1990 The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition
1990 Four Past Midnight (stories)
1991 Needful Things
1991 The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
1992 Gerald’s Game
1993 Dolores Claiborne
1993 Nightmares & Dreamscapes (stories)
1994 Insomnia
1995 Rose Madder
1995 Umney’s Last Case
1996 The Green Mile (originally published as a monthly serial consisting of six parts: The Two Dead Girls, The Mouse on the Mile, Coffey’s Hands, The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix, Night Journey, and Coffey on the Mile)
1996 Desperation
1996 The Regulators (as Richard Bachman)
1997 Six Stories (stories)
1997 The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
1998 Bag of Bones
1999 Storm of the Century
1999 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
1999 The New Lieutenant’s Rap (limited edition)
1999 Hearts in Atlantis
1999 Blood and Smoke (audio book)
2000 Riding the Bullet (electronically published novella)
2000 The Plant (electronically published) Stephen King (Publishing of ‘The Plant’)
2000 Secret Windows
2000 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (nonfiction and autobiography)
2001 Dreamcatcher
2001 Black House (sequel to The Talisman; written with Peter Straub)
2002 From a Buick 8
2002 Everything’s Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (stories)
2003 The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (revised version)
2003 The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
2004 The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
2004 The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
2004 Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
2005 The Colorado Kid, published in October by Hard Case Crime
Short fiction by Stephen King
List of books to which Stephen King has written an introduction
King optioned his films to student filmmakers for one dollar; yet, disgusted with the treatment most of his work had gotten in film, in 1986 he decided to direct Maximum Overdrive himself, using a screenplay he had written inspired by (but not based on) his short story “Trucks.” The experience seems to have sated his desire to direct.
List of Stephen King films
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The Geological Survey under Sir John Smith Flett, 1920–1935
Revision as of 13:06, 22 September 2019 by Scotfot (talk | contribs) (→Royal Commission and the plans for a new Mueum at South Kensington)
A checked version of this page, approved on 22 September 2019, was based on this revision.
Sir John Smith Flett (From a photograph by Herbert Hughes, Burlington Gardens, London.) Plate IX.
1 VIII. The Geological Survey under Sir John Smith Flett
1.1 Reorganization
1.1.1 DSIR and the Geological Survey Board
1.2 Work programmes
1.2.1 Completing the 'Special Reports on Mineral Resources'
1.2.2 Study of the composition, structure and properties of British coals
1.2.3 Building stones, brick clays, cements
1.2.4 Underground sources of water supply
1.2.5 Geology and agriculture
1.2.6 Oil-fields
1.2.7 Mining Industry Act of 1926 and the collection of borehole information
1.3 Geological mapping programmes
1.3.1 England and Wales
1.3.2 Scotland
1.3.3 Coalfield revision
1.3.4 Highlands and Islands
1.3.5 Geophysical methods
1.4 Museum of Practical Geology
1.5 Royal Commission and the plans for a new Museum at South Kensington
VIII. The Geological Survey under Sir John Smith Flett[edit]
On 20th July, 1920, Sir Aubrey Strahan retired after forty-five years’ service, and G. W. Lamplugh, the Assistant Director for England, followed him in retirement. Their places were taken by John Smith Flett, who had been Assistant Director in Scotland since 1911, and John Allen Howe, who had been Curator of the Museum and Librarian since 1902. Walcot Gibson succeeded Flett in Scotland and W. F. P. McLintock returned to Jermyn Street from the Royal Scottish Museum to take the place vacated by Howe. McLintock had been appointed Assistant Curator in the Jermyn Street Museum in 1907 and had been transferred to the Royal Scottish Museum in 1911, where he was in charge of the geological gallery.
Reorganization[edit]
The work of the Coal Conservation Committee now bore fruit, as two District Geologists, six Geologists, two Technical Assistants and one draughtsman were added to the staff. In 1920 Bernard Smith and Henry Dewey were appointed District Geologists, also W. B. Wright, who was transferred from the Geological Survey of Ireland. In 1922 four Geologists were added to the staff of the Survey and two Geologists, Bromehead and Dinham, were promoted to District Geologists. The scientific staff had now been increased by sixteen and consisted of Director, two Assistants to the Director, Howe in England and Wales and Gibson in Scotland, twelve District Geologists, which included the Palaeontologist, the Petrographer and the Curator of the Museum (who was also Librarian), thirty-eight Senior Geologists and Geologists (including the Assistant Curator and the Assistant Librarian), besides Technical Assistants, General Assistants, labourers, warders, messengers, cleaners, carpenters and charwomen who performed various duties in the offices and Museum.
Like the reorganizations of 1867 and 1900, the changes in the Geological Survey which were made as a result of the report of the Coal Conservation Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction in 1920 and the following years, and its transfer to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1919, mark a very important stage in the history of the institution and much increased its usefulness and the scope of its activities. During the post-War years changes in the pay and conditions of service were introduced as in other branches of the Civil Service; they had been rendered necessary by the increase in the cost of living and the diminished purchasing power of the pound sterling.
The Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which now controlled the Geological Survey, was appointed by an Order in Council of 28th July, 1915, to direct the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the organization and development of scientific and industrial research. By this Order in Council an Advisory Council was also constituted to. which stand referred proposals for instituting specific researches, for establishing special institutions for the scientific study of problems affecting particular industries, and to award research studentship and fellowships. In December 1916 the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was established as a separate Department, for the service of the Committee, accounting for its own Vote and responsible to Parliament through the Lord President of the Council as Minister. The National Physical Laboratory, established in 1900, which had previously been managed by a Committee of the Royal Society, was transferred to the new Department on April 1st, 1918. One of the first steps taken by the Department was the appointment in 1917 of the Fuel Research Board on whose recommendation it was decided to erect a Station with all the appliances necessary for testing and investigating fuels. One of the reasons which influenced the Coal Conservation Committee in recommending the transfer of the Geological Survey and Museum to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was the close connexion between the work of these two services. Many other research organizations have subsequently been founded under the aegis of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, such as those for Building Research, Food Investigation, Forest Products Research, Water Pollution Research, etc. The Department also makes grants to many Industrial Research Associations and has continued to give grants to approved investigators on problems of science connected more or less closely with industry. Its expenditure during the year ending on 31st March, 1935, was over half a million pounds.
DSIR and the Geological Survey Board[edit]
For the scientific supervision of each of its most important research activities the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research appointed a Board. The Geological Survey Board was given special responsibility for the management of the Survey and Museum, and its duties were defined as follows in its terms of reference
To undertake, within the limits prescribed in the estimates for the year and by the general policy and the programme of work approved from time to time by the Minister, the management of the Survey and Museum so far as concerns all current business, work of survey or report and distribution of personnel.
After consultation with the Director to frame and recommend annually for the approval of the Minister, a programme of work to be undertaken for the coming year and to submit therewith a statement as to the staff arrangements and other provision required for carrying out that programme.
To report upon matters bearing on the functions or work of the Geological Survey or Museum; and
To submit an annual report of the work of the Survey and Museum with such observations as they think fit.
The first Chairman of this Board was Sir Francis Grant Ogilvie, who became also Principal Assistant Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. He took much interest in the work of the Geological Survey. The Board meets several times a year and considers the programmes and reports on the progress of work submitted by the Director. In addition to the appointed members, there are assessors representing the Ministry of Health, Mines Department, Development Commission and Ministry of Agriculture.
Under the Wharton Committee in 1900 a Consultative Committee (subsequently called the Committee of Advice) had been constituted which met once a year to consider the Director’s report and programme. The members of this Committee were selected by the Board of Education and were representative of scientific institutions, universities and industries concerned in the work of the Geological Survey. This Committee, however, had no administrative functions but acted purely in an advisory capacity. It made recommendations which in many cases were of great value, though it was not always possible to put them immediately into execution. The Geological Survey Board, which now superseded the Committee of Advice and took over its functions, was intended to exercise closer supervision and more active direction.
Work programmes[edit]
Completing the 'Special Reports on Mineral Resources'[edit]
With the considerable increase of staff which the Geological Survey received during these post-War years it was possible to increase the rate of progress. Before embarking on new programmes, however, it was considered advisable to clear off the remains of war work. Further volumes of the ‘Special Reports on Mineral Resources,’ written partly by members of the staff and partly by other geologists, and based on information collected during the War, and immediately thereafter, were published as rapidly as possible. The thirty-one volumes of this series give an accurate account of British mineral resources, and several of them have gone through more than one edition. The principal gap in the series is the absence of a special memoir on Cornish tin mining, but an excellent historical and descriptive account of this subject had been prepared by J. H. Coffins and published by the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall and is still on sale.
Study of the composition, structure and properties of British coals[edit]
Another subject which required considerably more attention than it had received was the study of the composition, structure and properties of British coals. During its whole history the Geological Survey of Great Britain had contributed very little to a knowledge of these most important matters. De la Beche was fully alive to the interest and value of this class of research, and his ‘Report on Steam Coals for the Navy’ (1848) was classical. Percy also had made many elaborate studies on fuels, and the work was done in the old School of Mines in Jermyn Street. It was published in the volume on fuels which is one of his notable contributions to metallurgy. Sir Aubrey Strahan and Dr. W. Pollard had made a well-known contribution to the knowledge of Welsh coals, and had discussed the problems of anthracitization. But although coals were the most important rocks and minerals of Great Britain, and although an immense amount of work had been done on the geological sequence and structure of British coalfields, there had been little scientific research into the chemistry and petrography of British coals.
One of the principal reasons for this state of affairs was that the task was beyond the resources of the Survey staff. To do the work well and thoroughly it was necessary to provide laboratories and elaborate appliances of a technical character that would require a large expenditure of money and a staff highly trained for the purpose. In America it had been found best to erect special laboratories for this purpose, and they were not under the control of the Geological Surveys. This problem was solved when the Fuel Research Station was set up under the auspices of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to prosecute investigations into all questions connected with the origin, properties and utilization of fuels. In matters of geology reference is made to the officers of the Geological Survey, and consequently each department has its proper field of work to which it restricts itself, while furnishing the sister organization with information when called upon. Experienced officers of the Geological Survey serve on all the local committees of the Fuel Research organization and keep in close touch with the investigations. The arrangement works satisfactorily for all parties.
Building stones, brick clays, cements[edit]
In very similar manner the Building Research Station supplements the work of the Geological Survey so far as building stones, brick clays, cements, etc., are concerned. Since the report on the stone used in the Houses of Parliament (1839) there had been no official publication on this subject in which the Geological Survey had taken part, but constant enquiries for information were being received and answered by officers of the Survey. These referred mostly to sources of supply, but no means existed of testing the materials or of forming an opinion regarding the weathering properties of stones that were new to the market. This work is now regarded as in the province of the Building Research Station which is carrying out elaborate investigations into these and many kindred problems. In all cases the Geological Survey serves as a reference in questions of geology and is prepared to collect material and report on the geology and visible resources of any locality which is under consideration.
Underground sources of water supply[edit]
Another direction in which the work of the Geological Survey has continued to expand is in the provision of information regarding underground sources of water supply. The collection of records of borings has always been a matter of special importance not only in the coalfields but also in those parts of Britain in which coal does not occur but where water is largely obtained from water-bearing strata. It is not known at what time the Geological Survey began to collect boring records systematically, but we know that Logan in South Wales was gathering shaft sections and bore records before 1840. In the south and east of England surface supplies of water are less important than wells and borings, and, especially in the London districts, the number of deep bores for water is very large. The particulars obtained from these records regarding the presence or absence of certain geological horizons, and their thickness and lithology, are of the greatest possible importance to the geologist. Many of the early Geological Survey memoirs contain much information derived from these sources. Whitaker’s ‘Geology of London,’ vol. II, published in 1889, contains records of many well-sections in the district described. The first of our Water Supply Memoirs, that on the County of Sussex, appeared in 1899 and was compiled by Whitaker and Reid. Since that date almost every year has seen an addition to the series, which now comprises twenty-eight volumes, containing records of wells in most of the counties of the south and east of England. The most active contributor was Whitaker, both before and after his retirement from official service. His knowledge of this subject was unequalled, and his industry was exceptional. Of recent years Mr. L. Richardson has given very valuable assistance and is the author of several memoirs on the counties of the West of England.
On the part of the public these memoirs, though of a technical description, have been highly appreciated. The first two volumes on Sussex, for example, have been sold out and a third has been published. As a matter of fact, the published information represents only a small part of the accumulated records in the possession of the Geological Survey, as every well record from any part of Great Britain that can be obtained is filed in the Survey Offices, and if any deep wells are being sunk an officer will visit them to keep in touch with the work and check the accuracy of the log. Specimens are also collected when anything of interest turns up. The people engaged in making deep wells, such as the engineers, boring firms and contractors, as well as urban or county officials and private consultants, are fully aware that the Geological Survey makes intensive study of these questions and possesses a large amount of unpublished information. Consequently, they frequently consult the officers of the Survey, and in turn they are very willing to contribute copies of the boring records of wells which they have made. Year by year the accumulated information increases and its value becomes more widely known. This is one of the most useful services which the Geological Survey can render to the public, and at the same time it brings to our knowledge many particulars regarding the geology of Great Britain that are of high interest from both a practical and a purely scientific point of view.
In connexion with public health the demand for water supplies constantly increases. New towns spring up and the existing towns expand, and the need for water becomes more and more insistent. Recent years (1933, 1934) have seen periods of prolonged drought, when, especially in the smaller towns and villages, a considerable amount of hardship has been experienced through lack of water. The Government has supplied large sums, amounting to approximately a million pounds, to assist in providing water supplies where the shortage is greatest. Consequently, there has been great activity in searching for underground water, and a Committee has been appointed by the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland to advise on the inland water survey for Great Britain, on the progress of the measures undertaken and on further measures required, and, in particular, to make an annual report on the subject. The programme of research is at present under consideration, and by arrangement with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research it has been agreed that the task of correlating the information on underground water shall be undertaken by the Geological Survey. This is a very promising development of its work which, though: not purely geological, is related to geology and also likely to prove of much practical value. It is at least encouraging that the work done for so many years in a field which was to some extent outside the normal duties of the Geological surveyors has been regarded as of national importance and is to be prosecuted in a more systematic manner and on a larger scale.
Geology and agriculture[edit]
It has long been recognized that an intimate connexion subsists between geology and agriculture, and the geologist, surveying the country field by field, knows well that fertility varies greatly and depends largely on the nature of the rocks from which the soil has been formed. Although notes on the soils and agriculture of the districts had been printed in many of the Survey memoirs, they were of too casual and perfunctory a character to be of much interest as contributions to the study of British soils. Horace Woodward, who took much interest in this subject, made a careful survey of the experimental farm at Rothamsted as a guide for the use of the soil experts of that institution. But it seemed to be exceedingly difficult to interest agricultural authorities in the relation of geology to soils, though Hall and Russell had published a most attractive study of the subject which was generally regarded as laying a sound foundation for future research. After 1920, however, Sir Thomas Middleton took his seat as an assessor to the Geological Survey Board, representing the Ministry of Agriculture and the Development Commission (of which he was Secretary). He at once instilled new vigour into the study of these problems, and it is now arranged that all experts studying soils under Government auspices or encouragement in Great Britain will have the assistance of officers of the Geological Survey, who will furnish information regarding the geology and petrology of the districts of which the soils are being investigated. It is definitely established that one of the principal factors in determining the characters of soils is the nature of the parent material, and though a complete classification has not yet been attained, there has been a great advance attended by a much closer approach to agreement on fundamental principles.
In this connexion it may ‘be mentioned that the Geological Survey has published maps of North and South Ayrshire (on the one-inch scale) showing soil textures. The soils are classified and mapped according to their physical characters, and a description of the methods employed is given in the North Ayrshire memoir. The work was done by Professor Berry and Messrs. Louden and Melville of the West of Scotland College of Agriculture, and the maps are the only soil maps that have been published by the Geological Survey of Great Britain.
In the early days of the Geological Survey of Ireland many specimens of soils and subsoils were collected, but this was afterwards discontinued. In 1907, however, ‘A Description of the Soil Geology of Ireland’ was published by J. R. Kilroe, who was for many years on the Irish staff.
Oil-fields[edit]
Little attention has been given to the study of oil-fields in Britain, for the sufficient reason that no British oil-field worth mentioning has yet been discovered. In Scotland since 1860 the oil shales of the Lothians have been regularly worked and a great industry has been built up as a result of the fundamental discoveries made by James Young and other pioneers. The geology and technology of the oil shales of Scotland have been detailed in a well-known memoir of the Geological Survey of Scotland which is now in its third edition and is the principal source of information on the subject with which it deals. During the later years of the Great War, in the course of the tireless search for British sources of mineral substances hitherto imported, the possibility of the occurrence of liquid oil in Great Britain, in quantities sufficient to justify exploitation, was eagerly canvassed and it was decided to make a series of exploratory borings. Advice was obtained from Lord Cowdray and his skilled technical geologists, who had much experience in the oil-fields of California and Mexico, and twelve sites were selected, ten in England and two in Scotland. The work went on for three or four years and was discontinued only after the War was ended. Some of the borings reached a depth of over 4,000 feet, but none yielded oil in useful amount; in fact, all the holes were ‘dry’ except one at Hardstoft in Derbyshire and one at D’Arcy near Dalkeith in Scotland. The search was consequently abandoned. The Geological Survey of Great Britain took little part in this adventure except that it furnished the geological information on which the sites were selected and that officers of the Survey visited the borings at intervals and took full records and suites of specimens of the rocks passed through. These are still preserved in the Museum of Practical Geology. The quest for oil in England still goes on, and has been stimulated by the Petroleum Production Act of 1918, under which notification of intended borings must be given to the Geological Survey who will have full liberty of access and the right to obtain a complete record of the geology of the boreholes.
Mining Industry Act of 1926 and the collection of borehole information[edit]
A similar provision was made in the Mining Industry Act of 1926 with reference to all borings and shafts for minerals intended to reach a depth of over 100 feet. For many years the Geological Survey has collected bore records in every part of Britain, whether the borings were made for minerals or for water. These records are carefully filed and their sites marked on special maps. Many of them have been published, but by far the greater number have never been printed, and of these many are confidential and cannot be communicated without permission from the parties for whom the bore was made. After the passing of the Act of 1926 opportunity was taken to strengthen this department by the appointment of assistants in England and in Scotland whose chief duty it is to visit notified borings and check the boring logs and take specimens when anything of interest is observed.
Special provision has been made that the information can be kept confidential when this is requested, and as a matter of fact, nearly all borings for minerals are, for a time at least, confidential. No difficulty has ever been experienced with the mining firms in whose interest the borings are being made: on the contrary, they welcome the visits of Survey officers and often send a request for them when something unexpected has been encountered in the course of the work. Our collection of bore records is increasing more rapidly than ever, and their value is much enhanced by the fact that the records have been verified on the spot in the course of the work and their interpretation discussed fully with the local experts before the boring was discontinued.
Geological mapping programmes[edit]
The routine field work, which, together with the preparation of maps and descriptive memoirs, constitutes the essential task of the Geological Survey and which had been practically discontinued during the last years of the War, was resumed after the close of the War and the retirement of Sir Aubrey Strahan. No essential alteration in the organization of the field work was considered necessary at this time. The formation of groups or units consisting of three or four geologists, under the control of a District Geologist, had proved to be a very efficient and satisfactory arrangement. Although first formally instituted by Sir Jethro Teall after the Wharton Committee’s Report in 1900, it was really the continuation and regularization of a method of working which had been to some extent employed under Ramsay and Geikie. With a few modifications to meet exceptional circumstances it has proved sufficiently elastic and at the same time convenient and easily administered.
England and Wales[edit]
The increase of staff made it possible to open new districts and at the same time to continue work in the districts in which survey had been in progress and was not yet finished. As it was obviously recommended by the Ministry of Reconstruction that the revision of the coal-fields should have priority and, as the provision of in-creased staff was meant to accelerate that work, it was decided to start revision in four additional coalfields. These were Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire. In all these districts no serious work had been done since 1883, and some of the maps dated from 1860. As mining operations in all these fields had been very actively carried on in the intervening years, the maps were practically obsolete. In some parts of these fields mining had been started after the maps appeared, and the area was already completely worked out and exhausted; and for some areas of Coal Measures no six-inch maps had been published owing to the suspension of six-inch publication about the year 1881.
In each of these districts a branch office was opened, namely at Newcastle, Whitehaven, York and Manchester. The officers in charge were Carruthers, Bernard Smith, Bromehead and Wright. This step was taken for two reasons—first, because there was no room for the staff in the London office in Jermyn Street, which was already overcrowded, and the provision of office quarters in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly would have been exceedingly expensive; and secondly, because it was felt that it would be advantageous to have the field staff working in each coalfield as closely as possible in touch with the mining engineers, coal-masters and others in the district during the winter months when the information on which the maps and memoirs were founded was being brought together with view to publication. This policy has fully justified itself and has been approved by the Geological Survey Board on several occasions when it has been passed under review. As much of the information embodied in coalfield maps is taken from the plans of mines and the sections of shafts that are accessible only in the mining offices, it has both saved the time of the staff and improved the accuracy of the work to have the geologists resident during the whole of the year in the districts they are mapping. At the same time it has brought the geologists into closer personal relations with the mining community and has greatly increased the applications for information received from the general public.
In the other districts in which survey had been going on before the War a great deal of half-finished work remained to be completed and brought to publication. It was necessary, for example, to issue the final maps and memoirs on the revised survey of the South Wales coal-field, a task which was accomplished in 1921. The North Wales coalfield had been completely revised before the War, but the maps and memoirs did not appear till 1923 and subsequent years. The coalfields of the West Midlands were partly revised, but much work remained to be done. The Birmingham, Coventry and Lichfield memoirs were published before 1926, and work was continued on the South Staffordshire, Shrewsbury and Forest of Wyre fields and is not yet finished and published. The work of T. C. Cantrill in this area deserves to be specially recognized, as on him fell the onerous task of carrying on the survey and at the same time completing much work that had been left unfinished by his predecessors.
As certain coalfield memoirs were sold out it became necessary to prepare and issue new editions, and this entailed a good deal of work in bringing the information up to date, though a full revision was impossible. Thus Gibson revised the Stoke-upon-Trent memoir, Wilson the memoir on ‘The Concealed Coalfield of Yorkshire’ and Robertson the ‘Abergavenny’ and ‘Merthyr’ memoirs. For the first time also the geology of the concealed coalfield of Kent was investigated and described in Survey publications by Dines and Crookall.
Scotland[edit]
In Scotland, also, energy was concentrated on coalfield revision and, to accelerate progress, work in the Highlands was discontinued for several years. The Scottish coalfields were about half revised at the close of the War. No change was made in coalfield programmes, and the work went on in Ayrshire, Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire. At a later period revision was begun in Fifeshire and Dumfriesshire. The primary survey of the Highlands was resumed in 1926.
Coalfield revision[edit]
It will be seen that during this period five units in England were employed on the revision of coalfields and the surrounding areas, and two units in Scotland also did coalfield work for a large part of the year. Only one unit, in the south-east of England, was entirely occupied in surveying areas in which coal did not occur, and even there the concealed Kent coalfield was being investigated. The result was a very great increase in the publication of coalfield maps and memoirs. This was completely in accordance with the recommendations of the Ministry of Reconstruction, for if we survey the state of matters in 1935 we find that a great advance has been made since 1920. In Scotland the revision is now practically completed and the maps and memoirs are nearly all published. In England the Cumberland coalfield is revised and published. The revision of Northumberland is nearly complete. About three-quarters of the Lancashire field and more than half the Yorkshire field are revised. North Wales, South Wales, the Midlands and the West Midlands fields had been revised before 1920 though not completely published. Much work, however, still remains to be done. The maps of County Durham, for example, are entirely out of date, and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire are still unrevised. Work is going on in the Forest of Dean, but of the Bristol and Somerset fields no recent maps are available. Meanwhile some of the older maps that were published from 1900 to 1910 are ripe for revision, as, for example, Leicestershire, parts of South Wales and Midlothian. It is generally admitted that maps that are thirty years old are not of much value.
In 1927 the revision of the Whitehaven coalfield was so far advanced that Dr. Bernard Smith and his staff were taken back to London and the local office was closed.
It must be confessed that progress in the coalfields in large measure entailed neglect of other areas, many of which were in much need of revision. One unit, however, was kept at work in the London district and the south-east of England. A re-survey of the Thames Valley from Reading to Sevenoaks has been completed and extended into the Weald. Much of this ground had not been previously surveyed on the six-inch scale’. Of the south coast of England from Chichester eastwards a suite of maps was published in revised form, though not based on a thorough re-survey. In other districts the assistance of non-official geologists who knew the ground well was secured; Mr. Osborne White wrote memoirs on Marlborough, Saffron Walden and other Sheets, and new colour-printed maps were sent out with partial revision. Mr. L. Richardson also gave valuable help in Moreton-in-the-Marsh and Cirencester, and Professor Boswell in East Anglia. At a later period a full revision of the district around Cambridge was undertaken and is still in hand, while a revised edition of the Oxford memoir was prepared by Pringle and others. It is not possible, however, to disguise the fact that the maps of a large part of the centre and south of England are unsatisfactory. They remain in the state in which they were fifty years ago when Sir Archibald Geikie reported the original survey of England as completed. Most of these Old Series hand-coloured one-inch maps are not based on a six-inch survey and have few or no particulars regarding the Drifts. For the use of water-engineers, agriculturists and for many industrial purposes, they are very seriously defective. In Scotland much has been done by the re-publication of the Southern Uplands, based on a revision by Peach and Horne, but some of the maps of the more populous parts of Scotland are badly in need of revision.
Highlands and Islands[edit]
During this period, however, the most striking and original work was being done in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. The survey of Banffshire, left in an unfinished state by Horne, was completed by Read, and thereafter attention was directed to a large area in northern and central Sutherland, where complexes of schist and granite extended over wide stretches of country. This was fully mapped and described, and the Orkneys were then surveyed for the first time, a comparatively simple matter. Wilson and his staff then proceeded to Shetland and have now completed the original survey of this most complex and fascinating group, and the results are being prepared for publication. This unit has been transferred to northern Skye to finish the survey of the island which was begun in the south nearly forty years ago by Harker.
In the west of Scotland the original survey of Mull was in hand before the War and was interrupted for a time. After the tragic death of Clough—killed by a shunting railway wagon—the superintendence of this group was assigned to Bailey, who carried on the work with great energy. No part of Britain has proved more complicated than Central Mull, and the intricacy of the structure was often too great to be represented even on the six-inch maps. The history of the Mull volcanoes, and of the various stages through which their activity passed, makes one of the most wonderful chapters of the geology of Britain. Not only was the sequence of lava eruptions and of intrusions exceedingly difficult to decipher, but the tectonics also were often of types not previously recognized. When the geological work on Mull was completed and the maps and memoirs were issued, it was universally admitted that new lustre had been added to the records of the Geological Survey of Scotland. For originality and thoroughness the work controlled by Clough and Bailey in Mull is fit to stand comparison with the work done under Horne and Peach in unravelling the history and structure of the North-west Highlands. It was also an appropriate sequel to Harker’s notable achievements in the survey of the southern part of Skye.
The geologists of this unit were then transferred to Ardnamurchan, Coll and Tiree. It had long been known that Ardnamurchan contained the remains of a volcano of intricate structure, and vivid descriptions had been given of some of its more prominent features by Macculloch, Judd and Geikie. The work of Richey and his colleagues proved that here also there was much variety and novelty, and, though the complexity was not so astounding as in Central Mull, the structures were generally of the same type and many of the rocks were exactly similar. The excellence of the field surveys ‘in Mull and Ardnamurchan was rivalled by the petrographical and chemical work done for that unit by Dr. H. H. Thomas. His contributions to the memoirs on these districts hold a very high place in the literature of British petrography.
Almost simultaneously with the publication of the Ardnamurchan memoir an account of the geology of Arran was prepared by Dr. Tyrrell of Glasgow University for the Survey. These three centres of volcanic action in Tertiary times in the west of Scotland have consequently received very special attention during the post-War years and a great advance has been made in our knowledge of one of the most interesting episodes in the geological history of Great Britain.
Only in Scotland is there any considerable area of ground that has not yet been surveyed for the first time. In the interior of Inverness-shire there are four one-inch sheets amounting to about 1600 square miles that have never been examined even in a preliminary way. It is mostly an area of mountains and glens, typical deer-forest, but from a geological point of view it must contain much that is of interest. The whole of the Outer Hebrides also remains to be surveyed, but the recent work of Professor Jehu and Dr. Craig of Edinburgh University has given many indications of the nature of the geology of these islands. The condition of Scotland thus contrasts strongly with that of Ireland, of which the survey was completed nearly fifty years ago.
Geophysical methods[edit]
The question of the Geological Survey undertaking geophysical methods of investigating geological structure came prominently before the Geological Survey Board in 1925. At that time Sir John Cadman, Chairman of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, was a member and both he and the Chairman of the Board, Sir Francis Grant Ogilvie, were deeply interested in the geophysical methods and their possible applications to the work of the Geological Survey.
Early in 1926 Sir John Cadman generously invited the Board to send two Survey officers to Persia as the Company’s guests to investigate the geophysical work being there carried out with the Eotvos torsion balance. The invitation was accepted and Dr. W. F. P. McLintock, Curator of the Museum, and Dr. J. Phemister were selected for the work. These officers spent over two months in Persia and on their return presented a report which was published in the ‘Summary of Progress’ for 1926.
The results described seemed so promising that it was decided to acquire a torsion balance and test out the methods in this country. Work was commenced in August 1927 with a survey over the concealed outcrop of the Swynnerton dyke in Staffordshire. Thereafter surveys were made over the buried channel of the River Kelvin, near Glasgow, the concealed outcrop of the Pentland fault, near Edinburgh, and over a region of pronounced magnetic anomaly at Thrussington, Leicestershire. In all these cases the results, with full accounts of the methods by which they were obtained, were published in the Summary of Progress, in the Mining Magazine or in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. These investigations showed that the torsion balance was an extremely useful instrument for mapping suitable concealed structures such as faults, dykes, unconformities, buried channels and sub-drift topography.
Coincidently with this work a series of tests were made by Dr. A. F. Hallimond with the Schmidt vertical magnetic variometer. He carried out surveys over the Swynnerton dyke, over a region of magnetic anomaly known to exist near Melton Mowbray, and over the Pentland fault. The results of these surveys appeared in the ‘Summaries of Progress ‘for 1929—1931 and amply demonstrated the value of this method for detecting concealed masses of magnetic rock. Drs. McLintock and Phemister also described a magnetic survey made by them over the Lornty dyke, near Blairgowrie, wherein they demonstrated an interesting form of permanent magnetization in the igneous rock.
Museum of Practical Geology[edit]
Pressure of work in connexion with the organization of the new Museum and offices caused the suspension of this branch of work in 1931 and the instruments and equipment were transferred on loan to the school of Geophysics established at that time at the Imperial College of Science.
Meanwhile in the Museum of Practical Geology, in Jermyn Street, matters were going from bad to worse. This had never been one of London’s brightest spots, though in the early days of Queen Victoria’s reign it was regarded as a model for Europe to copy. The attendance had now dropped to about 2000 a month. When it was re-opened to the public after the War it was obviously in need of a complete overhaul, and the Office of Works was requested to undertake the work. Some plaster had fallen from the north-east corner of the ceiling, and when the workmen had erected a scaffold and started to repair they were astonished to find that one of the great cast-iron beams that supported the roof was broken. An immediate search was made and five more beams in the same quarter proved to be fractured. The Museum was at once closed to the public as dangerous, but the staff continued to work in it as usual.
The cause of these dilapidations was never clearly established, but, as the . side walls of the building were cracked in several places, it seemed clear that there had been some movement of the foundations. It may be recalled, however, that on 19th October, 1917, a bomb exploded in Piccadilly a few yards east of the Museum, and did great damage. It is possible that the roof was injured, though this was not suspected at the time. Steps were now taken to support the broken roof, and a great timber structure was erected in the main hall on which a platform was built to hold the roof beams in place. The slates and lead were stripped from the roof and replaced by light boarding and ruberoid. Sheets of wood were substituted for most of the panes of glass in the roof, and a temporary installation of electric lighting was introduced to illuminate the darkened interior. Most of the cases of exhibits in the Museum were covered with dust-cloths, and the noise and dirt were intolerable. After the north end of the roof had been pronounced temporarily safe an examination was made of the southern part. Not unexpectedly, it was also discovered to be unsatisfactory, and another timber structure was set up to support it. These measures required more than a year for execution and when they were finished the Museum was again opened to the public. The interior now presented a spectacle such as no other museum in the world could furnish.
Much discussion took place regarding the ultimate fate of the building. The construction of a new roof would have been very expensive and it was by no means certain that the old walls would bear the weight. Nothing was done for a considerable time. Meanwhile a new door had been opened in the Piccadilly front which gave access to the Library and Map Room, so that the public might still consult the books and maps. The offices were still in use, but the Museum was to all intents and purposes defunct.
Royal Commission and the plans for a new Museum at South Kensington[edit]
In July 1927 a Royal Commission was appointed to consider and report on the condition and organization of Government Museums and Galleries. The Chairman of this Commission was Viscount D’Abernon, and in November Sir John Flett, as Director of the Museum of Practical Geology, was called on to give evidence on the state of this Museum. The members of the Royal Commission lost no time in coming to a decision, and on 22nd December, 1927, it was stated in Parliament that on representations which a delegation of the Commission had made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer it had been decided to transfer the Geological Museum to an appropriate site in South Kensington as soon as financial circumstances permitted. The site which had been suggested by the Bell Committee in 1912 as most suitable for the new building was approved. The period of suspense was over.
The preparation of plans for the new building was undertaken by Sir Richard Allison and Mr. John H. Markham, Architects of H.M. Office of Works. Allison had much experience of museum construction, having been responsible for the plans of the new buildings of the Science Museum, and on his retirement Markham completed the design, and in his hands the form and details of construction took their final shape. The general plan does not differ much from that of the adjacent Science Museum, but an extensive suite of offices and laboratories was provided at the rear of the building for the staffs of the Survey and Museum. Sir Francis Grant Ogilvie, who, before taking up his duties as Principal Assistant Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, had been Director of the Science Museum and of the Royal Scottish Museum, constantly assisted with suggestions based on his long and varied experience in the design and construction of museums. The museum and library furniture, which was entirely new, as the fittings of the old Museum were unsuited and were in most cases useless, was designed by Mr. Allum and Mr. Buck of H.M. Office of Works.
The building was begun in 1929 and was practically completed early in 1933, when it was announced that H.M. Government had decided to convene an International Economic and Monetary Conference to meet in London during that summer. A search was made for a suitable building in which this important Conference could meet, and it was ascertained that the new Museum of Practical Geology was in all respects the most convenient and best adapted for the purpose. Fortunately, none of the special fittings required for the Geological Survey had yet been installed, and the building, though complete, was entirely empty. Very rapidly the interior was converted into conference halls, committee rooms, writing rooms, buffets, lounges, and in the basement accommodation was provided for the press, telephones, typists and messengers. The conference was opened by H.M. King George V. on 12th June, 1933, and was presided over by the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald. The plenary sessions were finished in August and in October it was announced that if the Conference met again in London the new Museum would not be required for that purpose. The building was handed over to H.M. Office of Works to remove the fittings introduced for the Conference and to prepare for the reception of the Geological Survey.
During the year 1934 great activity prevailed both in the new and old Museums. The library, laboratories and collection rooms were fitted up with their cases, cabinets and racks of drawers, and most of the new furniture for the exhibition floors was delivered. Simultaneously, the collections in the old Museum were packed up by the staff and gradually transferred to South Kensington. The library at Jermyn Street was kept open as long as possible for the convenience of the public, but was finally closed at the end of July. It was installed in its new quarters and again made accessible to callers at South Kensington by the end of October. Over a million specimens, thirty-five thousand books and twenty thousand maps, besides manuscripts and documents, had to be dealt with in the course of the removal. On 31st October the old Museum was emptied and the keys handed back to H.M. Office of Works. The property was then placed on the market and after a time the Crown Lease was sold at £11,000 a year, a sum sufficient to pay interest on the cost of the new Museum and its fittings and provide a handsome surplus for H.M. Treasury. The cost of the Museum building was approximately £220,000, and of furniture and fittings £2,000. The staff of the Survey and Museum began to prepare the new Museum for the reception of the public. It was decided that the opening would take place in June or July, and the period of six months was all too short for the preparations.
In the interim the Curator of the Museum, Dr. W. F. P. McLintock, and the Assistant Curator, Dr. A. F. Hallimond, had not been idle. As soon as the main features of the new Museum had been decided on by the architect a general scheme of the displays which were to be exhibited to the public was drawn up and fully discussed. It was decided that the arrangement should be on the following lines
On the first floor or main floor all the exhibits should be of interest to visitors not skilled in geology. Such subjects should be illustrated as the action of wind, rain, rivers, weathering, ice, glaciers, volcanoes, earthquakes, also fresh water and marine deposits, the formation of rocks and their visible characters. In the centre of this floor it was decided to show a collection of precious stones, cut gems, ornamental stones and beautiful minerals both in their native state and cut and polished. The geology of London, the Thames Valley and the south-east of England, with the Hampshire Basin and the Isle of Wight, were to be exhibited with a full set of maps, photographs, diagrams, fossils, rocks, minerals and ores. Many explanatory labels, couched in the most simple terms, were prepared to accompany the specimens. A special feature of the exhibits on this floor was to be the presence of a number of dioramas, in natural colours and well illuminated, showing striking scenes of British geology such as the Needles (Isle of Wight), Lulworth Cove, Cheddar Caves, Edinburgh and the North-west Highlands.
On the second floor or first gallery the space was to be devoted to an exhibition of British Geology, based on the work of the Geological Survey. For convenience of preparation and description Great Britain was divided into provinces, each of which had a certain geographical and at the same time geological unity; for example, East Anglia, the Pennine Country, North Wales, Devon and Cornwall, the Southern Uplands, and the Northern Highlands of Scotland. One or two geologists who had a thorough knowledge of the district were put in charge of each of these areas with instructions to prepare a full series of exhibits with labels. A very large number of photographs was selected from the Survey’s collection to show the physical features of the country and to exemplify the close relation between geology and scenery. Many solid models were also constructed to show the geology and the surface relief. Of each district a descriptive handbook was to be published, written as simply as possible, to serve as a general account and as a handbook to the exhibits. On this floor also a suite of British fossils, stratigraphically arranged, and of rock-making minerals and typical rock structures, was to be exhibited.
On the third floor or second gallery there was to be an exhibition of applied or economic geology illustrating such subjects as building stones, slates, clays, cements, oil fields, iron ores and the principal ores of the metals (copper, tin, zinc, tungsten, gold, silver, etc.), and of the useful non-metallic minerals such as mica, asbestos, talc, magnesite, rock salt, gypsum, china clay, etc.
In this way it was hoped to provide something to interest the general visitor and at the same time to furnish all that was necessary for the student of British geology and the mining engineer or economic geologist who was specially interested in the application of geology to industry and commerce.
The topmost floor or third gallery was reserved for study and research collections, accommodated in cabinets of drawers. All the best material in the Survey collections, if not exhibited in the Museum, was placed in this gallery, divided into four series, rocks, minerals, fossil animals and fossil plants. For the collections there was plenty of room and excellent light, and space was also available for research workers and for the assistants engaged in the curation of the specimens. The public would be admitted to this gallery only when they desired to make a careful study of the research material in the possession of the Geological Survey.
The well-lighted and spacious basement of the Museum was assigned to workshops, store rooms, engineers’ equipment and in the centre a large apartment to hold half a million specimens in wooden, dust-proof drawers, sliding in steel racks.
Special attention was given to the provision of ample space for the library and map collections, which are much consulted not only by the staff but also by the public, and had been very unsatisfactorily housed in the old Museum.
One library was placed on the main floor for the use of the general visitors and another, more private, for staff and research workers. In the basement abundant storage was provided to take the accretions for many future years. The rearrangement, cataloguing and indexing of the library, when transferred to its new quarters, would be a task of considerable magnitude requiring many months of work.
The arrangements thus sketched out proved to be satisfactory on the whole, and needed no essential modification. The specimens for exhibit and for the reserve and study gallery were picked out and packed separately before they were sent to South Kensington, and as far as possible the collections, which were in a very dirty condition, were cleaned before packing. Twenty, or more, geologists of the field staff were detailed to prepare exhibits illustrating British Regional Geology in collaboration with the palaeontological and petrographical staffs. Descriptive labels were drafted and many sketch maps and coloured diagrams were executed by the draughtsmen to explain the exhibits. Nearly two thousand photographic enlargements from Survey negatives of British scenery were made, mounted and framed. Sixteen coloured dioramas of geological scenes were designed and constructed by professional scenic artists, and numerous solid models of interesting British geological districts such as Mull, Shropshire, the Weald of Kent and the Snowdon district of North Wales were made. These preparations involved an immense amount of work in which the field staff actively collaborated with the Museum staff and the petrologist and palaeontologists. By the end of June, after seven months of very arduous work, the new Museum was in such a state that it might be opened to the public, though, of course, much remained to be done before its condition could be regarded as likely to satisfy the critics.
Retrieved from ‘http://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/index.php?title=The_Geological_Survey_under_Sir_John_Smith_Flett,_1920–1935&oldid=42634’
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ANTENNAS & RF
COMPUTATIONAL ELECTROMAGNETICS
MANUAL WAY
DIFRAGEOS
Magdalena Salazar Palma
Magdalena Salazar-Palma was born in Granada, Spain. She received the MS and PhD degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, where she has been Assistant and Associate Professor at the Department of Signals, Systems and Radiocommunications. Since 2004 she is with the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain, where she is Full Professor, co-director of the Radiofrequency, Electromagnetics, Microwaves and Antennas Research Group (GREMA) and served for three years as Department head.
She has developed her research in a number of areas: electromagnetic field theory; advanced computational and numerical methods for microwave and millimeter wave passive components and antennas analysis and design; advanced network theory, in particular, passive devices, filters and multiplexers theory and design; antenna arrays and smart antennas; novel materials and metamaterials for the implementation of devices and antennas with improved performance (multiband, miniature size, and so on) for the new generation of communication systems; design, simulation, optimization, implementation, and measurement of microwave circuits both in waveguide and integrated (hybrid and monolithic) technologies; millimeter, submillimeter and THz frequency band technologies; radio waves propagation theory; and history of telecommunications.
She has authored or co-authored 694 publications: 7 scientific books and 30 book contributions published by international editorial companies, 14 academic books, 103 articles in scientific journals, 370 contributions for international symposia, 78 papers in national conferences, 53 project reports, 30 short courses notes, and 9 other publications. She has coauthored 2 European/USA patents and several software packages for the analysis and design of microwave and millimeter wave passive components, antennas and antenna arrays, advanced filters and multiplexers, which are under exploitation by multinational companies. She has participated (as principal investigator or researcher) in a total of 93 research projects (43) and contracts (50) financed by Spanish, European, and USA public institutions and companies. She has delivered numerous invited presentations and short courses. She received two individual research awards, and together with her Department another research award. In 2016 she got an Honorary Doctorate from Aalto University, Finland. She has received several grants and other awards and recognitions, among them the elevation to IEEE Fellow. She was the lecturer of the Inaugural Lesson of the Academic Year 2015-2016, Carlos III University of Madrid (the video recording of the opening ceremony may be seen here, with the inaugural lesson going from minute 44 to minute 78). Recently she was interviewed by the journal BIT of the Spanish Official National Association of Telecommunication Engineers, COIT, with the interview announced in the front cover of issue 202.
She has been member of Spain Accreditation Committee of Full Professors in Engineering and Architecture and other accreditation panels for institutions in Spain and abroad. She has assisted several Spanish agencies in the evaluation of projects, research grants applications, and so on. She has served in evaluation panels of the Commission of the European Communities, and other countries, including the National Science Foundation in USA. She has been associate editor of several scientific journals, member of the Technical Program or Organizing Committees of many international and national symposia, and reviewer for many international scientific journals, symposia, and editorial companies.
In 1989 she became member the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was elevated to Senior Member in 2001. In November 2013, she was elevated to IEEE Fellow “for contributions to the application of numerical techniques to electromagnetic modeling”. She is member of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), Communications Society, Education Society, Magnetics Society, Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), and Women in Engineering (WIE).
Since 1989 she has served IEEE under different volunteer positions: Vice-chair and Chair of Spain Section AP-S/MTT-S Joint Chapter, Spain Section Chair, Spain Section Membership Development officer, Spain Section Professional Development officer, Spain Section adviser, Region 8 Committee member, Region 8 Nominations and Appointments Subcommittee member, Region 8 Conference Coordination Subcommittee Chair, Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC) member, Chair of WIEC, member of Ethics and Member Conduct Committee, History Committee (both, IEEE Board of Directors Standing Committees), MGAB (Member and Geographic Activities Board) Geographic Unit Operations Support Committee, elected member-at-large of AP-S Administrative Committee, and member of Division IV Nominations and Appointments Committee. In 2009 she was elected as 2010 AP-S President-Elect, serving in 2011 as 2011 AP-S President and member of the Technical Activities Board (TAB), and, in 2012, as AP-S Past President, Chair of AP-S Nominations Committee and Chair of AP-S Past Presidents Council. She has also been member of AP-S Nominations Committee, Distinguished Lecturer Program Committee, and Chair of the AP-S Constitution and Bylaws Committee. She has been General Chair of MGAB Sections Congress 2014, member of TAB Society Review Committee, member of the IEEE Service Awards Committee (IEEE Awards Board), and TAB Leading Representative at the Joint MGAB/TAB/EAB (Educational Activities Board) AdHoc Committee on Member Development. Currently, she is member of the Honorary Membership Committee (IEEE Awards Board), TAB Nominations and Appointments Committee and TAB Hall of Honor Committee. She is also voting member of MGAB (as TAB representative), 2017 Sections Congress Committee, SIGHT (Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technologies) Communities of Practice Subcommittee, and IEEE Fellow Committee. She is also member of the Region 8 Strategic Planning Committee. Within AP-S she is member of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, Field Awards Committee, Meetings Committee, New Technology Directions Committee, and Chair of the History Committee. She is member of MTT-S Technical Committee # 15. In 2014 she was elected member-at-large of MTT-S Administrative Committee, where she is serving as member of the Education Committee, Image and Visibility Committee, MGA Committee, Operations Committee, Publications Committee, SIGHT AdHoc Committee, and Vice-chair of Intersociety Liaison Committee.
Luis Emilio García Castillo
Daniel Segovia Vargas
GREMA - Radiofrequency, Electromagnetics, Microwaves and Antennas Group
University Carlos III of Madrid
English Español (Spanish)
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Finding Other Resources
Politics & Government: Finding Other Resources
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Short biographies and critical essays on major thinkers.
Includes biographies of Marxists both obscure and prominent. Many full text works by the thinkers are available.
Excellent free encyclopedia with extensive, critical entries on some important political philosophers.
Utilitarian Philosophers
Site with detailed information and links about the major utlitarian philosophers.
Help on the APSA Citation Style
APSA Style Manual for Political Science is available at call number JA86 .A485 2006 in the reference collection on floor two and online.
Texas A&M Libraries have created a very helpful handout.
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Timeline: U.S. Presidents
A Dictionary of Contemporary World History
This authoritative dictionary distinguishes itself by providing informative and analytical entries on the most important people, organizations and events that have shaped our history from 1900 to the present day. Fully updated and revised, and with over 2,600 entries, this volume gives excellent ‘global’ coverage and - while also providing an enhanced coverage of the European Union - avoids presenting an exclusively ‘Euro-centric’ perspective of World History. The new edition boasts a wealth of new material including entry-level web links, extended coverage of historical context in the country entries, new and expanded biographical entries on figures..., and useful tables including lists of office-holders for countries and organizations and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Written by an authority in the field, this is a comprehensive reference work that will prove invaluable to a range of readers from students of history, politics, and international relations"
Dictionary of the Social Sciences
"[D]esigned to break down the barriers between social science disciplines, as well as to make social scientific language comprehensible to general readers. Collecting anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, human geography, cultural studies, and Marxism in one volume, the Dictionary presents concise, clearly written definitions of more than 1,500 important terms. Entries are true definitions, not extended essays or summaries. Ranging from 50 to 500 words, they succinctly define terms within each specific discipline and acquaint readers with the intellectual issues at stake when the terms are used. The entries draw on classic and contemporary scholarship, and include basic terms, concepts, theories, schools of thought, methodologies, techniques, topics, issues, and controversies. In addition to terminology, the Dictionary includes nearly 275 biographies of major figures...whose work has had a profound impact on the various fields."
Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior
The SAGE Handbook of Political Communication
The SAGE Handbook of Governance
21st Century Political Science: A Reference Handbook
Encyclopedia of Governance
The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism
Encyclopedia of Political Theory
Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right: Volume 1: The Left and Volume 2: The Right
Encyclopedia of Power
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FCPA Professor A Forum Devoted to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
FCPA 101
FCPA Institute
FCPA Connect
Friday Roundup
By Mike Koehler on August 16, 2013 in Allied Defense Group, BHP Billiton, FCPA Investigative Costs, India, Juniper Networks, Novartis, Related Civil Litigation, Wal-Mart, Year in Review 2013
Wal-Mart’s FCPA expenes continue to grow, scrutiny alerts and updates, in the blink of an eye, and for the reading stack. It’s all here in the Friday roundup.
Wal-Mart’s FCPA Expenses
As highlighted in this previous post, last FY Wal-Mart’s FCPA professional fees and expenses were approximately $604,000 per working day. As highlighted in this previous post, for Q1 of this FY Wal-Mart’s FCPA professional fees and expenses were approximately $1.16 million per working day.
Yesterday, in a Q2 earnings conference call, Wal-Mart executives stated:
“Expenses related to FCPA and compliance matters were approximately $82 million, which was above our forecasted range of $65 to $70 million. Approximately $48 million of these expenses represented costs incurred for the ongoing inquiries and investigations. Approximately $34 million is related to global compliance programs and organizational enhancements.”
Doing the math, Wal-Mart’s second quarter FCPA-related professional fees and expenses equal approximately $1.26 million per working day.
In this release, Wal-Mart stated:
“We believe expenses for FCPA matters and compliance programs will be between $75 and $80 million for both the third and fourth quarters.”
The question again ought to be asked – does it really need to cost this much or has FCPA scrutiny turned into a boondoggle for many involved? For more on this issue, see my article “Big, Bold, and Bizarre: The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enters a New Era.
Scrutiny Alerts and Updates
The company issued the following release.
“As previously disclosed BHP Billiton received a request for information in August 2009 from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a result the Group commenced an internal investigation and disclosed to relevant authorities including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) evidence that it uncovered regarding possible violations of applicable anti-corruption laws involving interactions with foreign government officials. As has been publicly reported, the Australian Federal Police has indicated that it has commenced an investigation. The Group is fully cooperating with the relevant authorities as it has since the US investigations commenced. As a part of the US process, the SEC and DOJ have recently notified the Group of the issues they consider could form the basis of enforcement actions and discussions are continuing. The issues relate primarily to matters in connection with previously terminated exploration and development efforts, as well as hospitality provided as part of the Company’s sponsorship of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In light of the continuing nature of the investigations it is not appropriate at this stage for BHP Billiton to comment further or to predict outcomes. BHP Billiton is fully committed to operating with integrity and the Group’s policies specifically prohibit engaging in unethical conduct. BHP Billiton has what it considers to be a world class anti-corruption compliance program.”
For more, see here from The Australian.
Add Novartis to the list of pharma companies under scrutiny by Chinese law enforcement for business practices in China. This Wall Street Journal article states:
“Novartis AG has opened an investigation into possible misconduct at its Chinese operations after a former employee filed a complaint about the Swiss pharmaceutical company’s business practices with labor authorities in China. Basel-Switzerland based Novartis said … its Business Practices Office, which looks into reported misconduct, is in charge of the investigation. The company said the former employee had asked for 5 million yuan (approximately $800,000) in compensation after resigning but declined to comment further.”
Allied Defense Group
Allied Defense Group (“ADG”) employed Mark Frederick Morales, one of the individuals charged in the failed Africa Sting enforcement action. As noted in this previous post, in August 2012, the ADG disclosed:
“In February and March, 2012, the DOJ dismissed charges against all individuals indicted in the FCPA sting operation, including the former employee of MECAR USA [an operating business of ADG]. Since this time, the Company’s FCPA counsel has had several discussions with the DOJ and SEC regarding the agencies’ respective inquiries. Based upon these discussions, it appears likely that resolution of these inquiries will involve a payment by the Company to at least one of these government agencies in connection with at least one transaction involving the former employee of Mecar USA. At this point, the amount of this payment is undeterminable.”
ADG recently disclosed:
“In late 2012, the SEC advised that it will not pursue an enforcement action against the Company and in early August 2013, the DOJ advised that it has decided to close its inquiry into this matter.”
As highlighted last week in the Friday Roundup, last week Juniper Networks disclosed:
“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice are conducting investigations into possible violations by the Company of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Company is cooperating with these agencies regarding these matters. The Company is unable to predict the duration, scope or outcome of these investigations.”
Whether because of three sentences or other information in the company’s quarterly filing, the company’s stock dropped approximately 5.5% last Friday.
72 hours later?
Why of course a securities fraud class action complaint.
This beats the 100 hour threshold highlighted in this previous blink of an eye post.
Reading Stack
A revealing Op-Ed from a member of the Indian Administrative Services in the Times of India which “looks at the games lower bureaucracy plays — sometimes on its own, at other times in collusion with the top — which kill entrepreneurship and capitalism in India” and which also provide breeding grounds in which harassment bribery flourishes.
An FCPA Mid-Year Update from BakerHostetler.
A good weekend to all.
An Obscure Enforcement Action
JPMorgan’s Hiring Practices In China Under Scrutiny
© 2016 FCPA Professor LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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HBFOL NEWSLETTER
2014 HOLIDAY BOOK SALE
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15th
9 A.M. TO 12 NOON
1309 BARD STREET, HERMOSA BEACH
1/2 BLOCK WEST OF THE LIBRARY
START YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING HERE!
Come early for our selection of beautiful coffee table books: subjects range from art and photography to a very special collection of baseball history and memorabilia. The Biography table includes books on Martha Washington, Clarence Thomas, and several Elizabeths––QEs 1 & 2, plus ET & RB (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton). For Secret Santa gifts, browse and buy in the Trivia section (Do Penguins Have Knees? When Do Fish Sleep?). Also stocking stuffers large and small, and many books on holiday traditions and entertainment ideas. The hardcover fiction shelves are alphabetically arranged, constantly replenished, and all the books have dust jackets. Come early for the best selection: most paperbacks and DVDs are a spectacular bargain at 50¢, most hard covers $1.
SPECIALS FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG ADULTS, ANIMAL LOVERS, AND SPORTS FANS
The front left-hand corner of the Bard Street Book Store, always appealingly arrayed and organized, provides many gift-giving ideas: picture books and cookbooks for younger children, novels for young adults, books on animals and sports, including biographies of famous athletes, and individual children's encyclopedia volumes at just 10¢ apiece.
REAL BOOKS: HERE TO STAY
In January of this year, the New York Times Book Review posed the question to authors and readers: How do e-books change the reading experience? The majority of responses weighed in on the side of books that we can hold in our hands and store on our physical shelves. There's no denying the convenience of carrying around a virtual library on an e-reader while commuting or traveling, but feeling the weight of an actual book, turning the pages, watching the progress of a bookmark as it
travels from beginning to middle to end, are physical pleasures that enhance the reading experience. No wonder the immense success of The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles has transformed it into a cultural institution and visitors magnet in just a few years. The Bard Street Book Store is the last book store in Hermosa Beach. Help us to keep it, and our Hermosa Beach Library, alive and well by patronizing our sales and donating your gently used real books for the benefit of our reading
FOR MORE BOOK SALE INFORMATION
Hermosa Beach Library: 310-379-8475
Carol Lawson, Book Sale Chairman: 310-372-2610
MONDAY BOOK STORE HOURS: 9:00 - 12:00 A.M. (Closed on all Monday holidays)
Large book donations may be brought to the Bard Street address during these hours. Call Carol Lawson at 310-372-2610 to arrange for delivery at another time. Book donations and FOL membership dues can also be left at the Hermosa Beach Library during open hours.
REMAINING SATURDAY SALE DATES FOR 2014: November 15 and December 20 .
YOUR BOOK SALE & MEMBERSHIP DOLLARS AT WORK
Since the beginning of summer, the Hermosa Beach FOL has donated over $1,000 to buy books and supplies for the children's section; most recently it sponsored and provided treats for the Halloween program featuring juggler David Cousin. HBFOL members also judged submissions in the 2014 Children's Bookmark Contest and will be providing gift certificates for winners in each category. From July through October, purchases of books and DVDs for adults with HBFOL funds total nearly $3,000;
an additional $2,800 paid for periodicals and other subscriptions.
2015 ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The following slate will be voted on at the meeting on November 19:
President: Bob Luthardt
Vice-President: Dorothy Yost
Secretary: Diane Craig
Treasurer: George Ceman
Membership: Carol Lawson
THE NEXT HERMOSA BEACH FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY MEETING WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH, AT 2 P.M. MEETINGS TAKE PLACE AT THE BARD STREET BOOK STORE. ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE RENEW YOUR HBFOL MEMBERSHIP FOR 2015: YOUR DUES ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE AND WILL HELP TO PAY FOR PRINTING & MAILING OUR NEWSLETTER. DUES RECEIVED THROUGH DECEMBER 31 WILL EXTEND YOUR MEMBERSHIP THROUGH DECEMBER OF 2015.
(Check the mailing label for your current membership status.)
Deliver this form with your check to the library, or mail to HBFOL, P.O. Box 515, Hermosa Beach CA 90254.
NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS____________________________________________________________________________
PHONE________________________________________
STUDENT/SENIOR: $5, FRIEND: $10, SPONSOR/FAMILY: $25, PATRON(FAMILY): $50, LIFETIME: $250 (1) or $500 (2)
E-mail___________________________________________________________________OK to send newsletter via e-mail?_______________
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Calif. Local Meets Desalination Plant’s Challenges
In most parts of the U.S., we never think about running out of water. We wash our cars, water our lawns and take long showers, considering H20 to be infinite and dependable. Not so in California. With a growing population, wide sections of desert terrain and often high temperatures, sizeable slices of the state face dangerous droughts.
The San Diego Water Authority, serving 3 million residents, currently imports water from the Metropolitan District of Los Angeles. But while the Metropolitan District is the largest water treatment operation in the U.S., San Diego is looking to hedge against the growing scarcity by converting seawater into drinking water.
A $1 billion desalination plant and pipeline is taking shape in Carlsbad. When completed in the last quarter of 2015, it will be the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. And 45 IBEW electricians, members of San Diego Local 569, are making it happen.
A public-private partnership between the authority and Poseidon Water, a Boston-based company, is financing the construction of the plant, designed by an Israel-based firm and expected to supply between 7 and 10 percent of the county’s water by 2020.
12-year member Joe Loza says some apprentices on the Carlsbad Desalination Project are confronting new aspects of the trade, like underground piping and installing programmable logic controllers.
The desalination plant will convert 54 million gallons a day of seawater into freshwater, operating on reverse osmosis, the same process used in some home water treatment systems. Salt and most biological and organic chemical compounds will be removed as seawater is pushed through 16,000 semi-permeable membranes by high pressure pumps installed by IBEW members.
“I have no doubt that this plant will be successful,” says Brian Murdick, a senior project manager for signatory electrical contractor Morrow-Meadows. The project is challenging, he says, because the design process was still incomplete as construction began.
Murdick’s charge is to efficiently and safely bring power to the project and install the massive pumps and technology that will make it a world leader in desalination.
Intake pumps are 2100 horsepower, 5 KV. High-pressure reverse osmosis pumps are 8000 horsepower, 15KV. A soft starter for the pump motor reduces the current drawdown when pumps are turned on.
Murdick says the process of reverse osmosis results in water exiting the plant that is actually “too clean.” Chemicals must be added back to keep the water to protect the concrete tanks and concrete-lined10-mile, 54-inch-diameter pipeline that will connect to an existing aqueduct pipeline system. He says his crews are as fascinated as he is with the technologies they are installing.
“This is the highlight of my career,” says 15-year Local 569 member Paul Fieweger, who is working on the desalination detail after spending most of his time building commercial structures, offices and schools. “I have to be on my ‘A game’ here,” says Fieweger who, before the desalination plant, had scant experience working on large industrial plants or using rigid conduit. “Most of the IBEW members want to be here and we are excited to be part of the project. And the IBEW’s caliber, our training and safety consciousness, is suited for this type of work.”
Joe Loza, a 12-year IBEW member, says the desal plant is his first large industrial project. “This is the best job I’ve ever had. The guys like working here and apprentices are being acquainted with a broad scope of construction from underground pipe to Ocal,® PVC-coated conduit, programmable logic controllers and 15,000-volt pumps,” says Loza.
A front-page story in Engineering News-Record details the importance of the Carlsbad plant which will produce 25 times the desalinated water of all 12 of the state’s existing plants combined.
Pumps installed by IBEW members push seawater through 16,000 reverse-osmosis membranes to produce water suitable for drinking, bathing and other needs.
“If the project falters, the growing momentum for similar U.S. seawater desalination projects could face a reversal, industry observers say,” says ENR.
Rob Meadows, executive vice president of Morrow-Meadows, said he is confident that not only will Carlsbad not falter; it will be a template for others to follow.
“Rarely do our employees get the opportunity to work on such an important and challenging project as the desalination plant. Our IBEW crew has found the unique aspects of this installation both challenging and refreshing,” says Meadows. The methods and materials and technology used on this facility, he says are rarely used in San Diego, “yet our team has performed exceptionally well embracing the quality installation required along with an outstanding can-do attitude. Morale has been excellent throughout the project.”
The desal plant is located adjacent to the Encina gas-fired power station and will draw seawater from a 388-acre lagoon that supplies the power station with cooling water.
A portion of the diverted water from the Encina plant, staffed by members of San Diego Local 465, will, once desalinated, head into the water authority’s drinking-water system for further treatment. Another portion of high-saline water, or brine, will be diluted in the power plant discharge and returned to the ocean.
While the immediate cost of desalinated water will be higher than the current importation charge from the Metropolitan Water District, San Diego expects desalination to pay off in the long run as climate change and other forces impact water stability.
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BT Seminar Hall
12th IBSE Seminar by Dr. Nathan Bachmann
Happy to announce that Dr. Nathan Bachmann from Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (CIDM) will be presenting an overview of his work in Mycobacteria species and developing metagenomics. The title of his talk is “Key transitions in the evolution of rapid and slow growing Mycobacteria identified by comparative genomics”.
Nathan has completed a Ph.D. in microbial genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Queensland. He then worked as a post-doc at the University of the Sunshine Coast on culture-independent genome sequencing of Chlamydia pecorum from swab samples collected from koalas. Nathan currently works at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (CIDM) at the Westmead Hospital in Sydney researching Mycobacteria species and developing metagenomics.
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DEED FROM DANIEL SYMMES [FOR JOHN CLEVES SYMMES, JR.] TO WHH
AND JOHN CLEVES SHORT [ABSTRACT]1
[Cincinnati, February 5, 1814]
For $200, Daniel Symmes of Cincinnati, attorney for John
Cleves Symmes, Jr., of the U.S. Army,2 deeded to WHH and John
Cleves Short of Cincinnati on February 5, 1814, approximately
five hundred acres of land in Ohio, a portion of a
four-thousand-acre tract. This portion of the tract was
described as: "All that certain tract or parcel of land being the
fourth section in the first township & thirteenth range of
townships in the Military District between the Sciota & Muskingum
rivers, lying two & a half miles square at right angles, all the
lines equal & courses on the four cardinal points of the compass,
situate on the waters of Licking Creek about one mile north of
the south fork of Licking creek a westerly & considerable branch
of Muskingum...."
Witnesses: Ethan A. Brown and Thomas Henderson
Recorded: November 19, 1814
1. DS (partially printed), Short-Harrison-Symmes Families Papers,
Box 28, DLC.
2. For brief biographical sketches on these men, see Articles of
Agreement between Daniel Symmes [for John Cleves Symmes, Jr.] and
WHH and John Cleves Short, February 5, 1814, footnote 2, printed
immediately above.
Transcription DEED FROM DANIEL SYMMES [FOR JOHN CLEVES SYMMES, JR.] TO WHH AND JOHN CLEVES SHORT [ABSTRACT]1 [Cincinnati, February 5, 1814] For $200, Daniel Symmes of Cincinnati, attorney for John Cleves Symmes, Jr., of the U.S. Army,2 deeded to WHH and John Cleves Short of Cincinnati on February 5, 1814, approximately five hundred acres of land in Ohio, a portion of a four-thousand-acre tract. This portion of the tract was described as: "All that certain tract or parcel of land being the fourth section in the first township & thirteenth range of townships in the Military District between the Sciota & Muskingum rivers, lying two & a half miles square at right angles, all the lines equal & courses on the four cardinal points of the compass, situate on the waters of Licking Creek about one mile north of the south fork of Licking creek a westerly & considerable branch of Muskingum...." Witnesses: Ethan A. Brown and Thomas Henderson Recorded: November 19, 1814 1. DS (partially printed), Short-Harrison-Symmes Families Papers, Box 28, DLC. 2. For brief biographical sketches on these men, see Articles of Agreement between Daniel Symmes [for John Cleves Symmes, Jr.] and WHH and John Cleves Short, February 5, 1814, footnote 2, printed immediately above.
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Iuvenis Orbis, Inc. is the incorporated non-profit association of the Iuvenis Orbis Geological Fraternity (IOGF) based at the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) of the University of the Philippines (UP), Diliman campus. Quezon City, Philippines.
Iuvenis Orbis, Inc. is a dedicated group of geoscientists permanently deployed in the Philippines as well as other parts of Asia, the Americas, Australia and Europe into various fields of mineral exploration, mining, energy, environmental, and engineering geology. Some of our members are also into information technology, policy formulation, public service, various business ventures and academia.
The Iuvenis Orbis Geological Fraternity (IOGF) was organized in 1972 by a group of idealistic geology students in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. The group chose the name “Iuvenis Orbis” (‘Young Earth’ in Latin) to signify their dedication to the science of Geology, and their youthful optimism towards playing a positive role in the geoscience profession. In 1975 the fraternity was officially recognized by the University of the Philippines. From its founding batch of 22 members, the fraternity has now grown to 180+ members, of which 100+ completed their degrees in geology, while others went on to pursue other degrees. The geology alumni among the fraternity members represent about 14% of all UP geology graduates since 1957. Currently, the membership roster of IOGF includes 17 members with doctorate degrees, 17 members with master’s degrees, 3 members with law degrees and 1 with a doctor of medicine degree. There are 45 members who permanently reside overseas and 39 working outside the Philippines while continuing to maintain close affiliation with the fraternity.
The aims of Iuvenis Orbis, Inc. are –
To promote the advancement of the geosciences; uphold the standards and integrity of the geology profession; enhance public awareness of the geological sciences; and safeguard the interests of Filipino geoscientists in national and international affairs.
To harness the power of the geological sciences for the economic and social development of the Filipino people through wise utilization of natural resources, preservation of the environment, and protection from natural and man-made geologic hazards.
To promote the well being and professional advancement of fraternal brothers, strengthen fraternal unity and cooperation, and safeguard fraternal principles.
To seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation with other geoscience organizations based on shared goals and principles.
On-going Programs
UP Geology Merit Awards (UPGMA)
Alberto Llamas Educational Assistance Fund (ALEAF)
Jessie A. Daligdig Fund (JADF)
USA Chapter
Australia Chapter
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Vols Beat
Knoxblogs.com
GoVolsXtra
KnoxBlogs
Tennessee No. 25 in College Football Playoff poll
Tennessee broke into the College Football Playoff Top 25 spot for the first time this season on Tuesday, coming in at No. 25.
The Vols (8-4, 5-3 SEC) started the season in the top 25 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Amway Coaches Polls but fell out with losses in three of their first five games and four of their first seven. However, Tennessee won five straight and finished in second in the SEC East.
The Vols are one of five SEC teams in the College Football Playoff Top 25, the poll that determines the four teams in the four-team national championship tournament and is used to determine the berths in the New Year’s Six Bowls. Alabama is No. 2, followed by No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 18 Florida and No. 21 LSU.
The top four teams heading into conference championship weekend are No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Iowa. Clemson, Alabama and Iowa all play in conference championship games this weekend. Clemson plays No. 10 North Carolina in the ACC Championship, Alabama plays Florida in the SEC championship and Iowa plays No. 5 Michigan State.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on December 1, 2015 by Dustin Dopirak.
← Outback Bowl CEO says Vols hit “everything on checklist,” but there is still much to sort out Bowl Projections: Outback becoming more likely →
Dustin Dopirak has been covering Tennessee football since August of 2014. Prior to that he spent five years covering Indiana basketball, football and baseball at the Bloomington (Ind.) Herald-Times. Before arriving at Indiana, he covered James Madison basketball among other beats at the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., from 2004-09. He graduated from Penn State in 2004 after serving as sports editor and covering football and men’s basketball among other sports at the Daily Collegian. He grew up in North Huntingdon, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, graduating from Norwin High School in 2000.
My preseason All-SEC Ballot
Butch Jones SEC Media Days transcript
Athlon, Sporting News on the Vols
Vols get late commitment from Texas junior college outfielder
“I’m thrilled to death” — Tennessee’s Dave Serrano on the draft
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You are here: Home / Blog / 2011 / May
Strawberries in Virginia
May 5, 2011 /0 Comments/in From the chef /by Mark Gresge
It is that time of year in central Virginia, in particular the Charlottesville area when the first produce of Spring comes to our kitchen. One of my favorites is the Strawberry, which got me thinking:
The strawberry is a member of the rose family, with the most common varieties being a hybrid of the wild Virginia strawberry (native to North America) and a Chilean variety. The plant produces succulent, red, conical fruit from tiny white flowers, and sends out runners to propagate.
Although the plants can last 5 to 6 years with careful cultivation, most farmers use them as an annual crop, replanting yearly. Crops take 8 to 14 months to mature. Strawberries are social plants, requiring both a male and female to produce fruit.
The word strawberry comes from the Old English streawberige, most likely because the plant sends out runners which could be likened to pieces of straw. Although they have been around for thousands of years, strawberries were not actively cultivated until the Renaissance period in Europe.
Strawberries are native to North America, and the Indians used them in many dishes. The first colonists in America shipped the native larger strawberry plants back to Europe as early as 1600. Another variety was also discovered in Central and South America, which the conquistadors calledfutilla. Early Americans did not bother cultivating strawberries, because they were abundant in the wilds.
The wide distribution of wild strawberries is largely from seeds sown by birds. It seems that when birds eat the wild berries the seeds pass through them intact and in reasonably good condition. The germinating seeds respond to light rather than moisture and therefore need no covering of earth to start growing
Cultivation began in earnest in the early part of the 19th century, when strawberries with cream quickly became considered a luxurious dessert. New York became a strawberry hub with the advent of the railroad, shipping the crop in refrigerated railroad cars. Production spread to Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida and Tennessee. Now 75 percent of the North American crop is grown in California, and many areas have Strawberry Festivals, with the first one dating back to 1850.
http://letoilecatering.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/letoile-catering-logo-trans1-300x137.png 0 0 Mark Gresge http://letoilecatering.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/letoile-catering-logo-trans1-300x137.png Mark Gresge2011-05-05 22:11:052016-04-25 22:12:34Strawberries in Virginia
Wedding: Buffet or Family Style
Wedding: Seated and Served
From the chef
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WORKS / FOREIGN POLICY / Azerbaijan - Russian Federation
Statement of the Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and the Russian President Viladimir Putin with the representatives of mass media - January 25, 2002
First of all I would like to express my profound gratitude to you, Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich, for the invitation to pay a state visit to Russia, to Moscow. I thank you for the attention, hospitality and care shown to me, to all our delegation personally by you, by your colleagues. Owing to all these, the visit passes quite successfully. I am satisfied with everything since the first minute and till now.
We have conducted very necessary, important, fruitful dialogues. For example, I highly appreciate the talks with Vladimir Vladimirovich in private in at his house last night. We have in essence exchanged views on many questions and found full coincidence of views concerning, first of all, intergovernmental relations and at the same time many other questions and the international life. And our talks today in private allowed us to continue the discussion of these questions. I am satisfied with all. And, finally, our meeting with the participation of members of delegations allowed us to determine the directions of our work on cooperation in future.
I quite agree with all the thoughts told by President Putin concerning those questions which we have discussed and on which we have agreed. Therefore, I will not repeat, but I would like to say that we have paid more attention to the question of the peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over the Mountainous Garabagh. I am happy that the Russian Federation and personally President Putin pay more attention to it and take active measures. I cherish hope in the further active efforts of the Minsk Group of OSCE and its co-chairs - Russia is also a co-chair, and also in the further efforts of President Putin. We spoke about it, and I hope for it because the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, naturally, is of vital importance for us.
However, this question is of great importance for all the Caucasus. And, hence, not only for the Caucasus, but also for all Europe. Russia, naturally, is the Caucasian country, and it concerns not only Russia, but all Europe. I think that our public holds the same opinion that Russia can play an important, perhaps, a decisive role here.
And consequently we hope that Russia will activate its efforts in this direction. As an important question, certainly, we exchanged views on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. I am satisfied that the positions of Russia and Azerbaijan are identical in this issue, we have the same position with Kazakhstan. I, for example, have learned with satisfaction that not only the principles, but also the coordinates of the median line have already been determined between Russia and Kazakhstan. Today we have agreed on the same issue, and Vladimir Vladimirovich proposed to carry out the same work between Russia and Azerbaijan concerning the Caspian Sea, and I hope that our joint efforts and, certainly, as a whole, the vigorous activity of the Russian Federation will allow us to come to the solution of the question on the legal status to the Caspian Sea.
As to our relations in humanitarian sphere, they are good. I think that they satisfy both Russia and Azerbaijan. Communications between art workers, arts, sciences, holding the Days of the Russian culture in Azerbaijan, the Days of the Azerbaijani culture in Russia, in Moscow and in other regions of Russia, are certainly, great value. And we shall continue this practice. But our relations, cooperation, certainly, cover many other spheres in which we do not have any problems. During our talks we agreed on the activation of our efforts.
I think that our present meeting will occupy an important place in the history of the Russian-Azerbaijani relations. Its foundation was laid last year when the Russian President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin paid an official visit to Azerbaijan. This visit, I will speak openly, has a historical value for us. I think that it is also very important value for Russia, it has an exceptional importance for the Russian-Azerbaijani relations. In fact, this visit laid the foundation of the new stage of our mutual relations, a new stage for cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan. In the past period, we have managed to intensify our relations, and these relations have led to the present meeting and signature of those important documents which we have just signed.
Like Vladimir Vladimirovich, I also attach great importance to the contract on long-term economic cooperation and to the agreement on legal status of Gabala Radiolocation Station among the documents. And I think that we have done a lot and created all legal conditions for the further activity of this radar station. We shall promote our future cooperation in this sphere, and in all other spheres concerning the defense and military activity.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, many thanks to you once more. I thank you for the invitation, for the documents signed today, for those proposals connected with the development of cooperation and for the attention which you paid to us and personally to me.
Vladimir Putin: I want to thank once more the President and all delegation. I would like to note a detail which characterizes, in my opinion, the character of our present relations. This, at first sight, is a fine detail, but, I repeat, it again that characterizes all the complex of our mutual relations. When we met Heydar Aliyev last time, we spoke about the expansion of cooperation in economic sphere, about the purchase of our subway vans by Azerbaijan. In the budget of Russia for 2002 we have even credit resources for Azerbaijan for the sale subway vans. Today, during our negotiations I informed the President on it, he said: "We shall not buy them one credit, we have necessary sum in our budget to buy them in cash". I think that if we work like this in all the spheres, we shall move forward very actively on all the complex of our cooperation.
Heydar Aliyev: Vladimir Vladimirovich, I want to thank you especially for the invitation to the meeting in St.-Petersburg in summer for opening of the monument to the great Azerbaijan poet Nizami. At the meeting in Petersburg in the summer, we can open it together. As the remarkable monument to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin which we have opened in Baku, it will certainly, promote the Russian-Azerbaijani friendship, friendship between our peoples.
Official visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to the Russian Federation (July 2 - 4, 1997)
Historical background to the document "Statement of the Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and the Russian President Viladimir Putin with the representatives of mass media (January 25, 2002)"
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Speech at Lexei's bar mitzvah on 13th January 2007
Hello everybody. Here we all are again. I’ve got five minutes with a more or less captive audience. Once again, for those of you who are familiar with a traditional bar mitzvah, fasten your seat belts. And for those of you who have never been to a bar mitzvah before, rest assured that this is entirely authentic, and that all bar mitzvahs are exactly like this.
If this were a religious bar mitzvah, this would be the spot for the rabbi’s sermon, in which he would expound in a learned way on the significance of this week’s torah portion. Since this is a secular ceremony, it’s very tempting to have a reading from an important secularist text – perhaps an extract from Richard Dawkins’ new book ‘The God Delusion’, on why religion is not only wrong but also stupid and harmful. Fortunately for you, though, I understand that good manners require that I show a little forbearance.
So, back to Plan A, and a little exposition on the torah portion. As you will hear shortly, Lexei’s torah portion, and the associated haftorah portion, are both about somebody being called to a duty that they are reluctant to take on. Well, sometimes we feel the same about being secular Jews. It would have been easier to take the mainstream, religious route. Somebody else would have done the intellectual and pedagological schlepping. We would just have dropped the kids off at a synagogue cheder on Sunday morning, and then had the morning off – instead of having to make up a syllabus, run classes, make up a bar mitzvah ceremony, and so on. Plenty of other people manage like that, and most of their kids more or less get the message that religion, and Jewish culture have their own proper, small place that needn’t spill over into everyday life.
But it honestly felt to us like there really wasn’t any choice. We tried the other route, and in the end it just didn’t make any sense for us. For me the turning point came at a parents’ morning at the synagogue cheder, when one of the speakers – Clive Lawton, for those of you that know him -- asked, rhetorically, what was the point of sending your children to cheder to learn how to daven if you didn’t daven yourself? I had to agree, and Lexei stopped going to the synagogue cheder the following week. Almost certainly not the effect that he had in mind, but there you are.
So we started running our own secular cheder in the front room about three years ago – Lexei, Daniela, Abe, Max and me. We already had a bit of a model, because Leslie had been running a bar and bat mitzvah group in our kitchen for a couple of years – that’s the one Louis went to. But this was the first time that I’d done anything like teaching. So we learned to read Hebrew – and when I say ‘we’ here, I use that particular pronoun carefully. We studied bible stories, some of which were dramatised by a selection of beanie babies and other stuffed animals. We did Jewish history too, and we’ve just spent half of a term learning about the holocaust – Zionism, Israel, and the Palestinians next term, wish me luck!
We studied Jewish folklore – kicking off with the traditional story of the Rabbi who turned into a werewolf. We invented Jewish Top Trumps, merrily infringing copyright as we went. We added Jewish humour – and we learned the famous and important joke about the old Jewish guys who tell the same jokes over and over again, until in the end they just give each joke a number, then tell each other the number and all laugh together. And we didn’t just add stuff – we added people too, so that there were more and more kids in the front room – can we have a wave please, Susie, and Effie? So we added another teacher, too, because with the best will in the world I couldn’t teach Hebrew to ten kids at once. I can honestly say that we wouldn’t have made it through the last two years without my friend and co-teacher, Ms Lukom.
One of the things we do in our secular cheder is to look at Jewish customs and traditions as something that is evolving rather than static. So let’s have a bit of a go now, with a look at how the bar mitzvah itself has evolved. At Louis’ bar mitzvah ceremony, I explained what it meant for us as secular Jews to have a coming of age ceremony in the form of a bar mitzvah. This meant, in effect, to claim the symbolism of the bar mitzvah and to turn it into something that is meaningful for us. Actually, it turns out that this isn’t such a strange thing to have done. Everybody knows the joke about the elephant safari bar mitzvah, but the big bar mitzvah, as we know it, isn’t a timeless tradition at all. It’s only about fifty years old. Older men here will remember a small celebration at their own house, with a few bits of plaive cake, some bridge rolls, and some tiny glasses of cherry brandy.
The form of the big bar mitzvah is to a very great extent copied from the form of the big Jewish wedding. You can see that, for example, in the way that the ritual of lifting up the bar mitzvah boy on a chair has become part of the ritual – among the Orthodox, that’s something that you do at weddings. The same with the entirely invented ritual of the ‘bar mitzvah cake’. In fact, much of the ritual of the bar mitzvah party owes its origins to the traditional enemy of the Jewish people, the Jewish caterer.
Even the religious bar mitzvah ceremony isn’t all that old – perhaps a few hundred years. Once upon a time the big coming of age event for boys was around five years old, when the child was taken from its mother and given to the Rabbi to be educated. This was a public ceremony, which included the child being carried through the streets, and involved special foods, including food like eggs and cakes on which the verses of the torah were actually written (and by the way, this led to some very interesting discussions between rabbis as to whether it was permissible to excrete holy words).
In the Ashkenazic world this event more or less disappeared around the late middle ages, as part of a much bigger set of changes affecting both the Christian and the Jewish worlds. This is when the Christian practice of oblation – when parents gave their children to monasteries – came to an end. In the Jewish world, before this time there was nothing particularly special about the age thirteen. Some rabbinical authorities treated children as little adults, who were eligible for religious duties as long as they were physically capable of them – that’s still the principle in some sephardic communities. Biblical sources tended to treat twenty years as representing maturity, and for some purposes, like studying kabala, the appropriate age is at least forty. Well, at least Madonna is OK on that score.
It’s only from the fifteenth century onwards that Jewish children were seen as taking on the rights and responsibilities of adulthood at thirteen. The ceremony of the bar mitzvah, to mark the Jewish boy as having attained the age at which he could be counted in a minyan and called to the reading of the law, dates from this time.
Well, that’s the end of the history lesson. The point of it is really that social institutions, and especially religious traditions, like the bar mitzvah, are made up by people like us. We’ve got just as much right to make up our own way of doing things as did the rabbis in medieval Germany. What is, is the product of a process of change, and can be changed.
We tend to think about Jewish culture, and Judaism, in terms of its permanence and its resistance to change. Mike Leigh’s play about North London Jews was called ‘Two Thousand Years’ because we are fond of depicting our stuff as being two thousand years old. Everyone knows the joke about the Chassidic rabbis and the light bulb.
But the reality is that Jewishness has changed, in a very fundamental way, several times. The religion described in Judges, for example, is a decentralised affair with multiple holy places and holy men, and probably multiple deities too. The Judaism of the temple period, invented during the Bronze age monarchies that sort of correspond to the Book of Kings, involved a single centre, a hereditary priestly caste, a corps of priestly musicians, animal sacrifices, and so on. Talmudic Judaism, with rabbis and scholars and synagogues and Torah readings, is yet another invention – partly a response to the destruction of the temple, partly a recognition of the fact that even before that destruction huge numbers of Jews lived outside the land of Israel. Much of the familiar traditional liturgy and ritual is from the Middle Ages, or even later.
Right now, most Jews live their lives in the English-speaking world. Most of us are well integrated into the wider community, in terms of economic activity, friendships, and relationships. Cognitively and intellectually, most are already secularists.
So what does this secular bar mitzvah ceremony mean, to our family and our little community? Standing here, in this building which is not a synagogue, in the middle of a ceremony which is not a religious ceremony, we might be engaged in act of pointless frivolity – a departure from the Jewish mainstream which is just a stopping off point on the road to assimilation and disappearance.
Or we might be at the front of the next wave of change – the bellwethers, or harbingers, or whatever word you like, of the next kind of Jewishness to emerge. In which case when Lexei tells his grandchildren one day that he had a secular bar mitzvah, they’ll say, impatiently I hope, “Well duh – what other kind is there?” I can think of no better picture with which to leave you.
Posted by Jeremy Green at 12:51 PM
Labels: Jewish Stuff, Personal, Politics and Economics
quite interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter.
Speech at Lexei's bar mitzvah on 13th January 2007...
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Custom-Made: Then and Now
People often joke that shopping is Singapore’s national sport and, like the rest of the island, it has evolved drastically over the past 50 years. Read all about it in the June/July issue of the Singapore American Newspaper:
Custom embroidery by Zann & Denn
Envision shopping in Singapore and it’s usually Orchard Road that pops into your head, a beacon of modernity, overflowing with brand name designers from all over the world. But just a few decades ago, a shopping spree here was a much different affair. Until store-bought fashion became readily available in the 1970s, tailors and dressmakers met all sartorial needs. Well-to-do society women would purchase paper sewing patterns from Robinsons, arguably Singapore’s most well-known department store, and then trawl for bales of fabric in the array of shops on High Street. Even celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor were known to visit these luxurious made-to-measure shops for one-of-a-kind gowns.
According to local musician Vernon Cornelius (affectionately known as the ‘Cliff Richard’ of Singapore), the start of the nation’s style consciousness was in the 1960s, when television and rock music came to the island. But in order to dress themselves in outfits they considered a “sincere form of expressing our own identity,” most young people like Cornelius had to save for weeks or months for custom, made-to-measure clothes. A far cry from the stockpile of cheap clothing now available at the click of a button.
While the nation’s love of shopping and fashion have in no way diminished, tailors have had to adjust to the times. The prevalence of online shopping has reduced the requests for made-to-measure clothes but has increased the demand for alterations. Fabric stores are fewer. Today, most are grouped together on Arab Street or in People’s Park Complex. Sewing has also become a less common skill, so the average age of dressmakers is rising, with fewer apprentices to take their places.
Suzanne Chua, a graduate of Raffles LaSalle, considers herself one of the youngest in the industry. “And I’m nearly fifty,” she laughs.
Chua and then-boyfriend-now-husband Dennis Koh jointly launched Zann & Denn in August 1997, currently located on Kreta Ayer Road, a few steps from Duxton Hill and Chinatown. Despite the challenges facing the industry, Chua remains hopeful that there will continue to be a market for bespoke clothing. After all, she notes, it’s not merely shopping. It’s an experience. And there’s nothing quite like owning something completely unique.
For Chua, maintaining her career in the made-to-measure industry has gone hand-in-hand with adaptation. She recently began collaborating with Universal Studios Singapore to create costumes for enormously popular events like Halloween Horror Nights. She comments that the free range to be creative in designing costumes has been invigorating.
“Passion is what keeps you going when the market is low. I’m not a person who gives up easily,” Chua says. “There were many, many tailors; it depends on who perseveres.”
If you’d like to further explore Singapore’s rich fashion history, check out the book Fashion Most Wanted by John de Souza, Cat Ong and Tom Rao.
Posted in: Expat Life in Singapore, Published, Singapore American Newspaper | Tagged: 1960s, 1970s, Arab Street, bespoke, Cat Ong, Chinatown, clothes, costumes, custom, Denn, Dennis Koh, department store, design, dressmaker, Duxton Hill, Elizabeth Taylor, fabric, fashion, Fashion Most Wanted, gown, Halloween Horror, High Street, history, John de Souza, Kreta Ayer Road, made-to-measure, market, one-of-a-kind, online, Orchard Road, People’s Park Complex, Robinsons, seamstress, sewing, shopping, Singapore, society, Southeast Asia, spree, Suzanne Chua, tailor, Tom Rao, Universal Studios, Vernon Cornelius, Zann, Zann & Denn, Zann&Denn
Eat This, Not That: Singapore Edition
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Monday, September 25, 2017
This inaugural forum brings together former Texas A&M students working in the intellectual property field to interact with each other and with current students and faculty. The event will explore emerging issues in the field as well as continuing challenges confronting the practice of intellectual property law.
This forum is open to the public. Please view the forum program.
There will be a $50 registration fee, which will include both lunch and the post-event networking reception. The fee is waived for all current and former students (alumni).
CLE credit available.
Professor William H. Byrnes, Texas A&M University School of Law
Audra C. Eidem Heinze, Esq. '09 (TWL), Shareholder, Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., Chicago
Arturo Errisuriz, Assistant Dean for Career Services and Bar Relations, Texas A&M University School of Law
Gregory Franklin, Esq. ’03, ’17, Associate, Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C., Dallas
Mary Garner, Esq. '05, '16, The Welp & Garner Law Firm, PLLC
Lekha Gopalakrishnan, Esq., Winstead P.C., Dallas; Adjunct Professor, Texas A&M University School of Law
Alan N. Herda, Esq. '03 (TWL), Partner, Haynes & Boone, LLP, Dallas
Professor H. Brian Holland, Texas A&M University School of Law
Lee B. Hunt, Esq. ’17, Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Professor Glynn S. Lunney, Jr. '84, Texas A&M University School of Law
Lacy McKinney '18, President, IP Aggies, Texas A&M University School of Law
Jonathan Mentesana '18, Texas A&M University School of Law
Professor Lucas Osborn '00, Campbell University School of Law
Mike Regitz, Esq. '93, Partner, RegitzMauck PLLC
Professor Srividhya Ragavan, Texas A&M University School of Law
Enrique “Rick” Sanchez, Jr., Esq. '12 (TWL), Whitaker Chalk Swindle & Schwartz P.L.L.C., Fort Worth
Professor Jeff W. Slattery, Texas A&M University School of Law
Jack D. Stone, Esq. '78, Partner, Scheef & Stone, L.L.P.
Professor David O. Taylor '99, SMU Dedman School of Law
Noah A. Tevis, Esq. '07 (TWL), Assistant General Counsel--Intellectual Property, Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.; Adjunct Professor, Texas A&M University School of Law
Sam Udovich, Esq. ’99, Associate, Winstead P.C., Dallas
Daniel G. Van Slyke, Esq. '16, Associate, Mackie Wolf Zientz & Mann, P.C., Dallas
Professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Texas A&M University School of Law
Professor Peter K. Yu, Director, Center for Law and Intellectual Property, Texas A&M University School of Law
Program
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Digital Millennium Copyright Act at 20 Symposium
"Digital Millennium Copyright Act at 20" Symposium
Friday-Saturday, March 23-24, 2018
This symposium brings together legal commentators, policy makers and industry representatives to critically examine the past two decades of developments surrounding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The event also explores the future of digital copyright reform in the United States and other parts of the world. Download the symposium program.
Texas A&M University School of Law IP Faculty
Prof. Irene Calboli
Prof. H. Brian Holland
Prof. Glynn S. Lunney, Jr.
Prof. Srividhya Ragavan
Prof. Jeff W. Slattery
Prof. Saurabh Vishnubhakat
Prof. Peter K. Yu
Confirmed Presenters
Jonathan Band, Jonathan Band PLLC
Prof. Ann Bartow, University of New Hampshire School of Law
Prof. Annemarie Bridy, University of Idaho College of Law
Prof. Michael W. Carroll, American University Washington College of Law
Prof. Kristelia A. Garcia, University of Colorado Law School
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law
Prof. Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University School of Law
Prof. Wendy J. Gordon, Boston University School of Law
Prof. Justin Hughes, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Robert J. Kasunic, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Registration Policy & Practice, U.S. Copyright Office
Prof. Mary LaFrance, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Prof. Marshall Leaffer, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Prof. Dr. Matthias Leistner, Faculty of Law, Ludwig Maximilians University (Germany)
Prof. Yvette Joy Liebesman, Saint Louis University School of Law
Prof. Stan J. Liebowitz, Center for the Analysis of Property Rights and Innovation, University of Texas at Dallas
Prof. Doris Estelle Long, John Marshall Law School, Chicago
Prof. Michael J. Madison, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Dean Marks, Esq., formerly Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Chief Global Content Protection, Motion Picture Association of America
Prof. Péter Mezei, Faculty of Law, University of Szeged (Hungary)
Prof. Tyler T. Ochoa, Santa Clara University School of Law
Shira Perlmutter, Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Prof. Betsy Rosenblatt, Whittier Law School
Prof. John Tehranian, Southwestern Law School
Prof. Alfred C. Yen, Boston College Law School
Moderators and Conference Fellows
Rachel Alkalay, Ph.D. Candidate, Queen Mary, University of London (U.K.)
Prof. Sandra Braman, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University
Prof. Stefania Fusco, Notre Dame Law School
Prof. W. Keith Robinson, Dedman School of Law, Southern Methodist University
Prof. Shao Yan, Law School, Anhui University of Finance and Economics (China)
Prof. Wang Zican, Law School, South China University of Technology (China)
DMCA Symposium Links
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Esther ET
THE OLD TESTAMENT
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Nehemial
II Corinthians
I Thessalonians
II Thessalonians
I Timothy
II Timothy
II Peter
II John
III John
Haman’s Plot to Destroy the Jews
1After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
3Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” 4Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.
5When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 6Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
7In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on⚓ the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents⚓ of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”
10So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11“Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”
12Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 13Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.
15The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
← Esther 2
Esther 4 →
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Amway combines direct selling with a multi-level marketing strategy. Amway distributors, referred to as "independent business owners" (IBOs), may market products directly to potential customers and may also sponsor and mentor other people to become IBOs. IBOs may earn income both from the retail markup on any products they sell personally, plus a performance bonus based on the sales volume they and their downline (IBOs they have sponsored) have generated.[3] People may also register as IBOs to buy products at discounted prices. Harvard Business School, which described Amway as "one of the most profitable direct selling companies in the world", noted that Amway founders Van Andel and DeVos "accomplished their success through the use of an elaborate pyramid-like distribution system in which independent distributors of Amway products received a percentage of the merchandise they sold and also a percentage of the merchandise sold by recruited distributors".[68]
But The Dream’s real concern is far from the key-party-and-polyester image conjured by the airplane game. Marie and her producer had, like many people, noticed her Facebook feed filling up with friends from high school selling leggings, or makeup, or handbags, asking their friends to buy them and sign up as salesmen themselves. They’re all participating in multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes, which anyone involved will tell you are not a pyramid scheme, because pyramid schemes are illegal.
In 2013 IBOs, people who qualified to be Business Consultants in the UK earned an average annual income of GBP21,048. This falls short ofthe UK average annual income of GBP26,500. It is however substantially better than those Amway IBOs who were not business consultants, as their average income for 2013 was less than GBP1,300 .We are not surprised, Amway has not made the 2013 Income Disclosure Statement publicly available on their website. However we found a copy for you.
eSpring was the first commercial product which employed Fulton Innovation's eCoupled wireless power induction technology.[56] In December 2006, Amway sister company, Fulton Innovations, announced that it would introduce eCoupled technology in other consumer electronic products at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show.[57] Companies licensing this technology include Visteon, Herman Miller, Motorola and Mobility Electronics.[58] Fulton was a founding member of the Wireless Power Consortium which developed the Qi (inductive power standard).[59]
I love their laundry soap, but hate the fees you have to pay. You either have to become a distributor for the company, which is quite expensive, or pay a much higher retail price. There is no loyal customer program or incentive to continue ordering. They also always seem to be high pressure sales people who continuously pester you until you join. There were quite a few products that we liked, such as some of the protein bars and energy drinks. Then they decided to make some changes to those items that we no longer cared for.
A report in the Daily News and Analysis (DNA) quotes a top official of Economic Affairs Wing (EOW), Kerala as saying "With the call of easy money, they have been luring people to come and invest. And in turn, the new members had to get more people and this was leading to illegal money circulation. As a result, we had received several complaints against the company and we decided to arrest the officials."
ORLANDO, FL - MAY 25: An general exterior view of the Amway Center on May 25, 2012 in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2012 NBAE (Photo by Fernandp Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
Studies of independent consumer watchdog agencies have shown that between 990 and 999 of 1000 participants in MLMs that use Amway-type pay plans in fact lose money.[115][116][citation needed] According to The Skeptic's Dictionary, "In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission requires Amway to label its products with the message that 54% of Amway recruits make nothing and the rest earn on average $65 a month."[117]
It may come as a surprise to Jessica and Richard, but 50% of all people are below average. IBOs are successful only if they exploit those that are feeble minded enough to buy Amway's crappy products: i.e cleaning products loaded up with salt. No ethical person would consider doing this. If the average IBO income is only about $200 and the median a lot less ~$30, then the scam is obvious! Perhaps Richard and Jessica always load up on Lotto tickets because the potential return is huge. Richard loves to focus on the good stuff and gets blinded by the false hope. Don't be a sucker, MLM is a scam.
This said, according to Inter@ctive Week, "The commissions aren't all that great, even though they can add up to greater than 50 percent of the cost of the goods sold. If privately held Amway generated $6 billion in sales in 1998 as estimated, then each of its 1 million distributors would have pulled in, on average, only $6,000. It's nice extra income, but a livelihood only for the most talented, hardworking or aggressive. Or, for those with a large personal family tree.
I was just speaking with another friend of mine and he told me that one of the two IBO friends I mentioned tried to sell him Amway products too. He told me that he himself was an IBO with Amway in 2013 and he was recruited by a mutual friend of ours. Can you see what Amway makes you do to the people closest to you? Fortunately he realized what he was into before losing a whole lot of money but like 99% of IBOs, he was only able to cut his losses and not make profits.
At this point, he wanted to test my commitment to the business. He asked me how much time I would be willing to put in to save $600 a month. I was confused. Why should I have to put in time to save $600 if all I have to do is purchase at their hub? It was at this stage he realized that maybe he went a few steps too fast but I noticed his reaction and realized something else was up. I told him I would get back to him and that was the end of it for me.
Best way to deal with these kinds of people is to throw all of your own rationality out the window. Make up the most ridiculous arguements and stick to them even when they give rational responses. Explain that aliens came to you last night and specifically told you that selling such a product would result in the destruction of the galaxy. Then put THEM on the defensive after they keep pushing while clearly not caring if trillions of lives are extinguished just so they can make a buck.
The family is also heavily invested in right-wing politics, earning comparisons to the Kochs for the enthusiasm with which they back Republican candidates like Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and Marco Rubio, and their sizable donations to ultraconservative organizations like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, both of which promote Christian value-based public policy such as anti-abortion legislation and bans on same-sex marriage. In 2014, the DeVoses donated in the six figures to Michigan-based conservative think tanks including the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which promotes free market economics within a Christian framework, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, also a supporter of free market economics. Elsewhere, conservative organizations that received DeVos funding of over a million dollars each include the American Enterprise Institute, another free market think tank; the Alliance Defending Freedom, the right’s preeminent legal defense fund; and the Heritage Foundation, which promotes free market economics and ‘traditional American values.’
When it came to designing the architecture required for its IoT platform, Amway used AWS Professional Services to help it create a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline to automate delivery of platform software updates. The pipeline picks up source code changes from a repository, builds and packages the application, and then pushes the new update through a series of stages, running integration tests to ensure all features are intact and backward-compatible in each stage.
Inefficiencies were everywhere, since the supply chain rigidly followed the line of recruitment. Some of the items I ordered had to be sent by mail all the way from Seattle, since that was where Scott and Shelley Coon, our upline Direct Distributors, happened to live. Others could be shipped from a regional warehouse in Michigan—one of Amway’s attempts to make the system more workable—but still had to be ordered through the Coons. Some items—unavailable from the warehouse—could be sent directly to me via UPS, but my building didn’t have a front desk to receive them. Jean suggested I have them sent to her apartment to be picked up with the rest of my order.
In early November of 2017, we were out walking around the mall. I was searching for a new pair of earrings. We were looking around in Claire's of all places when a couple approached us. The girl complimented my shoes. I said thank you, but then they struck up a conversation. They were very friendly and we enjoyed talking to them, however, we did notice they seemed oddly too friendly. We exchanged phone numbers and left happy that we made new friends. It's not easy making friends in the area we live in.
Outside the Capitol, state police donned riot gear while officers on horseback pushed protesters away from the building. Loudspeakers blared Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” and as the wind picked up, four 20-foot-tall inflatable rat balloons skittered from side to side. Each rat represented one of the key players protesters blamed for right-to-work’s hasty adoption: the governor, the House speaker, the Senate majority leader, and—the only unelected member of the rat pack—Dick DeVos.
From that point forward it became more demanding and more exhausting. Our lives had been taken away. There were Thursday meetings, Saturday events, Sunday night meetings, conferences, etc. We just lost control of it all. And on top of everything else, we were losing money, not gaining money. Finally, in mid-December, I told our mentors we couldn't do it any longer. Their first response was to blame my father who I had mentioned was skeptical (like any normal person would be). They immediately assumed he had forced us to quit when it was honestly our own decision. My dad was supportive. The next day we were cut out of their delusional lives completely. We were de-friended and blocked on social media and never to speak a word to us again.
These five distributors now appoint five distributors each. So we now have 25 distributors at the second level. Each of these distributors now in turn appoints five distributors. So we now have 125 distributors at the third level. If the chain continues, at the 12th level we will have around 24.45 crore distributors. This is equal to around 20% of India's population. The total number of distributors will be around 30.51 crore.
My uplines’ despair made me reluctant to add to their failure. But I had stayed in too long already. Having run out of other things to buy, I had resorted to subjecting my cat to Amway pet food. And I began to sense that when Josh and Sherri looked at me, they—in their last-ditch hopes—saw Diamonds. Before I disappeared from their lives, however, I accompanied them to one last Rally.
I hope this helped to educate you. Would hate for you to continue to look like an uneducated liar to all you friends who watch football and will see the collegiate national championship winners hold up the Amway Coaches Poll Trophy, open Vogue magazine or watch New York Fashion week to see their national Artistry cosmetics campaign or watch the Orlando Magic or Chicago Cubs play and see Amway plastered all over the signage.
2 of my friends have recently become IBOs with Amway. They are still young in the business and are still buying the hype of being “business owners”. They really believe they can make money selling the products they themselves were made to buy. They have since been trying to sell us those products to no avail. This is what you will be reduced to if you choose to become an IBO with Amway.
The company is said to have been violating the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act. More specifically, Pinckney and the two other directors were arrested in connection with a case filed by a certain Visalakshi of Kozhikode. She claimed to have incurred losses of Rs 3 lakh in trying to sell the products of Amway through its multi-level marketing network.
[9]The Amway Business Reference Manual itself gives the lie to the 30 percent figure. It calculates the Basic Discount by subtracting a product’s wholesale distributor cost from the suggested retail price (both denominated in dollars) and then dividing them by the BV price, which is set by Amway for each product but which is usually smaller than the U.S. dollar price. If the calculation is done solely in dollars, the Basic Discount shrinks to about 17 percent. And when I did a real price comparison, that 17 percent came down to about 4 percent.
DeVos quickly realized that the situation was unsustainable. So she hatched a plan designed to surprise Engler just as his opposition had surprised her: She would resign as state GOP chair without notifying him in advance. She chose a date in February 2000 when she knew Engler would be in Washington. Around 9 a.m., she left a message on his phone, informing him that she would announce her resignation at an early-afternoon news conference. Engler quickly changed his itinerary and booked a flight home for his own news conference that evening. Publicly, Engler saved face, but the message from the DeVoses was unmistakable: We are a political force with our own agenda, like it or not.
My college bound son called and stated he went to a seminar to sponsor Amway which in turns was a marketing scam to recruit! They asked for $200 to hold to start and depending on the sales and teams that he got together to do the same along with commission he can earn $200 a month! My son is unemployed in college trying to get an education not be a flunky for selling products online! Stop lying about making $39,000 in a month home business! If it was legitimate why haven't everyone heard of this company or products! Leave young, impressionable people alone! And stop showing them the money and talk about staying in school and getting an education & degree! Instead of quick money!!
My wife started to sell this stuff. After a few months, everything in our house was Amway crap, bought with my money at ridiculous prices. My family could not talk with her without her mentioning Amway in every breath. In an attempt to discover what was going on, I went with her to an Amway seminar. Around a thousand people all screaming and shouting “fired up” and cheering the pompus rich asses paraded on stage as Diamond distributos. After the show I went around back and see that these “Diamonds” drove old beat-up cars. I saw how easy it is to brainwash people at cult meetings.
Amway: The True Story of the Company That Transformed the Lives of Millions reads like an extended advertisement. Its author, Wilbur Cross, became acquainted with Amway cofounders Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel when they commissioned him to write the first ‘official’ history of the Amway Corporation, Commitment to Excellence, published in 1986. In Amway, Cross repeatedly references the work of Shad Helmstetter, PhD, a ‘motivational expert’ specializing in ‘programming’ yourself to change negative self-talk into positive self-talk. Negativity is expressly verboten in the world of Amway, as it breeds doubt – distributors are advised to get rid of any negative people in their downline as soon as possible if they can’t train them to be positive.
This is the worst company on earth DO NOT SIGNUP WITH THEM IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM. When I signed up They offered me supposed free sample value of $150 witch in the end I ended up paying double the price for. So if that’s not bad enough they also signed me up for some LTD crap without my approval or knowledge of doing so which charged me $50 a month after all said and done I tried to call them and they said if I were to cancel they would charge me $150 cancellation fee so to anybody that’s reading this avoid amway at all cost
"We were warned never to use the name Amway on the phone; even while showing the business plan, the name would be one of the very last things mentioned. The explanation from our 'sponsors' was that people in the past have misused the name 'Amway,' and people should get a chance to know the 'new Amway' without being prejudiced from things they might have heard."
But Dream Night brought all the questions back to the surface: If Amway isn’t a scam, why did it seem so much like one? It may win heaps of praise nowadays, but Amway doesn’t seem to have changed much at all. Perhaps what’s changed is us. While Amway is the same as it ever was, the rest of us have made peace with commercial insanity. Maybe capitalism has finally reached the stage of self-parody, unblushingly celebrating a house-of-cards as its highest achievement. And maybe Dream Night, instead of being the ritual of a fringe cult, is the vanguard of the future.
Whatever the quality outcome, the political lesson isn’t lost. The DeVoses have transplanted their organizational model to other states—New Jersey, Ohio, Louisiana, Virginia, Wisconsin, among them. They have done this by marshaling forces under the umbrella of their American Federation for Children, a nationwide campaign for school reform that has attracted high-profile speakers to its conferences, including New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, former Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former D.C. school czar Michelle Rhee.
It was very good at the beginning, loved the selection. The products went a long way, they were very effective and did the job, I loved the personal interaction with the distributor, things came on time and full order. However, products were not cost effective, they were very expensive to ship and the constant pressure to become a distributor was unnerving. I just wanted to buy the products annually.
The Amway Coaches Poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of head coaches at FBS schools. The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the American Football Coaches Association their willingness to participate. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.
Such a model can be represented as a binary tree with each node representing a person and the 2 children nodes under it representing the referred friends. It is also called “Pyramid scheme”. As you would have realized or the organizers might have suggested, in order to just recover the money that you have spent for membership, you need to have atleast 3-4 levels under you and only the levels beyond that will start fetching you some passive income as and when new members join. Just recollect the formula for number of nodes at the “n”th level of a binary tree. It is 2^n (2 power n). We shall use this formula in the following analysis.
I was just speaking with another friend of mine and he told me that one of the two IBO friends I mentioned tried to sell him Amway products too. He told me that he himself was an IBO with Amway in 2013 and he was recruited by a mutual friend of ours. Can you see what Amway makes you do to the people closest to you? Fortunately he realized what he was into before losing a whole lot of money but like 99% of IBOs, he was only able to cut his losses and not make profits.
I like the convenience that they offer. They have a wide variety of high quality products and their shipping is always on time. The layout of the website makes it quite easy to find the products I need and the specific package sizes that I am looking for. It would be good it they allowed for bundling certain items together in order to get a discount. They do it to a certain extent, but it would be great if they offer far more options and combinations. It was a clear, organized experience that made shopping quite enjoyable. Checking out was easy and the entire experience was hassle free.
This collective approach is how the family runs their home lives, too. The DeVoses’ myriad properties are managed through a single private company, RDV Corporation, which both manages the family’s investments and operates as a home office, paying the family’s employees, maintaining the DeVoses’ residences and assuring them as frictionless a life as possible. (The duties outlined by one recent property-manager job with RDV Corporation include “ensur[ing] doors are well-oiled to avoid squeaking” and that “broken toys [are] repaired or disposed of.”)
Prior to Downtown Master Plan 3, the Orlando Magic's ownership, led by billionaire Amway founder Richard DeVos and son-in-law Bob Vander Weide, had been pressing the City of Orlando for a new arena for nearly ten years. Amway Arena was built in 1989, prior to the recent era of technologically advanced entertainment arenas. With the rush to build new venues in the NBA (and sports in general), it quickly became one of the oldest arenas in the league.
Thanks to the DeVoses, Michigan’s charter schools enjoy a virtually unregulated existence. Thanks to them, too, the center of the American automotive industry and birthplace of the modern labor movement is now a right-to-work state. They’ve funded campaigns to elect state legislators, established advocacy organizations to lobby them, buttressed their allies and primaried those they disagree with, spending at least $100 million on political campaigns and causes over the past 20 years. “The DeVos family has been far more successful not having the governor’s seat than if they had won it,” says Richard Czuba, the owner of the Glengariff Group, a bipartisan polling firm in Michigan. “They have, to some degree, created a shadow state party. And it’s been pretty darn effective.”
We had a fireplace, a poolside grill, and a river-rock deck with closing screens. We had an island counter. We had walls covered with mirrors. To get to my parents’ master bathroom, I passed through a dressing area connected to a walk-in closet. The bedroom next to mine was expressly for guests; the one at the end of the hall became a study. One of two living rooms seemed intended only for show, and the planter inside the front door housed pots of plants – silk, they never wilted. The bathroom off the family room had an outside door and a shower for people coming in from the pool. We bought new furniture, new rugs, new artwork. I had never felt more proud.
"Amway is my favourite company ever! It is very popular in my town and has a lot of experience, so I trust it completely. All of its products have high quality and are guaranteed to work well. If you have any problems with your purchase, you can send it back and get either another one or a refund. I like their customer service a lot. I have had issues several times but the representatives of the customer service helped me to resolve them really fast."
In 2011, Nutrilite brand of vitamins and dietary supplements led Amway's sales, totaling almost $4.7 billion.[41] According to Euromonitor International, in 2014, Nutrilite was the world's No. 1 selling vitamins and dietary supplements brand.[35] In 2015, it was reported that according to Euromonitor International, Amway was the largest vitamin and dietary supplement vendor in China, with 11% of a market that generated 100 billion yuan ($15.6 billion) in annual sales.[46] In 2015, it was reported that according to China Confidential consumer brands survey, Amway Nutrilite was the most popular vitamin and dietary supplement brand in China.[47]
This is not the man who brought my dad in but a man somewhere above him. He was what The Business calls a ‘phony Emerald.’ To meet the criteria for the pin level, he’d force the people in his organization to order extra product in order to grow his volume and push him across the finish line each month – not that he turned much of a profit doing so, as he had to pass it all on to his own upline. ‘Well, the Emerald pin doesn’t mean anything unless your organization is solid,’ said my dad. ‘So you got a pin – you’re not making the money.’ Eventually, my dad says, Vincent was stripped of the Emerald pin because he couldn’t maintain the sales by force alone.
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Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7
The work Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Oklahoma Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.
The Resource Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7
a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982
senior reporter, R.A.W. Johnstone ; reporters, J.H. Bowie [and others]
Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain)
Bowie, J. H
Johnstone, R. A. W., (Robert Alexander Walker)
Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and detailed review coverage of progress in the major areas of chemical research. Written by experts in their specialist fields the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist, supplying regular critical in-depth accounts of progress in particular areas of chemistry. For over 80 years the Royal Society of Chemistry and its predecessor, the Chemical Society, have been publishing reports charting developments in chemistry, which originally took the form of Annual Reports. However, by 1967 the whole spectrum of chemistry could no longer be contained within one volume and the series Specialist Periodical Reports was born. The Annual Reports themselves still existed but were divided into two, and subsequently three, volumes covering Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry. For more general coverage of the highlights in chemistry they remain a 'must'. Since that time the SPR series has altered according to the fluctuating degree of activity in various fields of chemistry. Some titles have remained unchanged, while others have altered their emphasis along with their titles; some have been combined under a new name whereas others have had to be discontinued. The current list of Specialist Periodical Reports can be seen on the inside flap of this volume
UKRSC
.M29 v.7eb
Context of Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7
Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7, senior reporter, R.A.W. Johnstone ; reporters, J.H. Bowie [and others]
<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.libraries.ou.edu/resource/qDIZ_3OE5NU/" typeof="CreativeWork http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Work"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.libraries.ou.edu/resource/qDIZ_3OE5NU/">Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.libraries.ou.edu/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.libraries.ou.edu/">University of Oklahoma Libraries</a></span></span></span></span></div>
Data Citation of the Work Mass spectrometry : a review of the recent literature published between July 1980 and June 1982, volume 7
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Mary F. McGinnis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English, College of Coastal Georgia
Teaching Documents
Composition I: Rhetoric & Writing
Sample Syllabus
Sample Project 2 Podcast Assignment & Rubric
Ball State University ENG 103 Course Page
Composition II: Composing Research
Sample Project 3 Webtext Assignment & Rubric
Introduction To Digital Literacies
Sample Assignment & Rubric
Mary F. McGinnis holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric & Composition from Ball State University; an M.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Roosevelt University; and an M.A. in English & American Literature and a B.A. in English with minors in creative writing and women’s studies, both from Indiana State University. She has additional training in the form of an Credential in Online Teaching in Higher Education, also from Roosevelt University.
Her dissertation, titled “Dealing with Diversity: A Rhetorical Analysis of First-Year Composition Textbooks,” examines a corpus of twenty First-Year Composition readers and rhetorics with readings to analyze how the readings included in the texts deal with issues of race, class, gender, sex, religion, disability, language, sexuality, and/or immigrant status. She’s interested in the use of cultural rhetorics, transformative pedagogies, and multimodal literacy in the composition classroom. Her research usually takes a gender studies/queer theory angle on public rhetoric.
In her free time, Mary travels with her husband, rides her motorcycle, gardens, and volunteers for the Murpah Shrine Club in Muncie. She also earned a YogaFit certification in 2017 and has hosted free yoga classes for the community.
Check out her About.Me page!
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Guillaume Dupuytren's tomb
List of Countries » France » Paris » Guillaume Dupuytren's tomb
After his death in Paris, on February 8, 1835, the funeral of Guillaume Dupuytren was celebrated on the 11th of February in the church of Saint-Eustache "sumptuously decorated"1. Then the coffin was accompanied by a great crowd to the Pére Lachaise Cemetery where the service included, among the others, the eulogies of Mathieu Orfila, Dominique Jean Larrey and Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud2.
"The great stone obelisk that marks Dupuytren's grave still overtops all its neighbors [with] the neoclassic moldings and the memorial inscription"3 which says: NÉ À / PIERRE BVFFIERE / LE 5 OCTOBRE 1778 / MORT À PARIS / LE 8 FEVRIER 1835. "…the name DUPYTREN high on the crowning pyramid is visible"4. The obelisk can be found in the Division 38 of the Cemetery.
1. Hannah K. Barsky, Guillaume Dupuytren. A Surgeon in His Place and Time, Vantage Press, New York 1984, p. 255.
2. Barsky, p. 255.
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In 1974, James Banner was 1 of 14 historians tasked with creating a report on presidential misconduct and how presidents and their families responded to the charges. The resulting report was a chronicle of presidential misconduct from George Washington to Lyndon B. Johnson. It indicated moments of corruption, episode by episode with no connective tissue between administrations.
The historians delivered the report in eight weeks and it was prepared for distribution to the House Judiciary Committee. But then Richard Nixon resigned and the hearings it was designed for never happened. The report was published as a book but it got very little attention. Very few American historians even heard of it. “And thus it lay,” stated Banner.
Then, in August 2018 historian Jill Lepore called Banner and asked him about the book. Afterwards, Lepore wrote about the 1974 report in the New Yorker and the press and surrounding political events ignited interest in it. To bring the chronicle of presidential misconduct up to date, Banner identified and recruited seven historians to write new chapters so that a new version of the book would end with Barack Obama. Presidential Misconduct: From George Washington to Today was published by the New Press in July 2019.
At the American Historical Association’s annual meeting in early January, Banner monitored a panel with three of the book’s new authors: Kathryn Olmstead, Kevin M. Kruse, and Jeremi Suri. Examining the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, the historians discussed how the recent past shapes the current discussion of presidential misconduct.
Kathryn Olmstead examined presidential misconduct beyond Watergate in the Richard Nixon administration and argued abuse of power and law-breaking were central to Nixon’s presidency.
Dr. Olmstead urged historians to remember just how unusual Nixon was. Popular accounts of Watergate often minimize the crimes and focus on the subsequent cover-up, but Nixon’s crimes were substantial and began before he was elected.
During the 1968 election, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that if the North Vietnamese made certain concessions, LBJ would halt bombing campaigns and being negotiations with the North Vietnamese. Nixon publicly agreed with LBJ’s stance, but privately he took action to sabotage the plan. Nixon appointed Anna Chennault, a prominent Republican fund-raiser, as a go-between to encourage South Vietnam to not accept the negotiations. When North Vietnam signaled it would make the necessary concessions, many thought the war would end and Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic candidate for president, started to do better in the polls. Then, the South Vietnamese indicated that the concessions would not be sufficient for them to negotiate.
LBJ knew Nixon influenced the potential negotiations because he instructed the FBI to listen to Nixon’s phone calls. LBJ believed Nixon’s actions amounted to treason but he did not have definitive proof to show Nixon knew about the entire operation so LBJ did not reveal the information publicly.
It is likely the Chennault Affair contributed to the paranoia that eventually led to the Watergate break-in. F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover informed Nixon that LBJ knew of Nixon’s role in sabotaging negotiations with North Vietnam and Nixon became obsessed with the idea that the Democrats had information that could hurt him.
Once in office, Nixon’s illegal behavior snowballed. Nixon authorized secret bombings of Cambodia, warrantless wiretaps on news reporters, and created the infamous “Plumbers.” The Committee to Reelect the President raised 20 million dollars--much of it acquired through bribery and extortion--and then used the funds for massive harassment and surveillance of Democrats during the 1972 election.
Thus, illegal behavior was central to Nixon’s conception of the presidency. Nixon himself explained this to David Frost in 1977. Nixon insisted he should have destroyed the tapes and maintained that “when a president does it that means it’s not illegal.”
Princeton historian Kevin Kruse discussed the presidency of Jimmy Carter. While Carter had a pronounced commitment to ethical government, a closer look at Carter’s presidency shows that even those who tried to meet anticorruption standards can be brought low by their efforts.
Even before Watergate, Carter presented himself as a political outsider. After Watergate, Carter capitalized on American concerns about a lack of morals in politics. Carter wanted to seem as trustworthy as possible on the campaign and after he was elected he worked to maintain the public’s trust. Carter famously put his peanut farm into a blind trust and the White House implemented stricter rules regarding conflicts of interest and financial disclosure.
Because of these promises, Carter’s family came under intense scrutiny and the constant hunt for dirt hurt the administration.
Carter asked Burt Lance, the incoming manager of the Office of Budget, to put his stocks in a blind trust. Lance agreed but then the stocks began to plummet to Lance delayed doing it. In response, a Senate committee and Comptroller General opened investigations into Lance. The investigations revealed sloppiness but concluded there was no wrongdoing. Nonetheless, Carter’s administration was consumed by the Lance investigation and Carter stuck by his friend despite his staff’s recommendation to fire Lance. Finally, in the fall of 1977 Carter pressed Lance to resign and in retrospect Carter realized he should have sooner.
Next, a scandal emerged centered on Carter’s peanut warehouse that was put in a blind trust. As the business had fallen on hard times, it was revealed that Bruce Lance had once given a loan to the warehouse. Many were concerned that the funds were diverted to Carter’s campaign. A team of investigators reviewed 80,000 documents and Carter even gave a sworn deposition (this was the first time a president was interviewed under oath in a criminal investigation). The investigation concluded there was no evidence was diverted.
The third scandal of Carter’s administration centered on Billy Carter. Billy ran a gas station and when the business started to struggle, Billy tried to capitalize on his brother’s fame. In September 1978, Billy took a trip to Libya seeking to make a deal with Muammar Gaddafi. While there, Billy made anti-Semitic comments and urinated on the airport tarmac. This all caused a great deal of embarrassment for Jimmy Carter. Worse, it was soon revealed that Billy had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from Libya. The scandal was dubbed Billygate. After a Senate investigation, a bipartisan report concluded Billy had not done anything illegal.
These sloppy practices each invited close investigation but in each case, officials concluded the acts were not criminal. Nonetheless, these scandals overshadowed much of Carter’s presidency and demonstrate that Carter’s action never lived up to his high-minded intensions.
Jeremi Suri, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin, discussed presidential scandal during the Ronald Reagan administration. Suri noted that he was surprised at how little attention historians have paid to presidential misconduct, likely because historians like to stay away from scandal and research more “serious” events. Suri, however, thinks that misconduct was central to policy for Reagan.
Scandal under Reagan is a paradox because Reagan personally was not corrupt—he did not personally get money from misconduct—and was adverse to discussions he thought were unseemly. Nonetheless, because of his personal qualities, Reagan’s policies were built on a pyramid of misconduct or a “cocktail of corruption” centered on the intersection of deregulation, ideological and at times religious zealotry, lavish resources, and personal isolation from the daily uses of those resources.
In other words, the institutional structure of the executive branch created incentives for corrupt behavior. Strikingly, over 100 members of the Reagan administration were prosecuted and 130 billion dollars were diverted from taxpayer uses.
Dr. Suri focused on a few particular scandals and started with the Environmental Protection Agency scandal. Reagan appointed Anne Gorsuch, the mother of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, as the administrator of the EPA. Gorsuch directly negotiated contracts with land developers and when she was investigated, Gorsuch refused to turn over documents or testify and was held in contempt of court. Her deputy served two years in prison.
Secretary of the Interior James Watt was forced to resign after he made explicitly racist comments. After resignation, Watt used his connections to work with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and lobby for his friends to get contracts to build affordable housing that wasn’t actually affordable. Watts was convicted on 25 felony accounts.
As Reagan approached his second term, many advisors resigned and became lobbyists, flagrantly going past the legal limitations on lobbying. Those who continued to work in the White House continued the corruption that plagued the administration in its first term.
Attorney General Edward Meese combined petty corruption with the gargantuan. Niece would try to get double reimbursed for expenses. He took out personal loans from people who were bidding for government contracts, would not disclose the loans, and then would lobby for the loaners to get the contracts. Niece was not convicted but resigned.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Melvin Paisley stole 622 million dollars from the government. The F.B.I. concluded this was a consequence of large-scale appropriations with insufficient oversight.
Suri argued that the Savings and Loans Crisis and the Iran Contra scandal emerged from an administrative culture that was unregulated, permissive in the misuse of resources, and lavish in spending. He concluded that this structural corruption has not gone away.
To conclude the panel, James Banner gave a thoughtful comment that connected the history discussed to the present impeachment of President Donald Trump. Nixon was a pioneer in orchestrating misconduct from the oval office. Reagan pioneered allowing a shadow administration to implement policies that were not approved by Congress. To Banner, it seems that the Trump administration is doing both of these things at the same time.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174106 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174106 0 The History Behind the Border and Immigrant Detention Centers
How can history help us understand the detention of undocumented immigrants along the Southern border? At the American Historical Association’s annual meeting earlier this month, four historians examined this issue from different angles on a panel entitled Late Breaking: The Border Crisis in Historical Perspective.
First, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapl Hill, examined how the history of human rights and torture illuminates the detention of migrants.
All refugees are guaranteed broad protections under international law. These protections included a promise that an asylum seeker would not be returned to the country they were fleeing and protections for minor children and families.
These protections were less consequential in reality than hoped. The international law had no methods for monitoring or formal enforcement mechanisms. Instead, it relied on the good will of signatory nations. The United States adopted the narrowest definitions of asylum and persecution so it only applied to a small portion of migrants.
In 2005, under George W. Bush’s administration, the United States began deporting apprehended migrants using “expedited removal.” Operation Streamline established zero tolerance towards unauthorized border crossings and made it a misdemeanor. Deportations subsequently skyrocketed. Barack Obama expanded the policy and the number of people prosecuted for unauthorized border crossings quadrupled.
Now, President Donald J. Trump has created an unprecedented campaign to delegitimize and dehumanize asylum seekers. Trump casts the southern border as a national security dilemma. Historically, national security has always been the largest justification for violating civil liberties and human rights.
For much of American history, immigration was not considered a law enforcement issue. At the end of the 19th century, the government created formal oversight of immigration and placed it in the Department of the Treasury. In 1903, the duty moved to the Department of Labor. Then, in 1940 immigration oversight moved to the Department of Justice. In 2011, the oversight of immigration moved to the Department of Homeland Security solidifying that immigration was considered a matter of national security. This latest move is particularly troubling because the Department of Homeland Security has very little oversight so it’s hard for lawmakers to regulate its actions.
Recent news coverage has illuminated the systematic and pervasive human rights violations of agencies like the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Most egregiously, families are separated and people are indefinitely detained. Inhumane conditions have amplified the problem, especially overcrowding.
The intent of such policies is to make conditions in immigration detention so bad that asylum seekers will think twice about seeking asylum in the United States.
This indefinite detention is a glaring violation of the UN's ban of torture. Discussions of torture always involve debates over what torture actually is. Some defend it by dismissing any suggestion that it was actually torture. The controversy over the term “concentration camps” for the immigrant detention facilities shows the tension of the moment.
The bottom line, however, is that the DHS and DOJ are committing huge violations of human rights. Trump will say these policies are necessary for national security, but the evidence shows that asylum and immigration enforcement are meant to intimidate, humiliate, and terrorize.
Lauren Pearlman from the University of Florida discussed the economics of immigration detention with a specific focus on the role the private prison industry plays in immigration policy.
Ellis Island, opened in 1882, was the first detention center created for immigrants. It wasn’t until the 1980s, however, that large numbers of people began to be detained.
In 1988, Congress passed the Anti Drug Abuse Act and it demanded the detention of any noncitizens who committed a felony. The aftermath of September 11, 2001 cemented the securitization of immigration detention policy. The newly created Department of Homeland Security now took over the duties previously administered by the Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) under the Department of Justice.
The Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) was one of the first to utilize private prison operators. By 1988, 800 of 2400 people in INS custody were housed in private facilities.
Andrea Miller, an anthropologist at the University of California Davis, examined drones, air policing, and immigration. Dr. Miller asserted it was important to understand the longstanding connection between war power and police power. Atmospheric policing technologies (like helicopters, airplanes, and balloons) have long been used to control populations and are connected to tear gas, sonic weaponry, etc.
Recently, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced it would test a small drone system weighing just 14 pounds. Incorporating this technology could reduce situation awareness gaps and “enhance situation awareness,” a military term that denotes the ability to extend police awareness beyond human ability.
The use of drones also broadens the extensive system of surveillance of immigration. Today, undocumented immigrants are most likely to be apprehended in a traffic stop. ICE has access to data from license plate scans and readers. This data is stored and can be requested to create snapshots of where people live, travel, etc. This mirrors the same method of life analysis utilized in the War on Terror. Data points are placed in relation to each other to see patterns of mobility and figure out if someone is threatening.
Dr. Miller is also interested in the connections between military tactics and tools and local police forces. For example, the Los Angeles Police Department first acquired drones in 2014. By 2017, the LAPD posted suggests guidelines for its unmanned aviation vehicle (UAV) pilot program that is now formally adopted. To Miller, it is telling that police and immigration agencies are adopting similar technologies adapted from the military.
Finally, Stuart Schrader of Johns Hopkins University discussed El Salvador and the history of border patrol aid.
Dr. Schrader examined the legacy of aid and immigration in the context of El Salvador. As Trump threatened to cut off aid to Central America, news circulated in September 2019 that El Salvador received enough American assistance to create a new border control agency. The agency would consist of 400 officers, 300 of whom would be dedicated to immigration and the other 100 working as part of a national police force.
The United States has offered technical assistance to border patrol for a long time. In the 1950’s and ‘60s, the State Department worked with El Salvador to improve its structure of surveillance at its borders.
U.S. assistance has always been designed to meet American policy goals. Previously, the U.S. Border Patrol was central to sate building and fighting the Cold War in the third world. Today, the U.S. is providing assistance to places like El Salvador to keep people inside their country and prevent them from immigrating to the U.S. The irony is that the U.S. is responsible for creating many of the problems that El Salvadorians are trying to escape and attempting to prevent people from leaving creates more pressure on El Salvador.
Each of these perspectives offers a historical frame to help us understand the deep historical trends that shape daily headlines.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174105 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174105 0 Reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream and Legacy
I went to the annual city-sponsored celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday. Jacksonville’s Mayor, Andy Ezard, inaugurated these yearly breakfasts a decade ago. Every year a speaker helps us think about what MLK said, what he wanted to happen, and how he lived. There is often music, and we sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, a hopeful song: from “the dark past”, “the gloomy past” “that with tears has been watered”, to the present, “the place for which our fathers signed”, to the future, “Let us march on till victory is won.”
Some years, that song and the celebration around it do lift hope, because the present is evolving to a brighter future that is joyous to imagine. But not today.
Today hope means believing that we will soon stop going backwards, that this moment is just a hesitation on the journey toward the unity we seek. Sometimes hope makes way for despair about how things might get worse.
What American governments since the 1960s have created in order to undo centuries of prejudice, discrimination, and persecution, the Republican Party is dismantling. I don’t say that Trump is doing this, even though his name is on every new policy of his administration, because he is not alone. Republican politicians across the country are doing this work themselves, defending the work of their colleagues, and pledging allegiance to the man who is leading the charge backwards.
Two authors of distinguished books on the history of race in America just wrote articles for the New York Times for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, which tell us where we are and what is being done in our names. Michelle Alexander published “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” 10 years ago, when Trump was just a glittery real estate con man. She showed how the explosion of the number of Americans in jail in the wake of the “war on drugs” was at its heart “another caste system — a system of mass incarceration — that locked millions of poor people and people of color in literal and virtual cages.”
The numbers must be printed to make their proper impression. These are careful estimates only, because fuller data does not exist, but they are the best estimates we have. Between 1980 and 2010, the proportion of Americans in prison tripled to 1%, but the proportion of African Americans in prison also almost tripled from 1.3% to 3.1%. The racial disparity remained about the same, as American governments imprisoned so many more Americans. In 2010, one out of three black men had a felony conviction in their past, and one of every ten were in prison or on parole. That was true for only one in fifty of the rest of the population.
This happened in Boston, where African Americans were subject to police observations, interrogations, and searches at seven times the rate of the rest of the population. It happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when African Americans were nine times as likely to be subject to police investigative detentions. And so on.
Alexander shows that both Democratic and Republican political leaders gave the US the dubious distinction of having more than one fifth of the world’s prisoners and the highest incarceration rate in the world: 756 per 100,000, while most countries imprison fewer than 150 per 100,000. Both Boston and Charlottesville were dominated by Democrats.
Now she delivers a shorter message: our nation must move back to the path toward racial justice from the detour we are taking. Obama and the national Democratic Party did not do enough to reverse those trends. But that is a long way from what has happened in the past 3 years. She is clear that the transition from Obama to Trump moved us from a hopeful discussion of racial reform to an era of white supremacy, clothed as returning to greatness.
Richard Rothstein published “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” three years ago. He also covered the long history of discrimination that Alexander described, but this time from the point of view of housing segregation. In fine detail, Rothstein explained how the federal government throughout the 20th century, under Democrats and Republicans, used its vast financial powers to promote further residential segregation, notably in the new postwar suburbs. Where I grew up, in the giant Levitt developments on Long Island, the federal government insured his loans on the condition that African Americans would be excluded from buying his houses.
This has been the American way for centuries, putting an unfair economic burden on African Americans. 1968 appeared to put an end to federal complicity in the segregation of American housing. Through the Fair Housing Act, included in the Civil Rights Act of 1968, groups who are discriminated against in anything to do with housing can use the legal system to demand redress. That Act was passed in the wake of MLK’s assassination.
But discrimination continues, taking less obvious forms. An example of how this occurs out of our sight comes from Syracuse. Since 1996, property has not been reassessed in the city, which seems like merely local government incompetence. But since then, the values of homes in white neighborhoods have risen much faster than homes in black neighborhoods. Reassessment would shift some of the weight of property taxes toward those much more valuable white homes. Not doing anything means that black homeowners have been paying an increasingly disproportionate share of property taxes. The city government in Syracuse is dominated by Democrats.
Rothstein’s article in the NY Times shows how Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson is directing his vast bureaucracy and billions of dollars away from the process of desegregation. Since he was a candidate for President in 2016, he has argued that efforts to fix racial segregation are bad “social engineering”. Now HUD is trying to make it impossible for residents in a community like Syracuse, where government or business policies discriminate against racial minorities, to prove that in court. One of the far-reaching policies of the Trump administration which makes fighting discrimination more difficult.
These are pieces in today’s national puzzle of race. Martin Luther King has missed more than 50 years of change in race relations, in party politics, in the American landscape. But his yet unrealized dreams can still inspire hope.
Hardly anything is more worth fighting for.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154306 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154306 0 What Will the Museums of the Future Be Like?
Help the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History by taking this brief survey to share what you’d like to see from *your* National Museum.
To access the survey, click the image above or this link: https://s.si.edu/YourOpinionMatters.
To access the survey in Spanish, click this link: https://s.si.edu/TuOpiniónImporta.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174092 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174092 0 Four Speeches by Dr. King That Can Still Guide Us Today
(Author's note: On January 9, 2020 I delivered the Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute lecture at the Uniondale Public Library in Uniondale, New York. The presentation focused on four speeches by Dr. King that illustrate his concerns and suggest what his views on the world today might have been.)
Thank you for inviting me to speak today at the Uniondale (NY) Public Library Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration. It is a great honor. I speak as a Hofstra University educator, as a historian, as an activist, but also as a white man committed to social justice. I want to share my ideas about Dr. King’s legacy, but I also came tonight because I want to hear yours. In my talk I will use Negro rather than Black or African American because that is how Dr. King referred to himself.
In the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am here today to recruit you. At a time when democracy itself is under threat from a renegade President and his rightwing, often racist supporters, the United States desperately needs a renewed King-like movement for social justice. The world also desperately needs an expanded King-like movement for climate action. Where we are sitting now may be under water by the end of the 21st century, or even sooner. These are the movements I am recruiting you to join.
I am not recruiting you to a particular ideology, political program, or point of view. The world is constantly changing – we are all constantly changing. But I am recruiting you to become compassionate human beings with respect for diversity in the tradition of Dr. King. We need to be concerned with the needs of others who share this planet with us, to recognize their humanity, and to understand that they want the same things that we do for themselves and their families -- adequate food and housing, decent education and medical care, safety, and hope for the future. We need to understand that just because someone does not live your way, practice your religion, or make the same choices that you make, does not mean they are wrong or less than you. These are some of the lessons I have learned from Dr. King.
The African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a major world historic event that motivated people to fight for social justice in this country and others. Its activism, ideology, and achievements contributed to the women’s rights movement, the gay and lesbian rights movement, the struggle for immigrant rights, and the anti-war movement in this country. It inspired anti-Apartheid activists in South Africa and national liberation movements in Third World countries.
The traditional myth about the Civil Rights Movement, the one that is taught in schools and promoted by politicians and the national media, is that Rosa Parks sat down, Martin Luther King stood up, and somehow the whole world changed. But the real story is that the Civil Rights Movement was a mass democratic movement to expand human equality and guarantee citizenship rights for Black Americans. It was definitely not a smooth climb to progress. Between roughly 1955 and 1968 it had peaks that enervated people and valleys that were demoralizing. Part of the genius of Dr. King was his ability to help people “keep on keeping on” when hope for the future seemed its bleakest.
While some individual activists clearly stood out during the Civil Rights Movement, it involved hundreds of thousands of people, including many White people, who could not abide the U.S. history of racial oppression dating back to slavery days. It is worth noting that a disproportionate number of whites involved in the Civil Rights movement were Jews, many with ties to Long Island. In the 1960s, the Great Neck Committee for Human Rights sponsored an anti-discrimination pledge signed by over 1,000 people who promised not to discriminate against any racial or ethnic groups if they rented or sold their homes. They also picketed local landlords accused of racial bias. The Human Rights Committee and Great Neck synagogues hosted Dr. King as a speaker and raised funds for his campaigns on multiple occasions.
King and Parks played crucial and symbolic roles in the Civil Rights Movement, but so did Thurgood Marshall, Myles Horton, Fanny Lou Hammer, Ella Baker, A. Philip Randolph, Walther Reuther, Medger Evers, John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, Pete Seeger, Presidents Eisenhower and Johnson, as well as activists who were critics of racial integration and non-violent civil disobedience such as Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers.
The stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King have been sanitized to rob them of their radicalism and power. Rosa Parks was not a little old lady who sat down in the White only section of a bus because she was tired. She was only 42 when she refused to change her seat and made history. In addition, Parks was a trained organizer, a graduate of the Highlander School where she studied civil disobedience and social movements, and a leader of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP. Rosa Parks made a conscious choice to break an unjust law in order to provoke a response and promote a movement for social change.
Martin Luther King challenged the war in Vietnam, U.S. imperialism, and laws that victimized working people and the poor, not just racial discrimination. When he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, he was helping organize a sanitation workers union. If Dr. King had not be assassinated, but had lived to become an old radical activist who constantly questioned American policy, I suspect he would never have become so venerated. It is better for a country to have heroes who are dead, because they cannot make embarrassing statements opposing continuing injustice and unnecessary wars.
The African American Civil Rights Movement probably ended with the assassination of Dr. King in April 1968 and the abandonment of Great Society social programs by the Democratic Party, but social inequality continues. What kind of country is it when young Black men are more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system than in college, inner city youth unemployment at the best of times hovers in the high double-digits, and children who already have internet access at home are the ones most likely to have it in school? What kind of country is it when families seeking refuge from war, crime, and climate disruption are barred entry to the United States or put in holding pens at the border? These are among the reasons I am recruiting everyone to a movement for social justice. These are the things that would have infuriated Martin Luther King.
I promised I would share excerpts from four of Dr. King’s speeches. Everyone has the phrases and speeches that they remember best. Most Americans are familiar with the 1963 “I have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and the 1968 “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech in Memphis just before he died. These are four other speeches that still resonate with me the most today.
The first speech I reference is one for local Uniondale, Long Island, and Hofstra pride. In 1965, Dr. King was honored and spoke at the Hofstra University graduation. It was less than one year after he received the Nobel Peace Prize and three years before his assassination. In the speech Dr. King argued “mankind’s survival is dependent on man’s ability to solve the problems of racial injustice, poverty and war” and that the “solution of these problems is . . . dependent upon man squaring his moral progress with his scientific progress, and learning the practical art of living in harmony.” I have no doubt that if Dr. King were alive today, he would be at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, demands for gun control, climate activism, and calls for the impeachment of Donald Trump.
In his Hofstra speech, Dr. King told graduates, families, and faculty, “we have built machines that think, and instruments that peer into the unfathomable ranges of interstellar space. We have built gigantic bridges to span the seas, and gargantuan buildings to kiss the skies . . . We have been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains . . . Yet in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, something basic is missing. That is a sort of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish. But we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”
Always a man of hope, as well as of peace, Dr. King concluded that he had faith in the future and that that people would “go all out to solve these ancient evils of mankind” but he also acknowledged that the struggle would be difficult and that “there is still a great deal of suffering ahead.” He then challenged the graduates to become “an involved participant in getting rid of war, and getting rid of poverty, and getting rid of racial injustice. Let us not be detached spectators or silent onlookers, but involved participants.” Dr. King would have been here to recruit you too.
Letter from Birmingham Jail was not originally given as a speech, but Dr. King recorded it later so I am including an excerpt here where he explained the legitimacy and urgency of direct political action, the kind that brought down apartheid in South Africa and we are seeing from young people in Hong Kong today.
"Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? . . . Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored . . . The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation . . . We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."
I was an anti-war activist in the 1960s and this speech by Dr. King had particular importance for me at the time. On April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York City, he denounced U.S. involvement in the war on Vietnam and imperialism in general.
“As I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path . . . ‘Peace and civil rights don’t mix,’ they say . . . There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor, both black and white, through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war. And I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube . . . We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem . . . I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor . . .. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.
In the same speech Dr. King argued: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values . . .We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies . . . True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, ‘This is not just.’”
On August 16 in Atlanta, Georgia, at the annual meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,Dr. King asked, “Where do we go from here?” It is a question people concerned with social justice are still asking today.
“The movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here. And one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I’m simply saying that more and more, we’ve got to begin to ask questions about the whole society. We are called upon to help the discouraged beggars in life’s marketplace. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. It means that questions must be raised. You see, my friends, when you deal with this, you begin to ask the question, “Who owns the oil?” You begin to ask the question, “Who owns the iron ore?” You begin to ask the question, “Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?” These are questions that must be asked . . . [W]hen I say question the whole society, it means ultimately coming to see that the problem of racism, the problem of exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. These are the triple evils that are interrelated.”
So where do we go from here?
Will our country be on the right side of history?
Will each of us be part of defining a direction and participate in direct action to achieve social change?
Will you join, not me, but in Dr. King’s memory, the struggle to achieve racial, social, and economic justice in the United States and the world?
I know I said I would only refer to four King speeches, but I need to reference one more, this time by his nine-year-old granddaughter Yolanda Renee King at the 2018 March for Our Lives Rally in Washington DC.
“My grandfather had a dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of the skin, but the content of their character. I have a dream that enough is enough. And that this should be a gun-free world, period. Will you please repeat these words after me? Spread the word, have you heard? All across the nation we are going to be a great generation. Now, I’d like you to say it like you really, really mean it. Spread the word, have you heard? All across the nation we are going to be a great generation.”
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174067 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174067 0 Ross Douthat's Prescription for Academia Won't Solve the Real Problem
Fourteen years ago--four before I would enter a PhD program in English--the New York Book Review Classics rereleased a slim novel entitled Stoner that was first published in 1965 by an almost entirely forgotten writer named John Williams. Like many books in the (excellent) NYBRC series, it took awhile for readers to come back to Stoner, but by 2012 when I was studying for my comprehensive examinations in Renaissance poetry, this book by a man who died in 1994 became an unlikely international hit, lauded by some critics as one of the most perfect novels ever written. What defines Stoner, as Williams writes, is the “love of literature, of language, of the mystery of the mind and heart showing themselves in the minute, strange, and unexpected combinations of letters and words, in the blackest and coldest print.”
It’s an unassuming narrative, the story of William Stoner, born to poor Missouri farmers at the end of the nineteenth-century, who through patience and simply working day in and day out ends up becoming a relatively unaccomplished professor of Renaissance literature Columbia University. He dies unheralded and mostly forgotten, still having lived a life dedicated to teaching and to poetry. Stoner’s career isn’t particularly happy, but he bears personal and professional hardship with a stolid midwestern dignity, and though Williams makes clear that the professor isn’t the most promising of his cohort, there is a rightful valorization of the work that he does, and the professionalism with which he conducts himself. Stoner is undeniably, in addition to being about the abstract love of literature, a celebration of work itself.
With some foreshadowing, it was the New Critical close reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 that convinced the undergraduate Stoner that he belonged in a classroom and not on a farm. “That time of year thou mayst in me behold/When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang/Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, /Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.” The poem evokes Stoner’s eventual solitary death, but in a manner far more prescient than Williams could have known. Shakespeare’s words are also a fair summation of what’s happened to the professor’s entire discipline over the last two generations as departments have shrunk, tenure track jobs have disappeared, and the academy has increasingly come to rely upon an exploited underclass of contingent, part-time faculty.
I started graduate education a year before the financial collapse from which the vast majority of this country has yet to recover. Prospects for employment at a college or university were already bad enough in 2007; thirteen years later and they’re practically non-existent. That English departments – and by proxy the rest of the humanities including history, modern language, religious studies, philosophy, and so on – won’t exist in any recognizable form by let’s say 2035, should be obvious to anybody who surveys the figures and who has worked within the academy itself.
The argument of who exactly is responsible for this state of affairs rages on, but New York Times columnist Ross Douthat insists he knows the answer. Part of the Times squad of Bret Stephens, David Brooks, and Bari Weiss--conservatives who are only read by liberals to prove how politically ecumenical said liberals are--Douthat doesn’t have a graduate degree himself. Nor has he (to my knowledge) produced peer-reviewed scholarship, or taught a university class (as anything other than a guest lecturer or as a function of his job as a columnist, I should say). But despite that, he has the hubris that can only be conferred by an undergraduate degree with the word “Harvard” printed on it, and so Douthat recently authored a column prescribing who is responsible for the “thousand different forces [that] are killing student interest in the humanities and cultural interest in high culture.”
Like any column written by Douthat, Brooks, Stephens, or Weiss, what’s so insidious is that they’re often 25% correct – sometimes even 33% accurate! Douthat blames the disciplines themselves for their current predicament – and of course he’s correct. No doubt he’s critical of the lack of class solidarity between faculty and adjuncts, the ways in which professional organizations refuse to advocate for us, and the manner in which the ethic of the business school has infected the entire university.
But of course that’s not what he finds responsible. As predictably as if he were Alan Bloom writing The Closing of the American Mind in 1987, Douthat writes that the recovery of the humanities relies on a resuscitation of Victorian critic Matthew Arnold’s championing of “the best that has been thought and said.” A resurrection of the humanities must depend “at least on that belief, at least on the ideas that certain books and arts and forms are superior, transcendent, at least on the belief that students should learn to value these texts and forms before attempting their critical dissection.” Which we would all try and do, of course, if there were only any jobs in which to do it.
I know that it’s been fashionable in conservative circles since the 1980s to bemoan the “post-modernist” professor who refuses to acknowledge Shakespeare’s brilliance while teaching comic books, but the schtick has gotten so old that I wish a young fogy like Douthat would learn a new tune. The critical studies professor railing against “dead, white males” is as much a bogeyman of the conservative conscience as the Cadillac driving welfare-queen, but the former remains a mainstay of their bromides, even while Douthat feigns an unearned reasonableness.
So to his prescription, I must answer that of course those who study and teach literature cherish it as a source of value and transcendence, that of course they acknowledge that there are writings that endure because of individual, brilliant qualities, that of course we want our students to be enthusiastic about these things we’ve loved. Nobody spends the better part of a decade getting a PhD in English, or history, or philosophy because they hate English, history, or philosophy (though certainly some of them understandably come to).
Nobody invests the better part of their youth in such research and teaching just so that Douthat can tell them that their professional failures are a result of just not loving their discipline enough. That critical, theoretical, and pedagogical consensus over the past few generations have rightly concluded that the job of the humanity’s isn’t mere enthusiasm, but also critical engagement with those texts – for both good and bad – speaks to the anemia of Douthat’s own education. Douthat, who has apparently never heard of the scientific method, writes that “no other discipline promises to teach only a style of thinking and not some essential substance,” as if learning how to rationally and critically engage with the world should be some afterthought to remembering that Shakespeare knew how to turn a phrase (I’ll cop to finding his phrase “essential substance” as being unclear--I suppose he means facts). Critical analysis of text has been a mainstay of humanistic inquiry since biblical exegetes first analyzed scripture; it runs through the humanists of the Renaissance, the philologists of the nineteenth-century, and the New Critics and formalists of the Modernist era. It’s hardly something made up at a Berkeley faculty meeting.
Douthat’s pining for a purely aestheticized type of non-inquiry owes much to a certain segment of Victorian criticism, but it’s hardly defined the discipline for its whole history. Nor is the idea that being able to critically engage texts, historical events, or philosophical ideas as independent from whether or not you personally derive aesthetic pleasure from them particularly radical. It’s been a mainstay of the civitas humanitas since before the Enlightenment, whereby the study of literature, history, and philosophy wasn’t just an instruction in connoisseurship, but rather training in how to be a citizen. I’d propose instilling civic engagement is precisely what the “politicized” teaching and research that Douthat bemoans is trying to do.
Unlike cultural warriors of the past, Douthat makes shallow gesture towards the academic jobs crisis, he alludes to the fact that he’s aware of economic austerity that’s gutted humanities departments. But like all culture wars masters of the form, Douthat’s conservative politics make it impossible for him to properly name the actual culprits of what happened to the humanities. Jacques Derrida didn’t kill the English department – Milton Friedman did.
With some accuracy, albeit of the straw-man variety, Douthat argues that today it should be “easier than ever to assemble a diverse inheritor” of the old canon. I’m assuming that when he was at Harvard, he must have encountered those rightful diverse inheritors of the canon, because what we’ve been doing in the Renaissance literature classroom for thirty years is precisely that – teaching Shakespeare alongside Amelia Lanyer, John Milton with Aphra Behn. Like a teenager who asks why nobody has told him about the Beatles before, Douthat acts as if it’s some great insight that “This should, by rights, be a moment of exciting curricular debates, over which global and rediscovered and post-colonial works belong on the syllabus with Shakespeare” – but that’s precisely what we’ve been doing all this time.
He writes that “humanists have often trapped themselves in a false choice between ‘dead white males’ and ‘we don’t transmit value,’” but this is only the situation within his own reactionary fever dream. Douthat’s prescription is as helpful as asking a person with an illness to just stop being sick, he tells us that the “path to recovery begins… with a renewed faith not only in humanism’s methods and approaches, but in the very thing itself.” May I suggest a humbler solution? The path to recovery of the humanities begins with actually funding the humanities, with hiring and paying people to teach and write about it, with making sure that its interests are not completely overlooked by universities more concerned with the NCAA, administrative pay, and making sure that students have the full “college experience.” That proposal might make the trustees of universities squeamish though, and they after all vote for the same political party which Douthat is a member of. Better just say that professors don’t love literature enough.
Because the humanities do matter, the false choice that Douthat gives between aesthetic appreciation and critical analysis is to the detriment of both. Stoner wouldn’t have been as popular as it was if its sentiments didn’t move so many of us, graduate students who talked about the novel as if it were samizdat. What’s beautiful about Stoner is the character’s love of literature and of teaching. What’s inexplicable to us about it is that he’s actually able to have a job doing those things. Douthat may pretend that this is a spiritual problem, but the bare ruined choir of the academy wasn’t emptied because of insufficient faith, but rather because the money changers have long been in charge of the temple. It’s a spiritual problem only insomuch that all economic problems are at their core spiritual. Pretending that the disappearance of the English department has always been an issue about liberal professors attacking Western civilization is, with apologies to Borges, a bit like watching two bald men fight over a comb.
The fact is that there is no excess in teaching critical analysis – in an era of increasing political propaganda and weakening democratic bonds it’s estimably necessary. We teach how to critically read culture – including movies, comics, and television – not because we don’t acknowledge the technical greatness of a Shakespeare, but in addition to it. Contrary to Douthat’s stereotypes, there’s not an English professor alive who doesn’t understand Shakespeare’s technical achievements when compared to lesser texts, but we understand that anything made by people is worthy of being studied because it tells us something about people. That is the creed of Terrence when he wrote that “I am human and I let nothing which is human be alien to me” – no doubt Douthat knows the line. Did I mention that he went to Harvard?
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174069 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174069 0 George Orwell, 70 Years Later
Seventy years ago this Tuesday, George Orwell, the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, died alone in a hospital sanitorium in London. He had struggled for years with pulmonary tuberculosis, and his weak lungs hemorrhaged for the final time. He was just 46, and just on the verge of fame, having published his great novel just seven months earlier in June 1949.
Would the visionary author of Nineteen Eighty-Four—who always insisted on the full eighteen letters as his novel’s proper title, not the four screaming digits “1984”—have ever imagined that George Orwell might become the most important writer since Shakespeare and the most influential writer who ever lived? That is my contention, based on his cultural and social impact, that is, with the omnipresence of his coinages in the contemporary political lexicon and his dystopian vision in the political imagination.
Crucial to his compelling language and vision was his superlative rhetorical ability to coin catchwords, such as those in his beast fable that allegorizes the history of the Soviet Union, Animal Farm (1945) and his dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. His talent for composing arresting, memorable lines in both his essays and his fiction, especially openers “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen”) and closers (“…He loved Big Brother”) is equally unforgettable. Nineteen Eighty-Four rose to #1 on the bestseller lists (for the amazing fourth time in history) during January 2017 (after Donald Trump’s inauguration). I fully expect it to do so again sometime during the presidential campaign this year.
Orwell’s worldwide fame—sales of his last two books approach 60 million in more than five dozen languages—certainly rests on his fable and dystopian novel. Yet I would also maintain that Orwell’s importance not only is due to his “impact” as a polemicist or rhetorician, but is also explainable on the grounds of literary style, that is, in literary terms too. He is arguably the most important literary figure of recent generations. His direct literary influence in Britain and America on the generations directly following his own—the Movement writers and the Angry Young Men of the 1950s, the New Journalists such as Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese of the 1960s—rivals that of virtually any other twentieth-century writer. His influence on literary-political intellectuals since his death in 1950 is unrivalled—no successor has even come close to filling his outsized shoes.
Even more notable than all this, however, is the authority his “clear, plain” prose style has indirectly exerted, as countless writers have attested. Orwell’s style has played a role in shaping nonfiction writing since midcentury. Along with Hemingway, Orwell is the literary stylist whose work has contributed most significantly to shifting the reigning prose style in English from the eighteenth-century ideal of the orotund, Ciceronian periodic sentence of Dr. Johnson, Gibbon, and the Augustan Age toward the limpid, fast-moving, direct, and hard-hitting sentences of present-day journalism. It is in these respects that Orwell’s literary influence is sizable indeed and bolsters his claim to the title “England’s Prose Laureate.”
Until recently, this was not at all the consensus, especially among British and American professors of English. Until the late 1980s, Orwell was typically relegated by most professors of English to the ranks of a middlebrow author.
When I began teaching at UT in the 1980s, literary academe was still dismissing Orwell as a rather simple “juvenile” or “high school author. Distinguished “difficult” authors such as Vladimir Nabokov (of Lolita fame) dismissed Orwell as a “popular purveyor.” In other words, Orwell’s works were, at best—in the much-quoted phrase that George Orwell used about the writings of some of his own favorite authors--“good bad books."
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174077 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174077 0 1917: The War Movie at Its Very Best
The World War I movie 1917 starts out quickly. A British General tells two enlisted men, Private Schofield and Lance Corporal Blake, that two British battalions are marching into a trap set up by the Germans several miles away. The two men must reach the 1,600 men in the battalions – one man’s brother among them – and warn the soldiers to turn back. To get there, the duo must march in and out of trenches, survive No Man’s Land, undergo machine gun fire, avoid bombs, race through blazing buildings and continually test their own courage and fortitude.
It is a film on fire that emulates the world on fire back in Europe 1917. It is loud. It is tense. It is dramatic. It is terrific.
1917, that opened nationwide last week, produced by Dreamworks and directed by Sam Mendes, is one of those great war movies that comes out only once every generation or so (think Saving Private Ryan). It is also one of the few films about World War I, that always seems to run third in public interest behind World War II and the American Civil War.
There are numerous elements that make 1917 a classic war film, and classic film, period. First, the action is focused on just two men, at the start, and they have to win or lose in the effort to save the apparently domed battalions. Second, their route to the troops takes them through hell on earth, with numerous Biblical symbols (the air all around on fire, climbing over dozens of dead bodies to save their own lives). Third, the special effects are impressive, with airplanes, explosions long, long lines of men in trenches. Fourth, the film has numerous closeups of exhausted, wiped out soldiers, most of whom are panting from the fury of the battle.
The movie is a story within a story – the two men within the greater war. Director Mendes has fashioned the film so that you constantly cheer the two men on, praying that they make it but yet every moment of the film you think they might perish and shortly afterwards the 1,600 men they were sent to save.
There is no great cavalry charge up the hill here, like in so many westerns, no sterling oratorical speeches by Henry V at Agincourt, no General ridings a white horse waving a sword in the air. It is a war of the grunts, trying to just get home. World War II was a war of victory and considerable glory; World War I was a fight for survival. There are numerous references to the idea of survival and no real purpose to the conflict, to any conflict. One General tells a corporal that it doesn’t matter what today’s orders are – next week the high command will issue orders that are just the opposite. Men don’t think of victory and welcome home parades, just getting home in one piece.
The first half of the film is slow but has some just plain astonishing scene. In one, a troop transport truck gets bogged down in the mud and a dozen soldiers, pushing and grimacing, try to get it out and back on the road. All of the pain of war is told in their faces and their aching arms and legs. In another A German plane is shot down by two allied planes, hits the ground and slides directly at the two messengers and you are certain it is going to kill them.
There are dazzling cinematic scenes, such as long moments focused on soldiers in the trenches, vast wasteland of empty meadows except for a few lone bombed out farm houses, mud puddle after mud puddle. There are vast plains with just one single, tree, still standing in the middle of it. There is a poignant scene in which Schofield meets a young woman and her baby hiding out from everybody in a building. He is attracted to her but has to leave to evade the Germans who are constantly looking for him.
Much has been made of the one camera effect in the film. A single camera picks up the two soldier boys when they leave on their journey and follows them most of the way. You see everything through their eyes or with the camera in front of them, in their faces. The final scene of the movie, shot this way, is striking.
The one problem in the film, and it is in just about all war movies, is that it starts too slowly. Our two heroes march and march and march and little happens.
Then, all of a sudden, the whole world explodes around them, and around the audience.
We are off….
Director Mendes does a brilliant job on this film about a ghastly conflict that tore apart the world. He gets numerous fine performances from a strong ensemble of actors. The two stars of the film, Dean-Charles Chapman as Corporal Blake and George Mackay as Private Schofield, are superb and win you over from the fist shot of the story.
The movie won the Golden Globe for Best Movie and was nominated for Best Picture in the Oscars. It deserves the accolades.
Right after World War I ended, they all said that it was “the war to end all wars.” It sure did, didn’t it?
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174091 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174091 0 Edmund G. Ross Was a Profile in Impeachment Corruption, not Courage
The current impeachment proceedings have revived the historical error of proclaiming Kansas Senator Edmund G. Ross a hero for providing the vote that saved President Andrew Johnson’s job after the April 1868 impeachment trial.
For many years after that one-vote verdict, Ross was proclaimed the savior of the presidency from the rabid forces of impeachment. More recent studies have noted that the racist Johnson was mostly a blight on the presidency, creating harsh divisions after the Civil War rather than binding up the wounds from that bloody conflict.
But another lingering fiction is that Ross cast his pro-Johnson vote altruistically. Ross proclaimed his own heroism in his memoir. When he cast the impeachment vote, he wrote, it was like looking into his open grave, but he courageously leapt in despite the consequences.
Future President John F. Kennedy (or his ghostwriter), revived this myth in his often-inaccurate book Profiles in Courage, pronouncing Ross’s vote “the most heroic act in American history.”
That vote was a profile in corruption, not courage.
Ross, a printer previously accused of bid-rigging on Kansas state contracts, secured his Senate seat because his sponsor – a crook named Perry Fuller – paid Kansas state legislators $42,000 in bribes to select Ross and Samuel Pomeroy to Washington as the state’s senators.
In the 1860s, frontier Kansas had a well-earned reputation for corruption. Ross replaced a senator who had killed himself after the revelation that he took a $20,000 bribe from (yup) Perry Fuller.
In his first months in Washington, Ross did nothing to attract the attention of even most dedicated Senate-watcher. When the impeachment crisis erupted in early 1868 and landed in the Senate for Johnson’s trial, Ross flirted with both sides of the contest, then began to offer his vote for the best deal he could get.
Less then two weeks before the trial ended, Ross sent his sponsor, Perry Fuller, to Johnson’s Interior Secretary. Fuller had already joined with a Treasury official to offer a bribe that would have secured Ross’s vote for Johnson. Fuller told the Interior Secretary that Ross would vote for acquittal if only Johnson would speed the return to the union of three Southern states. That was outside of Johnson’s power, so no deal was struck.
Days later, Ross promised pro-impeachment senators he would vote their way, a pledge he repeated to a reporter three days before the final vote. But then, something happened. On the morning of the vote, Ross breakfasted with his good friend, the ubiquitous Perry Fuller. Then Ross reversed himself to cast the vote that kept the president in office.
The inference that Ross was bribed to vote for Johnson is powerful, although bribes in 1868 were paid in cash that could not (and cannot) be traced. But records show that Ross immediately moved to cash in on his pro-Johnson vote with patronage appointments.
At the top of Ross’s shopping list was a top job for – you guessed it – Perry Fuller. The job? Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a position from which Fuller’s corruption could spread through the nation like a virus. Johnson promptly nominated Fuller for the pivotal position, but the Senate Finance Committee would not swallow a flat-out crook in that office. It sent Fuller’s name back to the president.
So Ross set his sights lower. In August, he secured Fuller’s appointment as Collector of Revenue in the port of New Orleans. Through seven months in that office, Fuller more than doubled the number of that office’s employees, then was arrested for stealing $3 million.
When Fuller had to post bond for his pretrial release, Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas was happy to guarantee it.
But Fuller was not the only name on Ross’s patronage shopping list. The Kansan also requested the appointment of a friend as superintendent of Indian lands in which is now Oklahoma, stressing to President Johnson the “large amount of patronage connected with that office.” Johnson made the appointment. Then Ross asked for ratification of a treaty with the Osage Tribe, which Johnson swiftly granted.
Even the widespread belief that Ross’s impeachment vote ruined his life is a fable. He did lose his Senate seat to a man who paid $60,000 in bribes to Kansas legislators, a moment of poetic justice. Ross went on to publish two newspapers in Kansas before landing in 1885 as territorial governor of New Mexico.
Edmund G. Ross a profile in courage? No. Not ever.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173849 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173849 0 Jimmy Carter and The Myth That Gave the Iowa Caucuses Their Political Power
Every four years, the country witnesses what should be an inspiring ritual: Iowans like me brave the cold winter night, gather in school gyms, and talk about politics with their neighbors. But there is another ritual that also merits our attention: the condemnation of the Iowa precinct caucuses coming from around the country. Such critictism comes from the political right and the left.
There are many good reasons to oppose the caucuses. After all, is impossible to justify the same state going first each time, since it undermines the spirit of equality that is supposed to be crucial to American government.
Further, Iowa is unrepresentative--disproportionately whiter, older, and more rural than the country as a whole. Finally, people with work or childcare responsibilities at night are out of luck. In this system, even the Democrats are undemocratic.
Unlike primaries, the caucuses are a Rube Goldberg machine; that is, they are a complicated system designed to do something simple. If parties were starting from scratch, they would do better to create something more like a primary. Historians can tell you, though, that politicians never start from scratch. Our caucuses are the product of historical accident, rather than conscious design.
The accident began at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. With cameras rolling, police officers attacked young activists who opposed the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, the party leadership, still loyal to war President Lyndon B. Johnson, nominated Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, whose position on the war was ambiguous at best. To protesters and much of the press, it appeared that Humphrey had been hand-picked by unelected pro-war Democratic Party leaders in a secretive process. Meanwhile, police violence against dissenters and even reporters on the streets outside the Convention escalated into chaos. The spectacle looked terrible to millions of voters watching on television, and the mess contributed to the Democrats’ defeat that fall.
Something had to give. While caucuses and primaries happened in a few states by 1968, most state parties used a smorgasbord of methods to insulate the nomination process from popular control. Often conventions featured multiple ballots in which delegates, not voters, made the final choice of a nominee. Now, more state parties began choosing their convention delegates through primary votes meant to empower average voters. Others turned to party caucuses. In these, at least in theory, party enthusiasts and volunteers led the proceedings.
In 1972 and again in 1976, Iowa’s precinct caucuses happened first by historical accident. Put simply, the complexity of the state’s system for selecting national delegates, which is unknown to most of the public, generates a lot of meetings. The now-familiar precinct caucuses are only the start of Iowa’s system for selecting delegates, which continues long after journalists have left the state. Jimmy Carter (or rather his young adviser, Hamilton Jordan) thought a win at the caucuses could generate momentum by bringing media attention early in the process. Jordan believed that early notice in the press was essential for a candidate to gain traction in a crowded field of presidential hopefuls. The story is well-known: Carter focused on the state and did well in the caucuses, which set him, an unknown, on the path to the nomination. Presidential hopefuls have flocked to the state ever since.
However, Carter’s story is not quite that simple. First, Carter didn’t exactly win. He received about 27% support, putting him in second place behind an always formidable opponent: “undecided.” The forgettable Birch Bayh of Indiana finished third, ahead of a large but thoroughly mediocre group of challengers.
Moreover, the precinct caucuses did not provide Carter with any delegates to the national convention. It doesn’t work that way. (This may be a little boring, but it is important to the story, so stay with me.) Those chosen as delegates by their precincts advance to the county convention, which in turn chooses delegates for the district conventions, which then designates participants in the state convention. Finally, the state convention picks delegates to the national convention. This complex system takes a lot of time, and Iowa Democrats start early because they have to in order to have delegates before the summer.
Those county conventions are all-day affairs which happen long after the media has moved on. County delegates often get the job not because they want it, but because of pressure from their neighbors. They may have to change their vote because their candidate has dropped out and that disheartening fact can create no-shows. Yes, there are alternate delegates, but things can go wrong.
To recap: county conventions choose delegates for the district conventions, which in turn picks delegates for the state convention, which then chooses a few genuine delegates for the national convention. There are not many of these because Iowa is a small state. The delegate stakes of the precinct caucuses are incredibly low.
In other words, Carter won a glorified straw poll. Nonetheless, his staff touted the caucuses as the will of the people, and Iowans had no reason to disagree. The caucuses did help Carter did get a big media bounce. Yet the burst of attention he received happened because he also won the New Hampshire primary, which was then the traditional indicator of early strength. Without Iowa, New Hampshire alone would have put him on the map.
Carter’s success actually happened because he was the perfect post-Watergate candidate. He was an evangelical who promised never to lie to the public. He was a naval veteran, a former nuclear engineer, and a peanut farmer. As a former Governor of Georgia, he seemed to be a Washington “outsider” at a time when public disgust with politics was at its zenith.
Importantly, Jimmy Carter’s success also happened because he was a moderate, even conservative, by the standards of his party. Democrats, still smarting over their landslide loss of South Dakota liberal George McGovern in 1972, believed, correctly, that Carter could win by moving the party to the right. Ironically, in 1972 McGovern had himself performed well in Iowa, finishing second to Edmund Muskie, but received little acclaim for it in the media. In 1976, the Carter campaign touted the event, and reaped the benefits.
Iowa may be crucial to the nomination system today, but it still mirrors the caucuses in 1976 in one important respect: it was a media event. It mattered, not because it produced delegates, but because it gave Carter media attention. The caucuses were real politics in the same way that Celebrity Apprentice was reality television. The Chicago protesters in 1968, while being pummeled by the police, chanted “the whole world is watching.” And it was. Party reformers changed the system after 1968, but with an unintended consequence. Today, the whole world is still watching, but they are watching Iowa.
If you are a blue-state Democrat and you don’t like our system, you can try to make it go away. Iowa’s status is always in danger, and yet the caucuses continually survive, maybe because Iowans care more. We don’t have an NFL franchise, and we deserve to watch something.
Or, voters can ignore the caucuses. In 2008, John McCain skipped the caucuses, which he viewed as a lost cause given his opposition to tax credits for ethanol. He won the Republican nomination. Michael Bloomberg, a far richer man than Donald Trump, has launched the extraordinary experiment of skipping the first four states and saturating the big media markets.
Most pundits would tell you Bloomberg is doomed to fail, but you have to admire the impulse. He is ignoring us, which is probably the best way to minimize our importance. His strategy seems smarter than that of former Maryland U.S. Representative John Delaney, who has spent nearly two years wandering the state to little avail. Parents will tell you to ignore a toddler’s tantrums if you want them to stop. Twitter users know that they should refuse to feed the trolls; to do otherwise would be to reward bad behavior. If you really don’t want to spend the evening of February 3 hearing media chatter about which candidate exceeded expectations, it’s on you. Go to a bar, go bowling, read a novel. I love my adopted state, but I have faith that the country is ready to choose a nominee without our help.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174076 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174076 0 The World is Losing another Historic Generation
Temple of Confucius of Jiangyin, Wuxi, Jiangsu. Photo by Zhangzhugang. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Every day, little by little, one of the world’s largest and most important historic generations is passing away— the last generation to have grown up in China before the communist takeover in 1949. These individuals were born between 1919 and 1937, right before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, and were raised in what we might loosely call traditional China. Yes, China was surely modernizing during the years 1919-1949, but traditional Chinese culture retreated only slowly and was still pervasive in 1949, even in foreign-influenced coastal cities like Shanghai. Dense bastions of traditional practices remained in education, the judiciary, and government bureaucracies, as well as in family structure and social relations in general. Students and young people shaped by this environment were in touch with a very ancient Chinese system of values, with all its cultural beauty and social flaws.
After 1949 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched an active campaign to eradicate traditional values they regarded as “feudal thinking,” extending their long-standing hostility against the Confucian worldview to national educational policy. Things got much worse during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 when fanatical anti-traditional hysteria generated a decade of state-tolerated anarchic violence and contempt by Red Guard youth groups directed against “feudal” and “bourgeois” values. The widespread physical destruction of artwork and cultural sites during those years was the most visible manifestation of a policy designed to root out traditional thinking tied to the pre-revolutionary past.
More recently the CCP has paid lip-service to the nation’s past culture by appropriating Confucius’s name for the vast network of international “Confucian Institutes” that project a positive image of communist China to the outside world. These institutes have little connection to China’s past; they are primarily centers of communist propaganda and recruitment of naïve, sympathetic foreign students. A Chinese ruling elite that tolerates corrupt communists and crony capitalists has no genuine interest in a state grounded in Confucian ethics. Instead they pick out the Confucian elements that reinforce communist rule, such as emphases on political loyalty and communalism.
Students coming of age in China today are acquainted with only those parts of classical Chinese art, literature, and philosophy that the CCP regards as useful for justifying its continued one-party dictatorship. Conversations with Chinese students reveal alarming gaps in their knowledge of China’s political and economic development before 1949. Disastrous events under communist rule like the failure of the Great Leap Forward and the resulting famine of 1959-1961 or the Tian An Men massacre of 1989 are “forbidden topics” beyond discussion or even mention in Chinese schools and universities, but that is a separate topic. This is not simply complaining about the habits and interests of today’s youth in China; these knowledge gaps are a deliberate product of the CCP’s Orwellian educational policy reaching back over many decades with the intent of allowing vast swathes of pre-communist history and culture to wither away.
These trends mean that as the last generation of individuals who grew up in, were educated, in, or were at least exposed to classical Chinese education and culture leave us, they will not be replaced. That human loss will be a bitter blow, perhaps the death blow, for a civilization with a 5,000 year pedigree. The surviving cultural remnants will be only those crumbs from the pre-communist past selected by the CCP for public presentations carefully managed by the party for its own purposes.
In a dangerous irony, this great reduction in the human cultural capital of pre-communist China comes at the same time the growth of Chinese economic, military, and political influence around the world makes international audiences more interested than ever before in understanding some of the deeper elements of Chinese culture.
If the outside world wants to understand China’s long history, traditional values, and cultural contributions in an intellectually honest way, we will have to get beyond the carefully controlled version of history being offered by the current communist government. We can help by doing two things. First, by maintaining open, honest, and critical scholarship of China’s long history at universities and research institutes around the world. That includes refusing to knuckle under to China’s frequent demands that we cooperate with their efforts to censor critical research produced by foreign-based scholars. Second, we can support the remaining outposts of Chinese culture that exist beyond the reach of the CCP, for example in Taiwan, where non-communist versions of China’s past, present, and future are on display every day.
We cannot prevent the passing away of China’s last generation from the pre-communist era, but we can do our part in helping to preserve the ancient culture they knew, so that it does not vanish completely with them.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174068 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174068 0 Poles Apart: Putin, Poland and the Nazi-Soviet Pact
As the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, two of that war’s main victims – Poland and Russia – are once again embroiled in a highly emotional dispute about its origins. At the heart of the matter is the perennial controversy about the Nazi-Soviet pact of 23 August 1939.
The polemics were kick-started by President Vladimir Putin when he was asked about the European Parliament’s resolution on the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II at press conference in Moscow on 19 December. Putin deemed the resolution unacceptable because it equated the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and accused its authors of being cynical and ignorant of history. He highlighted instead the Munich agreement of September 1938 and Poland’s participation in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. The Soviet-German non-aggression treaty was not the only such agreement made by Hitler with other states. Yes, said Putin, there were secret protocols dividing Poland between Germany and the USSR but Soviet troops only entered Poland after its government had collapsed.
This is not the first time Putin has made such arguments. He made many similar points in 2009 on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war. But his tone then was conciliatory rather than combative. At the commemoration event in Gdansk, Putin stressed the common struggles of Poles and Russians and called for the outbreak of the war to be examined in all its complexity and diversity. Every country had been at fault, not just the Soviet Union: “it has to be admitted that all attempts made between 1934 and 1939 to appease the Nazis with various agreements and pacts were morally unacceptable and practically meaningless as well as harmful and dangerous.”
Responding to Putin, the then Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, stressed that on 1st September 1939 his country was attacked by Germany and then two weeks later, invaded by the Soviet Union. But Tusk also emphasised that while “truth may be painful, it should not humiliate anyone.”
The day after his news conference in Moscow, Putin addressed leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States at a meeting in St Petersburg convened to discuss preparations for the 75th anniversary. Putin used the occasion to deliver a long analysis of what led to the outbreak of war in September 1939, including detailed citations from many diplomatic documents.
One document that caught Putin’s eye was a September 1938 dispatch from Jozef Lipski, the Polish ambassador in Berlin, reporting on a talk with Hitler. During the conversation Hitler said that he was thinking of settling the Jewish issue by getting them emigrate to a colony. Lipski responded that if Hitler found a solution to the Jewish question the Poles would build a beautiful monument to him in Warsaw. “What kind of people are those who hold such conversations with Hitler?", asked Putin. The same kind, he averred, who now desecrate the graves and monuments of the Soviet soldiers who had liberated Europe from the Nazis.
The main point of Putin’s trawl through the British, French, German, Polish and Soviet archives was to show that all states had done business with the Nazis in the 1930s, not least Poland, which sought rapprochement with Hitler as part of an anti-Soviet alliance. Putin linked this history to present-day politics: “Russia is used to scare people. Be it Tsarist, Soviet or today’s – nothing has changed. It does not matter what kind of country Russia is – the rationale remains.”
Putin vigorously defended Soviet foreign policy in the 1930s. According to the Russian President, Moscow sought a collective security alliance against Hitler but its efforts were rebuffed, most importantly during the Czechoslovakian crisis of 1938 when the Soviets were prepared to go to war in defence of the country, provided France did the same. But the French linked their actions to that of the Poles, and Warsaw was busily scheming to grab some Czechoslovak territory. In Putin’s view the Second World War could have been averted if states had stood up to Hitler in 1938.
In relation to the Nazi-Soviet pact, while Putin accepted there was a secret protocol, he suggested that hidden in the archives of western states there might be confidential agreements that they had made with Hitler. He also reiterated that the Soviet Union had not really invaded Poland, adding that the Red Army’s action had saved many Jews from extermination by the Nazis.
Putin returned to the subject of the war’s origins at a meeting of Russia’s Defence Ministry Board on 24 December: “Yes, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed and there was also a secret protocol which defined spheres of influence. But what had European countries been doing before that? The same. They had all done the same things”. But what hit him hardest, Putin told his colleagues, was the Lipski report: “That bastard! That anti-Semitic pig – I have no other words”.
To be fair to Putin there is more to his view of history than pointing the finger at Poland and the west. He also identified more profound causes of the Second World War, including the punitive Versailles peace treaty that encouraged “a radical and revanchist mood” in Germany, and the creation of new states that gave rise to many conflicts, notably in Czechoslovakia, which contained a 3.5 million-strong German minority.
Poland’s first response to Putin’s furious philippics was a statement by its foreign ministry on 21 December, expressing disbelief at the Russian President’s statements. Poland, the foreign ministry said, had a balanced policy towards Germany and the Soviet Union in the 1930s, signing non-aggression pacts with both countries. “Despite the peaceful policy pursued by the Republic of Poland, the Soviet Union took direct steps to trigger war and at the same time committed mass-scale crimes”.
According the Polish foreign ministry the crucial chronology of events was that in January 1939 the Germans made their claims against Poland; in mid-April the Soviet ambassador offered Berlin political co-operation and at the end of April Hitler repudiated the German-Polish non-aggression pact; in August the Nazi-Soviet pact was signed; in September Germany and the USSR invaded Poland and then signed a Boundary and Friendship Treaty that formalised Poland’s partition.
Among Soviet crimes against Poland was the mass repression of Poles in the territories occupied by the Red Army, including 107,000 arrests, 380, 000 deportations and, in spring 1940, 22,000 executions of Polish POWs and officials at Katyn and other murder sites.
On 29 December 2019 Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, issued a statement, noting that Poland was the war’s first victim, “the first to experience the armed aggression of both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, and the first that fought in defense of a free Europe.” The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was not a non-aggression agreement but a military and political alliance of two dictators and their totalitarian regimes. “Without Stalin’s complicity in the partitioning of Poland, and without the natural resources that Stalin supplied to Hitler, the Nazi German crime machine would not have taken control of Europe. Thanks to Stalin, Hitler could conquer new countries with impunity, imprison Jews from all over the continent in ghettos and prepare the Holocaust”.
Morawiecki pulled no punches in relation to Putin: “President Putin has lied about Poland on numerous occasions, and he has always done so deliberately.” According to Morawiecki, Putin’s “slander” was designed to distract attention from political setbacks suffered by the Russian President, such as US sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline project and the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banning of Russia from international sporting events for four years.
All states like to present themselves as victims rather than perpetrators and this not the first time Poland and Russia have clashed over the Nazi-Soviet pact. The piquancy of the polemics is obviously related to the dire state of Russian-Western relations and to the presence in Warsaw of a radical nationalist government.
But how should we evaluate the historical content of these exchanges? My first book, published in 1989 on the 50th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet pact, was The Unholy Alliance: Stalin’s Pact with Hitler. Since then I have written many more books and articles about the Nazi-Soviet pact. My research has led me to conclude that Putin is broadly right in relation to the history of Soviet foreign policy in the 1930s but deficient in his analysis of the Nazi-Soviet pact.
After Hitler came to power in 1933 the Soviets did strive for collective security alliances to contain Nazi aggression and expansionism. Moscow did stand by Czechoslovakia in 1938 and was prepared to go war with Germany.
After Munich the Soviets retreated into isolation but Hitler’s occupation of Prague in March 1939 presented an opportunity to relaunch their collective security campaign. In April Moscow proposed an Anglo-Soviet-French triple alliance that would guarantee the security of all European states under threat from Hitler, including Poland.
Some historians have questioned the sincerity of Moscow’s triple alliance proposal but extensive evidence from the Soviet archives shows that it was Stalin’s preferred option until quite late in the day. The problem was that Britain and France dragged their feet during the negotiations and as war grew closer so did Stalin doubts about the utility of a Soviet-Western alliance. Fearful the Soviet Union would be left to fight Hitler alone while Britain and France stood on the sidelines, Stalin decided to do a deal with Hitler -that kept the USSR out of the coming war and provided some guarantees for Soviet security.
The Soviets were not as proactive as they might have been in trying to persuade the British and French to accept their proposals. Some scholars argue this was because the Soviets were busy wooing the Germans. However, until August 1939 all the approaches came from the German side, which was desperate to disrupt the triple alliance negotiations. The political overture of April 1939 mentioned in the Polish foreign ministry statement is a case in point: the initiative came from the Germans not the Soviets.
One state that Moscow did actively pursue in 1939 was Poland. The bad blood in Soviet-Polish relations notwithstanding, after Munich the two states attempted to improve relations. When Hitler turned against Poland in spring 1939 Moscow made many approaches to Warsaw, trying to persuade the Poles to sign up to its triple alliance project. But Warsaw did not want or think it needed an alliance with the USSR given that it had the backing of Britain and France.
The failure of this incipient Polish-Soviet détente sealed the fate of the triple alliance negotiations, which broke down when the British and French were unable to guarantee Warsaw’s consent to the entry of the Red Army into Poland in the event of war with Germany.
After the signature of the Nazi-Soviet pact there was extensive political, economic and military co-operation between the Soviet Union and Germany. Most people see this as a tactical manoeuvre by Stalin to gain time to prepare for a German attack. However, I have argued that in 1939-1940 Stalin contemplated the possibility of long-term co-existence with Nazi Germany.
Putin makes the point that Stalin did not sully himself with meeting Hitler, unlike British, French and Polish leaders. True, but Stalin received Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop twice - in August and September 1939 - and in November 1940 he sent his foreign minister, Molotov, to Berlin to negotiate a new Nazi-Soviet pact with Hitler. It was the failure of those negotiations that set Soviet-German relations on the path to war.
The first clause of the secret protocol attached to the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty concerned the Baltic states. Throughout the triple alliance negotiations Moscow’s major security concern was a German military advance across the Baltic coastal lands to Leningrad. With the signature of the Nazi-Soviet pact that Baltic door to German expansion was locked by a spheres of influence agreement that allocated Latvia, Estonia and Finland to the Soviet sphere. Lithuania remained in Germany’s sphere but was transferred to the Soviets in September 1939.
It was the second clause of the protocol that divided Poland into Soviet and German spheres but this should not be seen as a definite decision to partition Poland, though that possibility was certainly present. The protocol limited German expansion into Poland but did not specify the two states would annex their spheres of influence. The actions of both states in that respect would be determined by the course of the German-Polish war. In the event, Poland was rapidly crushed by the Germans, while the British and French did little to aid their ally except declare war on Germany. It was in those circumstances that Berlin pressed the Soviets to occupy Eastern Poland. Stalin was not ready, politically or militarily, to take that step but he knew that if the Red Army did not occupy the territory then the Wehrmacht would.
Putin glosses over the fact that the Red Army’s entry into Poland was a massive military operation involving a half million troops. Large-scale clashes with Polish forces were averted only because Poland’s commander-in-chief ordered his troops not to fire on Red Army. Even so, the Red Army suffered 3000 casualties including a thousand dead.
Often accused of parroting the Soviet line, Putin did not invoke the most potent argument that Moscow used to rationalise its attack on Poland, which was that the Red Army was entering the country to liberate Western Belorussia and Western Ukraine.
Poland’s eastern territories had been secured as a result of the Russo-Polish war of 1919-1920. These territories lay east of the Curzon Line – the ethnographical frontier between Russia and Poland demarcated at Versailles. The majority of the population were Jews, Belorussians and Ukrainians and many welcomed the Red Army as liberators from Polish rule. Such enthusiasm did not outlast the violent process of sovietisation through which the occupied territories were incorporated into the USSR as part of a unified Belorussia and a unified Ukraine.
During the Second World War Stalin insisted that the Curzon Line would be the border between Poland and the USSR – a position that was eventually accepted by Britain and the United States. As compensation for its territorial losses Poland was given East Prussia and other parts of Germany. The result of this transfer was the brutal displacement of millions of Germans from their ancestral lands.
History is rarely as simple as polemicizing politicians would like it to be. Both sides of the Russo-Polish dispute have some valid arguments; neither has a monopoly of what is a bitter truth. The Nazi-Soviet pact is a fact but so is Polish collaboration with Hitler in the 1930s. The Soviet Union did cooperate with Nazi Germany but it also played the main role in the defeat of Hitler. Stalin was responsible for vast mass repressions but he was not a racist or genocidal dictator and nor was he a warmonger. The Red Army’s invasion of Eastern Poland was reprehensible but it also unified Belorussia and Ukraine. During the Second World War the Red Army was responsible for many atrocities but it did not commit mass murder and it did, together with its allies, liberate Europe from the Nazis.
Politicians will always use the past for political purposes. But in 2009 Putin came quite close to a balanced view about the Nazi-Soviet pact, as did Tusk in his measured rejoinder. Let’s hope that Poland and Russia can find their way back to such middle ground.
The victory over Nazi Germany required enormous sacrifices by both countries. Surely it is possible to celebrate this common victory with dignity and with respect for differences about its complicated history.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174070 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174070 0 Strange Obsession: President Trump's Obama Complex
Journalists were astonished when President Donald Trump took verbal shots at President Obama (without naming him) in a speech intended to deescalate a conflict with Iran on January 8, 2020. In that kind of international crisis, U.S. presidents ordinarily encourage a united American front. Yet Trump’s remarks had a disuniting effect. He presented a sharply negative judgment about Obama’s leadership. Trump criticized Obama’s “very defective” and “foolish Iran nuclear deal.” He claimed missiles fired by Iran at bases housing U.S. troops were financed “with funds made available by the last administration.” The statement implied that blood would be on Obama’s hands if Americans died in the bombings. Journalists said it was quite unusual for a president to lash out at his predecessor when delivering an important foreign policy message that needed broad public support.
The journalists should not have been surprised. Trump has publicly berated Barack Obama on numerous occasions. While Trump’s dislike of Obama is complex and multifaceted, his behavior at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner may reveal an important source of the hostility.
At the time of that event Donald Trump maintained that Barack Obama had not been born in the United States and therefore was ineligible to be president of the United States. When President Obama stepped up to deliver a humorous monologue at the April 11 dinner, he saw an opportunity to poke fun at the champion of this false claim. Referring to rumors that Donald Trump might run for president someday, Obama pointed to Trump’s limited leadership experience as TV host of Celebrity Apprentice. Then Obama referred to recently published documentation confirming his U.S. birth. Now that the birther claim was put to rest, Obama teased, Trump could focus on “issues that matter -- like, did we fake the moon landing?” Comedian Seth Meyers piled on. “Donald Trump has been saying he will run for president as a Republican,” noted Meyers, “which is surprising, since I just assumed he was running as a joke.”
Commentators in the national media interpreted the situation as a public humiliation. They observed that Trump appeared angry and did not smile. When asked about the event later, Trump scolded Meyers for being “too nasty, out of order” but said he enjoyed the attention. From that time on, though, Trump’s references to Obama became more contemptuous. Trump made several statements in 2011 claiming President Obama might attack Iran in order to boost his chances in the next presidential election.
A suggestion that President Trump’s contempt for Barack Obama played a role in America’s recent troubles with Iran is, of course, a matter of speculation. We cannot be sure that contempt for Barack Obama affected President Trump’s decision-making on key policy matters. But there is context for considering the idea. Throughout his presidential campaign and years in the White House, Donald Trump has delivered numerous verbal beatings to supposed villains.
Just about anyone who criticizes Trump publicly becomes a target. The president has ridiculed Hillary Clinton, Adam Schiff, and Nancy Pelosi. Heroic and much-admired individuals received the president’s wrath, as well, including Senator John McCain, aviator and POW in the Vietnam War, and Khizr Khan, whose son, a U.S. soldier in Iraq, died protecting his men from a suicide bomber. Even the 16-year old climate activist Greta Thunberg received insults. Thunberg’s offense? Staring down President Trump at a UN meeting on climate. Donald Trump has expressed scorn towards numerous people, but no public figure has been as consistent a mark for contempt as former president Barack Obama.
Trump’s long record of criticizing Barack Obama seems to reveal deep-seated enmity. Ordinarily, U.S. presidents do not speak much about their predecessors, but when they do, the references tend to be positive. Trump refers to Obama often and in a disparaging way. CNN analyst Daniel Dale calculated that Trump mentioned Obama’s name 537 times in the first 10 months of 2019. “For whatever reason,” observed Fernando Cruz, who served both Obama and Trump at the National Security Council, “President Trump has fixated on President Obama, and I think that he views President Obama as a metric he has to beat.” Peter Nicholas, who covers the White House for Atlantic, said “a guiding principle of Trump’s White House has been, simply: ‘If Obama did it, undo it.’”
Trump hammered President Obama’s domestic initiatives. He tried to terminate Obama’s signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act, (its popular name, “Obamacare,” provided an attractive target). President Trump reversed Obama’s efforts to move energy consumption away from coal, and Trump opened national parks to commercial and mining activity, rejecting the protections Obama favored. Trump also undermined the Obama administration’s environmental initiatives. He mocked Obama’s promotion of wind power and rolled back regulations for oil and gas production, including standards for methane gas emission.
In foreign affairs President Trump abandoned his predecessor’s efforts to bring nations together to fight climate change, and he rejected Obama’s plans for a trans-Pacific trade deal. Trump also scratched Obama’s programs for improved relations with Cuba.
The most notable attack on Obama’s legacy in international affairs came in May 2018 when President Trump began pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear accord with Iran. Trump ignored advice from members of his national security team who supported the agreement. The accord had been working. Iranians complied with its terms, placing nuclear programs on hold in return for a promise of reduced sanctions. President Trump blasted the accord as “the worst deal ever.” His actions led Iran to reinstate nuclear development. In a brief time, Trump managed to smash an effective security arrangement that also had backing from the UK, Russia, France, China and Germany.
The reasons for Donald Trump’s major decisions appear shrouded in mystery. Why did President Trump try to obliterate Obamacare but offer no well-conceived substitute? Why did he abandon the Iran nuclear deal but offer no alternative that foreign policy experts considered effective? Perhaps Trump’s rejection of these and other important measures did not reflect disagreement about policy details. Maybe Trump objected to them because they symbolized goals and accomplishments of Barack Obama.
There can be no certainty about the emotional impact of Donald Trump’s unpleasant experience at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 11, 2011. Suggestions about a connection must remain speculative. Not even well-trained psychologists or psychiatrists can provide definitive judgments about the significance. Nevertheless, Donald Trump’s lengthy and extensive record of negative comments about his predecessor is so unusual that connections to the event of 2011 deserve study.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174073 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174073 0 A Courageous Catholic Voice Against Antisemitism
Boston Irish activist Frances Sweeney was one of the few Catholic voices to challenge the silence in response to antisemitic attacks.
“Eight young men came careening out of a side street. One snatched a yeshiva boy’s glasses and spun them into the street…another dumped the [Jewish] newsboy’s [papers] into the gutter; as yet another yanked as he had seen in the newsreels, an old, spidery Jew by his beard.”
This scene, which sounds as if it could have taken place this week in Crown Heights or Williamsburg, actually appears in the autobiography of the late award-winning journalist Nat Hentoff, recalling the wave of violent assaults on Jews in Boston in 1938.
Hentoff, then a student at Northeastern University, was an eyewitness to what the newspaper PM described as an “organized campaign of terrorism” against Jewish residents of Boston’s Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester neighborhoods in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
The perpetrators were Irish Catholic youths, who were inspired by the rabble-rousing “Christian Front” organization and Father Charles Coughlin, the antisemitic priest whose hate-filled radio show drew millions of listeners each week.
As the harassment and beatings of Jews in the streets of Boston reached epidemic levels in 1943, one hundred Jewish boys and girls, ages 12 to 16, sent a poignant petition to the mayor.
The violence “makes us sometimes doubt that this is a democratic land,” the children wrote. “We cannot walk on the streets, whether at night or in the daytime, without fear of being beaten by a group of non-Jewish boys.” They pointed out that the environment had become so dangerous for Jews that Jewish Girl Scout troupes and other social clubs had been forced to stop meeting,
Instead of taking action against the violence, Mayor Maurice Tobin dismissed the attacks as “strictly a juvenile problem,” while Governor Leverett Saltonstall accused the New York newspaper PM of being “utterly unfair” in criticizing the political leadership’s response to the crisis.
Given the fact that both the youth gangs and the Christian Front agitators were overwhelmingly Irish Catholic, the failure of the local Catholic leadership to speak out was especially troubling.
Boston Irish activist Frances Sweeney was one of the few Catholic voices to challenge the silence. “The attacks on Jews…are the complete responsibility of Governor Saltonstall, Mayor Tobin, the [Catholic] church, and the clergy—all of whom [have] ignored this tragedy,” Ms. Sweeney charged.
Sweeney was the editor of a small crusading newspaper, the Boston City Reporter, which focused on exposing the antisemitic outbreaks and other instances of racism in the city. She was aided by a dozen volunteer researchers, including young Hentoff, who tracked the assaults and interviewed the victims.
A fearless muckraker in the best sense of the word, Sweeney likely took her life into her hands when she infiltrated an event at South Boston High School in 1942 featuring the antisemitic priest, Rev. Edward Lodge Curran (he was known as the “Father Coughlin of the East”). Sweeney was spotted, roughed up, and physically thrown out of the building.
In her newspaper, Sweeney repeatedly called on the head of the Catholic Church in Boston, William Cardinal O’Connell, to “tell the faithful, without equivocation, to stop persecuting the Jews.” O’Connell summoned Sweeney to his office and threatened to have her excommunicated if she continued her “recklessly irresponsible attacks on the Church.” Not surprisingly, Sweeney refused. “The facts are the facts,” she replied. “Silence is a fact, especially when it comes from on high.”
Strong words of condemnation by Catholic leaders in the 1940s could have helped change the anti-Jewish atmosphere in Boston. Strong words of condemnation today by African-American leaders might influence those who have been assaulting Jews in Brooklyn in recent weeks.
In the absence of such leadership, it is left to courageous individuals to speak out. That generation was fortunate to have Frances Sweeney. Will comparable voices emerge to counter the antisemitic violence of our own time?
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174071 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174071 0 Remembering Dennis Showalter, Grandmaster of Military History
On the evening of December 30, 2019, Dennis Showalter, a noted scholar of German, American, and military history, fought his last battle and rode off on a pale horse. He leaves behind a career spanning six decades teaching countless undergraduate students, shepherding thousands of graduate students, authoring many seminal works, and demonstrating the enduring importance of military history in the minds policy makers, service members, and the American public.
As word circulates of his movement from a practitioner of the art to a subject of history, many individuals fortunate enough to have shared a room with him will undoubtedly give testimony to his excellence as a lecturer even as he fought against the cancer that eventually stilled his body. When he spoke on matters of history, culture, politics, or even baseball at gatherings, he did not simply lecture in the staid and muted voices too common in today’s academic halls. His deep baritone voice filled rooms with an oratory performance like few others, weaving complex thoughts into a symphonic-like confluence of research, historiography, and common culture made easily accessible to elders of the discipline and the uninformed alike. Reading a book a day on average, few could keep pace with the man on a wide array of topics, including the usage of transportation, armor and firepower, the ancient laws of piracy against Al-Qaida and ISIS, the exemplars of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a cultural metaphor for a PTSD in RAF combat pilots, and how a Yankees pitcher managed to flush a perfect game.
Like most serious scholars, Dennis Showalter’s depth and breadth of understanding on a wide array of subject matters was a cultural draw, but what kept students overfilling his classes and people coming back for more was the “Showalter Experience.” Over the years, my fellow surrogate academic sons and daughters of Dennis would often sit at the backs of rooms and watch new grad students enter for conference panel sessions, carrying notepads, pens, and almost dower expressions of academic seriousness. As he began to perform, we watched as these sullen figures suddenly dropped, first, their jaws, and then their pens, becoming entranced by the man’s intellectual repertoire sprinkled with cultural touchstones on science fiction, music, and clarifying his point with the phrase “Now in this discussion, mind you, there are three points that need to be considered….” No one was able to compete with Dennis and his sharp wit.
Few knew from whence the mold that made Dennis Showalter was cast. Born in Minnesota in 1942, neither of his parents was well-educated, monied, or politically aligned. They were practical, stern, fiscally conservative, and they pushed their son with an urgency that defined the children of the Great Depression, hoping their progeny needed never suffer as they had. His mother was a stern homemaker who took care of the family while his salesman father was away. He had regularly traveled from town-to-town in rural America, selling items door-to-door in places still in recovery from the Depression and largely bypassed by the industrial transformation brought about by the Second World War. Upon reflection in the last years of his life, Dennis frequently mentioned how he treasured the trips he made with his father when he was old enough, looking for customers, talking baseball, understanding the value of money, and of how everyone deserved to be treated with dignity, inherent value, courtesy, and the closeness of a friend one had yet to meet. On a subconscious level, it also taught him the mechanics of oration, the audience-performer dynamic, and the art of the show in the sale. When it came time to make a career, Dennis admitted how he hated sales. As he was also “not good with his hands”, he knew the only path open to him was through making “this education thing work.” So he took his mother’s steadfastness and his father’s ability to sell into the academic world, graduating first with a BA from St. Johns University in 1963 and, later, earning a PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1969. In the later, he became close friends with noted Germanist and WWII OSS Chief of the European Axis Section of the Board of Economic Warfare Harold Deutsch, merging a thorough attention to detail with his now legendary showmanship.
Now on the job market and perceiving himself as a fish out of water as the Vietnam War boiled over, Dennis Showalter displaced his political beliefs and pushed himself to measure up with the more “well-heeled crowd” of scholars with which he found himself sharing office and classroom space. In 1969, he began teaching at Colorado College and, in spare hours, threw himself into writing. During this period, he published many of the still standing authoritative works in his field such as Railroads and Rifles: Soldiers, Technology, and the Unification of Germany, German Military History Since 1648: A Critical Bibliography, and Tannenberg: Clash of Empires, 1914. However, they were more than just the requisite ticket punching of a new scholar. They were (and still are) recognized as a cut well above the rest, garnering him Distinguished Visiting Professorships at the Air Force Academy, the United States Military Academy, Marine Corps University, a position on the Iraq War Study Group, and regular fixture on the national and international lecture circuit. As he later identified in others, Dennis was “a first rate mind” and he tried to make the world a better place with it through the heart of American democratic principles.
By the late 1970s, Professor Showalter was firmly entrenched in academic institutional circles, which granted him a vantage point from which he helped lift the profile of military history much maligned by radicals in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. At first, he served as a Trustee for the then-named American Military Institute and Editorial Advisory Board member for Military Affairs. Following a major incident involving a small group of radicalized American Historical Association (AHA) participants who disrupting a panel of American military historians at the 1984 AHA conference, Dennis was also one of the members who stepped in to attempt to heal the breach between the small self-funded military history group and the organization chartered by congress. There he charmed crowds with his special brand of humor and personal charm, inviting the social history-centric clique to become involved in dialogues with the military history community. When Robin Higham retired after a lengthy term as editor of Military Affairs, Dennis Showalter, as president of the Society for Military History, helped steer the flagship publication, renamed as The Journal of Military History,through a rough transition into the now longstanding editorial hands of Bruce Vandervort at the Marshall Foundation, opening the door to a broader field of scholarly subject matter. Around the same time, Dennis became a regular pitch-hitter for various academic presses as series editor, using these outlets to aid the fledgling careers of young scholars by showcasing their work. Many of these included Kathryn Barbier, Patrick Speelman, Michael Neiberg, David Ulbrich to name just a few. If someone had a good idea, he would find a matching outlet for their efforts whether or not his politics aligned with the author’s views. Long before “diversity” became a cultural buzzword for change, Dennis Showalter was already ahead of the crowd, championing the (still) most underappreciated quotient of American culture, “the diversity of ideas.”
“New ideas are always needed,” he once told me. “If they can stand up to inspection, then no one should be left out in the cold.” For these efforts and more, he was awarded the SMH Samuel Elliot Morrison Award in 2005 and the Pritzker Literature Award in 2018 for lifetime achievement. At the time of his death, he was already working on his twenty-eighth book.
Still, Dennis Showalter never quite learned his father’s most important lesson or so he occasionally told me. You see, like the best of educators, Dennis sold his audiences on his subject matter with enthusiasm, but, instead of bargaining or raising the price as others do, he gave away his most valuable possessions for free: his time and his example of how to be a good person in a solipsistic world. Dennis went the extra mile for anyone looking for advice or in need of assistance….even his few detractors. In nearly twenty years, I’ve long lost count of the number of people in need to which he lent money, how many checks he picked up for starving grad students, how many dinners or manuscript edits he dropped to rush to campus to aid a student in crisis. When duty called, he stepped up before others even recognized the need. For example, when Harry Deutsch died, Dennis finished his last book (originally entitled What If?and since repackaged as If the Allies had Won) without question, losing time, money, and a few hairs off his head in the process. “If I make a promise, I stick to it,” my Doktorvater told me in the middle of a situation that would have broken others. “If I make a friend, I side with them to the bitter end.” As those close to him have long been intimately aware, this modus vivendi also extended to felines. Dennis Showalter never let a cat go hungry and never left the Colorado Springs pound without a grateful feline in arm …or two…or in one case, three. He said he couldn’t “bare the thought of leaving them there to await a needle in a cold cell when there was room in my home.”
It was an odd quirk of fate that put me in the same room with Dennis Showalter. One day, Bill Forstchen of Montreat College had looked towiden Dennis’s audience by bringing him into mainstream publishing and “get him paid what he was worth.” When the meeting was called, I had put my doctoral pursuits on hold to take care of my dying father. I knew of his scholarly reputation, had read his seminal work of “Railroads and Rifles” and his biography of Frederick the Great (still thedefinitive books in the field several decades later), but I knew little else to be the one to translate academes into businessspeak and keep him on target for manuscript delivery without seeming more than an interested fan. In the weeks following 9/11 and as the ashes of nearly 3,000 victims of America’s post-Cold War “Peace Dividend” rained down outside a Manhattan office, a group of us managed to craft for Dennis his dream project proposal he never thought an academic press would touch, a World War II dual biography akin to Stephen Ambrose’s Crazy Horse and Custer. Patton versus Rommelwas born that day as was his follow-up Hitler’s Panzers. My first eye-opener to the “Showalter Experience” came when he refused to allow me to call him “Doctor” or “Professor.” Those were “titles that got in the way,” he said. “Just call me Dennis.” The second came when the conversation turned to money. Upon hearing the suggested sum to go with the proposal, he looked around the office, fixed on a copy of a Britney Spears’ memoir and asked with a broad grin if we “could possibly get Brittany to appear on the cover? Maybe on top of a tank? Hey, if I’m getting my dream, why not get as many readers as possible?”
When Dennis was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer, he asked me one night if I thought he had measured up to what his parents had wanted. I’ll tell you what I told him: “Some people are measured by their books, or their perceived professional reputation, or the number of bodies one leaves behind them or, in our current age, their vigorous support for a given political ideology. You sir, have an embarrassment of riches of which they would have been proud.” Dennis didn’t care about things for himself. He cared about what he could do with them to advance the cause of fellowship, free discussion, and an understanding of what it means to be human through the most horrific aspect of our animal dimension, war. There was a time when he was not here and that time, with profound sadness I must admit, has come again. Many have and will speak of him as a valued grandmaster of the profession, but, most importantly as he now rides into the sunset of history; we should remember Dennis Showalter as a kind soul, a selfless friend, and a good man.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174072 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174072 0 A Play About Historical Reenactors Grapples With American Identity
You have all seen the historical re-enactors, the men, women and children who dress up in period costumes, grab a musket and re-fight battles of the Civil War, American Revolution and other conflicts. They have been in numerous movies (Lincoln, Glory, Gettysburg),appeared on hundreds of television programs and been the subjects of countless magazine and newspaper articles. They jump back into history and bring it alive for us.
Talene Monahon’s new play, How to Load a Musket, takes a deep, hard look at the re-enactors of two wars, the American Revolution and the Civil War. There is a lot of humor connected to the American Revolution, but when she turns her sights on the Civil War she fires away at the lives of the re-enactors, and their views of history and politics, with a blazing musket of her own. She hits most of her targets, too. This play at the E. 59th Street Theater, in New York, that opened Thursday, is a scorcher and the big parades and quaint campfires we have come to know and love fade off into the distance as the playwright fires away about what America I was really like, is like, and might be like in the future. It is a bare knuckled, no holds barred historical brawl on the race issue in 1861 and today, too. She charges that the race argument is about today, and not yesterday.
The play starts off in the office of the head of the Lexington, Massachusetts, re-enactment group and its lovable members. They are cute and charming. One George Washington re-enactor says that he is actually jealous of another George Washington re-enactor. The Americans who play British soldiers poke fun at themselves and a high-spirited middle-aged woman with a thick Boston accent giggles about the men she meets on the battlefield, and so do the man chuckle about the women. They all talk about how hard it is to meet people, but quite easy in the middle of a re enactor battle. They discuss at length at what a warm world they have created within the confines of the re enactor universe.
When the playwright moves to the Civil War, though, the three-cheers-for-the-red-white-and-blue atmosphere changes and the terrain sizzles with debates over the role of re-enactors and which America they represent. There is loud and pronounced verbal fisticuffs over the controversial tearing down and removal of Confederate monuments and what many African Americans might really feel about race back then, today and tomorrow morning.
This is an electrifying play that pulls no punches, a play that grabs your throat. It asks again and again, whose American was it in the past, and whose America is it today?
The playwright focuses much of the second half of the play on the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that was held to support far right political causes and to prevent the removal of statues of Confederate war heroes. There were KKK men and women in their white robes, far right sympathizers and dozens of Confederate flags flying in the breeze. The far-right people were opposed by hundreds of shouting counter protestors. Things got out of hand. One woman was killed and several people were injured. The confrontation, recalled again in the play, drew international attention. In the play, the re-enactors fear they’ll be attacked, too.
That incident then erupted into a national debate over racism and President Trump’s famous line that there were good people on both sides. He should have said there were bad people in the crowds. The line is repeated in the play.
The great grandson of a Confederate soldier says that what is happening in America with monument removals and name changes, is “historical genocide” and that liberals today are trying to seriously rewrite history and cutting the stories of brave Confederate heroes out of it. This is, he insinuates, denying a part of American heritage. This is, of course, a debate that has been raging for several years.
The Confederate great grandson notes that his family helped a post-Civil War newly freed slave family learn how to farm and take care of their home. America is not, he claims, just heroes and villains.
The play is more of a moving conversation and heated debate than it is either a comedy or drama. Ms. Monahon deftly turns it into a play, though, carrying you along in the trenches as the re-enactors debate their lives and their wars.
The playwright does step over the line a few times. She suggests that tomorrow morning the U.S. might plunge int a Civil War over race. That is highly doubtful. She has an African American character say that Abraham Lincoln was a white supremacist. Oh, come on!
Jaki Bradley has done a fine job of directing this play. She has carefully woven dialogues and story to turn a serious debate into an engaging and rewarding play. All of the performers are superb in this drama. Bradley gets fine performances from Carolyn Braver, Ryan Spahn, Adam Chanler-Berat, Andy Taylor, David J. Cork, Lucy Taylor, Richard Topol and Nicole Villami.
This play is a bumpy night at the theater. If you go, regardless of your political persuasion – lock and load!
PRODUCTION: The play at the E. 59th Street Theaters is produced by the Less than Rent Theatre. Sets: Lawrence Moten, Lighting: Stacey Derosier, Sound: Jim Petty, Props: Caitlyn Murphy, Costumes Heather McDevitt Barton. The drama is directed by Jaki Bradley. It runs through January 26.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174075 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174075 0 Digesting History: A Conversation with the Museum of Food and Drink’s Curatorial Director Catherine Piccoli
Catherine Piccoli is a food historian and writer, whose work focuses on the intersection of food, culture, memory, and place. She brings this multidisciplinary approach to the Museum of Food and Drink. As curatorial director, she oversees the creation of MOFAD’s exhibitions and educational programming, and guides the operations team. Catherine was instrumental in the research, writing, and development of past major exhibitions, Flavor: Making It and Faking It and Chow: Making the Chinese American Restaurant, as well as gallery shows Feasts and Festivals, Knights of the Raj, and Highlights from the Collection. She also established the museum’s robust public programming.
The following interview was originally conducted on November 25th, 2019.
What do you think separates MOFAD from other museums or similar institutions?
Because we are the Museum of Food and Drink, we start at a place of similarity with everyone. Everybody eats. Whether or not you like to eat, you have to do so multiple times a day. It’s something that we engage in out of necessity, it’s something that we engage with through culture, so I think having that starting point in common means that it’s much easier to reach people because they already have that interest in food. I think also because we believe that “Food is Culture”, and we do a lot of programming around that idea, we're meeting people with an idea that they're already comfortable and familiar with. Most people can think about what their families fed them, what they ate growing up, what is nostalgic to them, what is a part of their personal history and what that means to them. Then we can really take it from there and go in so many different directions and hopefully teach people something that they didn't know before. A big thing for us internally is thinking about the invisible every day. You can do that so easily with food. But when you open your refrigerator and you look at, say, a Chinese takeout box. What is the history of that food? What is the history of a Chinese takeout box? What is the history of a refrigerator? Why do we have one? Why is it an electric refrigerator? With all of these sorts of things, we can really blow people's minds wide open about food and use food as a lens to talk about larger ideas.
You mentioned that MOFAD’s slogan is “Food is Culture”. What does that mean to you in a historical context?
For me, that starts on a personal level. You know, your family's culture and history. We can take me for example, I am Italian-American and Polish- and Slovak-American, but I also grew up in the Midwest. So, growing up in Chicago, what are the things I grew up eating that my Italian family made? Or that my Slovak grandmother made? What does it mean to have grown up in a city with a really large Polish population? How did that impact the foods that I ate every day? And then you can go out even further than that to Poland. Cuisine in Poland, culture in Poland, how does that travel? What does transnational cuisine look like? How do cuisine and culture change when people move? For me, thinking "Food is Culture" is all-encompassing from the micro to the macro.
I have noticed that MOFAD offers an abundance of public programming, and that programming is more interactive than I have seen at other museums. What do you think the advantages are of inviting the public to become active participants in history?
We, not only in our public programming but also in our exhibitions, we feel it’s really important to engage people through all their senses. That's easy to do because food does that. When you come to see our exhibitions you will eat, you will literally, I like to say, "digest" the information that you have just literally digested. It's really important when you're talking about food to be able to experience it as well. We do that in our exhibitions as well as our public programming. We just had Marcus Samuelsson come last week and talk about the release of Our Harlem as an audiobook. He had some of the people that he interviewed there, they had a panel discussion and then there were foods from Red Rooster that people got to eat afterwards. Not everyone may be able to go to Red Rooster, but maybe you can come to MOFAD and taste some of those foods. Or not everyone may like to cook, or feel they're good enough to try one of those recipes. So they, too, can come to MOFAD and try that. Through the years we've done programming and exhibitions around the flavor industry. Which included programming around your sense of smell as well as things that you're eating and tasting. We've done honey tastings in the past, wine tasting, beer and cheese pairing, all sorts of different things to help people continue to engage with the topic but also think more deeply about food and drink.
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of featuring only one exhibit at a time? For example, you currently are displaying "Chow: Making the Chinese American Restaurant".
For us, I guess you could say we are a fledgling institution, and our current space is called MOFAD Lab. We call it that instead of calling it the Museum of Food and Drink because we really saw it as our experimental space, our exhibition design studio or even our "test kitchen" if you want to have another pun; where we can test out how to be a museum. While MOFAD has existed as an idea since 2010, it wasn't until 2015 that we had our first physical space. The Lab is not big enough to have multiple full-size exhibitions, but that was okay for us because we're still a small team and doing one exhibition at a time really helps us to focus and make the best exhibition possible. It has worked very well for us, I think, but it can be difficult at times. You know Chow’s been open for a few years now so some people think we're the Chinese Restaurant Museum or even a Chinese-American restaurant sometimes, which is a little bit silly. But we find that when people come in who are confused, once they get to MOFAD Lab and we can talk to them and they can really understand what we're doing and want to come back and see more. It is our goal, ultimately, to grow to an institution on the scale of the Smithsonian or the Met. Obviously, this is our first step towards that and hopefully the next phase will be several galleries instead of one so we can have multiple exhibitions at a time.
What do you hope that a visitor who comes in with no prior knowledge gleans from your current exhibition? What do you what them to walk out of MOFAD thinking about?
For us, a lot of it has to do with connection. With Chow, we're using food as a lens to talk about racist immigration policy. We're talking about the Chinese Exclusion Act and how despite the fact that during that 60-year period Chinese people are functionally excluded from entering this country, the Chinese-American restaurant really blossomed and that restaurant cuisine becomes a part of the culinary zeitgeist. We want people to leave understanding why that's a remarkable story and how that happened, but we also want visitors to go home and think about their local Chinese takeout place differently. Here in New York, a lot of the Chinese takeout restaurants are still family-run and probably across the country as well. Hopefully, people are going into those restaurants and engaging with the folks that are running them. Who are those people? How did they get to the U.S.? What are their plans? What are their dreams? What are they cooking? We really want people to look at those spaces in a new way and engage with the folks who are cooking their food.
David Chang, a chef who I personally admire, has been talking a lot recently about trying to get people to rethink MSG. Do you bring that at all into your current exhibit or into your conversation about Chinese-American food?
It's funny you asked that. Our first exhibition at Lab was called "Flavor: Making it and Faking it" and it was on the history and the technology of the flavor industry. We had three main stories that we told. One of which was the quote-unquote "discovery" of umami as a taste and how Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, who's a Japanese chemist, is the one who "discovers" it and names it and then begins manufacturing MSG in Japan. So we talked a lot about MSG in our first exhibition and we decided not to have any panels about it in this exhibition. But we often get that question at our culinary studio, and we often refer people to Harold McGee's piece on MSG which was in the first issue of Lucky Peach. But our stance as a museum on MSG, if that's what you’re asking, is that the studies have not borne out whether or not MSG is definitely bad for people. Now obviously everybody's bodies are different so if somebody feels that they react to MSG we're not going to argue with them about that because we don't know what's happening in each other's bodies. But, you know, MSG is used in so many foods in this country in the industrial food system and has been since the 30s in things like Campbell's soup here in the U.S. So, for us, it's not a scary thing. We did talk about in the Flavor exhibition the racist underpinnings of the fear of MSG with "Chinese restaurant syndrome", but again, that's not something that is an active piece of this exhibition.
While conducting research for the CHOW exhibit, did any one dish or food strike you as having a particularly interesting history?
I'm going to sort of answer your question. I became really intrigued by chop suey. We ate a lot of it because our initial thought was that our tasting at our culinary studio for Chow would be chop suey and historic tastings of chop suey. So, we found a lot of historic recipes dating back to the late 1800s for chop suey. We made a lot chop suey and we ate a lot of chop suey. It's one of those things that's funny right, it's one of the first Chinese-American dishes to really blow up if you will. But it's not something that's really on many menus anymore, and even now it's different. Those early recipes show usually a soy or Worcestershire based brown sauce and today chop suey is made with white sauce. It's interesting to me to think about how dishes change over time and why. I didn't look into it very much but I'm still fascinated by the idea that this one dish is a reason that Chinese-American restaurants really become en vogue in the late 1800s/early 1900s but it's something that we don't really eat anymore.
What made you choose to focus on food history?
I majored in history as an undergrad, my full major was social and cultural history which I got at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. While I was at CMU I really thought I was going to be a music journalist. I also minored in clarinet performance so I was taking a lot of music history classes as well. That was where my passions laid. I did take a class where we read Sidney Mintz's book Sweetness and Power about sugar and I was not touched by it. It's a seminal food studies book but I was like "What is this? Why do I care?", which is funny to me thinking about it now. But I finished college and I didn't know how to write for Rolling Stone and didn't really know what was next. I was just working around Pittsburgh and started thinking about food in a different way in my 20s. I was having people over for dinner parties, getting into wine, those sorts of things. I had always been a good eater, both of my parents worked so we spent a lot of time together around the dinner table or in the kitchen on the weekends menu planning or cooking things for the week, or family baking around the holidays. Food was always the center of things that we did when I was growing up. So, it makes sense that I rediscovered that in my early 20s when I was working and forming a household of my own. I started thinking about food differently, I started interacting with food differently, and I started reading food memoirs such as Ruth Reichl and Michael Pollan. I started thinking about how I could have a career in food that wasn't necessarily working in a restaurant because that wasn't something that I was interested in, I didn't want to become a chef. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a food studies program at Chatham [University] which is where I did my master's degree. It really all sort of clicked, it fell into place for me. And of course, while I was there I realized that I could study food history. I think I saw it as the history of a recipe, or of a dish, or of a chef. Which, again, that's not personally where my passion for food history is. I like thinking about people and place and culture and the bearing that has on your food and what you eat and why you eat that, and I really was allowed to do that there. When I moved to New York with a master's degree and again wasn't really sure what I was going to do, I found MOFAD. It was sort of perfect because I had volunteered and interned and worked at history museums while I was in college and after college and then here was this museum that had food as its central focus and it made a lot of sense for me. I lucked out, I think, finding MOFAD and realizing that food history made sense for me, and being able to hold onto it and keep working.
As an undergrad studying history, I feel compelled to ask this question. How did your academic career influence your working career? (The answer to this question was submitted after the interview via email.)
There are the obvious skills around research (using databases to locate materials, analyzing primary and secondary sources, crafting and conducting oral history interviews) and writing (synthesizing and analyzing research, crafting tight and compelling narratives). A few other skills also come to mind that I've jotted down below:
1. Learning the formal way to address and communicate with professors: One of the first things my freshman seminar professor taught our class was the proper way to interact with professors – how to address them in person and over email, how to keep our requests short and respectful. It feels so simple now, but I'm so glad I learned this skill early on in my academic career. At MOFAD, I often have to reach out to professionals, academics and others, with no introduction. Sending that first professional email can set the tone for a productive working relationship.
2. Comfort using non-traditional primary sources: Perhaps "non-traditional" is not quite the right term. Still, I became quite comfortable during my undergraduate coursework for my music degree in using performances, songs, lyrics/poems as primary sources. This has served me well as a food historian where cookbooks, agricultural manuals, and recipes can serve as primary sources.
3. Communicating why you should care: I think this is something I began to learn as an undergrad, but really honed during my graduate work. Whenever I write, I keep the question "But why should I care?" in the back of my mind and try to answer it (sometimes again and again). I think with any topic, but especially with a topic rich in materiality like food, it's so important to convey to your reader why this thing matters, why they should care. What can a historical event teach us about current events that are affecting our daily lives?
Where do you see MOFAD headed in the future?
My dream for MOFAD is that we can continue growing and can continue putting together meaningful and thoughtful exhibitions. We're in a bit of a transition right now. Our next exhibition, which I'm really excited about, is called "African/American: Making the Nation's Table" and it's about the many contributions of African Americans to the creation of American cuisine. As part of that, we won the rights to the Ebony Test Kitchen from the Johnson Publishing Co. building. That was the test kitchen where all of the recipe testing was done for Ebony Magazine, Jet Magazine and also some other Johnson Publishing Co. magazines. It's really exciting for us to have this historic and crazy super psychedelic, 1970's, orange, purple, green, swirly kitchen on display from my hometown of Chicago as part of that. That exhibition will be on show at a different space, not MOFAD Lab but instead at the Africa Center, which is a museum in Harlem. It'll be on display there for six months next year and then it will travel. So that's amazing for us, a travelling exhibition. And then from there, we're figuring out what's next for us, where we'll go. I think that for me and for our staff, we're not trying to be and we don't want to be a place like the Museum of Ice Cream or one of those sort of Instagram “experiential” museums. We are really hoping that people come and they have an "a-ha" moment, and they learn something about food that they didn't know or they're inspired to think deeper about the things that they're putting into their body, or how foods and drinks get to their plates and to their cups. I think that we've been able to do it with our exhibitions so far and I just hope that they keep getting bigger and better.
Catherine Piccoli can be found on Twitter @gigaEats and Instagram @giga.eats. The Museum of Food and Drink can be found at mofad.org, as well as on Twitter and Instagram @mofad.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173798 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173798 0 The Supreme Court Historical Society: An interview with the President
The Supreme Court Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. It was founded in 1974 by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, and is still in operation today.
I recently interviewed the President of the Supreme Court Historical Society, Chilton Varner. Ms. Varner is from Atlanta, Georgia where she is a litigator at the law firm King & Spalding. Ms. Varner graciously spoke about the work of the Society and its relation to history.
Ms. Varner is passionate about the Society. She listed a number of things the Society does for the public, including the creation of various lesson plans, scholarly publications, a lecture series, an annual reenactment of landmark decisions, and a number of lectures open to the public.
Ms. Varner’s favorite activity the Society sponsors is the Supreme Court Summer Institute for Secondary Teachers. This program allows thirty secondary teachers to come to the Court to enhance “the level of their instruction about the court” for their own students. The teachers come to Washington D.C., where they are given a tutorial about the Court, the Constitution, and the Judiciary Branch. They are able to interact with one another and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Ms. Varner described how this program leaves the teachers “excited, energized, and armed with new information” which they bring back to the students they teach.
Ms. Varner also made note of how civic courses have been disappearing from schools around the country. She values these courses and wishes to see more young people educated about the government and its history. She would also like to see more young people sign up for the Historical Society as well because it “keeps them current, teaches them about legal history, and is important for the future.” It is exciting for her when she sees young people from her own law firm join. Ms. Varner expressed the importance of young people learning history. The Supreme Court Historical Society strives not only to keep the history of the Court alive, but to pass it on to the next generation.
The Supreme Court Justices have been critical in the success of the Historical Society. Ms. Varner was greatly appreciative of all the Justices and what they have done for the Society. From introducing guest speakers to providing various forms of support, they have been key to the function of the Society. Ms. Varner noted the amount of time the Justices give to the Society. She believes they “recognize the importance of their own Court’s history” and the importance of the Society.
Ms. Varner herself is a part of history. In 1983, she became the first woman litigation partner at her firm and was the only woman trial lawyer at the firm for a number of years. Since the start of her time as a practicing attorney, she has seen numerous changes for women in law. Most notably, when she argued in front of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, it was in front of a panel of all women. While Ms. Varner says there is “still a way to go and more progress to be made,” today is a very different environment where “nobody blinks an eye now when a women trial lawyer stands up to strike a jury.” Ms. Varner sees trial lawyers like herself as “historians” in both their lives and what they are arguing.
Throughout my interview with Ms. Varner, she was clear about the importance of history in general and that of the Supreme Court. Ms. Varner highlighted just how important the Supreme Court Historical Society is in preserving this history and educating the public. You can check out the Historical Society's website at https://www.supremecourthistory.org/.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173476 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173476 0 Do Morals Matter in Foreign Policy?
Do morals matter in American foreign policy, or is American moralism just hypocrisy as realists teach us? Conventional wisdom is skeptical and surprisingly few books and articles focus on whether presidents’ moral views affected their foreign policies and how that should affect our historical judgment of them. I set out to answer these questions in my new book Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump.
Examining 14 presidencies since 1945 shows that a radically skeptical view of morality is bad history. Morals did matter. For example, a purely realist account of the founding of the postwar order in terms of the bipolar structure of power or an imperial imposition of hegemony does not explain FDR’s Wilsonian design or Harry Truman’s delay in adapting it after 1945, or the liberal nature of the order that was created after 1947. George Kennan suggested a realist policy of containment, but Truman defined and implemented it in broader liberal terms.
Similarly, an accurate account of American intervention in Korea in June 1950—in spite of the fact that Secretary of State Dean Acheson had declared earlier that year that Korea was outside our defense perimeter—would have to include Truman’s axiomatic moral decision to respond to what he saw as immoral aggression. Similarly, to explain the major elevation in the priority of human rights in American foreign policy after the Vietnam era, we must include the moral outlook of Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan’s decision to ignore his advisors and his previous harsh rhetoric about the “evil empire” must be understood in the light of his personal moral commitment to ending the nuclear threat.
Looking back over the past seven decades of American primacy, we can see certain patterns in the role of ethics and foreign policy. All presidents expressed formal goals and values that were attractive to Americans. After all, that is how they got elected. All proclaimed a goal of preserving American primacy. While that goal was attractive to the American public, its morality depended on how it was implemented. Imperial swagger and hubris did not pass the test, but provision of global public goods by the largest state had important moral consequences.
The moral problems in the presidents’ stated intentions arose more from their personal motives than from their stated formal goals. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon may have admirably sought the formal goal of protecting South Vietnamese from Communist totalitarianism, but they also expanded and prolonged the war because they did not want to be “the man who lost Vietnam.” In contrast, Truman allowed his presidency to be politically weakened by the stalemate in Korea rather than follow General Douglas MacArthur’s advice of using nuclear weapons. Morality mattered greatly in both these cases.
If we determine morality based on the three dimensions of intentions, means and consequences, the founding presidents of the post-1945 world order—FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower—all had moral intentions, both in values and personal motives, and largely moral consequences. Where they sometimes fell short was the dimension of means, specially the use of force. In contrast, the Vietnam era presidents, particularly Johnson and Nixon, rated poorly on their motives, means and consequences. The two post-Vietnam presidents, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, had notably moral foreign policies on all three dimensions but their tenures were brief, and they illustrate that a moral foreign policy is not necessarily the same as an effective one. The two presidents who presided over the end of the Cold War, Reagan and George H.W. Bush, also scored quite well on all three dimensions of morality. The years of unipolarity and then the diffusion of power in the twenty-first century produced mixed results with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama above the average and George W. Bush and Donald Trump falling well below average. Among the fourteen presidents since 1945, in my view the four best at combining morality and effectiveness in foreign policy were FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and Bush 41. Reagan, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Clinton and Obama make up the middle. The four worst were Johnson, Nixon, Bush 43, and (tentatively because of incompletion) Trump. Of course, such judgments can be contested and my own views have changed over time. Historical revision is inevitable as new facts are uncovered and as each generation re-examines the past in terms of new circumstances and its changing priorities.
Obviously, such judgments reflect the circumstances these presidents faced, and a moral foreign policy means making the best choices that the circumstances permit. War involves special circumstances. Because wars impose enormous costs on Americans and others, they raise enormous moral issues. Presiding over a major war such as World War II is different from presiding over debatable wars of intervention such as Vietnam and Iraq.
The importance of prudence as a moral virtue in foreign policy becomes clear when one compares Dwight Eisenhower’s refusal to send troops to Vietnam with John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson’s decisions. After losing 241 Marines in a terrorist attack during Lebanon’s civil war in 1983, Reagan withdrew the troops rather than double down. Similarly, Obama and Trump’s reluctance to send more than a small number of forces to Syria may look different with time. Bush 41 was criticized for restricting his objectives, terminating the Gulf War after four days’ fighting, and not sending American armies to Baghdad in 1991, but his decision seems better when contrasted with the lack of prudence that his son showed in 2003 when members of his administration expected to be greeted as liberators after the invasion of Iraq and failed to prepare adequately for the occupation. In foreign policy as in law, some levels of negligence are culpable.
Realists sometimes dismiss prudence as an instrumental and not a moral value, but given the complexity and high prospect of unintended consequences when judging the morality of foreign policy decisions, the distinction between instrumental and intuited values breaks down and prudence becomes a crucial virtue. Moral decisions in foreign policy involve both intuition and reason. Willful ignorance or careless assessment produces immoral consequences. Conversely, not all decisions based on conviction are prudential, as some of my cases indicated. Truman’s response to North Korea’s crossing the 38th parallel in Korea, for example, was imprudent, though he saw it as a moral imperative. These reasoned and intuited virtues can conflict with each other. Principle and prudence do not always coincide. The problem that presidents often face is not a question of right versus wrong, but right versus right. But whatever the choices, they cannot be dismissed on the basis of simplistic realist models of “national interest.” What matters is how interest was defined, and to answer that question, good history shows that morals mattered.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174018 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174018 0 Our GOP Problem
New York Times, April 2, 1950
Stone Age Brain is the blog of Rick Shenkman, the founding editor of the History News Network. His newest book is Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics (Basic Books, 2016). You can follow him on Twitter @rickshenkman.
The Republican Party, unsurprisingly, has taken the position that President Trump should be defended. This is unsurprising because this is what parties in power do. If we want to explain what has happened to the Republican Party, which all must try to do in this hour of crisis when democracy itself is on the line owing to Republican perfidy, it is essential for us to view events not from the perspective of the rational actor but from that of the party politician. Only then can the alarming events through which we are living become understandable.
We must begin with the basics. Three overriding causes may be said to account for the behavior of politicians holding national office. One, is money, with which we need not concern ourselves too much. It’s obvious the role money plays in our politics. Members of Congress must always be thinking in the back of their mind how any vote may affect their chance of financing their next election. Every GOP member of Congress has to worry that if they vote against Trump they’ll be cut-off from various campaign funds available to Republicans in good standing with the party and the party’s major-domo donors such as Sheldon Adelson and Charles Koch.
More interesting, though also obvious, is the second factor, pure partisanship. The social sciences tell us that partisanship is hard-wired in the human brain. It is the reason we cheer for our side in a ball game and hope for the opposition’s defeat. Once we identify with a group we look for evidence that confirms the group’s status and dismiss evidence that detracts from it. Because partisanship is stronger among Republicans generally than it is among Democrats, perhaps owing to a default loyalty bias among people who identify as conservative, it is pretty easy to comprehend the ordinary Republican’s behavior in ordinary times.
Of course, these are not ordinary times. Presidents are rarely impeached. So Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, ahead of the committee’s vote on impeachment, issued a rare plea that his Republican colleagues consult their consciences before voting. As many have noted Republicans during Watergate did just this, voting against Nixon when they similarly faced an impeachment vote. Why is no Republican doing that this time?
The explanation may be found in the third factor accounting for the behavior of politicians. It is this one that is perhaps the most telling in the current situation. Politicians prefer winning over losing and recent history suggests that the way to win, notwithstanding the losses the party suffered in 2018, is to stand with Donald Trump . By nature politicians are cautious. The only way to know what will succeed in winning votes is to follow the path of proven winners like Trump. As long as he appears to be retaining the support of the GOP party base it is prudent to assume that he has figured out the magic sauce in the recipe of political victory and to follow the recipe closely. Only a few dare to tamper with the ingredients.
Change is unlikely in the Republican Party short of a massive defeat. Only in defeat do politicians, facing years in the wilderness, risk experimenting with new approaches. Thus far there’s little sign that the party base is fielding second thoughts about Trump. He remains nearly as popular today among Republicans as he did when he was elected. Polls show his support among Republicans in states like California and Texas is north of 85 percent. Nixon's support, by contrast, began to collapse by the time he faced impeachment. At the beginning of 1973, before Watergate shook the country, Nixon had the support of 91 percent of GOP voters. By the end of the year — a year in which John Dean testified about payoffs to the Watergate burglars and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox was fired in the Saturday Night Massacre — Nixon’s support in the GOP had fallen to 54 percent.
So the real question isn’t why members of Congress are remaining staunch Trump supporters, but why the GOP base is. Many reasons have been offered for this strange phenomenon (strange because Trump is so unlikely an avatar of Republican virtue). They include Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and the other leading cogs in the propaganda machine that props up the Republican Party.
Whatever the cause of Trump's hold over the GOP base, it's a fact, and we as a country need to do something about it. We have to hope that the GOP evolves into a better version of itself because, as Arthur Schlesinger Jr. observed in an article in the New York Times in 1950, this country needs two intelligent parties. Right now we've got just one. Only the Democrats are grappling with the real problems the United States faces, among them climate change and inequality. This is untenable over the long term.
Through much of our history we have had a responsible conservative party, as Schlesinger noted in his piece in the Times. In antebellum America the party of Jefferson was cross-checked by the party of Hamilton and Adams. In the next generation Jacksonians faced off against Whigs, and while the Whigs eventually disappeared, for decades they offered Americans like Lincoln an intelligent alternative. In the postbellum period the GOP espoused (for a time) a bold vision of racial equality and entrepreneurial zeal. Later it was captured by the plutocrats but by the turn of the 19th century reform elements led by Teddy Roosevelt succeeded in refashioning the party as an engine of reform. In the 1920s the party once again became beholden to the rich until the Great Depression put an end to its control of the federal government. For a couple of decades it nearly ceased to exist at the national level. Then, as if in response to Schlesinger’s call, the party finally made peace with the New Deal under the leadership of Dwight Eisenhower. “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs,” Ike wrote, “you would not hear of that party again in our political history.”
Under both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan the GOP continued to deal with real world problems, particularly in foreign affairs. But slowly in the years following the end of the Cold War Republicans gave themselves over increasingly to fake nostrums. They did this because they found they couldn’t win by running on their real agenda -- tax cuts for the wealthy, which constituted nearly the whole of their domestic program once welfare had been reformed in the 1990s.
Trump in 2016 correctly identified several key issues that demand public attention, especially the decline and demoralization of much of rural America. But rather than offer a rational program to address this and other issues he won election by dividing the country along racial and religious lines. Instead of appealing to the better angels of our nature he played his voters for fools. He began his time in the national political spotlight by hinting that Barack Obama was born in a foreign country and might be a secret Muslim. Later he signed up as a card carrying member of the anti-science brigade of climate change deniers. Throughout his presidency he’s spread rumors of conspiracies. And his biggest "accomplishment"? It was giving the wealthy huge tax breaks.
What if the GOP doesn’t reinvent itself as a responsible party? Schlesinger worried seven decades ago the GOP could collapse into pieces, leaving “its members prey for fascist-minded demagogues.” There was, it turns out, another possibility Schlesinger didn’t anticipate. It’s that the party would hold together by itself appealing to a trinity of fascist evils: xenophobia, racism, and authoritarianism. This should worry all of us.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154299 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154299 0 Chief Justice John Roberts' Predecessors: The Supreme Court Chief Justices Who Presided Over Previous Impeachment Trials
As the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump looms, many aspects of the trial are still undetermined. Will the parties call witnesses? How long will it last? How seriously will Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell take it?
One aspect that is determined but often misunderstood is who presides over the trial. As Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005, readies himself for his historic role as the presiding judge over the trial, it is instructive to look back at the experiences of the two prior Chief Justices who presided over the trials of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and of President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice from 1864-1873, and William Rehnquist, Chief Justice from 1986-2005, both faced great pressures as presiding judge over the highly partisan impeachment trials. Neither one would be considered noncontroversial in his career, but both had the responsibility to uphold the Constitution at times of great turmoil, and both did so, after an early period of controversy around Salmon P. Chase.
Salmon P. Chase’s career reflected the realignment of political parties in the mid nineteenth century. He was a member of the Whig Party in the 1830s, the Liberty Party of the 1840s, the Free Soil Party from 1848-1854, the Republican Party from its founding in 1854 to 1868, and finally, the Democratic Party in the last five years of his life, while still serving as Chief Justice by appointment of Abraham Lincoln.
Chase helped recruit former Democratic President Martin Van Buren to run as the Free Soil Presidential candidate in 1848; helped found the Republican Party on the same principles of antislavery activism; sought the Republican nomination for President in 1860 before Lincoln was selected by the Republican National Convention; and he sought the Presidency on the Democratic Party line in 1868 and the Liberal Republican line in 1872 while still serving as Chief Justice. He had a varied career as Ohio Senator (1849-1855), Governor (1856-1860), and Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln (1861-1864).
Chase attempted to establish the concept of unilateral rulings on procedural matters during the early days of the trial of Andrew Johnson, but he was overruled by the Senate majority, controlled by Radical Republicans, and quickly gave up trying to control the trial. He moved toward neutrality and simple presiding as the trial moved forward after early turmoil.
William H. Rehnquist could not have been more different than Salmon P. Chase in his political leanings. As far “left” as Chase was in his times, Rehnquist was far ‘right”, starting his political career as a legal advisor to Republican Senator Barry Goldwater in his failed campaign for President of the Arizona Senator in 1964. Rehnquist was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel in 1969 by President Richard Nixon.
Nixon nominated him for the Supreme Court in late 1971 and he was confirmed and sworn in the first week of 1972. Rehnquist served nearly 34 yearson the Court and was elevated to Chief Justice in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. He was regarded as the most conservative member on the Warren Burger Court and was one of the most consistently conservative Justices in modern times. Rehnquist recused himself from participating in the US V. Nixon Case in 1974, where the President was ordered to hand over the Watergate Tapes to the Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, leading to Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974.
Presiding over the Bill Clinton Impeachment Trial in the Spring of 1999, Rehnquist chose to limit any attempt to influence the trial that was being promoted by a strong conservative Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, led by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde. Despite his strong conservative credentials, Rehnquist managed always to get along well with his Supreme Court colleagues, and there were no controversies about his handling of the Clinton Impeachment Trial.
He was, despite his right wing credentials and voting record on the Court, seen as fair minded, approachable, and a far more unifying leader of the Court before and after the Clinton Impeachment Trial than Chase was before and after the Andrew Johnson Impeachment Trial.
Now, Chief Justice John Roberts, who clerked for Rehnquist in 1980-1981, is faced with the same challenge of presiding over a highly charged impeachment trial.
Roberts worked in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush Administrations in the Justice Department and the Office of White House Counsel, then as Principal Deputy Solicitor General,followed by private law practice before his appointment to the DC Court Of Appeals by George W. Bush in 2003. In 2005, he was nominated to replace the retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, but before hearings could begin on the nomination, Chief Justice Rehnquist died. Roberts was then nominated to replace Rehnquist.
Roberts has been very clear in his desire to run a Court that has the respect and regard of the American people, and while he has a strong conservative judicial philosophy in his 14 plus years on the Court, he has also come across as having a willingness to work with the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc, and is seen as the “swing” vote on the Court since Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy retired in 2018.
He has surprised many liberal commentators with some of his votes, including the preservation of “ObamaCare.” He is seen as comparatively more moderate and conciliatory, and he has been somewhat critical of utterances by President Donald Trump regarding bias of Justices appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
It is clear that Roberts wants to have a good historical reputation as only the 17th person to head the Supreme Court, and while he will work to avoid controversy in the upcoming Trump Impeachment Trial, he will wish to preserve respect for the Constitution, democracy, and the rule of law, and will be the center of attention in the coming weeks and months.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154302 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154302 0 Roundup Top 10!
The Job of the Academic Market
by Rebecca S. Wingo
Over three years, I dedicated 106.5 workdays to getting a job—while working another job.
Prohibition Was a Failed Experiment in Moral Governance
by Annika Neklason
A repealed amendment and generations of Supreme Court rulings have left the constitutional regulation of private behavior in the past. Will it stay there?
History and the Opioid Crisis
by Jeremy Milloy
In the 1970s, just as now, people living with and recovering from substance use disorders faced prejudice and mistreatment at the hiring stage and in the workplace itself.
by Sasha Turner
What to the historian is 1619?
Boris Johnson Might Break Up the U.K. That’s a Good Thing.
by David Edgerton
It’s time to let the fantasy of the “British nation” die.
The problem with a year of celebrating the 19th Amendment
by Andrew Joseph Pegoda
Our entire understanding of the history of feminism is skewed.
Assassination as Cure: Disease Metaphors and Foreign Policy
by Sarah Swedberg
Kinzinger’s words fit within a long historical tradition of badly used disease metaphors that often accompany bad outcomes.
Another Disability Disaster in the Making
by Jonathan M. Stein
The Trump administration’s Social Security proposal would repeat one of Ronald Reagan’s most damaging mistakes.
by Allegra Harpootlian
From Obama to Trump, the Escalation of Drone Warfare
What Australia’s Fires Should Teach the USA: Be Alarmist!
by Walter G. Moss
Most importantly in this 2020 election year, the Australian tragedy tells us we should vote out all the human-caused climate-change deniers and minimizers.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174066 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174066 0 Stepping Back From the Brink of War
Trump’s order to kill General Soleimani is one of the most reckless acts taken by a president, who once again has put his personal political interest above the nation’s security. Certainly, Soleimani deserved to meet his bitter fate. He was behind the killing of hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq while threatening and acting against American allies. However, killing him without considering the potentially dire regional repercussions and without a strategy, under the guise of national security concerns, is hard to fathom. Republican members of Congress who praised the assassination of General Soleimani seem to be utterly blinded by their desire to see him eliminated. What will happen next, they seem to have no clue. Trump, who is fighting for his political life, appeared to have cared less about the horrifying consequences as long as he distracts public attention from his political woes. He made the decision to assassinate Soleimani seven months ago, but he gave the order now to serve his own self-interest, especially in this election year where he desperately needs a victory while awaiting an impeachment trial in the Senate. During the Senate briefing on Iran led by Secretaries of State and Defense Pompeo and Esper, and CIA Director Haspel, they produced no evidence that there was an imminent danger of an attack on four American embassies orchestrated by Soleimani, as Trump has claimed. In fact, Esper said openly in a January 12 interview that he saw no evidence. Republican Senator Mike Lee labeled it as “probably the worst briefing I have seen, at least on a military issue…What I found so distressing about the briefing is one of the messages we received from the briefers was, ‘Do not debate, do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against Iran,’ and that if you do ‘You will be emboldening Iran.’” Now, having failed to produce evidence of imminent danger, the Trump administration claims that the killing of Soleimani was part of a long-term deterrence strategy. The assassination itself has certainly emboldened Iran’s resolve to continue its nefarious activities throughout the region, but even then, the measure Trump has taken to presumably make the US more secure has in fact done the complete opposite. It has created new mounting problems and multiple crises. Trump dangerously escalated the conflict with Iran; severely compromised the US’ geostrategic interest in the Middle East; intensified the Iranian threat against our allies, especially Israel; led Iran to double down in its support of terrorist and Jihadist groups; badly wounded the US’ relations with its European allies; deemed the US untrustworthy by friends and foes; and pushed Iran to annul much of the nuclear deal, all while impressively advancing its anti-ballistic missile technology. And contrary to Trump’s claim that he made the right decision for the sake of American security, 55 percent of voters in a USA Today survey released on January 9th said he made the US less safe. And now we are still at the brink of war. Although Iran has admitted to being behind the attack on the Asad air base in Iraq, it initiated the attack to save face in the eyes of its public and demonstrate its possession of precision missiles and willingness to stand up to the US. This retaliation was expected, but since Iran wants to avoid an all-out war, it was strategic and carefully calculated to inflict the fewest American casualties, if any, to prevent a vicious cycle of retaliatory attacks which could get out of control and lead to a war. This, however, does not suggest that Iran will stop its clandestine proxy operations—employing its well-trained militia in Iraq, Yemen, and Syria to execute new attacks on American and allies’ targets in the region while maintaining deniability. Similarly, the clergy can also pressure hawks in and outside the government to avoid any provocative acts against the US. Iran is patient and will carefully weigh its gains and losses before it takes the next step. Following Iran’s attack on the Asad base, Trump has also shown restraint because he too wants to prevent an all-out war, knowing that even though the US can win it handedly, it will be the costliest victory in blood and treasure and certainly in political capital. The whole mess began when Trump withdrew from the Iran deal. What did Trump think he could accomplish? Withdrawing from the deal without having any substitute, without consultation with the European signatories, and with re-imposing sanctions, especially when Iran was in full compliance with all the deal’s provisions, is dangerously reckless—undermining our national security interests and jeopardizing the security of our allies in the region. The Iran deal was not perfect, but the idea was to build on it, gradually normalize relations with Iran, and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons altogether as it works to become a constructive member of the community of nations. To resolve the crisis with Iran, the US must demonstrate a clear understanding of the Iranian mindset. Iran is a proud nation with a long and continuing rich history; it has huge natural and human resources, is the leader of the Shiite world, occupies one of the most geostrategic locations in the world, and wants to be respected. The Iranians are not compulsive; they think strategically and are patient, consistent, and determined. The revocation of the Iran deal simply reaffirms Iran’s distrust of the US, from the time the CIA toppled the Mosaddeq government in 1953 to the continuing sanctions, adversarial attitude, and the open call for regime change. Both Khamenei and Trump have their own domestic pressure to contend with and want to avoid war. The Iranian public is becoming increasingly restive. They are back in streets demanding immediate economic relief. Conversely, Trump calculated that further escalation of violent conflict with Iran will erode rather than enhance his political prospects, and would make defeat in November all but certain. West European countries are extremely sensitive to any major escalation of violence, as it would lead to mounting casualties and destruction on all sides. Iran can resort to a wide range of hostile measures, including disrupting oil supplies from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, by mining the Straits of Hormuz through which 21 million barrels per day (21% of global oil consumption) pass, resulting in a massive economic dislocation in the Middle East and Europe in particular. The pause in hostilities offers a golden opportunity to begin a new process of mitigation. Germany, France, and Britain have already engaged the Iranians in an effort to ease the tension between Iran and the US and create conditions conducive to direct US-Iran negotiations. By now, Trump must realize that Iran cannot be bullied and the only way to prevent it from pursuing nuclear weapons is through dialogue. Regardless of how flawed Trump views the Iran deal, it still provides the foundation for a new agreement, as many of its the original provisions remain valid and can be built on it. Other conflicting issues between the two sides, especially Iran’s subversive activities, should be negotiated on a separate track. In some ways, both Iran and the US need to lick their wounds and begin a new chapter, however long and arduous it may be, because war is not and will never be an option.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174065 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174065 0 Trump Checks all of the Impeachment Boxes: Will it Matter?
In my last article, I wrote that there is something wholly different about Donald Trump’s actions than those of other presidents who have exceeded their power. Why? Unlike other presidents, Trump’s actions meet each of the requirements that the Framer’s laid out to impeach a president. Ironically, just as impeachment is needed most, the partisan tenor of the times may make it impossible to accomplish.
The Framers of the Constitution had included the power of impeachment for instances of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors committed by executive branch officials and the president. They had rejected policy disputes as a basis for impeachment. When George Mason proposed adding maladministration as an impeachable offense, Madison responded that “so vague a term will be equivalent to tenure during pleasure of the Senate.” It was at this point that “high crimes and misdemeanors” were added. While the first two are clear, the third sounds vague to us today. Yet, the Framers had a clear idea of what this meant. As I wrote previously for the History News Network, the Framers “thought that the power of impeachment should be reserved for abuses of power, especially those that involved elections, the role of foreign interference, and actions that place personal interest above the public good” which fall within the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors. Professor Noah Feldman of Harvard Law School, in his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, said that for the Framers “the essential definition of high crimes and misdemeanors is the abuse of office” by a president, of using “the power of his office to gain personal advantage.” Trump’s actions with Ukraine checks each of these boxes.
Presidents and Congress have often found themselves in conflict, dating back to the earliest days of our Republic. Part of this is inevitable, built into a constitutional system of separation of powers with overlapping functions between the two branches. Only Congress can pass laws, but presidents can veto them. Presidents can negotiate treaties but must obtain the advice and consent of the Senate. As Arthur Schlesinger Jr. observed, checks and balances also make our political system subject to inertia. The system only really works “in response to vigorous presidential leadership,” Schlesinger wrote in The Imperial Presidency. But sometimes presidents grasp for powers that fall outside of the normal types of Constitutional disputes. This is where impeachment enters the picture.
In the early Republic, disputes between presidents and congress revolved around the veto power. Andrew Jackson was censured by the Senate over his veto of bank legislation and his subsequent removal of federal deposits from the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson’s actions showed a willingness to grab power and to ignore the law and the system of checks and balances when it suited his purposes. While the censure motion passed, it did not have the force of law. It was also unlikely that impeachment would have been successful, since the dispute was over policy. While the president had violated the law, not all illegal acts are impeachable. As Lawrence Tribe and Joshua Matz have noted, “nearly every president has used power in illegal ways.” Impeachment is meant to be limited to those actions, like treason and bribery, “that risk grave injury to the nation.”
Congress considered impeaching John Tyler in 1842 over policy disputes for which he too used the veto power. Tyler is sometimes referred to as the accidental president since he assumed the presidency when William Henry Harrison died in office one month after he was sworn in. Tyler had previously been a Democrat and state’s-rights champion who had joined the Whig Party over disagreements with Jackson’s use of presidential power. Yet he preceded to use the powers of the presidency to advance his own policy views, and not those of his newly adopted Whig Party, vetoing major bills favored by the Whigs, which led to an impeachment inquiry. A House Committee led by John Quincy Adams issued a report that found the President had engaged in “offenses of the gravest nature” but did not recommend that Tyler be impeached.
Even Andrew’s Johnson’s impeachment largely revolved around policy disputes, albeit extremely important ones. Johnson was a pro-Union southerner who was selected by Lincoln to aid in his reelection effort in 1864. Johnson was clearly a racist, a member of the lowest rung of southern white society, those that felt their social position was threatened by the advancement of blacks, a view that shaped Johnson’s policies on Reconstruction. While the Civil War ended slavery, it did not end the discussion of race and who can be an American. Johnson, much like Trump, represented those who believed that America was a typical nation, made up of one racial group. “I am for a white man’s government in America,” he said during the war. On the other hand, the Radical Republicans believed that America was essentially a nation dedicated to liberty and equality, and they set out to fulfill the promise of the American Creed for all American men, black as well as white. This was the underlying tension during the period of Reconstruction. “Johnson preferred what he called Restoration to Reconstruction, welcoming the white citizenry in the South back into the Union at the expense of the freed blacks,” Joseph Ellis writes.
But Johnson was ultimately impeached on false pretenses, not for his policy disputes with Congress, but due to his violation of the Tenure of Office Act, which some have characterized as an impeachment trap. The act denied the president the power to fire executive branch officials until a Senate confirmed appointment had been made. While the House impeached Johnson, he escaped removal by one vote in the Senate. Johnson’s sin was egregious; he had violated one of the core tenants of the American Creed, that all are created equal. Yet this did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense that warranted the removal of a president. It was a policy dispute, one that went to the core of who we are as Americans, but it was not a high crime or misdemeanor.
It would be over one hundred years before impeachment would be considered again, this time in the case of Richard Nixon. Like Trump, Nixon abused the power of his office to advance his own reelection. Both men shared a sense that the president has unlimited power. Nixon famously told David Frost that “when the president does it, that means its not illegal,” while Trump has claimed that under Article II “I have the right to do whatever I want. But Nixon, unlike Trump, did not elicit foreign interference in his reelection effort. The two men also shared certain personality traits that led to the problems they experienced in office. As the political scientist James David Barber wrote in his book The Presidential Character, Richard Nixon was an active-negative president, one who had “a persistent problem in managing his aggressive feelings” and who attempted to “achieve and hold power” at any cost. Trump too fits this pattern, sharing with Nixon a predilection toward “singlehanded decision making,” a leader who thrives on conflict.
Indeed, Nixon would likely have gotten away with Watergate except for the tapes that documented in detail his role in covering up the “third rate burglary” that occurred of the Democratic Party headquarters on June 17, 1972. Paranoid about possibly losing another election, Nixon had directed his staff to use “a dirty tricks campaign linked to his reelection bid in 1972,” presidential historian Timothy Naftali has written. When the break in was discovered, Nixon then engaged in a systematic cover-up, going so far as to tell the CIA to get the FBI to back off the investigation of the break in on bogus national security grounds.
Much like Trump, Nixon stonewalled the various investigations into his actions, what Naftali calls “deceptive cooperation.” He had the Watergate Special Prosecutor, Archibald Cox, fired in October 1973 in order to conceal the tapes, knowing his presidency was over once they were revealed. In the aftermath of Cox’s firing during the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon refused to release the tapes to the House’s impeachment inquiry. Instead, he provided a transcript he had personally edited that was highly misleading. The final brick in Nixon’s wall of obstruction was removed when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in July 1974 that Nixon had to release the tapes, which he complied with. One wonders if Trump would do the same.
One difference with the Trump case is that there was a degree of bipartisanship during the Nixon impeachment process. By the early summer of 1974, cracks had begun to appear in the Republicans support for Nixon. Unlike today, there were still moderate Republicans who were appalled by Nixon’s actions and had become convinced that the president had engineered a cover-up. Peter Rodino, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary, had bent over backwards to appeal to the moderate Republicans and to Southern Democrats, where Nixon was popular. Despite strong pressure from the leadership of the GOP in the House, it was this group that ultimately drew up the articles of impeachment.
Still, a large number of Republicans in the House continued to stick with the president until the tapes were finally released. It was at this point that even die-hard Nixon supporters deserted him when it became apparent that Nixon had been lying all along and had committed a crime. Nixon’s case shows both the importance of bipartisanship in the impeachments process, but also how difficult it is for members of the president’s party to turn on him. In August of 1974, Nixon resigned when confronted by a group of Senators and House members, led by conservative Senator Barry Goldwater.
The impeachment of Bill Clinton is the anomaly, since it was not about policy (as in Johnson’s case) or the abuse of power (in Nixon’s case). Rather it emerged in part due to a character flaw. Clinton could not restrain himself when it came to women.
The facts of the case are well known. While president, Clinton had an illicit sexual encounter with Monica Lewinski in the Oval Office. He then proceeded to lie about it, both to the country and also during a deposition in the Paula Jones case, and attempted to cover up the affair. Kenneth Starr, who had been appointed as Independent Counsel to investigate the Whitewater matter, a failed land deal in which the Clinton’s lost money but did not nothing wrong, then turned his investigation to the president’s actions with Lewinski and recommended that the House of Representative consider impeachment proceedings for perjury and obstruction of justice.
By this point, Clinton had admitted he had lied to the country and apologized for his actions. The House had the opportunity to censure Clinton, but Tom Delay, one of the Republican leaders, buried that attempt, even in the aftermath of the midterm elections when Democrats gained seats, clearly pointing to public opposition to impeachment of the president, whose approval rating were going up. While the House voted for impeachment largely along partisan lines, the Senate easily acquitted Clinton on a bi-partisan basis. Clinton’s actions, while “indefensible, outrageous, unforgiveable, shameless,” as his own attorney described them, did not rise to the level the Framers’ had established for impeachment.
Clinton’s impeachment in the House was largely a product of partisan politics that were out of control. As Lawrence Tribe and Joshua Matz have written, “starting in the mid-1990’s and continuing through the present, we’ve seen the creeping emergence of a permanent impeachment campaign.” Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama faced impeachment movements during their terms in office over issues that in the past no one would have considered impeachable. During the 2016 election, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump lobbed accusations that the other would face impeachment if elected. The current toxic political environment raises the issue of whether a bipartisan impeachment effort has any chance at all, especially when the two sides cannot even agree over basic facts. Nancy Pelosi was right to hold off the movement to impeach Trump prior to the Ukrainian matter, but now that we have such a clear abuse of power, what is the alternative? At this moment, when the tool of impeachment is most needed for a president who meets all of the criteria laid out by the Framers, the process itself has become captive to extreme partisanship by the Republicans.
The ball is now in the Senate’s court, where the trial will soon occur. While conviction and removal from office is highly unlikely short of additional corroborating evidence (which Mitch McConnell has been attempting to squelch), perhaps the Senate can find the will to issue a bipartisan censure motion that condemns the president and issues a warning that another similar abuse of power will result in removal. Ultimately, the voters will likely decide Trump’s fate come November. We can only hope they choose correctly.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174016 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174016 0 Annual Jewish Film Festival, Following New Wave of Anti-Semitism, Offers Hope and Inspiration
Early last month, four people were killed at a Jewish food store next to a synagogue in Jersey City, N.J. (two blocks from the building in which I work). A few days later, a man wielding a machete stabbed and badly injured five Jews praying in the home of a Rabbi in Monsey, New York, about 40 miles from New York City. Since then, several swastikas have been painted on buildings in various cities. These incidents are all part of a growing wave of anti-Semitism in America. The anti-Semitic crimes in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles were the highest in 18 years in 2019. The hate crimes in Los Angeles, a category expanded by police to include swastikas an any religious property, doubled in 2019 over the previous year. New York City counted 229 anti-Semitic crimes in the past year, a new record, and up significantly from last year. The Anti-Defamation League said 2019 showed the third highest anti-Semitic crime total in the entire history of the organization.
On Wednesday, the 29th annual New York Jewish Film Festival, a two week (January 15-28) cinematic celebration of Jewish life, kicks off at Lincoln Center’s Water Reade Theater, in New York, and serves as hope and inspiration to not just Jews, but everybody.
Given the attacks on Jews all over the country, the Jewish Film Festival, one of the oldest in the United States, could not have come at a better time.
Aviva Weintraub, the executive director of the festival that is sponsored by the New York Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, said what has been happening against Jews in the nation over the last two months is “horrifying.” She said the goal of the festival each year is to “bring Jews together with each other and others” and said she is hopeful that will happen again this year.
Discrimination and persecution, of course, are no strangers to Jews and the selectins of films from the festival reflects that.
The film festival starts with the upbeat Aulcie, a sports film about how basketball star Aulcie Perry was spotted playing basketball on a New York City playground tournament by a scout for the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team from Israel in 1976. He was signed and, despite personal problems, helped the Maccabi team win two separate European championships. He later converted to Judaism and became an Israeli citizen
The centerpiece of the film festival is the screening of the award winnings 1970 film The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, director Vittorio De Sica’s movie about the struggles of the Jews in the World War II era in Italy, now celebrating its 50th anniversary. That Holocaust era film is joined by a new documentary, Four Winters: A Story of Jewish Partisan Resistance and Bravery in WW II, that tells the story of Jewish resistance to the Nazis throughout World War II in different countries.
“We chose The Garden of the Finzi-Continis because of its anniversary, but also because it is such as great film about the struggle of the Jews against the Nazis and because it is a beautiful and moving story,” said Ms. Weintraub. The film won 26 international awards in 1970, plus the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.
Executive director Weintraub is equally proud of Four Winters. “The strength of the film is not just its story, but the inspiring story of each of the men and women, seniors now, who survived the Holocaust and, in the movie, describe what happened. It Is stirring,” said Ms. Weintraub. “You cannot see that documentary and not be moved by it.”
She said Four Winters is a factual and inspirational story of years of resistance against the Nazi regime. “It’s amazing to realize that the Jews and others resisted for that long,” she said.
The festival has always been popular. Weintraub chuckles when she thinks back on different years of the Festival. “We have hordes of people who literally camp out at Lincoln Center to catch as many films in the festival as they can,” she said. “It’s not surprising for someone to see several films. Many people come to Lincoln Center on their way home from work, or between shopping trips on weekends,” she said.
She and two others spend about a year winnowing down the films to 31 or 32 for each festival. “We look for films that represent history, politics and Jewish life. Each year the mix of movies is different, “ she added.
Some movies in this year’s festival represent the Holocaust. There is Birch Tree Meadow, a 2003 film that tells the story of a concentration camp survivor who returns to the camp years later to confront memory and the descendant of a Nazi guard.
An Irrepressible Woman is the story of 1940s French Prime Minister Leon Blum, imprisoned at Buchenwald, and his love, Jeanne Reichenbach, who fell in love with him as a teenager, and risks her life to find him again.
There are cultural tales. The 1919 silent film Broken Barriers was the first film to tell some of the old Sholom Aleichem stories, that much later became world famous play and move Fiddler on the Roof.
Incitement is the complicated story of the lead up to the highly publicized assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. It tracks not only the murder, but the politics in the nation at the time.
God of the Piano is the story of a woman who is forced to meet high expectations by her father as a pianist. When she grows up, she places those same high expectation of her son but he is deaf. The story is the larger family conflict.
The festival closes on a high note with the unification film Crescendo, the true story of how music conductor Eduard Sporck took over a joint Israeli-Palestinian youth orchestra. At first, he saw his job as the man to get all of the musicians to produce beautiful music, but he soon realized the harder job, and the more rewarding job, was to get the children from the two opposing political sides to forget personal differences and to work together as a smoothly running musical group.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174042 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174042 0 Painter of Disquiet: Félix Vallotton at the Metropolitan Museum of Art'
La Chambre rouge (1898)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently presenting the work of Félix Vallotton, an artist who has been largely neglected relative to his contemporaries, such as Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. This makes the present exhibition all the more welcome, and fascinating. Vallotton’s work unquestionably merits the renewed attention — his paintings possess a mysterious quality, narrative appeal, and attention to detail, as well as invoke a delicious sense of irony and wit. Born in the Swiss town of Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1865, Vallotton displayed early an ability to draw from life; and at sixteen he arrived in Paris to study painting at the Académie Julian. A self-portrait at the age of twenty reveals a virtuosic, confident brush and much more — Vallotton is not interested in merely demonstrating his facility as a realist painter: he has a penetrating eye, a psychological depth, and a naturalism that owes much to northern Renaissance masters, especially Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein. It is not entirely clear when Vallotton’s friendship with Les Nabis began – from the Hebrew word for prophet, the Nabis were an avant-garde group of Parisian artists, which included Bonnard, Vuillard, Charles Cottet, and Ker-Xavier Roussel, among others. Valloton’s nickname within the group may be revealing – he was the ‘foreigner Nabi’. Perhaps this name reflected his Swiss origin, but the Nabis were an international group anyhow. It could also reflect in some measure that Vallotton was something of a loner; but it may allude to the fact that while for a time he adopted the Nabi’s dismissal of naturalism in favor of flat forms and the expressivist use of color, Vallotton was and fundamentally remained a realist painter. Recognition arrived early in Vallotton’s career for reviving the art of woodcut prints which had largely been forgotten since the Renaissance. Indeed, by the age of 25, Vallotton had single-handedly brought about a kind of revolution in xylography. Inspired by Japanese woodcuts that were popular in Paris at the time, Vallotton produced images with sharp contrasts of jet black and pristine white. His woodcuts are remarkable for their commentary on the French bourgeoisie, their stinging rebuke of societal decadence in fin-de-siècle Paris, their critical orientation to the police. Vallotton has an eye for violence — be it in the form of murder, or the sudden carriage accident, the political execution or the suicide. Vallotton combines a dark realism with sophisticated satire, wry humor, and a keen acerbic wit. He has an eye for the ambiguous and the enigmatic — a deft and subtle touch that defies finalization. The Demonstration from 1893 renders the political chaos of the day with humor — from the old man who has lost hold of his hat to the sole figure in white, a woman racing along the left hand side. Vallotton would return in both woodcuts and paintings to the scene of the bourgeoisie shopping for the latest luxury goods at the Bon Marche Department Store — the first such store of its kind in the world. The 1898 triptych is not without a certain irony — given that the format Vallotton chose was traditionally associated with altarpieces such as would be found in church. Which is just to underscore the Vallotton is a close observer of modernity, fascinated by the new world he sees emerging around him — with its rampant consumerism, and its technological novelties (such as a moving conveyor belt along a footbridge, which he includes in his woodcut series devoted to the World’s Fair of 1900.) A series of ten woodcuts entitled Intimités is a sustained and biting critique, and among Vallotton’s greatest achievements as a graphic artist. As an unsettling and disquieting series which lays bare the hypocrisies of bourgeois society, Vallotton deftly exposes a decadent class through scenes of adultery, deceit, romantic quarrels and indecent proposals. In 1899, Vallotton married Gabrielle Rodrigues-Henriques and the union was to have a significant effect on the remainder of his career. His wife was a wealthy widow and the daughter of a Paris art merchant, which meant that he now enjoyed a certain financial security and could turn exclusively to painting. While Vallotton’s work generally lost its satirical wit and subversive edge — there is also a certain psychological insight and marked turn towards the inwardness of his subjects that constitutes much of the power of this later period. The acquisition of a Kodak camera in 1899 led to changes in the way the artist worked. Now, he would typically take snapshots of imagery that appealed to him – and then used those photographs to craft his painting in the studio. It appears that often he would retain the sharply contrasting patterns of light and shadow revealed in the small photograph. However, the painter however was by no means subservient to the photographic image, as The Red Room, Etretat (1899), demonstrates. It is a remarkable painting for its unity of composition and psychological structure. All lines in the painting essentially point to (and up to) the seated figure of Gabrielle Vallotton – even the viewer is made to feel they’re looking up to this woman, who meanwhile looks down at the small child in the foreground. This child, so crucial to the psychological depth of the painting is entirely absent, however, from the photograph. Vallotton was also a master of ambiguity. There is always something more to the story he is telling that must ever remain just beyond our reach. Consider, for example, one of this exhibition’s finest offerings, The White and the Black (1913), a provocative work depicting a young white woman, nude and reclining; and a black woman, seated and coolly smoking a cigarette. The painting may be a response to Édouard Manet’s Olympia (1863) in which a white model, a prostitute likely, lies on a bed attended by a black servant bringing her flowers (probably from a client). But Vallotton may also be in dialogue with Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ Grande Odalisque (1814) and Odalisque with a Slave (1839). All of his friend’s attest to Vallotton’s love and admiration for Ingres, by whom he was “conquered without offering any resistance” – as one contemporary put it. Vallotton was clearly a close observer of Manet as well, and many of his paintings – for example, Misia at Her Dressing Table (1898) – emphasize the harsh light, the large color surfaces and shallow depth that was characteristic of Manet’s work, including Olympia (1863). But at the same time Vallotton subverts the traditional roles of mistress and servant by making the relationship between these two women utterly ambiguous. The Provincial (1909) is notable for its exploration of one of Vallotton’s recurring themes – namely, the complex, uneven relationship between men and women. In this painting, and others such as Chaste Suzanne (1922), a powerful female figure holds sway over her subservient male counterpart. The white lace of her blouse protrudes in a witty but subtle reminder of her breasts, which only underscores her sexual dominance over the docile man who sits beside her with eyes deferentially lowered. Moonlight (1895) is a standout work that reveals the influence of the Symbolists, in Vallotton’s attention to emotional force over actual topographical representation – water, earth and sky have become interfused in what is almost an abstraction. The picture also anticipates the latter part of his career, when Vallotton increasingly turned to landscape painting – often beginning with a photographic image or an on-site sketch, which was then imaginatively reconstructed on the canvas. The painter referred to his later landscapes as paysages composes (composed landscapes) – and remarked in 1906, “I dream of a painting free from any literal respect for nature.” Valloton said he wanted to “be able to recreate landscapes only with the help of the emotion they have provoked in me.” His method allows him to simplify the compositional structure, to intensify the mood and emphasize the emotional impact of color – as, for example, in Last Rays (1911) where we find the silhouettes of umbrella pines as they receive the last light of the evening sun. Félix Vallotton more than deserves the attention that this exhibition brings. His work – from the groundbreaking forays into xylography, to his portraits and scenes of bourgeois society, to his hauntingly mesmerizing landscapes – defies identification with any artistic school. Like all truly great artists, Vallotton is inimitable; while he experiments with various artistic programs, he ultimately remains aloof from them, determined to paint pictures purged of all sentimentality, beholden only to the emotional, psychological or social reality with which he is concerned. Such a body of work remains ever fresh and vital, and rewards close attention with a glimpse of truth.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174040 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174040 0 Depression Era Tenor Hits All the High Notes
It is 1934, at the height of the Depression, and an opera company in Cleveland is trying to make enough money to stay in business. The answer, its officials believe, is to bring in fabled Italian tenor Tito Merelli for a one-night concert. Merelli’s appearance is highly publicized and the theater is sold out. The opera company has a stage set. It has an orchestra. It has an audience. But it has no Merelli. He is missing.
In late afternoon, just a few hours before the performance, the distraught opera company’s manager takes a bold step. He will use Max, his assistant and an amateur tenor, to dress as the clown Pagliacci and do the show as Merelli. With all the makeup and man in disguise with a tenor’s voice, and also about the correct height and weight, who would know? What could possibly go wrong?
That’s where everything starts to collapse in this play set in 1934, Lend Me a Tenor, that opened last weekend at the Westchester Broadway Theater in Elmsford, N.Y. It is a wacky, crazy, upside down play by Ken Ludwig that has the audience roaring with laughter. This tenor can hit all the high notes and makes everybody laugh, too. He is his own opera company – if he can be found.
The fraudulent singer plan is in place, Max is ready for his fifteen minutes of fame and the audience is waiting, unaware of the deception. Then, unannounced, Tito Merelli arrives, as flamboyant as flamboyant can be, with his overly emotional, arm waving wife, Maria, who is always angry about something. He is ready to go on. Max is ready to go on. Who will go on?
And then…………well, see the play.
Lend Me A Tenor is not only a hilarious show, well directed by Harry Bouvy, but a neat look back at how opera singers and other highly regarded performers toured the country in that era. Merelli lived when they left their homes in the U.S. or in Europe and went on tours of America or appeared in different cities at different times of the year. The play captures the physical details of the traveling star’s Depression life well.
Star tours were very common in the Depression, despite the sagging national economy, that hurt theaters and opera houses as badly as it hurt everything else. Bringing in a star for a one-night performance usually worked not only to put money in the opera house bank, but garner enormous attention for the opera company which translated to ticket sales for the company’s regular operas. Marian Anderson, the great singer, toured the U.S almost every year in the late 1930s, sometimes taking tours that lasted several months an included up to eighty concerts. The big bands of the era - Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, the Dorseys - did the same thing, hitting the road early in the year and living out of suitcases for most of it. The casts of Broadway shows also traveled in that manner. There were always logistical problems- train breakdowns, snowstorms, ticket mix-ups, but, in general, the tours worked well.
Except for Tito Merelli.
He and his wife have enormous problems to combat when they finally do arrive in Cleveland (Tito’s main problem is his firecracker wife). How do you un-vanish? How does Max, bursting for a chance in the musical spotlight, cope with the fact what Tito is, in fact, in Cleveland? Or is he? Is anybody really in Cleveland?
In Lend Me A Tenor, the Cleveland Opera Company has rented a palatial, two room suites for Merelli and his wife, an adoring bell hop brings up their bags and the opera company’s manger treats him like visiting royalty. All of this is historically accurate. Performers arrived by plane or train, mostly, although some went by car. They ate well in the hotel’s restaurant, were given tours of the area ad introduced to dozens of artistic and municipal officials. Newspaper ads for Merelli would have been taken out for a week or more prior to the show. Hundreds of large, cardboard broadsides would have been put in store windows or nailed to trees and telephone poles. There might even have been a Tito Merelli Day (that is, if they could find Tito).
Everything that show business people did to arrange an overnight stay and performance for a star like Morelli in 1934 was done year after year and became the backbone of the American Tour. It is the same way today although social media, television, emails and i-phones have modernized the tour. Tito Merelli would love the contemporary tour, if he could find it.
Director Bouvy, who pays such careful attention to the history of the play, has done a superb job with a talented cast of actors. He lets them all shine as a very group of the eccentric, egomaniacal show biz people we all know and love. The two stars of the show are Tito, played wonderfully and with great style by Joey Sorge, and Max, played equally well by J.D. Daw. In addition to them, Bouvy gets fine work from Molly McCaskill as Maggie, Max’ girlfriend, Philip Hoffman the opera manager, Kathy Voytko as Tito’s wife, Tregoney Sheperd as the doughty opera company board chair, Hannah Jane McMurray as a soprano, Sam Seferian as the bellhop and John Savatore as an assistant stage manager.
PRODUCTION: The play is produced by Westchester Broadway Theater. Sets: Steve Loftus, Costumes: Keith Nielsen, Lighting: Andrew Gmoser, Sound: Mark Zuckerman . The play is directed by Harry Bouvy. It runs through January 26.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174041 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174041 0 Can America Recapture Its Signature Exuberance?
As the news cycle churns on with impeachment coverage, pundits and politicians are quick to remind that the Constitution is all that stands between us and the whims and dangers of authoritarian rule. It’s a good point, but incomplete. America is a country of law and legend and our founding document, essential as it is, won’t save us if we don’t also buy into a binding story about the point and purpose of our democracy.
That’s a tall order in today’s world. To author Lee Siegel, hacking America’s dour realities is like scaling a rock face. In his recent essay “Why Is America So Depressed?” he suggests we reach for the metaphorical pitons—after “the iron spikes mountain climbers drive into rock to ascend, sometimes hand over hand”—to get a humanistic grip amid our “bitter social antagonisms” and the problems of gun violence, climate crisis and social inequities that have contributed to an alarming rise in rates of anxiety, depression and suicide.
“Work is a piton,” says Siegel. “The enjoyment of art is a piton. Showing kindness to another person is a piton.”
Thanks to Siegel, I now think of the 200-year anniversary of poet Walt Whitman’s birth in the year just ended as a piton for the uplift it gave me. As Ed Simon, a staff writer for The Millions and contributing editor at HNN, declares in another fine essay published New Year’s week, Whitman is “our greatest poet and prophet of democracy.” We’d do well to enlist the bard’s ideas in 2020, he argues, to steer ourselves through “warring ideologies” and to offset “the compelling, if nihilistic, story that authoritarians have told about nationality.”
I would simply add this: Whitman is also the godfather of our national exuberance, a champion of the country’s heaving potential and can-do spirit—traits that, until recently at least, could win grudging regard from some of America’s fiercest critics. Despite his intermittent bouts of depression, Whitman tapped into the energy and brashness of our democratic experiment like no other. His verse hovers drone-like above the landscape, sweeping the manifold particulars of American life into a rapturous, cosmic frame.
Whitman did some of his most inspiring work in the worst of times. He published the first edition of his collection “Leaves of Grass” in 1855 as the country drifted toward civil war. His Homeric imprint, inclusive for its time, invited individuals from varied walks of life (“Workmen and Workwomen!…. I will be even with you and you shall be even with me.”) to splice up with the democratic push to explore contours of the American collective.
My first brush with Whitman’s high spirits came when I was an undergraduate in the late 1960s. Like campuses across the country, the University of Washington was riven by clashing dogmas and muscular protests against the Vietnam War. Like not a few working-class kids brown-bagging it from their family homes, I rode the fence politically, not knowing how to jump. As a citizen, I was offended by club-wielding riot police entering campus in force; as a student of Asian history, I was repulsed watching radical activists trash an Asian studies library, flinging rare old texts out windows onto the grass. Cultural revolution was a tough business.
Lucky for me, a generous English professor, Richard Baldwin, supplied some useful ballast. Sensing my fascination with Emerson, Thoreau and Dickinson, he offered to help me sort out the Transcendentalists during office hours. But it was Whitman who bulled his way forward. His booming energy, delivered in his self-proclaimed “barbaric yawp,” turned me into a forever fanboy.
I loved how Whitman challenged the thou-shalt-nots of established order in “Song of Myself,” joining the role and responsibilities of the individual to humanity’s common lot:
Unscrew the locks from the doors!
Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!
And whatever is done or said returns at last to me.
I loved his fervent embrace of democracy in “Democratic Vistas,” his 1871 dispatch to a divided nation:
Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruits in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between men, and their beliefs - in religion, literature, colleges, and schools- democracy in all public and private life … .
I loved his zest for the many-parted American experience, for linking the natural environment to the soul of the country, as he proclaimed his outsized poetic ambition in “Starting from Paumanok”:
… After roaming many lands, lover of populous pavements,
Dweller in Mannahatta my city, or on southern savannas,
Or a soldier camp'd or carrying my knapsack and gun, or a miner
in California,
Or rude in my home in Dakota's woods, my diet meat, my drink
from the spring,
Or withdrawn to muse and meditate in some deep recess,
Far from the clank of crowds intervals passing rapt and happy
Aware of the fresh free giver the flowing Missouri, aware of mighty
Niagara,
Aware of the buffalo herds grazing the plains, the hirsute and
strong-breasted bull,
Of earth, rocks, Fifth-month flowers experienced, stars, rain, snow,
my amaze….
Solitary, singing in the West, I strike up for a New World.
Whitman had his flaws, to be sure. Despite cheerleading for a big-tent America, he also shared the prejudices of his time, blotting his copybook, for example, with ugly remarks about African Americans. By 1969, when I hungered for a healing narrative, the bard’s prescriptions were undergoing reappraisal in light of righteous and long-overlooked storylines offered up by the civil rights and antiwar movements.
Still, Whitman has kept his place in chain of title to America’s resilience. He conveys a panoramic confidence that we are greater as a people than our contemporary realities; that if we lose the thread, we’ll find it again and reweave our story into a new and improved version. As Whitman says in the preface to the 1855 edition of “Leaves of Grass,” people look to the poet “to indicate the path between reality and their souls.”
Thomas Jefferson saw utility in the cohesive national story. In her 2018 book “The Death of Truth,” Michiko Kakutani writes that Jefferson “spoke in his inaugural address of the young country uniting ‘in common efforts for the common good.’ A common purpose and a shared sense of reality mattered because they bound the disparate states and regions together, and they remain essential for conducting a national conversation.”
Today, Kakutani argues, we’re mired in “a kind of homegrown nihilism … partly a by-product of disillusion with a grossly dysfunctional political system that runs on partisan warfare; partly a sense of dislocation in a world reeling from technological change, globalization, and data overload; and partly a reflection of dwindling hopes among the middle class that the basic promises of the American Dream … were achievable … .”
Whitman understood transcendence of national mood is an uphill climb. Periods of division and strife are baked into our democracy, part of the yin and yang, the theory goes, that sorts new realities into a renovated sense of purpose. Yet periods of upheaval must necessarily lead to a refitting, not obliteration, of our common story or democracy is toast.
Do Americans still have the chops to reimagine the song of ourselves?
Lord knows, we’ve had the chops. In his 1995 book “The End of Education,” media critic Neil Postman writes: “Our genius lies in our capacity to make meaning through the creation of narratives that give point to our labors, exalt our history, elucidate the present, and give direction to our future. ”But we do have to mobilize the genius.
That’s easier said than done in a time brimming with distraction, distress and division. It’s hard to say when or if we’ll devise a story with the oomph necessary to yank us up and over the walls of our gated communities of the mind—toward efforts that will make society more inclusive, the economy more equitable and life on the planet more sustainable.
In the meantime, three cheers for the ebullient currents of American life Walt Whitman chronicled. On our best days, they can lift us above our brattish, self-defeating ways.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174015 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174015 0 Cinema Paradiso: The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Will Be The Home of Movies, Past and Present
(For more images of the museum, click the image above or here)
Acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese was recently in the news for asserting his opinion that comic book movies are not “cinema.” In light of his upcoming historical film depicting the life of notorious mobster Jimmy Hoffa, Scorsese expanded on his claim that the massive push for superhero movies has affected young people’s understanding of history, saying “they perceive even the concept of what history is supposed to be [differently]."
Whether it promotes a better understanding of history or not, film itself has remained a major cultural influence around the world for over a century now. Its larger historical impact is hard to measure. Soon, however, the first large-scale museum in the country solely dedicated to the history of motion pictures is set to open and attempt to do just that.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be located on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax Boulevard in Los Angeles. According to Jessica Niebel, the Exhibitions Curator for the museum, “the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be the world’s premier institution devoted to the art and science of movies and moviemaking.” The museum is on track to open sometime in 2020 after several delays in construction.
The purpose of the museum is to encapsulate how film has changed over time. Moving pictures can be traced all the way back to the 19th century; in 1895 the first ever black and white film, the 50-second long “Arrival of a Train,” was released. The film caused an uproar from audiences, who had never even conceived what moving picture could be. Since then it has grown as an art form, which is something that the Academy Museum aims to capture. Niebel hopes that the museum’s programs and exhibitions will allow visitors to experience, “how movies evolved and are made, and highlight artists, craftspeople, designers and technicians who make the movies possible.”
The 20th century was integral to the growth of film as an art form. Despite the fact that it was new, Niebel explains that film, “being the most democratic artform of the 20th century as it was available, affordable and attractive to the masses, had a very strong connect to cultural histories everywhere.” Hollywood’s growth as an industry was soon followed by the rapid growth of film industries in India with “Bollywood,” and later in Nigeria with “Nollywood.” The Academy Museum plans to showcase international film in its first major temporary exhibition, “an unprecedented retrospective on Hayao Miyazaki, which will be the first major exhibition in the United States of the work of the legendary Japanese filmmaker, organized in collaboration with Studio Ghibli.”
Visitors to the museum can expect to experience a wide variety of programs, including film programs, exhibitions, public programs, publications, and education programs. The six-story museum itself will be a resource for film education, featuring “more than 50,000 square feet of exhibition galleries, a state-of-the-art education studio, two film and performance theaters, a 34-foot high, double-height gallery for cutting-edge temporary installations, a restaurant and café, and public and special event spaces.” Some programming may involve hosting industry professionals and guest speakers to give insight into their experience with film and an insider look into how much of a collaborative process filmmaking really is. A recent New Yorker piece detailed how the American movie industry took off in the 20th century with the help of many groups that don’t get on-screen credit, especially women. Museum programming hopes to address that.
An official grand opening date has not been announced yet, despite the fact that it’s been a long time coming. Plans for the construction of the museum were announced in 2012; there have been significant delays for the project in the seven years since. The Academy has chalked that up to the sheer feat involved in building it, including the renovation of a 1939 LA landmark (the May Company building), building a new spherical structure that includes a 1500 panel glass dome, and joining them together. In a statement, the Academy said that “we have always chosen the path that would enhance the structure, even if that meant construction would take more time to complete,” and “we are weighing the overall schedule for major industry events in 2020, and on this basis will choose the optimal moment for our official opening.”
Once it finally opens, the museum will be the first of its kind in the US. As such, it has been very important for planners like Niebel to create an experience that is altogether unique with an eye to the future. That involves screening films in the correct format that they were intended to be seen in, while also providing exhibitions that complement the screenings. Education will be an emphasis, as Niebel explained: “Film exhibitions cannot recreate the cinematic experience but translate it into another medium, that of the exhibition.” The Academy Museum has differentiated itself from other museums in that regard. History and art museums typically focus on one aspect of either education or visual display. Niebel maintains that the Academy Museum will be able to address both, because “film exhibitions are a ‘genre’ of their own in that they combine artifacts, film clips, design and immersive experiences to achieve not only educational aspects or aesthetic impressions, but wholistic experiences.”
The museum will have the advantage of access to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Archive. The archive has been acquiring film since 1929 and currently holds over 190,000 materials, including many of the films nominated for Oscars in all categories and all of the award-winning films for Best Picture. Niebel confirmed that the museum will “draw on the unique intellectual and material resources of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.” It should be an interesting landmark for historians and movie buffs alike. Film has always been a kind of public history, a reflection of society and culture. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, once it opens, may capture that. Score one for Martin Scorsese.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173843 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173843 0 Why The West Is Losing The Fight For Democracy
Adapted from The Light That Failed by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes, published by Pegasus Books. Reprinted with permission. All other rights reserved.
The future was better yesterday. We used to believe that the year 1989 divided ‘the past from the future almost as clearly as the Berlin wall divided the East from the West.’ We had ‘trouble imagining a world that is radically better than our own, or a future that is not essentially democratic and capitalist.’ That is not the way we think today. Most of us now have trouble imagining a future, even in the West, that remains securely democratic and liberal.
When the Cold War ended, hopes for liberal capitalist democracy spreading globally were high. The geopolitical stage seemed set for a performance not unlike George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, an optimistic and didactic play in which a professor of phonetics, over a short period of time, succeeds in teaching a poor flower girl to speak like the Queen and feel at home in polite company.
Having prematurely celebrated the integration of the East into the West, interested observers eventually realized that the spectacle before them was not playing out as expected. It was as if, instead of watching a performance of Pygmalion, the world ended up with a theatrical adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a pessimistic and didactic novel about a man who decided to play God by assembling replicas of human body parts into a humanoid creature. The defective monster felt doomed to loneliness, invisibility and rejection. And envying the unattainable happiness of its creator, it turned violently against the latter’s friends and family, laying their world to waste, leaving only remorse and heartbreak as legacies of a misguided experiment in human self-duplication.
So, how did liberalism end up the victim of its heralded success in the Cold War? Superficially, the fault lay with a series of profoundly destabilizing political events: the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the second Iraq War, the 2008 financial crisis, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and intervention in Eastern Ukraine, the impotence of the West as Syria descended into a humanitarian nightmare, the 2015 migration crisis in Europe, the Brexit referendum, and the election of Donald Trump. Liberal democracy’s post-Cold War afterglow has also been dimmed by the Chinese economic miracle, orchestrated by a political leadership that is unapologetically neither liberal nor democratic. Attempts to salvage the good name of liberal democracy by contrasting it favourably with non-Western autocracy have been undercut by the feckless violation of liberal norms, as in the torture of prisoners, and the evident malfunctioning of democratic institutions inside the West itself. Tellingly, how democracies atrophy and perish has become the question that most preoccupies liberal scholars today.
The very ideal of ‘an open society,’ too, has lost its once-fêted lustre. For many disillusioned citizens, openness to the world now suggests more grounds for anxiety than for hope. When the Berlin Wall was toppled, there were only sixteen border fences in the world. Now there are sixty-five fortified perimeters either completed or under construction. According to Quebec University expert Elisabeth Vallet, almost a third of the world’s countries are rearing barriers along their borders. The three decades following 1989 turned out to be an ‘inter-mural period’, a brief barricade-free interval between the dramatic breaching of the Berlin Wall, exciting utopian fantasies of a borderless world, and a global craze of wall-building, with cement and barbed-wire barriers embodying existential (if sometimes imaginary) fears.
Most Europeans and Americans today also believe that the lives of their children will be less prosperous and fulfilling than their own. Public faith in democracy is plummeting and long-established political parties are disintegrating or being crowded out by amorphous political movements and populist strongmen, putting into question the willingness of organized political forces to fight for democracy’s survival in times of crisis. Spooked by the phantom of large-scale migration, electorates in parts of Europe and America are increasingly drawn to xenophobic rhetoric, authoritarian leaders and militarized borders. Rather than believing that the future will be uplifted by the liberal ideas radiating out of the West, they fear that 21st-century history will be afflicted by the millions of people streaming into it. Once extolled as a bulwark against tyranny, human rights are now routinely accused of limiting the ability of democracies to fight terrorism effectively. Fears for liberalism’s survival are so acute that references to William Butler Yeats’s ‘The Second Coming’, written in 1919 in the wake of one of the deadliest conflicts in human history, became an almost obligatory refrain for political commentators in 2016. A century after Yeats wrote them, these words are now the mantra of apprehensive defenders of liberal democracy worldwide: ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.’
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174017 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174017 0 The History of Fire: An interview with Stephen Pyne
Stephen Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University. He has published 35 books, most of them dealing with fire, but others on Antarctica, the Grand Canyon, the Voyager mission. With his oldest daughter, he wrote an inquiry into the Pleistocene. His fire histories include surveys of America, Australia, Canada, Europe (including Russia), and the Earth. To learn more about his work, please feel free to visit his website.
What made you want to be a historian?
I drifted into history. I enjoyed reading it, especially world history, as a kid, then the spark took when I realized that I understood things best through their history. It was by reading Carl Boyer’s History of the Calculus, for example, that I finally appreciated what the numbers were all about. The same has proven true for topics like fire, Antarctica, Grand Canyon, and the rest. Then I realized that history could also be literature. That clinched it.
I saw that you used to be a wildland firefighter. Is this what made you want to study the history of fire?
A few days after graduating from high school, I was hired as a laborer at Grand Canyon National Park. While I was signing my papers, an opening appeared on the North Rim fire crew, and I was asked if I wanted to join. I’d never been to the North Rim, never worked around a flame bigger than a campfire, didn’t even know the names of the basic tools, and of course said, Sure. It was a moment of biographical wind shear. I returned to the Longshots for 15 seasons, 12 as crew boss, then spent three summers writing fire plans for Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone National Parks. Then I went to Antarctica for a season. The North Rim fire crew and campus were separate lives: neither had much to do with the other. It took 10 years as a Longshot and after getting a Ph.D. that I finally brought the two worlds together. I decided to apply to the scholarship I had been trained into the subject that most animated me. Fire in America was the result. It’s not a hard weld; the two lives have never fully fused. I have one line of books that continues the topics I studied in grad school, and another that deals with fire, particularly big-screen fire histories for America, Australia, Canada, Europe (including Russia), and the Earth. In some respects, I’ve been a demographic of one. But it’s also like being on the American River in 1848 California. There are riverbeds of nuggets just waiting to be picked up.
How did personal experience influence your scholarship?
Obviously, as a topic. I would never have thought of fire as a subject without those hopping seasons on the Rim. They gave me woods credibility. More subtly, those years shaped how I think and speak about fire. On a fire crew, you quickly appreciate how fires shape a season, and how fire seasons can shape a life. It’s not a big step to wonder if the same might be true for humanity. After all, we are a uniquely fire creature on a uniquely fire planet. Fire is what we do that no other species does. It makes a pretty good index of our environmental agency. You pick up a language, a familiarity, a sensibility toward fire – it’s a relationship, in some way. Without anthropomorphizing fire, you learn to animate it – give it a presence. That’s what I can bring that someone else might not. At the same time, I need to abstract the vernacular into more general concepts, which is what scholarship does. I’m constantly fluctuating between the two poles, a kind of alternating current. There are always trade-offs. I begin with fire and construct a history. I don’t begin with historiography – questions of interest to the history community – and use fire to illustrate them. That makes my fire stuff different, and it means it can be hard to massage it into a more general history or a classroom. I sometimes wonder if I invented a subject only to kill it.
As I’m sure you are aware, wildfires recently ravaged the state of California, and bushfires continue to burn Australia. How does your understanding of the history of fire shape how you think about these wildfires?
Ah, as long as California keeps burning it seems I’ll never be lonely. I do a lot of interviews. Last year I finally wrote a fire primer for journalists and posted it on my website. California is built to burn and to burn explosively. Against that, we have a society that is determined to live and work where and how it wants. For a century California has buffered between hammer and anvil with a world-class firefighting apparatus. But four fire busts in three years have – or should have – broken that strategy. It’s costly, it’s ineffective against the extreme events (which are the ones that matter), and it’s unfair to put crews at risk in this way. Doing the same things at ever-higher intensities only worsens the conditions. Australia is California at a continental scale, only drier, and with winds that can turn the southeast into a veritable fire flume. It has a long history of eruptive fires, but the 2009 Black Saturday fires and the Forever fires burning now feel different. They are more savage, more frequent, and more disruptive. Australia is also a firepower because it has a cultural connection to fire at a range and depth, from art to politics, that I haven’t found elsewhere. Australia’s foresters were the first to adopt controlled burning as a strategy for protection – their experience makes a fascinating contrast to what happened in the U.S. Both places show the importance of framing the problem. Fire is a creation of the living world, but we have defined it as a phenomenon for physics and chemistry, which leads us to seek physical solutions like dropping retardants and shoving hydrocarbons around. We haven’t really thought about nuanced ecological engineering. We’ve mostly ignored the ideas and institutions that shape the social half of the equation. We’ve neglected how these scenes are historically constructed, how they carry a long evolution that doesn’t derive from first principles. For that matter, the intellectual history of fire is relevant because fire as an integral subject was a casualty of the Enlightenment. We have no fire department at a university except the one that sends emergency vehicles when an alarm sounds. There is a lot here for historians to chew on. But it isn’t enough to problematize. We have to show how our analysis can lead to problem-solving.
Is climate change alone enough to explain wildfires or do we need to understand more about history to understand why they are such a problem?
There are many ways to get big fires. Presently, climate change is serving as a performance enhancer. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, megafires an order of magnitude greater than those of today were powered by logging and land clearing slash. Climate integrates many factors, so does fire, and when you stir those two sloppy variables together, it’s tricky to attribute particular causes to the stew of effects. If you make fire an informing principle, a narrative axis, you find that the shift to burning fossil fuels, what I think of as the pyric transition, unhinged Earth’s fire regimes even without climate change. The conversion has rolled over habitat after habitat. Land use and humanity’s fire practices, for example, are hugely important in interacting with climate to shape fires. But most of those changes also trace back to fossil fuels. Basically, we’re burning our combustion candle at both ends. How lithic landscapes and living landscapes interact has not been something fire ecology or physics has considered. They dread dealing with humans because people muck up the models. You have to come at those notions sideways, you have to view the scene from outside the disciplinary prisms that we’re trained in. Paradoxically perhaps, the humanities may be better positioned to make conceptual contributions than the natural sciences.
How do you think the field of environmental history will change as the climate crisis becomes a more and more pressing issue?
The crisis is spooky. But I reject the notion that we are heading into a no-narrative, no-analog future. With fire, I can offer a pretty substantial narrative – it’s one of the oldest humanity has. In truth, I now regard climate history as a sub-narrative of fire history. And I’ve come to imagine our evolving fire age as something comparable to the ice ages of the Pleistocene. That’s a crisp analog. Changing sea levels, mass extinction, wholesale upheavals of biotas, regions reconstructed with the fire-equivalent of ice sheets and pluvial lakes – it’s all there. For me, the Anthropocene extends across the whole of the Holocene, and from a fire perspective, the Anthropocene could be usefully renamed the Pyrocene. There are other helpful analogs out there. The problem of powerline-kindled wildfires is very similar to that of railroad fires in the past. The problem of fringe communities burning (the fatuously named wildland-urban interface) replays the chronicle of settlement fires in the 19th century. Then it was agricultural colonization; now, an urban reclamation of rural lands. We have pretty good examples of how we might cope. The WUI problem got defined by the wildland fire community which saw houses complicating their management of land, but it makes more sense to pick up the other end of the stick and define these places as urban settings with peculiar landscaping. The aptest analogy is not to wildland fire but to urban fire. Do that, and it’s obvious what we need to do to reduce the havoc. History also holds lessons beyond data and techniques. How do we live in a contingent world about which we have incomplete knowledge? That’s a topic for stories and characters, not algorithms. Mostly, though, the sciences and fire folk don’t credit history with much analytical power. Historians deal with anecdotes. Historians are good for yearbooks and court poetry. The critics are wrong, but it can be a tough slog, like mopping up in mixed conifer duff. Still, when I began, fire was a fringe topic. Now it’s a global concern. People want context, and that’s what history provides, which has created a context for what I do. It’s been an interesting ride.
I also saw that you specialized in the history of exploration. Have you been able to intertwine that interest with your knowledge of fire?
I went to grad school to study geology, western history, exploration – stuff relevant to my life on the Rim. All my applications were rejected. Then, serendipitously, it was suggested I apply to William Goetzmann in the American Civ program at UT-Austin. He accepted me and mostly left me alone. At the time he was playing with the idea of a second great age of discovery. I quickly added a third and have used it as an organizing principle – a kind of conceptual rebar - for a series of books, including The Ice, How the Canyon Became Grand, and Voyager. I’ve finally systematized the grand schema into The Great Ages of Discovery, now headed for publication. I see exploration as a cultural movement and for the West a kind of quest narrative. My exploration books do better critically and commercially than my fire books. Exploration has a literary tradition, fire other than disaster and battlefield doesn’t. It’s been helpful to have two themes – puts me back into the two-cycle rhythms I knew in my rim-campus days, keeps me from getting too stale in either one. If I were starting over, I’d write the two series under different names.
In 2012, you wrote a book with your daughter, The Last Lost World. What was it like working with her, and what kind of expertise did she bring to the book?
My oldest daughter, Lydia, was attracted to archaeology and paleoanthropology and went to graduate school to study them. Then she decided that the history of the field was more appealing. For years we joked about writing a book together sometime. She graduated in 2009, a horrible moment for a new Ph.D., so I thought that the time had come. I had a sabbatical semester, and we took her topic and wrote The Last Lost World. I knew about a few of the subjects, and Lydia the others, and she directed our research. I credit her with keeping us (me) on message. I have good memories of the project, particularly the weeks we spent at our mountain cabin revising. (She’s gone on to a successful career as a writer; her latest, Genuine Fakes: How Phony Things Teach Us About Real Stuff, is just out.) And, yes, we’re still speaking to each other.
Is there any other information you want people to know about you or the work that you do?
Because I ended up in a school of life sciences, I didn’t do much with graduate students. Historians didn’t want someone from biology on their committee, and biologists didn’t want a historian. Eventually, I decided to offer a course on nonfiction writing, and then wrote a couple of books about writing books. Call it my postmodern phase.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173629 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173629 0 A New History of American Liberalism
Historians interested in the history of political philosophies would do well to read James Traub's new book What Was Liberalism? The Past, Present, and Promise of a Noble Idea. Traub's ambitious book documents that liberalism has evolved over time. For John Stuart Mill and Thomas Jefferson, it was mostly a check on government's power and preservation of individuals' liberty. For Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt, liberalism meant using government's power to regulate business and promote social welfare. Recently it has been more about government policies for equality and inclusion.
But Traub frets that liberalism has foundered. People's faith in government has eroded. Working and middle class people have become disenchanted. Traub recounts that George Wallace, running for president in 1964, rebuked what he called liberal elites. "They have looked down their noses at the average man in the street too long," Wallace cried. That alienation grew and culminated in Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump, as president, keeps hammering at liberal values. In addition, in Traub's view, Trump poses a threat to political civility, free speech, and the rule of law.
Traub's book begins with a chapter on "Why Liberalism Matters." He concludes it with a chapter on "A Liberal Nationalism" that laments liberalism's eclipse but looks for signs of its potential resurgence. He finds faint hope in liberalism's history of adaptation and resurgence. Liberals need to identify with opportunity, national confidence, inclusion, civility. They need to be seen as champions of "the public good."
In the book's last sentence, he says "Liberalism will renew itself only if enough people believe that its principles are worth fighting for."
James Traub's sense of concern contrasts sharply with the buoyancy, optimism, self- confidence and determination that helped make liberalism a success in the past.
In his odyssey through liberalism's history, Traub brings in Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978), longtime Democratic senator from Minnesota, Vice President (1965-1969) and the party's unsuccessful presidential nominee in 1968. Traub draws extensively on Humphrey's autobiography, The Education of a Public Man: My Life in Politics, published in 1976. A better book, though, for insight into the liberal mind at the movement's high tide in the 1960's -- and a contrast to liberal disarray and doldrums today -- is Humphrey's 1964 book The Cause is Mankind: A Liberal Program for Modern America.
Humphrey exudes optimism and confidence: liberals know what the nation needs and are determined to secure it. “The enduring strength of American liberalism," Humphrey wrote in the book, "is that it recognizes and welcomes change as an essential part of life, and moves to seize rather than evade the challenges and opportunities that change presents. It is, basically, an attitude toward life rather than a dogma—characterized by a warm heart, an open mind, and willing hands.”
To be sure, there were lots of challenges. "We are living in an age when America seems to be bursting with issues and problems. We must secure civil rights for all our citizens. We must end poverty, Our economy must grow in all parts of the country. Automation and technology must create new jobs, not more jobless...We must rebuild our cities, revitalize our rural areas... We must conserve our natural resources."
But in Humphrey's sunny view of things, challenges were little more than opportunities for reform. Nothing was too difficult for Americans who needed to endorse bold government initiatives engineered by the liberal spirit. Humphrey's book included a chapter on planning. He had proposals to streamline the work of Congress. He had proposals for reconciling big business and labor and preserving competition. "The chief economic role of government," he wrote, "must be the smoothing of the way for new men and new ideas."
He endorsed the "welfare state" and government's responsibility to ensure human dignity and a decent standard of living for everyone. He proposed a massive "war on poverty" that was bolder than what President Lyndon Johnson was sponsoring. Better agricultural policies would preserve family farms and at the same time provide food in abundance. Federal education aid would boost that sector.
Civil rights, something Humphrey had championed for years, would keep progressing.
Sometimes, it would take experimentation and improvisation. No matter, said Humphrey. Americans were good at that.
Humphrey did not foresee that the war in Vietnam and other events that would soon undercut the Johnson/Humphrey liberal domestic agenda. In his book, it was all about forward momentum into a beckoning, bracing future. American liberalism "sees free competitive enterprise as the mainspring economic life and is dedicated to the maintenance of the traditional freedoms of speech, of the press, of assembly and the like." But it is behind "the use of power of the state to achieve both freedom and a reasonable measure of equality."
Liberals looking for an enlightening but sobering account of their movement's history should read James Traub.
But liberals should also read Hubert Humphrey for some much-needed inspiration.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174019 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174019 0 Capitalism Versus Socialism: Did Capitalism Really Win?
In a recent op-ed, “I Was Once a Socialist. Then I Saw How It Worked,” conservative columnist David Brooks wrote, “We ran that social experiment [between capitalism and socialism] for 100 years and capitalism won.” But did capitalism really win? As I indicated in a chapter (“Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism”) in my An Age of Progress? Clashing Twentieth-Century Global Forces, history tells a more complicated story.
As sociologist Max Weber and conservative economist Milton Friedman have told us, the primary purpose of capitalism is earning a profit. Friedman even believed it was business’s main “social responsibility.” Sociologist Daniel Bell wrote that capitalism has “no moral or transcendental ethic.”
Nineteenth-century capitalism provided no adequate answers for how to deal with such problems as unsafe working conditions, unfair business practices, pollution, public health, slum housing, or the abuse of child labor. Nor did it deal with the distribution of income and left unanswered if great poverty should exist along with great wealth.
At that time socialism, especially Marxist socialism, arose as the major challenger of capitalism. By 1917, socialism had split into two principal types, the communist variety led by Vladimir Lenin--later formalized in the name Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)--and a revisionist type, more common in western Europe, that advocated democratic, reformist means of obtaining power. The goal of such socialism was primarily greater economic equality through such steps as government ownership of at least the chief means of production. In general, democratic socialists wished to control and regulate the economy in behalf of the entire population. In the German parliamentary election of 1912, the German Social Democratic Party received more votes than any other party.
Marx’s ideas also influenced trade-unionism and other isms that challenged nineteenth-century capitalists. One such was Progressivism, a cross-fertilizing trans-Atlantic movement that was powerful enough in the USA to produce the Progressive Era from 1890 to 1914.
But Progressivism did not attempt to overthrow or replace capitalism, but to constrain and supplement it in order to insure that it served the public good. As Daniel Rodgers indicates in his Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (2000), it was a diverse movement “to limit the socially destructive effects of morally unhindered capitalism, to extract from those [capitalist] markets the tasks they had demonstrably bungled, to counterbalance the markets’ atomizing social effects with a countercalculus of the public weal [well-being].”
After World War I and a dozen years of Republican rule, progressivism returned with the election of Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) in 1932 and his subsequent implementation of the New Deal.
From FDR’s time to our own, the U.S. economy, as our State Department indicated in 2001, has been “mixed:” “The United States is often described as a ‘capitalist’economy,” it “is perhaps better described as a ‘mixed’ economy, with government playing an important role along with private enterprise.”
Following World War II, many western European economies also became mixed as they introduced more welfare-state provisions--social programs assisting the poor, old, sick, and unemployed. Generally, compared to the USA, western Europe gave more assistance to the needy and the government controlled more of the economy.
But in both the USA and western Europe the degree of government regulation has fluctuated considerably. Prominent European democratic socialists Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany and President Francois Mitterrand of France led their countries from from 1969 to 1974 and 1981 to 1995, respectively. Conversely, in the 1980s Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in Britain cut back the government regulation of capitalism. While progressivism, the New Deal, and welfare-state policies inched liberals closer to democratic socialism, the Reagan-Thatcher opposition to “creeping socialism” and “big government” encouraged conservatives to place more trust in capitalism or “the free market.”
Today, not only are there very different types of capitalism in different countries--Brooks, for example, distinguishes “between a version of democratic capitalism, found in the U.S., Canada and Denmark, and forms of authoritarian capitalism, found in China and Russia”--but U. S. capitalism today is not the same as it was before the Progressive Era. Nor is democratic socialism in Europe the same as it was in 1912, when the German Social Democratic Party demonstrated its popularity.
A fair and unbiased review, “Democratic Socialist Countries 2019,” concludes that most prominent European countries contain a mix of capitalist and democratic-socialist elements. For example, it states, “Norway, like other Scandinavian countries, is . . . [not] fully socialist nor fully capitalist.”
Thus, Brooks is too simplistic when he writes “capitalism won.” If one equates socialism with communism, as Brooks comes close to doing, then saying capitalism won over socialism is closer to the truth. For Soviet-style communism did collapse by 1991 with the disintegration of the USSR. Still, that’s not completely accurate because western economic-political systems are more mixed than purely democratic capitalist.
Brooks’ narrow view of socialism and triumphant take on capitalism require a historical corrective because of three significant problems.
The first is the political use of simplistic capitalism-vs.-socialism propaganda. Socialism and socialist have long been scare words conservatives hurl at opponents. Social Security? Socialist! Medicare? Socialist! In the 1960s when Congress debated Medicare, the American Medical Association (AMA) hired Ronald Reagan to speak out against it on a record entitled “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine.”
More recently, Donald Trump stated that socialism “promises unity, but it delivers hatred and it delivers division. Socialism promises a better future, but it always returns to the darkest chapters of the past. That never fails. It always happens. Socialism is a sad and discredited ideology rooted in the total ignorance of history and human nature.” His campaign has claimed that “Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democrat primary, because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism.”
The second problem is that our political-economic development has made us more of a mixed system than a capitalistic one thanks to such developments as Progressivism, the New Deal, Lyndon’s Johnson’s “Great Society,” and Medicare.
The third main problem is that capitalism’s main aim of profit-seeking still needs (in Bell’s words) a higher “moral or transcendental ethic.” Seeking the common good is one such ethic that has often been suggested, from the Progressive era to, more recently, Pope Francis and Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
In previous articles such as “BP, Corporations, Capitalism, Progressivism, and Government” and “The Opioid Crisis and the Need for Progressivism,” I dealt with the profit-at-all-cost operations of corporations such as British Petroleum (BP), and Purdue Pharma. I also addressed why governments need to regulate companies responsible for oils spills and opioid deaths to ensure they serve the common good.
In the last two years, two more notable cases of insufficient corporate concern for anything but profits emerged, again demonstrating the need for government oversight.
The first involves Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). In early December, 2019 it agreed to pay $13.5 billion for causing Northern California wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people in just two of the fires. The LA Times noted that critics believe the company put “short-term profits before necessary safety measures.”A Marxist publication’s headline read “Profits before people: Why PG&E turned off the lights in California.”
The second case involves aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor Boeing. In late 2018-early 2019, two Boeing 737 Max 8 Jets crashed killing 346 people. Again, profits were placed before safety. One Daily Beast article declared that “top managers in the company’s Chicago headquarters, more alert to Wall Street than airline safety, gave priority to stock buybacks and shareholder returns.”
Again, government regulation of Boeing was insufficient. Pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, depicted by Tom Hanks in the movie “Sully: Miracle on the Hudson,” criticized the USA for not providing sufficient funds to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), leaving it ill equipped to oversee aircraft safety. Instead, Sully charged, the FAA allowed Boeing itself to certify that it was meeting safety standards. “To make matters worse, there is too cozy a relationship between the industry and the regulators. And in too many cases, FAA employees who rightly called for stricter compliance with safety standards and more rigorous design choices have been overruled by FAA management, often under corporate or political pressure.”
Thus, history demonstrates that the assertion that capitalism “won” is inaccurate. The irresponsibility of corporations like BP, Purdue Pharma, PG&E, and Boeing indicate the ongoing cost of unregulated capitalism. Today, President Trump continues to assail the type of enlightened regulation produced by the Progressive Era and FDR. The main task of voters in 2020 and thereafter will not be to choose whether we want capitalism or democratic socialism. Rather, it will be to decide the best pragmatic mix of the two (and best presidential candidate) to further the common good.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173969 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173969 0 Have Americans Usually Supported Their Wars?
Editor's note January 7, 2020: After recent events in Iraq, many people across the globe are worried that the United States and Iran might go to war. Many attended anti-war protests over the weekend. Here is helpful historical context.
● Lawrence F. Kaplan: What the Public Will Stomach
● Stanley Karnow: Did Public Opinion Really Shift After Tet?
It seemed to come as a bit of a shock to the Bush administration that Americans turned against the war in Iraq. Just as administration officials weren't prepared for the fierce resistance that developed to the American occupation of Iraq, neither were they prepared for a change in public opinion at home as the war dragged on. Cindy Sheehan's galvanizing protests outside the president's vacation home caught officials by surprise.
But throughout American history there has always been significant opposition to war. New England states threatened to secede from the union during the War of 1812, which severely hampered the trade carried in New England ships. The Mexican-American War was opposed by leading Whigs including Congressman Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War President Lincoln faced the opposition of the Copperheads, many of whom he had thrown in jail. The Spanish-American War triggered a robust anti-imperialist movement led by William Jennings Bryan.
In the twentieth century, as Hazel Erskine demonstrated in her widely cited 1970 article, "Was War a Mistake?" (Public Opinion Quarterly), "the American public has never been sold on the validity of any war but World War II." She noted that as of 1969--a year after the Tet Offensive and the brief invasion of the American embassy in Saigon--"in spite of the current anti-war fervor, dissent against Vietnam has not yet reached the peaks of dissatisfaction attained by either World War I or the Korean War."
Reviewing the wars of the 20th century, she noted: "In answer to quite comparable questions, in 1937 64 per cent called World War I a mistake, in 1951 62 per cent considered Korean involvement wrong, whereas in 1969 burgeoning anti-Vietnam dissent nationwide never topped 58 per cent."
Her charts demonstrated the extent of American opposition to war:
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/14857 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/14857 0 Winter Isn’t Coming. Prepare for the Pyrocene.
A massive fire burns the Amazon in Brazil
Millions of acres are burning in the Arctic, thousands of fires blaze in the Amazon, and with seemingly endless flareups in between, from California to Gran Canaria – fire seems everywhere, and everywhere dangerous and destabilizing. With a worsening climate, the fires dappling Earth from the tropics to the tundra appear as the pilot flames of an advancing apocalypse. To some commentators, so dire, so unprecedented are the forecast changes that they argue we have no language or narrative to express them.
Actually, the fire scene is worse than the headlines and breathless commentaries suggest because it is not just about bad burns that crash into towns and trash countrysides. It’s equally about the good fires that have vanished because they are suppressed or no longer lit. More of the world suffers from a famine of good fires than from a surfeit of bad ones; the bad ones are filling a void; they are not so much wild as feral.
Underwriting both is that immense inflection in which humans turned from burning living landscapes to burning lithic ones in the form of fossil fuels. That is the Big Burn of today, acting as a performance enhancer on all aspects of fire’s global presence. So vast is the magnitude of these changes that we might rightly speak of a coming Fire Age equivalent in stature to the Ice Ages of the Pleistocene. Call it the Pyrocene.
So there does exist a narrative, one of the oldest known to humanity, and one that has defined our distinctive ecological agency. It’s the story of fire. Earth is a uniquely fire planet – it has been since life clambered onto the continents. Equally, humans are a uniquely fire creature, not only the keystone species for fire but a species monopolist over its manipulation. The fires in the Arctic testify to the planetary antiquity of fire. Nearly all are kindled by lightning and burn biotas nicely adapted to fire; many could be suppressed, but extinguishing them will only put off, not put out, the flames. By contrast, the fires in the Amazon bear witness to a Faustian pact that hominins made with fire so long ago it is coded into our genome. They are set by people in circumstances that people made, well outside ecological barriers and historical buffers.
This is a narrative so ancient it is prelapsarian. Our alliance with fire has become a veritable symbiosis. We got small guts and big heads because we learned to cook food. We went to the top of the food chain because we learned to cook landscapes. Now we have become a geological force because we have begun to cook the planet. We have taken fire to places and times it could never have reached on its own, and it has taken us everywhere, even off world. We have leveraged fire; fire has leveraged us.
How this happened is a largely hidden history – hidden in plain sight. Fire disappeared as an integral subject about the time we hid fire into Franklin stoves and steam engines. (The only fire department at a university is the one that sends emergency vehicles when an alarm sounds.) It lost standing as a topic in its own right. As with the fires of today, its use in history has been to illustrate other themes, not to track a narrative of its own.
Yet how the present scene came to be is clear enough in its general contours. How, outfitted with firesticks early humans could take over select biotas. How, with axes and plows and livestock as fire fulcrums, societies could recode the patches and pulses of vast swathes of land for agriculture. How, hungering for ever more firepower, we turned from burning living landscapes to burning lithic ones – once-living biomass converted over eons into oil, gas, lignite, and coal. Our firepower became unbounded.
That is literally true. The old quest for sources has morphed into one for sinks. The search for more stuff to burn has become a problem of where to put all the effluent. Industrial combustion can burn without any of the old ecological checks-and-balances: it can burn day and night, winter and summer, through drought and deluge. We are taking stuff out of the geologic past and unleashing it into the geologic future.
It’s not only about changing climate, or acidifying oceans. It’s about how we live on the land. Land use is the other half of the modern dialectic of fire on Earth, and when a people shift to fossil-fuels, they alter the way they inhabit landscapes. They rely on industrial pyrotechnologies to organize agriculture, transportation, urban patterns, even nature reserves, all of which tend to aggravate the hazards from bad fire and complicate the reintroduction of good fire. The many conflagrations sparked by powerlines nicely capture the pyric collision between living and lithic landscapes. Still, even if fossil-fuel combustion were tamed, we would yet have to work through our deranged relationship to fires on living landscapes.
Because fire is a reaction, not a substance, the scale of our fire-induced transformations can be difficult to see. But we are fashioning the fire-informed equivalents of ice sheets, mountain glaciers, pluvial lakes, outwash plains, and of course changing sea levels, not to mention sparking wholesale extinctions. Too much bad fire, too little good, too much combustion overall - it’s an ice age for fire. The Pyrocene is moving from metaphor to descriptor.
It’s all there: narrative, analogue, explication. A couple of centuries ago we began hiding our fires in machines and off site, which can make it difficult for modern urbanites to appreciate how profoundly anthropogenic fire practices inform Earth today. We use the rampaging flames to animate other agendas, not to understand what fire is telling us. But fire, the great shape-shifter, is fast morphing beyond our grasp.
What does a full-blown fire age look like? We’re about to find out.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/172842 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/172842 0 Roundup Top 10!
Why Did the U.S. Kill Suleimani?
by Elizabeth Cobbs and Kimberly C. Field
The attack illustrates America’s lack of a clear grand strategy — and why we need one immediately.
War with Iran is not inevitable — but the U.S. must change course
by Kelly J. Shannon
The relationship between the countries, once friends and allies, has soured — because of U.S. aggression.
The Global War of Error
Failure is the new success and that applies as well to the “industrial” part of the military-industrial complex.
Putin’s Big Historical Lie
by Anne Applebaum
In a series of comments in late December, the Russian president appeared to blame Poland for the outbreak of the Second World War.
The Colonization of Puerto Rico and the Limits of Impeachment
by DJ Polite
It is misleading to call impeachment "justice" when it reflects the priorities of empire.
It’s 1856 All Over Again
by Steve Inskeep
Immigration. Race. Demographic change. Political demagogy. That year’s presidential race had it all. What can it tell us about 2020?
Before the ‘Final Solution’ There Was a ‘Test Killing’
by Kenny Fries
Too few know the history of the Nazi methodical mass murder of disabled people. That is why I write.
Yes, Bernie Sanders Could Be the Nominee—and It Would Be an Epic Nightmare for Democrats
by Ronald Radosh
Sanders is where he is today in part because no one has really attacked him. But just wait until Republicans spend a billion dollars painting him as an extremist.
Why policymakers must act to preserve information freedom at home and abroad
by Diana Lemberg
A Cold War dichotomy pitting capitalism and democracy versus state control misreads history.
Evangelicals using religion for political gain is nothing new. It is a US tradition
by Reverend William Barber
No one who has read US history can be surprised by the hypocrisy of Evangelicals for Trump but it also tells us how their undoing will inevitably come.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174014 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174014 0 A History of Climate Change Science and Denialism
The girl got up to speak before a crowd of global leaders. “Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.” She continued: “I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see. Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age? All this is happening before our eyes.” She challenged the adults in the room: “parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everything's going to be alright', "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world". But I don't think you can say that to us anymore.”
No, these were not Greta Thunberg’s words earlier this year. This appeal came from Severn Suzuki at the Rio Earth Summit back in 1992. In the 27 years since, we have produced more than half of all the greenhouse gas emissions in history.
Reading recent media reports, you could be forgiven for thinking that climate change is a sudden crisis. From the New York Times: “Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing World ‘Dangerously Close’ to Irreversible Change.” From the Financial Times: “Climate Change is Reaching a Tipping Point.” If the contents of these articles have surprised Americans, it reveals far more about the national discourse than then any new climate science. Scientists have understood the greenhouse effect since the 19th century. They have understood the potential for human-caused (anthropogenic) global warming for decades. Only the fog of denialism has obscured the long-held scientific consensus from the general public.
Who knew what when?
Joseph Fourier was Napoleon’s science adviser. In the early 19th century, he studied the nature of heat transfer and concluded that given the Earth’s distance from the sun, our planet should be far colder than it was. In an 1824 work, Fourier explained that the atmosphere must retain some of Earth’s heat. He speculated that human activities might also impact Earth’s temperature. Just over a decade later, Claude Pouillet theorized that water vapor and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere trap infrared heat and warm the Earth. In 1859, the Irish physicist John Tyndall demonstrated empirically that certain molecules such as CO2 and methane absorb infrared radiation. More of these molecules meant more warming. Building on Tyndall’s work, Sweden’s Svante Arrhenius investigated the connection between atmospheric CO2 and the Earth’s climate. Arrhenius devised mathematical rules for the relationship. In doing so, he produced the first climate model. He also recognized that humans had the potential to change Earth’s climate, writing “the enormous combustion of coal by our industrial establishments suffices to increase the percentage of carbon dioxide in the air to a perceptible degree."
Later scientific work supported Arrhenius’ main conclusions and led to major advancements in climate science and forecasting. While Arrhenius’ findings were discussed and debated in the first half of the 20th century, global emissions rose. After WWII, emission growth accelerated and began to raise concerns in the scientific community. During the 1950s, American scientists made a series of troubling discoveries. Oceanographer Roger Reveille showed that the oceans had a limited capacity to absorb CO2. Furthermore, CO2 lingered in the atmosphere for far longer than expected, allowing it to accumulate over time. At the Mauna Loa observatory, Charles David Keeling conclusively showed that atmospheric CO2 concentrations were rising. Before John F. Kennedy took office, many scientists were already warning that current emissions trends had the potential to drastically alter the climate within decades. Reveille described the global emissions trajectory as an uncontrolled and unprecedented “large-scale geophysical experiment.”
In 1965, President Johnson received a report from his science advisory committee on climate change. The report’s introduction explained that “pollutants have altered on a global scale the carbon dioxide content of the air.” The scientists explained that they “can conclude with fair assurance that at the present time, fossil fuels are the only source of CO2 being added to the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system.” The report then discussed the hazards posed by climate change including melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and ocean acidity. The conclusion from the available data was that by the year 2000, atmospheric CO2 would be 25% higher than pre-industrial levels, at 350 parts per million.
The report was accurate except for one detail. Humanity increased its emissions faster than expected and by 2000, CO2 concentrations were measured at 370 parts per million, nearly 33% above pre-industrial levels.
Policymakers in the Nixon Administration also took notice of the mounting scientific evidence. Adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote to Nixon that it was “pretty clearly agreed” that CO2 levels would rise by 25% by 2000. The long-term implications of this could be dire, with rising temperatures and rising sea levels, “goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington, for that matter,” Moynihan wrote. Nixon himself pushed NATO to study the impacts of climate change. In 1969, NATO established the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) partly to explore environmental threats.
The Clinching Evidence
By the 1970s, the scientific community had long understood the greenhouse effect. With increasing accuracy, they could model the relationship between atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and Earth’s temperature. They knew that CO2 concentrations were rising, and human activities were the likely cause. The only thing they lacked was conclusive empirical evidence that global temperature was rising. Some researchers had begun to notice an upward trend in temperature records, but global temperature is affected by many factors. The scientific method is an inherently conservative process. Scientists do not “confirm” their hypothesis, but instead rule out alternative and “null” hypotheses. Despite the strong evidence and logic for anthropogenic global warming, researchers needed to see the signal (warming) emerge clearly from the noise (natural variability). Given short-term temperature variability, that signal would take time to fully emerge. Meanwhile, as research continued, other alarming findings were published.
Scientists knew that CO2 was not the only greenhouse gases humans had put into the atmosphere. During the 1970s, research by James Lovelock revealed that levels of human-produced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were rapidly rising. Used as refrigerants and propellants, CFCs were 10,000 times as effective as CO2 in trapping heat. Later, scientists discovered CFCs also destroy the ozone layer.
In 1979, at the behest of America’s National Academy of Sciences, MIT meteorologist Jule Charney convened a dozen leading climate scientists to study CO2 and climate. Using increasingly sophisticated climate models, the scientists refined estimates for the scale and speed of global warming. The Charney Report’s forward stated, “we now have incontrovertible evidence that the atmosphere is indeed changing and that we ourselves contribute to that change.” The report “estimate[d] the most probable global warming for a doubling of CO2 to be near 3°C.” Forty years later, newer observations and more powerful models have supported that original estimate. The researchers also forecasted CO2 levels would double by the mid-21st century. The report’s expected rate of warming agreed with numbers posited by John Sawyer of the UK’s Meteorological Office in a 1972 article in Nature. Sawyer projected warming of 0.6°C by 2000, which also proved remarkably accurate.
Shortly after the release of the Charney Report, many American politicians began to oppose environmental action. The Reagan Administration worked to roll back environmental regulations. Obeying a radical free-market ideology, they gutted the Environmental Protection Agency and ignored scientific concerns about acid rain, ozone depletion, and climate change.
However, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts had already meaningfully improved air and water quality. Other nations had followed suit with similar anti-pollution policies. Interestingly, the success of these regulations made it easier for researchers to observe global warming trends. Many of the aerosol pollutants had the unintended effect of blocking incoming solar radiation. As a result, they had masked some of the emissions-driven greenhouse effect. As concentrations of these pollutants fell, a clear warming trend emerged. Scientists also corroborated ground temperature observations with satellite measurements. In addition, historical ice cores also provided independent evidence of the CO2-temperature relationship.
Sounding the Alarm
Despite his Midwestern reserve, James Hansen brought a stark message to Washington on a sweltering June day in 1988. “The evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here.” Hansen led NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies(GISS) and was one of the world’s foremost climate modelers. In his Congressional testimony, he explained that NASA was 99% certain that the observed temperature changes were not natural variation. The next day, the New York Times ran the headline “Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate.” Hansen’s powerful testimony made it clear to politicians and the public where the scientists stood on climate change.
Also in 1988, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC was created to study both the physical science of climate change and the numerous effects of the changes. To do that, the IPCC evaluates global research on climate change, adaptation, mitigation, and impacts. Thousands of leading scientists contribute to IPCC assessment reports as authors and reviewers. IPCC reports represent the largest scientific endeavor in human history and showcase the scientific process at its very best. The work is rigorous, interdisciplinary, and cutting edge.
While the IPCC has contributed massively to our understanding of our changing world, its core message has remained largely unchanged for three decades. The First Assessment Report (FAR) in 1990 stated “emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases.” Since then, the dangers have only grown closer and clearer with each report. New reports not only forecast hazards but describe the present chaos too. As the 2018 Special Report (SR15) explained: “we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes.”
As this story has shown, climate science is not a new discipline and the scientific consensus on climate change is far older than many people think. Ironically, the history of climate denialism is far shorter. Indeed, a 1968 Stanford University study that reported “significant temperature changes are almost certain to occur by the year 2000 and these could bring about climatic changes,” was funded by the American Petroleum Institute. During the 1970s, fossil fuel companies conducted research demonstrating that CO2 emissions would likely increase global temperature. Only with political changes in the 1980s did climate denialism take off.
Not only is climate denialism relatively new, but it is uniquely American. No other Western nation has anywhere near America’s level of climate change skepticism. The epidemic of denialism has many causes. It is partly the result of a concerted effort by fossil fuel interests to confuse the American public on the science of climate change. It is partly due to free-market ideologues that refuse to accept a role for regulation. It is partly because of the media’s misguided notion of fairness and equal time for all views. It is partly due to the popular erosion of trust in experts. It is partly because the consequences of climate change are enormous and terrifying. Yet, you can no more reject anthropogenic climate change than you can reject gravity or magnetism. The laws of physics operate independently of human belief.
However, many who bear blame for our current predicament do not deny the science. For decades, global leaders have greeted dire forecasts with rounds of empty promises. James Hansen has been frustrated the lack of progress since his 1988 testimony. “All we’ve done is agree there’s a problem…we haven’t acknowledged what is required to solve it.” The costs of dealing with climate change are only increasing. Economic harms may run into the trillions. According to the IPCC’s SR15, to avoid some of climate change’s most devastating effects, global temperature rise should be kept to below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. That would likely require a reduction in emissions to half of 2010 levels by 2030, and to net-zero emissions by 2050. Had the world embarked on that path after Hansen’s spoke on Capitol Hill, it would have required annual emissions reductions of less than 2%. Now, according to the latest IPCC report, the same goal requires annual reductions of nearly 8%. 1.5°C appears to be slipping out of reach.
We have known about the causes of climate change for a long time. We have known about the impacts of climate change for a long time. And we have known about the solution to climate change for a long time. An academic review earlier this year demonstrated the impressive accuracy of climate models from the 1970s. This is no longer a scientific issue. While science can continue to forecast with greater geographic and temporal precision, the biggest unknown remains our action. What we choose today will shape the future.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173971 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173971 0 New PBS Documentary "McCarthy" Highlights a Tumultuous Time in Our History
The new American Experience documentary “McCarthy," premiering January 6 on PBS, details the meteoric rise and fall of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy. Through interviews with historical scholars and first-hand witnesses, this impeccably-sourced film tells the harrowing story of McCarthyism, the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the fear of a sinister communist threat—real or imagined—that gripped the American people during the Second Red Scare. By revisiting this tumultuous period in American history, viewers can reflect on our nation’s controversial past and draw clearly defined parallels between McCarthy’s time and our current political climate.
Ahead of the film’s release, I had the exciting opportunity to speak with its director, Sharon Grimberg, about the value of public television as a historical platform, the importance of reaching younger viewers, and what we can learn from the McCarthy era in modern-day America.
Q: What value, in your opinion, does public television have as a platform for teaching history?
A: Well, I worked for American Experience on staff for fifteen years. From my experience, I felt like we took on a lot of topics that are not taken on by other broadcasters, so what we really try to do is spend a lot of time really digging in and doing the research and telling stories in a very kind of in depth and thoughtful way and giving producers the time to think about the best way to tell a story. It’s harder for people to do in other broadcast networks—I don’t want to denigrate anybody else, but PBS is very committed to doing programming that’s thoughtful and also reaching people both in the home and in the classroom, reaching kids in all sorts of communities. In the past they’ve even taken pieces of the story and created a teaching module around them. So many people have said to me, “Sharon, my son just watched one of your films at school.” There’s definitely a commitment to catering to a broad range of viewers including kids in classrooms, and creating content that works for different communities.
Q: In what ways do you think public broadcast documentaries like “McCarthy” positively impact the field of history?
A: I think the way that there’s a push and pull is that for a TV documentary to work, it has to have a narrative story, and not all historical scholarship is written that way, right? So I think there is a way in which there’s something to learn from telling stories narratively, because I think it is more accessible to people. But the thing about a documentary is that you can watch a two-hour documentary about McCarthy and you’re going to walk away knowing something, whereas there’s a lot of really great scholarship about this era and the Red Scare—for example David Oshinsky wrote a very, very fine book, really well-constructed and thoughtful—but it’s a much bigger commitment for the average person. On the other hand, maybe the film will encourage people to do more reading—pick up a book on the topic and make that bigger time commitment.
On this topic, there’s one story that always stands out to me. Years ago I was in Georgia, and my father got a speeding ticket when he was driving me here. We had to go to the police station, and when we got there, there was a police officer who was reading the collected works of Ibsen, and I asked her why. It was because she had just seen the play dramatized on PBS. She had gone to the library and gotten his collected works, because she had seen his play The Dollhouse on television. It just felt to me that there is this kind of synergy of what goes on television: someone who might not necessarily have picked up that particular book had gone to the library and gotten herself a copy, and there she was in this rural, one-room police house reading Ibsen. I do think, if you’re taken somewhere you haven’t been taken before, it opens new doors for you, and that’s what TV can do.
Q: When making historical content for public television, how do you appeal to younger audiences?
A: That’s such an interesting question. I have to say that when I was making this McCarthy film, younger people had no idea who Joseph McCarthy was—absolutely none. So I was very conscious when I was making this film about what people do and don’t know, and wanted to fill in the gaps around what people hadn’t already learned. It’s a very complicated story, and I wanted people to understand why there was a communist community in America during the 1950s: what appealed to people about communism, why they might have agreed with it at that particular moment, and why in the 1950s that might have seemed so scary. Why a woman who was a schoolteacher would be fired from her job, no questions asked, because she was a member of the communist party or even just a communist-dominated labor union. I wanted people to understand the context of those things—hoping that people who don’t come in with a lot of knowledge would understand the complexity of the time. You would need a certain level of interest to turn on the program, but I would hope that kids who see part of the film in the classroom would be intrigued.
Q: The documentary mentions how Joseph McCarthy actually started as a Democrat. Were his Republican views purely opportunistic, and if so, is this sort of flip-flopping a common behavioral pattern among demagogues?
A: It’s very hard to know exactly what he was thinking, but that’s certainly what David Oshinsky would say. He was looking at this whole landscape and he was very ambitious, and he was working as a judge for a while, but that wasn’t going to work out for him. His campaign aide even said to him once, “Why are you so glum? Even if you lose this campaign, you’re still going to be a judge.” He replied, “I don’t want to be a judge all my life—what are you thinking?” He saw that he had the chance to win the seat, and so that’s why he switched sides, I think. He was very ambitious, and I think he saw an opportunity.
Q: There are striking parallels between the McCarthy era and modern political discourse in terms of polarization and enmity between the two parties. Do you think this documentary will raise awareness of this repeated historical pattern?
A: I hope that it makes people think about the way in which democracy works, and the way in which we all have a part in that. Everybody comes with preconceptions, and it’s very easy to drown out people who oppose you instead of taking the time to figure out “why does this person see things so differently from the way I do?” That to me seems like a big take-home.
There was one story, one that didn’t make the final cut, about this guy called Harold Michaels who was a young Republican in Wisconsin. He had worked as a volunteer helping McCarthy get elected and worked on his reelection in 1952, but by 1954 he was completely disgusted with McCarthy. He had been a lifelong Republican, but he was one of the few to look around at what was happening and say, “This isn’t right.” So he ended up campaigning for McCarthy’s opponent in the next election. They didn’t get quite enough votes, but they made a good effort. So here’s somebody who was in the middle and shifted his perspective.
Q: The documentary mentions how the rest of the Republican party was wary of McCarthy, but continued to support him because “they had no other alternative.” Margaret Chase Smith was, in fact, the only Republican to stand up to him. In a political climate that is, once again, strikingly similar, what can we learn from Republicans’ reaction to McCarthy?
A: The thing that always sticks in my mind is the Edward Murrow broadcast, in which he says something like “this is no time for people to be quiet.” We cannot abdicate our responsibilities as citizens of a democracy; we have to protect freedom at home, and we are the beacon of freedom around the world. But we can’t defend freedom around the world if we’re not defending it here. What he’s saying is, democracy is fragile, and we are responsible for protecting other people’s freedoms and ensuring that America remains true to its founding ideals.
McCarthy did overstep bounds, and he became so reckless and thoughtless that people who hadn’t done anything were hurt. I think, if anything, we don’t do enough to explain what happened to some of the people called before his committee—one man even killed himself. There were real, horrible consequences for people who, sometimes, had done nothing but be part of a communist-dominated union. They weren’t traitors to their country; they were just left-leaning. But he so overstepped his bounds that people began to have a distaste for that sort of ideology. Some of my historians in the film would say that he made anti-communism so distasteful that the government actually backed too far away from it, because of what had happened to ordinary people. It was counter-productive to be that reckless with ordinary people’s lives.
One story that really stuck out to me was when a graduate student named Leon was charged with contempt of congress for refusing to answer McCarthy’s questions. He was brought to trial, but the case was thrown out on a technicality when McCarthy walked into the room and a group of Irish Catholic spectators began to cheer. The judge threw out the case because the jury had been tainted by cheering, and then held a bench hearing where he found that McCarthy didn’t have jurisdiction over the case. Even though the case was throw out, Leon couldn’t find a job after, so he moved to Canada for over a decade. Leon’s experience really illustrates that most of those targeted by McCarthy were uninfluential people—they didn't have access to state secrets, they were just ordinary, left-leaning citizens.
I think that, overall, what the film says to people is that democracy is fragile, and we all have a responsibility to protect it. The ordinary person does that by voting and protesting and writing letters, and elected representatives by acting correctly.
Q: What did you find most interesting or surprising when you were creating this film?
A: What I found interesting is that America was very, very divided back then, and you could see that in the way that Republicans and Democrats treated each other in the Senate. It was a very divided time, venomous and acrimonious. You could see that in archives, even—representatives got horrible letters from constituents, which is different from today because the sort of thing wasn’t broadcasted on social media.
Another thing is that even though McCarthy was chastised in the McCarthy hearings and then censured by the Senate, if you look at the polling all through the fall of 1954, there was still a very solid 30% of the country that supported him. It didn’t waver.
There is a whole lot of baggage that comes with how we understand things: you can point to anyone on the political spectrum and see that people come to things with their preconceived notions and worldview intact. You trust your sources because they fit into your worldview, and that doesn’t allow you to shift your position much because that’s what you bring to the table.
I was very struck with that. Despite everything, there were a lot of people who still felt he was fighting a good fight. And that’s why I wanted the film to end the way it does—with Splits saying that he was a patriot—because a lot of people still felt that way.
Q: Finally, what do you hope your audience will take away from “McCarthy?”
A: I think that I would say what I said before—that democracy is fragile and we’re all responsible. That, to me, seems an enduring truth. We can’t count on always living in a democracy, but we need to work at it to make sure that the vulnerable aren’t exploited, that the powerful don’t usurp too much power, and that the justice system is working fairly. Those things don’t happen unless we keep are eyes open and we’re active. We as citizens have a responsibility to keep our eyes open, listen, and speak up when we see things that aren’t right.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173886 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173886 0 A Historian Reflects on the Return of Fascism
Members of the Maquis, French Resistance Fighters in World War II
Back in 1941, the year of my birth, fascism stood on the brink of conquering the world. During the preceding decades, movements of the Radical Right―mobilized by demagogues into a cult of virulent nationalism, racial and religious hatred, and militarism―had made great strides in nations around the globe. By the end of 1941, fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan, having launched massive military invasions of other lands, where they were assisted by local rightwing collaborators, had conquered much of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
It was a grim time.
Fortunately, though, an enormous movement arose to resist the fascist juggernaut. Led by liberals and assorted leftists around the world and eventually bolstered by the alliance of Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, this resistance movement ultimately prevailed.
The antifascist struggle of World War II established the groundwork for a new and better international order. In January 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a major public address, outlined what became known as The Four Freedoms. The people of all nations, he proclaimed, should enjoy freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. That August, Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill unveiled the Atlantic Charter, declaring that people should have the right to choose their own form of government, that force should be abandoned in world affairs, and that international action should promote improved living and working conditions for all people.
These public declarations―coupled with the widespread discrediting of rightwing parties, movements, and ideas―led directly to the establishment, in 1945, of the United Nations. According to the UN Charter, the purpose of the new world organization was to “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,” and “to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.”
And, in fact, in the decades following World War II, there were significant strides forward along these lines. Led by Eleanor Roosevelt, the United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, setting forth fundamental rights to be protected. Furthermore, much of Europe, the cockpit of two terrible world wars, cast aside nationalism to establish a federal union. Moreover, a wave of decolonization freed much of the world from foreign rule, UN forces engaged in numerous peacekeeping operations, and the United Nations and many national governments established economic aid programs for the world’s poorest countries.
Admittedly, national policies sometimes fell short of the new internationalist, antimilitarist, and égalitarian ideals and programs. Governments―and particularly governments of the major powers―all too often ignored the United Nations and, instead, squandered their resources on military buildups and terrible wars. Many governments also had a spotty record when it came to respecting human rights, promoting social and economic progress, and curbing the rising power of multinational corporations.
Even so, for decades, humane domestic policies―from banning racial discrimination to scrapping unfair immigration laws, from improving public health to promoting antipoverty efforts and workers’ rights―remained the norm in many nations, as did at least a token genuflection to peace and international law. Political parties with a democratic socialist or liberal orientation, elected to public office, implemented programs emphasizing social justice and international cooperation. On occasion, though far less consistently, centrist and communist governments fostered such programs, as well. Only parties of the Radical Right attacked these policies across the board; but, swimming against the tide, they remained marginal.
Nevertheless, in the last decade or so, enormous headway has been made by movements and parties following the old fascist playbook, with rightwing demagogues trumpeting its key elements of virulent nationalism, racial and religious intolerance, and militarism. Seizing, particularly, on mass migration and funded by avaricious economic élites, the Radical Right has made startling progress―undermining the European Union, contesting for power in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece, and taking control of such countries as Russia, India, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Brazil, the Philippines, Israel, Egypt, and, of course, the United States.
Long before the advent of Donald Trump, the Republican Party had been shifting rightward, pulled in that direction by its incorporation of Southern racists and Christian evangelicals. This political reorientation sped up after the election of Barack Obama sent white supremacists into a frenzy of rage and self-pity.
Trump’s 2015-16 campaign for the presidency accelerated the GOP’s radicalization. Drawing upon unusually hate-filled rhetoric, he viciously denounced his Republican and Democratic rivals. Along the way, he engaged in his characteristic lying and mocked or incited violence against his critics, the disabled, immigrants, racial minorities, Muslims, women, and the press. His racism, xenophobia, and militarism, combined with his thuggish style and manifest lack of qualifications for public office, should have doomed his campaign. But, instead, he emerged victorious―a clear sign that a substantial number of Americans found his approach appealing.
As president, Trump has not only displayed a remarkable contempt for truth, law, civil liberties, the poor, civil rights, and women’s rights, but catered to the wealthy, the corporations, white supremacists, and religious fanatics. He has also proved adept at inciting hatreds among his rightwing followers through racist, xenophobic diatribes delivered at mass rallies and through propaganda messages. Meanwhile, he has forged close alliances with his authoritarian counterparts abroad. Either out of fear or love, Republican officeholders cling ever more tenaciously to him as the nation’s Supreme Leader. If the GOP is not yet a fascist party, it is well on its way to becoming one.
Having grown up at a time when ranting maniacs dispatched their fanatical followers to stamp out freedom and human decency, I am, unfortunately, quite familiar with the pattern.
Even so, the struggle to shape the future is far from over. During my lifetime, I have seen powerful movements wage successful fights for racial justice, women’s rights, and economic equality. I have seen massive campaigns successfully challenge wars and nuclear insanity. I have seen the emergence of inspiring political leaders who have toppled dictatorships against incredible odds. Perhaps most important, I have seen millions of people, in the United States and around the globe, turn the tide against fascism when, some eight decades ago, it threatened to engulf the world.
Let’s hope they can do it again.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173972 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173972 0 The Tea Party Revisited
Steve Hochstadt is a professor of history emeritus at Illinois College, who blogs for HNN and LAProgressive, and writes about Jewish refugees in Shanghai.
Ten years ago, the Tea Party was big news. The Tea Party announced itself just as I began writing political op-eds in 2009. I found them deeply disturbing. They proclaimed their allegiance to freedom as loudly as they threatened mine. I didn’t agree with their economic claims that the deficit was America’s biggest problem, and I suspected their pose as the best protectors of the Constitution was a front for less reasonable beliefs about race, gender, and religion.
Founded in 2009 as a reaction to the election of Barack Obama as President, the federal bailouts of banks and other institutions in the wake of the great recession of 2008, and, later, the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the Tea Party entered conservative politics with a splash in the 2010 elections. NBC identified 130 candidates for the House and 10 for the Senate, all Republicans, as having strong Tea Party support. Among them, 5 Senate candidates and 40 House candidates won election. Those numbers are very high, because many Tea Party candidates defeated established politicians. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Marco Rubio in Florida, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, and Mike Lee in Utah defeated more established politicians, including some incumbents, in both parties. They are all still Senators. Among the 5 Senate candidates who lost, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada, and John Raese in West Virginia took extreme and sometimes laughable positions; Ken Buck in Colorado and Joe Miller in Alaska lost by tiny margins.
The Tea Party claimed to follow an ambitious agenda. One list on teaparty.org of “Non-negotiable Core Beliefs” included many economic items: “national budget must be balanced”; “deficit spending will end”; “reduce personal income taxes a must”; “reduce business taxes is mandatory”. A slightly different list called the “Contract from America” was also heavy with economic priorities: a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget; a single-rate tax system; “end runaway government spending”; “stop the pork”. The Contract included no social issues at all. The Core Beliefs began with “Illegal Aliens Are Here Illegally”, and included “Gun Ownership is Sacred”, “Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged”, and “English As Core Language Is Required”. Tea Partiers claimed complete allegiance to the Constitution as originally written.
Recently many commentators have asserted that the Tea Party was a failure and is dead. A NY Times article said “the ideas that animated the Tea Party movement have been largely abandoned by Republicans under President Trump”, because deficit spending has ballooned since he took office. Senator Rand Paul said “The Tea Party is no more.” A New Yorker article noted “the movement’s failure”, because they did not achieve a repeal of Obamacare. Jeff Jacoby, the conservative columnist for the Boston Globe, “mourned its demise in February 2018 under the title, “The Tea Party is dead and buried, and the GOP just danced on its grave”. He focused on the Tea Party’s inability to get Republicans to rein in spending.
Most of the successful Tea Party candidates from 2010 are no longer in Washington. Aside from the 5 successful Senators, only 16 of the 40 Tea Party House membersare left. Justin Amash recently left the Republican Party after indicating support for impeachment. But those figures are not a surprise. The average tenure in office of a member of the House is just under 10 years, so about half should have left by now. Two moved up in the political world. Mick Mulvaney is now head of the Office of Management and Budget. Tim Scott won election as a Senator.
The whole narrative of Tea Party failure is wrong, in my opinion. While Tea Party organizations proclaimed high-minded principles of fiscal restraint, I don’t think that complex budgetary issues or particular readings of the Constitution motivate masses of voters. Today’s Republican Party is entirely in the hands of Trump, he completely ignores adherence to the Constitution and maintaining a balanced budget, and Tea Partiers are delirious with joy. The enthusiasts who scream at Trump rallies are the same people who signed on to the Contract from America in 2010. Trump embodies their real core beliefs: white supremacy; opposition to abortion rights, gay marriage, transgender people and anything that appears to deviate from their mythology of the “traditional family”; opposition to government regulation of private business, but support for government intrusion into private life; opposition to gender equality.
The social scientist Theda Skocpol, who studied Tea Party grassroots at the beginning, dismissed their economic policies as window dressing. She argued in 2011that these white older conservative Americans “concentrated on resentment of perceived federal government “handouts” to “undeserving” groups, the definition of which seems heavily influenced by racial and ethnic stereotypes.” She noted that “the opposition between working and nonworking people is fundamental to Tea Party ideology”, and that “nonworking” was assumed to refer to non-white. In a recent interview, Skocpol identifies Tea Party advocates as Christian conservatives, not libertarians. Today the Christian right shouts its joy about Donald Trump from every pulpit.
I was right and wrong about the Tea Party in 2010. I recognized that “The Tea Partiers are wrong. The people they support will increase government intrusion into our private lives, under the guise of protecting us from enemies all around, and will help big business exploit our private resources.”
I also wrote, “They won’t change American politics. Despite putting pretty faces like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin on their posters, they’re way too unattractive. Like the guy who strolls into Starbucks with his gun, they might get a lot of attention, but they’ll make no friends.” How wrong that was. Their disdain for the views of other Americans, their distorted understanding of the Constitution, their blindness to facts which do not support their ideology, their racism and sexism, are now in control of the White House. The Republicans they called RINOs are gone.
They only supported limited government when a black man was President. Now they shout for the arrest of anyone they don’t like. The Tea Party no longer needs to attack the Republican Party from the right. They are the Republican Party, and their desire to recreate our country in their image is non-negotiable.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154297 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154297 0 Trump is no Hitler: His Enablers are the Greater Problem
Comparisons of Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler are becoming more relevant as the president responds to further revelations of his priorities and his impeachment. Despite the protestations of some analysts who claim the contrast has no value, it is worth considering any historical antecedents that might give us insight into the current distressing political climate.
The two leaders’ tactics and personalities have been reported and analyzed over the last few years with fascinating similarities. For example; Trump’s first wife, Ivana, revealed he kept a collection of Hitler’s speeches at his bedside, and a respected Hitler biographer and scholar, Ron Rosenbaum, claims the president continues to use Mein Kamph as a playbook. Trump's inflammatory rhetoric and scapegoating certainly emulates the infamous German leader.
However, most of the Trump-Hitler comparisons have been made without consideration of how the facilitators of dangerous leaders are central to understanding any parallels.
As Washington’s climate becomes dramatically polarized, the behavior of Trump’s allies reflect an abhorrent historical pattern. Impending disaster looms as facts are dismissed and personal attacks are the only response of the president and his defenders. We relentlessly hear the details in daily news reports; outright lies and fabrications have become so prevalent there is a growing tolerance to the climate of dysfunction.
If we consider the larger picture, a blind and immoral political frenzy has seized the United States, similar in some ways to pre-war Nazi Germany. The rise of one of the most destructive dictators in world history was promoted and tolerated in a similar atmosphere.
There are, of course, some clear differences. Though within his base he has a small army of domestic neo-Nazis and some supporters in the military, the president is incapable of exercising the kind of brutal authority that Hitler used to gain full control. He has succeeded in putting refugees in camps, but Trump has not been able to round up his perceived enemies and have them silenced. His hostility towards the press has yielded some violence, though much to his frustration, media continues to report on his worst offenses. Although he intimidates witnesses and detractors, Trump has not succeeded in creating enough animosity towards any enemy to deter investigators or distract a majority of the public from his ridiculous behavior. He imagines being all-powerful, but the president will not have the Capitol burned as Hitler torched the Reichstag. Trump has so far failed in his ability to control the country with the efficiency of the German führer.
The degree of Trump's success has been achieved only because of the leverage he has on political cronies. Trump is no Hitler, and his acolytes are at a loss, lacking a truly powerful leader. In their empty defense of the president, whether repeating Trump’s angry excuses or remaining silent, many members of the party of Lincoln feign their innocence in allowing the unfolding constitutional crisis. How they manage to do so in the face of articles of impeachment and very specific constitutional violations will be telling. But the overt posturing of those compromised by self-serving loyalty and blatant hypocrisy is a symptom of political cowardice, thus making any change in position unlikely.
The collaborators who claim they are behind the president are watching the bizarre show, waiting to see which direction the wind blows with the public to best protect their own interests. They are not fools, thus like the president, they willingly put personal interests before the country’s. What degree of insanity and illegality will be needed before they admit the president deserves removal from office?
Consider if both the Senate and the House were now controlled by Republicans, would there be any remnant of balance of power? And how much control would be granted to Mr. Trump? Perhaps Congress would tolerate a declaration of a national emergency that transferred all of their powers to the president’s cabinet. Could it happen here?
Hitler’s corporate and political supporters assisted in the collapse of Germany’s constitutional democracy in 1933, although a similar coup is very unlikely in the United States. Trump may have a narcissistic personality disorder and erupt with vitriolic diatribes like Hitler, but his minions have given their loyalty to a self-absorbed, self-incriminating president who is driving the country towards chaos. They have fallen for the tactics of a charlatan who commands the most powerful and menacing military force on the planet.
The president's continuing egomaniacal diplomatic decisions have initiated distress among some in his party. However, Republican defenders have not dared to admit the obvious: Trump’s betrayal of US international interests and his illegal seizure of foreign affairs for personal gain are part of the same outrageous, subversive behavior, establishing without doubt that he is impeachable.
This bizarre and divisive epoch has exposed moral failings in government of the highest order. Investigations and judicial rulings must further unfold before there is any consensus on Trump’s legacy. Yet the empowerment granted by his protectors has already initiated a collapse of constitutional order and degradation of government.
We witness a repeating pattern that echoes through centuries: the enablers of ruinous tyrants light fires that eventually consume them. Some will recognize their catastrophic failures only in retrospect.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173973 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173973 0 Reexamining the Mayflower 400 Years Later
Adapted from The Journey to the Mayflower by Stephen Tomkins, published by Pegasus Books. Reprinted with permission. All other rights reserved.
There were a number of considerations that made the Separatists look to America in 1617, but the most commonly cited motive for the sailing of the Mayflower– to escape persecution and worship freely – was not one of them. Persecution had driven them out of England to the Netherlands, but they had not suffered persecution in the Netherlands and the Leiden church had especially good relations with the Dutch. Persecution prevented them from going home, but not from staying where they were.
The key consideration, according to the Separatists themselves, was that life in Dutch cities seemed just too grim for their church to have any future. They were losing the older generation, Bradford said, who seemed to be dying prematurely after years of unskilled urban labor, or, having used up their savings, returned to England to lodge with family. And they were losing the younger generation, who were fed up with godly poverty and surrounded by worldliness they would never have encountered in an English village. ‘Getting the reins off their necks’, Bradford said, some young people joined the army, some went off to sea and others took ‘worse courses’. Those young people who remained in the faith, he said, joined in their parents’ labors and were incapacitated by them. The leaders feared that within years their church would collapse. America, they imagined, would allow them to create an English village 3,000 miles from the nearest bishop, returning to the agricultural life they yearned for, and escaping the fleshpots of Leiden and Amsterdam.
A sense of failure in their mission added to the Brownists’ discontent, according to Winslow, who lamented ‘how little good we did, or were like to do’. He had hoped that the purity of their church would inspire the Dutch to a new reformation, but they ignored them. The English paid more attention, and many were impressed by the Brownists’ example, but too few were willing to join them in the Netherlands, and fewer stayed. Admittedly, America would offer still fewer opportunities to convert the English, but perhaps, Bradford said, they would be God’s instrument for converting the Americans.
On top of all the difficulties of life in the Netherlands, the English feared that it was about to get worse. The Spanish truce expired in 1621, and it seemed likely that the war would resume. This was a serious consideration, though war with Spain had not stopped the church coming to the Netherlands in the first place.
Another motive Winslow mentioned for going to America was, paradoxically, to stay English. The younger generation had gradually integrated with Dutch society, and it was clear, as Winslow put it, ‘how like we were to lose our language and our name of English’. This undermined their mission to model reform to the English churches. If the Brownists did survive in the Netherlands, becoming just another Dutch denomination would defeat their object in being there.
There is, however, something intriguingly inconsistent and incoherent about the reasons the colonists gave for their decision. Although Bradford’s main explanation was that they were driven to America by the grimness and poverty of life in Leiden, which lay behind all their other problems too, yet he says elsewhere: ‘At length they came to raise a competent and comfortable living’; and though it was not easy at first, he adds,‘(after many difficulties) they continued many years, in a comfortable condition’. He describes their departure from ‘that goodly and pleasant city’. Above all, he says they looked to America as a ‘place of better advantage and less danger’ than Holland, but also says that they were aware of its ‘inconceivable perils’. ‘The miseries of the land ... would be too hard to be borne.’ It would be likely ‘to consume and utterly to ruinate them’. They feared famine and nakedness, ‘sore sicknesses, and grievous diseases’. They had heard terrifying accounts of the indigenous Americans torturing people to death. They were aware of how many settlements had failed and how many lives had been lost. Add to all this the perils of the journey itself, and the frailty of the travelers, and one has to wonder in what sense exactly Bradford was using the phrase ‘less danger’.
When members voiced their serious doubts about the expedition Robinson and Brewster proposed, the reply, as Bradford has it, is fascinating: ‘All great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties; and must be both enterprise, and overcome with answerable courages.’ The reason they needed to leave Leiden, supposedly, was to escape its hardships; and when critics of the plan worried that America would have great hardships, they were told that this great enterprise was worth great hardships. So what was the enterprise, if not to escape hardships?
The colonists seemed to have difficulty articulating exactly what compelled them to leave the Netherlands for America. They had a sense of an important enterprise, which, though they might rationalize it in terms of escaping the difficulties of life in Holland, did not meet that objective terribly well. Their calculation of the risks and imperatives does not add up unless we remember how ingrained it was for the Separatists to see their story in biblical terms, as following biblical patterns. They saw their reflection in countless scriptural parallels, but above all in the exodus – God leading the new children of Israel out of the bloody and antichristian land of their birth, to a place he had prepared for them. From Browne’s first writing, to Helwys’s last, the Separatist equation was repeated (critically in Helwys’s case): ‘England was as Egypt’. They had been delivered and there could be no going back. The Netherlands, however, had not felt at all like the Promised Land, which meant that instead they were in the wilderness, the stretch of wandering and learning that occupied Israel before reaching Canaan. They were God’s ‘little church, fled into the wilderness’, in Ainsworth’s words, or, as Johnson put it, they had followed Moses’ path, rejecting the treasures of Egypt ‘to suffer adversity with the people of God’; they were ‘but strangers and pilgrims’.
The Separatists were prime examples of the fundamentally forward-looking nature of Protestantism – ‘a religion of progress’, as Alec Ryrie puts it, ‘of restless, relentless advance toward holiness, not of stagnation’. Each stream saw itself as the culmination in a century of progress towards truth and obedience, while still challenging its own orthodoxies, their church covenants explicitly committing them to embrace God’s future revelations, to be ready to take the next step. Individual members had once walked miles to acceptable churches, then moved to London maybe, then sailed for Amsterdam, then moved again to Leiden or Emden. If their dreams had failed to come true and no simple way forward presented itself, then their whole religious experience and outlook told them God would reveal a new path ahead. Satan called them back, the Lord called them on. And if the way forward involved a terrifying leap of faith, ‘yet might they have comfort in the same’. Whatever America might entail, it was not retreat; it was not going back to Egypt.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173967 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173967 0 A Personal History of Vietnam War Refugee Policies
When the war ended in Vietnam in 1975, America was completely unprepared for the sudden influx of refugees who came to the United States from South Vietnam. There was no policy for letting them in. There was no policy to keep them out. The Vietnamese who came did so because they felt they had no other option.
That first group to arrive was a diverse lot. Some worked for the American press. Others were in the employ of big American companies with construction and communication projects in South Vietnam. Some were professionals -- lawyers, teachers, and doctors and nurses. Some worked for South Vietnamese non-profits. There were cooks and dishwashers, street cleaners and soldiers. Many were family members who feared reprisals from the North Vietnamese. Their backgrounds and occupations may have been different, but they all shared one overriding goal: they did not want to live under communism and the domination of Hanoi and the Viet Cong, who were equally hated and feared.
Throughout its history, America has seldom been kind or overly hospitable to refugees. Despite the millions who came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when our doors were open without prejudice, there has always been an unfounded fear that the newcomers would change the American way of life. After World War I, nationalists, always a powerful factor in American politics, decided enough was enough. They wanted to stop the flow of Italians, Jews, Irish, Germans and the Chinese into the U.S. To mollify the nativists, Congress enacted laws that created strong quotas and tough strictures on immigrants. Deportations for illegal immigrants mainly from Mexico and Central America are also nothing new. For example, between 1931 and 1940 America deported more than 500,000 Mexican-Americans back to Mexico.
In the case of Vietnam, however, these strictures were relaxed, perhaps because of guilt over the way the war had ended.
Josephine Tu Ngoc Suong was born in Saigon in 1942 during the Japanese occupation. She had worked for many years for NBC News before I arrived in Saigon in 1966. We married in December 1968 in a simple ceremony at the Hong Kong city hall. Josephine's father, Tu Hong Phat, had lived though the long French occupation, the short Japanese takeover during World War II and then the return of French domination until the fall of Dien Bien Phu and the new dominance by America. Through hard work he carved out a confortable life for himself and his family who lived on a typical, unpaved street with a market and Catholic Church in central Saigon.
Before the war was over, Josephine and I were living in Rockville Centre, New York, She and her father wrote many letters to each other. I recently found a few surviving letters her father wrote about what he observed in Saigon as the war was ending. The letters give us a rare insight into what an average Vietnamese man thought about the war.
There were major battles on the days when he wrote. Fighting and chaos were everywhere. Most of Mr. Tu's letters were realistic, well informed and filled with information about the war, how Josephine's three brothers were faring and how the family was dealing with food shortages.
He thanked Josephine for packages of food that she sent weekly. He told her how he sent his wife, her mother, Nguyen Thi Ba, to purchase 500 kilos of rice, dry shrimp, and dry Vietnamese sausage that could last as long as five months if the military situation grew worse and there was a shortage of food.
He wrote "The military situation in the south of Vietnam is in an extremely serious stage. Numerous events have occurred recently, never seen in the history of this war." It was surprising to see how well informed Mr. Tu was about the war. I never trusted the local press in South Vietnam, but Mr. Tu obviously knew how to parse the information, real and rumored, from a myriad of sources.
Mr. Tu wrote about the provinces in northern South Vietnam that had recently fallen to Hanoi: "The communists have taken this opportunity to change their guerrilla fighting over to tactical and strategic fighting using main force troops in strength. Our South Vietnamese forces often withdrew its troops before clashing with the enemy." He said, "according to the latest sources, the northern provinces are in a shambles with over 10,000 North Vietnamese troops fighting near Binh Dinh." He told Josephine "refugees keep flowing deeper south even as far as the southern resort of Vung Tao."
At the time of this letter, the ARVN, South Vietnam’s army, was on its own. American troops had left the country almost two years prior. South Vietnam's ground forces were not doing well without American support, hardly a surprise to most observers.
Toward the end of one long letter Mr. Tu became political, voicing some of his thoughts about life in Vietnam as the war was ending. "In brief, the people who are living under freedom could have a happy life if they worked hard. Living in a free society, the people have all their rights, while the communists have none. People under communism must listen to the Communist party if they want to live. If the communists appear anywhere, the place is soon ruined and damaged. No one can forget the VC general offensive during the New Year of 1968. Thousands of innocent people have been buried alive at Hue, the former Imperial capital. That is why people are fleeing the communists. But the present regime in South Vietnam is not much better since there is much injustice and corruption in the military and administrative machinery. Evil."
As the war was ending, NBC decided it had a moral obligation to bring to America any Vietnamese employees and their families who wanted to come here. Josephine's family never hesitated. With the help of NBC News they were part of the first wave of 125,000 immigrants who came to the U.S. in 1975. The whole family, except for Josephine’s three brothers who were in the South Vietnamese military, left.
The Vietnamese who successfully fled Vietnam were housed in refugee camps in the United States, on Guam, or in the Philippines. Josephine’s family members were sent to California and Arkansas.
Meanwhile, as Saigon was falling in 1975, the brothers were at the Bien Hoa Air Base outside Saigon. Unsure of their next move, they decided to make their way to the family home.
Their friend Xuan was still serving in the navy as the situation in Saigon deteriorated. Xuan said that "patrols on the water were normal until the morning of April 28 when the VC opened a heavy offensive against the Thanh Giang Bridge," the biggest span on the highway into Saigon. A battle ensued with no definitive result.
After that battle, Xuan drove with his commander to a meeting in the Rung Sat jungle riverine force zone. His commander had an order to evacuate all his navy ships and he asked Xuan if he would like to go with him. Xuan agreed to flee but He had more to do. He took a chance and went to the Tu home where he found Khiet, Khai and Quan waiting for something to happen. It did. The brothers agreed to come with Xuan on the navy boat. Unfortunately, Xuan’s parents didn’t want to leave Saigon. "My parents still would not leave. My father would not budge," Xuan recalled.
Saigon was about to fall and the Viet Cong were everywhere so the men could no longer delay their departure. It was time to get moving. After securing extra food for his family and saying goodbye to his mother and father, Xuan and the three brothers made their final scooter ride to Nha Be where the patrol boats were docked at the rendezvous point ready to go.
As they fled, Xuan recalled, "Outside the main streets of central Saigon, the city seemed as a dead city. No houses or stores were open. People stayed inside unsure of what would come next." It was April 29, 1975, one day before Saigon fell and war officially ended.
After briefly staying in a small house with about fifty other people, they boarded the ships. Worried they might have to fight the enemy to escape, the men mounted weapons on the ship’s deck. Luckily, the small fleet with its lights turned off, escaped undetected. Xuan remembered a moving, tearful ceremony as the crew lowered the Republic of Vietnam flag as the passengers said goodbye to their homeland. After seven days at sea they arrived in the Philippines. From there they transferred to a large commercial ship that took them to Guam. They spent two weeks there before being flown to Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.
While the family was still settling into our house on Long Island, I had to take up a new assignment for the Today Show in Washington, D,C. Josephine and I flew to D.C. to look for a place to live. While house hunting, we received a 4 A.M. phone call from Josephine’s 23-year-old brother Quan. He was calling from the National Guard camp at Fort Indiantown Gap. Quan, his brothers Khiet and Khai, and their friend Xuan told us they ended up there after a long journey at sea.
Knowing Josephine’s brothers were safe gave added impetus to our house hunting.The day after the 4 AM phone call Josephine and I rented a big home in suburban Maryland that would take care of the family at least temporarily. That Sunday, Josephine and I drove to Pennsylvania to find her brothers and their friend.
When we arrived at Indiantown Gap, I told the guard at the gate what we wanted and he unhesitatingly directed us to the administrative building. I entered the office, explained what I wanted to the desk sergeant, and handed him a piece of paper with the names of the men we wanted to take home with us. He grunted in assent, sent a corporal to find the men and soon they were in the office, hugging Josephine, laughing and crying as I signed them out into my custody.
We walked back to the car and I drove to the first Burger King I saw. Everyone ordered burgers, fries and Cokes. Their first real meal in America and, of course, it had to be the fastest of fast food, the most iconic welcome they could have had. They ate, and kept eating.
When we returned to Rockville Centre (we wouldn’t move to Maryland for a few more weeks), there was no negative reaction to the sudden influx of refugees in my Long Island town. Donations of clothing from the two Jewish temples and the Catholic diocese started arriving on our front porch. People cooked meals for us and volunteered to drive family members to stores and medical appointments. Others volunteered to help Josephine in any way she needed. Kindness prevailed. The community outdid itself welcoming the newcomers.
Josephine's three brothers, their newly adopted cousin and her father were still wearing Saigon-style sandals, leather thongs sewn into soles made from discarded rubber tires. They needed something better for their feet, more applicable to the colder weather soon to come. I piled everyone into the station wagon and drove to Baldwin, one town over, and a Shoetown store to buy shoes and socks for everyone. I told the startled clerk that I wanted sneakers and sweat socks for everyone. The men sat down, tried on various sneaker styles, made decisions on what they would wear, and walked out of the store in newly clad feet, happy with their selections and their deeper inclusion into American society.
Josephine’s brothers, their friend and her father started helping around the house washing the bathrooms, cleaning the floors, washing the windows, cutting the grass and upgrading the flowerbeds. Inside and out, the house and yard never looked better.
Then the whole family was off to Maryland so I could start my new job. As we pulled up to our new home, one of our neighbors watched from behind his curtains. Later, he told me he thought he was witnessing a benign invasion by a delegation from an Asian country. The fact that Josephine’s female family members were wearing their traditional dress, the Vietnamese ao dai, only heightened his impression.
Once settled, I started my new job, driving to work every morning at 5:30 A.M. Meanwhile Josephine helped her family adjust to their new home, finding work for everyone so they could be independent.
The men had no definable skills that translated easily into work, which made it hard to find jobs for them. Through a personal contact of mine, we were able to get Josephine's three brothers, their friend, and her father jobs cutting grass, cleaning flowerbeds, and watering lawns. The pay was low, but it was in cash and in those warm weather months they could spend their time outdoors. Soon they started to bring home money and feel more secure in their new life.
It took more doing to find work for the women, who also had no transferable skills. But they were not afraid of menial labor. Josephine made a contact with a local Ramada Inn. They got jobs cleaning rooms, making beds, and washing bathrooms. These were not cash jobs but the accumulated paychecks gave the women a sense of security and worth.
I must emphasize that strangers who helped my family did it with a smile, unlike today when many Americans regard immigrants with disdain and anger. I do not, and the family does not, recall having suffered because they were refugees.
Once Josephine had secured jobs for everyone, her next step was housing. Her family had money coming in and collectively they could afford to move to a place of their own. However, that proved to be difficult. Buying was impossible. Renting was also difficult because none of them had a bank account. None of them had credit cards or Social Security numbers. They had never had a telephone, even in Saigon. Neither had they ever paid an electric bill. In other words, not one of the family had a record of having spent any money in their new country. That would eventually come, but not fast enough to get them their own home. However, Josephine persevered and eventually found a town house the family could rent. She and I vouched for each family member individually and we provided the money for the security deposit.
In a matter of weeks, the family moved into their new home in a lower middle-class development in Gaithersburg, a few miles from where Josephine and I lived. The first night in my Potomac home without them was strange, eerily quiet, as if our basement had never been the home for those who had fled the communist takeover of South Vietnam leaving their old lives behind.
Josephine’s family, continued to work and save money. They got drivers licenses, bought cars and relieved Josephine of her duties as a chauffeur. As soon as they could, the family moved into a bigger house, Here their story takes a new turn. Josephine’s mother, Nguyen Thi Ba, had been a well-known cook in Saigon who ran a small breakfast and lunch restaurant in the front courtyard of their home.
Now she opened a clandestine, illegal restaurant in the front parlor of her house where she served home cooked Vietnamese food to the growing community of refugees starting to populate Maryland, Virginia, and Washington. Some neighbors complained, causing the local board of health to occasionally shut down the restaurant, but that never lasted too long. Even the health inspectors grabbed a quick meal of pho, the hearty signature soup of Vietnam, or a variety of noodles and chicken in plum sauce. The food was too good to pass up.
Josephine’s family had always wanted to own a restaurant. They soon realized their dream. With the money they had been saving the family opened the first of its two restaurants, Taste of Saigon, in Maryland and then Virginia. Their aim, with Josephine as their mentor, was to stand on their own and not be a burden to anyone. In their life as restaurateurs, they were starting to reach their goal.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173970 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173970 0 A Civil War Heirloom, Ancestry.com, and the Importance of Tracing Our Family's Historical Roots
My grandfather, Leo “Butch” Armbruster, was a railroad engineer and a man of exceptional frugality. Famously in our family circle, when feeding an infant grandchild, he would eat whatever was left in the Gerber jar when we were full. The shanty behind his house bulged with corroded pipes and faucets, old eyeglasses and tobacco tins brimming with bits of hardware, and the sleds and ice skates of his now-grown children.
The real treasures were in his attic. As the grandson who lived closest, who spent the most time with him, and who he knew loved history, I was favorably positioned to get occasional glimpses of, and sometimes to handle, those treasures. And on one very special day in the mid 1960s, when I was a high school senior, I got to call his best treasure my own.
The treasure is a Spencer repeating rifle. Known as the “Seven-Shot Wonder”, this invention of one Charles Spencer was the world’s first military, brass-cartridge, repeating rifle. The Spencer Repeating Rifle Company, and the Burnside Rifle Company under license, together manufactured more than 200,000 of these “Wonders” between 1860 and 1869. Mine is engraved, “Spencer Repeating Rifle Co., Boston, Mass., Pat’d March 6, 1860.”
Boasting a 30-inch barrel, the Spencer was accurate to 500 yards. Seven 13mm (approximately half-inch in diameter) cartridges were loaded into a spring-energized tube that slid into the breach (stock). The Wonder could spray the enemy with up to 20 rounds per minute in the hands of a well-trained Union soldier. This involved levering a cartridge into the chamber, while simultaneously dropping the spent brass to the ground, then pulling back the hammer, aiming and firing. This was not much effort per shot when compared to the gymnastics needed to load shot and powder into a musket, put more powder onto the pan, and get off a (less accurate) lead ball.
In an excellent example of bureaucratic bone-headedness, the U.S. Department of War’s Ordinance Department delayed putting the Spencer into the field, because of fear that soldiers would waste too much ammunition. You needed more mules and wagons to move all that ammunition. And you could buy several trusty Springfield muskets for the price of just one Spencer. Consequently, not until the Battle of Gettysburg did the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves demonstrate the withering worth of the Wonder. (1)
The Spencer’s performance at Gettysburg caught the attention of President Lincoln, who gave Charles a chance to demonstrate his invention against the best musketeers.(2) After that, the rest, as we say, was history. The Confederates were not only outnumbered; they were pathetically outgunned.
Time passed
In the fall of 1965, I went off to college. To my lasting shame, I pretty much lost touch with my grandparents. My Spencer gathered dust in my old room at home, while I majored in fraternity at Franklin & Marshall College. My “Pappy” passed away at 86 during my college years. The remaining treasures in his attic got divided up among his kids. In 1969, joining the Coast Guard after graduation to steer clear of Vietnam, I moved away from home for good.
The Wonder went with me, first to Cleveland, Ohio, and later to Austin, Texas, where I taught business law after getting my doctorate and law degree. Sometimes it got displayed, sometimes shoved into a closet. All I knew of its original owner from Pappy was that his name was Aaron Henry and he hailed from the Scotch-Irish side of my grandfather’s family. Pap’s mother’s maiden name was Morrison. Pappy claimed Aaron was his uncle, which made him my great, great uncle. The old veteran had retired to the Armbruster family farm. Having been wounded in the knee, he remained in Pappy’s memory as a geezer who limped around the property until he finally passed away.
When my wife and I --- the family prodigals --- finally moved back to Pennsylvania in the 1980s, I made a few desultory attempts to track old Aaron down. Pennsylvania’s Civil War military records weren’t known for their ease of access. Caught up in raising a family and pursuing a law practice, I wasn’t known for my persistence in such matters as genealogy.
Enter Ancestry.com
As one ages, ancestry, like an old friend long taken for granted, often gains in importance. My retirement from Rider University in June 2019 was coincident with my son’s Christmas gift --- a six-month subscription to Ancestry.com --- going “live.” He was wise enough to know that with more time on my hands, this gift would be appreciated.
Thanks to the vast archival resources Ancestry has pulled into its tent, I was able to find seven “Aaron Henry” entries in the annals of Pennsylvania regimental records. From there, it wasn’t hard to narrow the quest down to my great, great uncle. Born in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe, my hometown) on November 12, 1837, he was baptized a couple of weeks later in the town’s First Presbyterian Church. By 1850, 13-year-old Aaron was living with his mother, her second husband Alexander Craig, and a trio of half sisters.
Aaron it seems never left Mauch Chunk, until at 23 he volunteered for a three-month enlistment with the Pennsylvania Sixth Regiment on April 22, 1861. Note that the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the first battle of the Civil War, occurred on April 12th and 13th. Young Aaron wasted no time in joining up.
In fact, Dr. Gregory J.W. Urwin, an esteemed military historian and Civil War reenactor on the faculty of Temple University, tells me, “You can consider Henry one of the most ardent of Pennsylvania’s patriots by his rushing off to fight as soon as war broke out.”(3)
The Battle of Bristoe Station
According to Ancestry.com, Uncle Aaron received a musket ball he carried in his knee for the rest of his life on October 14th of the war’s third year. Presumably, it was either more efficient or less dangerous to leave the ball in situ than to risk removing it and losing the lower leg in the process.
Urwin noted, “If he was wounded at Bristoe Station on October 14, 1863, that means he then joined a regiment raised to serve for three years. The fact that he wanted to see the war through to its conclusion also says something about his character.”
The prelude to the Battle of Bristoe Station was the nadir of the Union army’s fortunes, a trough of incompetence from which the Yankees only began their painful climb at Gettysburg.
The depth of Uncle Aaron’s patriotism, as Dr. Urwin surmised, is punctuated by the fact that, during the winter and spring of 1863, the Army of the Potomac was enduring some 200 desertions a day. On New Year’s Day, encamped on the northern banks of the frozen Rappahannock River, the troops hadn’t been paid for six months. Living conditions were deplorable, facilitating the spread of vermin and disease.(4) No wonder men lit out for home!
Worse was to come in the first half of 1863. Following a desultory foray in the enemy’s general direction that ended in a spring-mud debacle, General Ambrose Burnside ---the previous year’s loser at Fredericksburg--- was replaced by Joseph Hooker. Apparently a better quartermaster than tactician, Hooker cleaned up the camps, saw his army fed and paid, then marched them off to a crushing defeat at Chancellorsville.
While Hooker’s incompetence and timidity cost the Army of the Potomac some 17,000 men, Lee’s brilliant win cost the Confederacy more than 13,000.(5) In a war of attrition, the Union could absorb the loss so much easier than the Confederacy, even allowing for the desertions and the Copperhead agitation that was stirring northern and especially mid-western anti-war sentiment.
Unable to sustain a war of attrition, Lee led his army north into Pennsylvania. In the first days of July, he met George Gordon Meade, Hooker’s successor, at Gettysburg. The three-day engagement is often called the “high water mark of the Confederacy.” Lee would never have the initiative again. Still, nearly two more years of war lay ahead.
In the grand sweep of all the war that still remained--- an ordeal extending from Lincoln’s July 4,1863 battlefield address to April 1865 at Appomattox --- the Battle of Bristoe Station is a mere burp of a battle. The October 14, 1863 encounter produced only 380 Yankee casualties and 1,360 Rebel dead and wounded.(6) The facts are straightforward. After Gettysburg, Meade and Lee played a chess game in northern Virginia. In early October, Lee stole a march on the less agile Meade, forcing the Army of the Potomac to fall back from its southern-most advance to protect its flanks.
Major General Gouveneur K. Warren’s II Corps had been stung by Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry at Auburn (VA) on the 13th. Warren was faced with pushing Stuart aside, while maintaining an orderly retreat from the Rebel corps commanded by Richard Ewell. He chose Bristoe Station, a stop on the Orange and Alexander Railroad line, to face the music.
Lt. General A.P. Hill’s Confederate III Corps reached Bristoe on the 14th. Warren deployed his troops behind a railroad embankment. From that hidden vantage, he ambushed Hill’s troops as they rushed to catch up with the Yankee rear guard. The encounter was a Union win. But with Ewell’s Confederate troops advancing on his left, Warren had to rejoin the general retreat.(7)
Warren got a promotion out of the encounter. He is remembered to the present day, at least by Civil War buffs, and is the subject of a relatively recent biography. His official photograph survives.
First Sergeant Aaron Henry of the 81st Pennsylvania Regiment went home to Mauch Chunk. According to Ancrestry.com, he married Sarah Johnson on January 10, 1867. She died less than a year later, apparently in childbirth. The daughter, Jennie Henry, survived and lived until 1937.
In 1870, Uncle Aaron took up blacksmithing in his hometown. He remained single until 1884, when at 47 he married the 34-year-old Amelia Hahn with whom he had a son, Garfield. They lived for awhile in Franklin Township, a Carbon County hamlet. Exactly when he moved to the Armbruster farm is unclear. In 1901, aged 64, Uncle Aaron decamped to a veterans’ home in Hampton, Virginia. Nine or maybe ten years later, he returned once again to Carbon County, where the disabled vet died on January 10, 1912.
Unlike General Warren, Sergeant Henry left behind no portrait. I don’t even know which knee bore the musket ball. He was one of three million Americans who fought in the War Between the States, 600,000 of whom died.(8) Thanks to intrepid photographers with their bulky and primitive equipment, a tiny fraction of these soldiers were captured on glass plates. For all I know, Uncle Aaron is somewhere among those unidentified fighters.
That he brought home his rifle was probably not so unusual. My father’s generation returned from World War II with all sorts of memorabilia. As kids, my brother and I played with a disarmed Japanese mortar shell, among sundry other authentic souvenirs. My Uncle Albert had his .45 pistol. Pappy told me the Spencer had been used for deer hunting as recently as the 1930s and it still seems to be in good working order.
So… now, at last --- more than a half century after my grandfather gave me his best treasure, I know the broad details of the life and labors of the man who carried it into battle. What does that matter?
The reason I think it matters… the reason I have written about it… is the disruptive moment in which each of us, and our nation, find ourselves. Not since Uncle Aaron answered the call in April of 1861 has the nation been so starkly divided. Not since then have we heard each side shout across the divide that the “others” aren’t worthy of life itself. If we are going to raise our eyes from the abyss, gaze across it and acknowledge our fellow Americans, I believe we must first look to ourselves. What are our personal stories that teach us that the American democracy is greater than our transient differences? For me it’s knowing that nearly 160 years ago, my great great uncle rallied to the Union cause. The “Wonder” on my shelf reminds me daily of my own roots.
I am convinced that Churchill could not have faced the existential threat of the Third Reich and rallied his nation had he lacked his appreciation of British history and the place of his family tree in that history.
“If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.”
That sentence illustrates for me how he masterfully combined the sweep of a collective historical experience with the immediate challenge facing each individual Britain, requiring each man and woman to look inside themselves.
I believe each of us is well advised to tear ourselves away from the ephemeral distractions of the social media and presidential tweets and TV’s talking heads, and take a little time to recall those ancestors who contributed to making each of us an American. No matter if, as with me, one can look back a century or two, or if one must look to the history of another nation that drove a decision to emigrate to the U.S.
As with my successful search for Uncle Aaron, a retracing of the tap root of what made each of us an American can be a profound reminder of why we must put our democratic republic ahead of transient sectarian differences and deal with tomorrow’s existential challenges as, collectively, the American constitutional democracy.
(1) Philip Leigh, Lee’s Lost Dispatch and Other Civil War Controversies (Yardley PA: Westholme Publishing 2015) at 25-36.
(2) John Walter, The Rifle Story (London: Greenhill Books 2006) at 69.
(3) Gregory J.W. Urwin, “Re: Union Pennsylvania Volunteers,” Message to James Ottavio Castagnera, August 8, 2019, via gmail.com
(4) Geoffrey C. Ward, The Civil War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1990) at 184.
(5) bid. at 210.
(6) David M. Jordan, Happiness Is Not My Companion: The Life of General G.K. Warren (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 2001) at 108.
(7) Ibid. at 110.
(8) Ward, op. cit., at xix.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173968 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173968 0 Little Women are Bigger Than Ever
The Civil War was a difficult time for all American families, North and South. It was especially tough for the March family, of Concord, Massachusetts. A mom and four daughters ran the household and worked at various full and part-time jobs while their father was in the Union army. Their story was recorded as fiction in the autobiographical work Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott (it was her family). It was the story of Jo March, the eldest sister, a writer, and her professional and emotional ups and downs and the emotional struggles of her family. It is one of the country’s most beloved novels.
I believe I am the only living American who has never read the novel or seen any of the many movie adaptations of it. There was an elderly man who lived in the foothills of the Rockies who never read the book either, but I think he has passed away.
So when I walked into my packed neighborhood theater to see the film (passing the 334 million people on line to see the latest Star Wars), I did not know what to expect. It seemed from the pre-show chatter that everyone in the theater had read the book at least four times.
The movie unfolded, very slowly. The first third of the film, that opened nationwide last weekend, is very disjointed. I was not sure what woman was in love with what boy, where the dad was, who was getting sick, what neighbors were friends and what Meryl Streep was doing playing some aunt with a great deal of money. . I was confused and just did not know why the book and previous movies had become, well, immortal.
Then, by the middle of the movie, the plot started to develop and the characters, the sisters, bloomed. From that moment on, they had me. I was enthralled with the story and the sisters. I felt like yelling at the screen to tell the sisters to do something about a situation because I so desperately wanted to help them. The new Little Women,marvelously directed by Greta Gerwig, is a tremendous movie, an all engulfing, emotional roller coaster that not only displays the March family, with its triumphs and tragedies, but the lives of women in the middle of the nineteenth century and how they all fit into the story of the Civil War, that at the time of the story was ripping the nation apart.
Little Women, a Sony PIctures film, succeeds on several levels. First and foremost, it is a loving look at several very admirable young women and the problems they have to grapple with at that time. They fight with each other, fret with each other and most of all love each other. They march down the street together, sit in the theater together, shiver in the New England cold together and, in the end, in several ways, triumph together.
Director Gerwig, who also wrote the screenplay, has made this a very modern look at life in the 1860s. There are several well-crafted dialogues from the girls about how unfair a woman’s lot was in that era – unable to do just about anything because of gender discrimination. Why does their goal in life have to be finding a husband and not finding a career? Why do men look at them as cooks and servants and not as emotional partners? Why is the best thing a woman could do was bear several children and not have several jobs? That dialogue is clear and reflects the plight of women today, too. Gerwig’s screenplay is as much 2019 in tone concerning women’s roles in the world as Alcott’s story was about them in the middle of the 19thcentury. The screening I attended was filled with mostly women; men should see this movie too to learn something.
My complaint about the story and the movie is that while set during the Civil War and about a soldiers’ family back home, there is not much about the war. There is a scene where Concord residents provide blankets and food for coming home soldiers, several descriptions of losing loved ones, some worry over the Dad’s safety and, later, his sickness. Jo even cuts her hair for money to help get her dad get back home. The film should have offered more about the war. It should have been noted, too, that while life was hard on northern families, it was hard on southern families, too. For every March family in the Union, there was surely one in the Confederacy.
The roles of the women are clearly delineated. Jo is the older sister who writes plays and novels but doesn’t get anywhere. She guides all the others, who find husbands, despite declarations that they don’t want to be just wives and moms. Mom has nothing but problems with the girls, always dispensing advice about life and love that are just as valuable today as then. She is their rock that the girls stand upon while dad is in the army.
In the end, life turns out reasonably well for the girls and for the Union, too. You learn a tremendous amount of history in the film – church, economics, writing, farming, Universities, modes of travel, weather, fashions and Christmas breakfasts and dinners for rich and poor. Oh, the piano, too. It is a enchanting look at life in the mid 19th century and it is full of worry and travail, too, just as life is today.
Director Gerwig gets superb performances from her village of actors. The star of the story, writer Jo, is played with wonder and awe by Saoirse Ronan, who keeps all on their seats as she barrels through life. Other fine performances are by Emma Watson as Meg, Elilza Scanlen as Beth and Florence Pugh as Amy. Laura Dern is America’s mom as their mother. Bob Odenkirk, musket over the shoulder, is the dad and Meryl Streep is the very rich and very eccentric aunt.
The film starts after the war with Jo trying to sell her work and then flashes back to the start of the war and the abandonment of the girls when dad marches off to war. The story is both Jo’s hard work as a writer and the life of the girls together with a few tragedies tossed in. The strength of it is the love of the girls for each other, even though, in anger, they do awful things to each other.
These are big sisters for the little women of the story.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173974 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173974 0 Somewhere Over Their Rainbows - Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland
Do you remember actress Deanna Durbin? If so, you are one of the few.
How about Judy Garland? Well, of course you do - Dorothy from Oz.
In the late 1930s and 1940s, Deanna and Judy, just teenagers, were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Deanna was not only a superb actress, but as a singer had the voice of an angel. Judy had, well, Judy had it all.
Judy stayed in Hollywood, led a tragic life and died of a drug overdose at 47. Deanna fled the bright lights and cameras at age 29, stunning the world, moved to a farm house in France, became a recluse and never appeared in another film. Over the next 62 years, she only gave one single media interview. Two careers, two lives and two distinctly different stories.
Actress/singer Melanie Gall has merged the two stories into one, Ingenue: Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland, and the Golden Age of Hollywood. The one woman play just opened at the Soho Playhouse, on Van Dam Street, in New York. Gall, who also wrote the drama, has done a fine job. It is an eye opener of a tale and an absolute treasure chest of show business history. Gall plays Deanna and brings in the story of Judy in an interview with an invisible New York Times reporter. It is Deanna’s story, not Judy’s, and she sings Deanna’s music and not Judy’s (except for Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
I knew a little bit about Durbin, the Canadian born singer who rocketed to fame by the age of 15, but not much. Nobody knows very much about her. When Durbin fled Hollywood, she not only never appeared as an entertainer again but pulled the plug on most of her American movies and you can hardly see them any more (ironically, a Durbin movie and Garland film were playing at the same time on television last week).
The legend was that the two, who starred in a movie together in 1936, were lifelong bitter rivals, but really, they were not. There may have been some jealousy between them, but I doubt they were enemies. Gall, in her story, suggests that latter version, and points out that Garland thought Durbin was shortsighted in leaving the movies and wished she had remained.
Gall tells a fascinating and colorful story. Durbin came to Hollywood as kid, like so many others, but had a great voice and won a $100 a week contract with MGM. There, she met Garland and the two became close friends. Movie mogul L.B. Mayer did not think he needed two child stars, so he fired Durbin (the play suggests that might have been accidental and he may have wanted to boot Garland), Durbin, at her new studio, Universal, became famous right away and her first few pictures were so successful that they saved the studio (Deanna starred in 21 movies in her storied career). Judy caught fire with The Wizard of Oz and became immortal. The rumor was that MGM wanted Deanna for the role of Dorothy in Oz and that she auditioned for it, but refused it because Judy wanted it
Gall tells the audience that Durbin was probably a better singer, but Judy had more hits. However, film historians seem to agree that in that era Durbin was one of the most beloved actresses in the world. In 1947, she was not only the highest paid actress in Hollywood but the highest paid woman in America. That year her fan club was the biggest on earth. American GIs in World War II even named a bomber after her. The Metropolitan Opera was even after her to join its company. Deanna was also Winston Churchill’s favorite actress.
So why did Durbin become a recluse? Gall says she was tired of Hollywood, found fame tedious and wanted to live a normal life. That can’t be all of it, though. Others say she hated the studio system of dictatorial control of a performer’s life and thought her life was over at 29, as it was for many actresses, and hated never being cast in very serious roles (the directors always had her singing something somewhere in the script).
Gall is quite good playing Durbin and she is a superb singer. The problem with the play is that It is a play abut Durbin and Garland without Garland. It would be much better as a two-character play and it should be a bit longer (it’s just a little over an hour). Gall carries the play well, but you really need a richer story and more nuance about Judy’s life.
Also, nowhere in the play is any reference to Ray Bradbury’s The Anthem Sprintersa delightful short story about a Deanna Durbin movie screened in Ireland followed by a race of moviegoers to a pub before the cinema starts to play the Irish national anthem at the conclusion of the film.
The story needs a far better explanation of why Durbin fled Hollywood. What did her friends say? Show biz buddies? Neighbors? Family? How did her rather wild personal life (three marriages and two out of wedlock pregnancies) affect her?
She is far better known today in the United Kingdom and Europe that in the U.S. because the actress never cut off her films there. In fact, there is still a ‘Deanna Devotees’ fan club in England.
The best part of the play, for me, was the question and answer session at the end. Gall is an authority on both women and researched their lives thoroughly. She really illuminated their lives by just answering audience questions. It was there, in that Q and A session, that she dropped her bombshell. It seems that back in the early 1950s, when Durbin had been retired for a few years, that the writers of the still untested MyFair Lady went to see her to convince her to play Eliza Doolittle. She flat out refused. That role, of course, would have made her famous all over again, an international superstar, a brilliant comet racing across the show business sky.
The strength of the play is its show biz history. You get a wonderful education in how the old movie studio system worked, how child actors were educated at special studio schools how stars had homes built for them right on the film sets. Impressive money could be made, too. The play should be subtitled Show Biz History 101.
If you ever notice that one of Deanna Durbin’s movies is on television, a rarity, catch it. This girl could sing!
PRODUCTION: The play, originally staged in the Fringe Festival is produced by the Soho Playhouse. Piano and musical arrangements: Bennett Paster, Graphic Design: Christache Ross. The play had a three week run and will be staged again at some U.S. theater.
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173975 https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173975 0 Profiles in Courage and Cowardice
The votes in the House and soon in the Senate about impeaching Trump are mostly seen as foregone conclusions. It was clear that he would be impeached on both articles in the House, and that two-thirds of Senators will not vote to convict. Hidden in these outcomes are many individual dramas for the few members of Congress who position themselves near the middle, who represent districts where elections are in doubt. Their votes represent more than partisan loyalty – they display courage or its absence.
Democrat Elissa Slotkin represents a House district in Michigan that had long been in Republican hands and was won by Trump in 2016 by 7 points. She beat the incumbent in 2018, winning just 50.6% of the vote. Like all the Democratic House members who won in districts that had gone for Trump, she worried about how her vote would affect her chances of re-election. She read our founding documents at the National Archives and spent a weekend at her family farm reading the hearing transcripts. As she appeared at a town hall meeting in her district last week, she was jeered by Trump supporters before she said a word. When she announced that she would vote for impeachment, she got a standing ovation and shouted insults.
She explained herself in an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press: “I have done what I was trained to do as a CIA officer who worked for both Republicans and Democrats: I took a step back, looked at the full body of available information, and tried to make an objective decision on my vote.” She also faced the consequences squarely: “I’ve been told more times that I can count that the vote I’ll be casting this week will mark the end of my short political career. That may be. . . . There are some decisions in life that have to be made based on what you know in your bones is right. And this is one of those times.”
Of the 31 House Democrats who won in districts that Trump carried in 2016, 29 voted to impeach him. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, from a district that Trump won by 31 points, voted against. And then there’s Jeff Van Drew, first-term House member from New Jersey, who won in a district that has flipped back and forth between parties, and was won by Trump by 5 points. His 2018 victory was aided by considerable financing from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In November, he said in a teleconference that he was against impeachment, but vowed to remain a Democrat, which he had been his whole life: “I am absolutely not changing.” Then he saw a poll of Democratic primary voters, in which 70% said they would be less likely to vote for him if he opposed impeachment. Meanwhile, he was meeting with White House Republicans, who promised him Trump’s support. So he voted against impeachment and became a Republican. The next day, Trump asked his supporters to donate to Van Drew’s campaign. Van Drew’s Congressional staff resigned en masse. He told Trump in a televised Oval Office meeting, “You have my undying support.”
Somewhere in the middle between political courage and its absence lies the case of Jared Golden of Maine, whose successful 2018 campaign to unseat a Republican incumbent I supported. His district went for Trump by 10 points in 2016, and Golden won only because the new Maine system of ranked-choice voting gave him enough second-place votes to overcome his rival’s lead. His re-election certainly qualifies as endangered.
Golden took a unique approach to impeachment, voting for the first article on abuse of power, but against the second on obstruction of Congress. He said that Trump’s obstruction of Congress “has not yet, in my view, reached the threshold of 'high crime or misdemeanor' that the Constitution demands.” Golden wrote a long statement explaining his actions, arguing that House Democrats had not yet tried hard enough to get the courts to force Trump’s aides to testify.
I cannot judge Golden’s motives. He said, “I voted my heart without fear about politics at all.” Perhaps his heart feared the end of his political career.
But it is worth considering how Trump has defied Congress since he was elected. When Congress refused to appropriate as much money as he wanted to build his Wall, Trump decided to spend it anyway by declaring a “national emergency”. According to the Constitution, only Congress has the authority to decide how to spend taxpayer funds. Federal courts then blocked Trump’s use of other funds. Trump’s lawyers argued that no entity has the authority to challenge in court Trump’s extension of his powers. In July, the Supreme Court sided with Trump and allowed spending for the Wall to proceed.
Trump’s defiance of Congressional oversight began long before the impeachment crisis. In February, the administration refused to send Congress a legally required report about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives. A Trump official said, “The President maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate.” In April, he told a former personnel security official not to appear before the House Oversight Committee, which was investigating White House security clearance practices. That month, the Justice Department defied a bipartisan subpoena from the Oversight Committee investigating the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
Robert Mueller found many instances of Trump’s obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation. Mueller declined to conclude that Trump had committed a crime, only because of a Justice Department memo that claims temporary immunity of a sitting president from prosecution. He clearly pointed toward impeachment as a remedy, and the House impeachment committees considered putting those actions into an article of impeachment. They decided not to, in order to simplify the process.
There are many other examples. Jared Golden’s idea that the House should wait and pursue their requests through the courts ignores the unprecedented nature of Trump’s refusal to do anything that the Democratic House requests or demands. It makes no sense to treat each instance of obstruction as a separate judicial case, which makes it impossible for Congress to do its job. Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker wrote, “Trump will create a new constitutional norm—in which the executive can defy the legislature without consequence.”
When John Kennedy wrote (or just put his name on?) Profiles in Courage, he quoted a column from Walter Lippmann, who had despaired of any courage among elected politicians: “They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle, or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies. The decisive consideration is not whether the proposition is good but whether it is popular.” Yet historian Jon Meacham and political science PhD candidate Michael E. Shepherd write that many Congresspeople who took unpopular votes survived.
The great majority of young House Democrats who face difficult re-election campaigns in Trump districts acted courageously. Elissa Slotkin explained what courage looks like: “Look, I want to get reelected. The greatest honor of my life is to represent this district. But if I’m not, at least I can look at myself in the mirror when I leave office.”
]]> Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:24:28 +0000 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154296 https://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/154296 0
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Bobbi Kelly has a BA in Art from the University of Idaho, where she was fortunate to have outstanding instructors George Roberts and Alf Dunn. A retired high school art teacher, she has focused her own art interest in the area of watercolor for many years, is an active member of Palouse Watercolor Socius in Moscow, as well a merit member of the Idaho Watercolor Society. She participates in juried art exhibits and festivals throughout the Northwest, and her award-winning paintings appear in private and corporate collections in the United States and Europe.
Kelly believes it's not the subject itself that's most important in a painting, but rather the way the subject is interpreted, presenting the viewer with a new way of thinking about ordinary things, whether those things are landscapes, still-life objects, or people. Her more abstracted images reflect a love of experimentation with color and design elements. Most recently, she has been enjoying using collage elements in her paintings.
Many of Bobbi's paintings, including many of familiar local and regional subjects, are available as prints and note cards. Please contact Bobbi for more information.
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Ron Hartwig to Join The J. Paul Getty Trust As Vice President of Communications
LOS ANGELES—Myron A. (Ron) Hartwig, 61, has been named vice president of communications for The J. Paul Getty Trust. His responsibilities will cover a wide array of communications programs for the Getty’s diverse constituencies, including media, and will encompass all aspects of the Trust, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, Getty Conservation Institute and the Getty Foundation.
Hartwig joins the Getty from Hill & Knowlton, Inc., where he spent 24 years in several senior executive positions, currently as executive vice president and chairman of the firm’s California operations. Previously, he was general manager of the Los Angeles office, which grew to be one of the largest international firms in Southern California under his direction. In the 1980s, Hartwig launched the company's Japanese Business Division, and later, served as president and chief operating officer of Hill and Knowlton’s U.S. operations.
"Building awareness for and connecting people around the world to the expansive offerings of the Getty is an important part of our mission," said Barry Munitz, president and chief executive officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust. "Ron brings both a global and local approach to communications, and will add a wonderful strength to our team."
"Ron is an outstanding communications executive and a proven civic leader," said Louise H. Bryson, chair of the Board of Trustees external affairs committee. "He fills a critically important position at this institution."
"I look forward to joining Barry Munitz and the Board of Trustees as together we work to demonstrate the Getty’s leadership in the arts community in Southern California and around the world," Hartwig said. "The significant work being done by the Getty's four Programs offers an incredible opportunity to communicate the ways in which the arts can make a positive impact on society," he added.
Before joining Hill and Knowlton, Hartwig spent 12 years with General Motors Corporation, the last two of which were spent in Los Angeles where he was western corporate public relations manager from 1978 to 1980. Hartwig also served in the Carter Administration as director of public affairs and counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Hartwig has served as an Adjunct Professor in the Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California where he taught Public Relations Management. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1967. He served as president of the Los Angeles Central Area Planning Commission, until 2005 was a member of the executive committee and board of Town Hall Los Angeles, was chairman and remains a board member of the Japan America Society of Southern California is a member of the California Club. He is a member of the Board of Councilors of the USC School of Social Work.
John Giurini
Getty Communications Department
communications@getty.edu
Visiting the Getty Center: The Getty Center is open Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is closed Monday and major holidays. Admission to the Getty Center is always free. Parking is $15 per car, but free after 5pm on Saturdays and for evening events throughout the week. No reservation is required for parking or general admission. Reservations are required for event seating and groups of 15 or more. Please call 310-440-7300 (English or Spanish) for reservations and information. The TTY line for callers who are deaf or hearing impaired is 310-440-7305. The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California.
Visiting the Getty Villa: The Getty Villa is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed Tuesday and major holidays. Admission to the Getty Villa is always free. A ticket is required for admission. Tickets can be ordered in advance, or on the day of your visit, at www.getty.edu/visit or at 310-440-7300. Parking is $15 per car, but free after 5pm for evening events. Groups of 15 or more must make reservations by phone. For more information, call 310-440-7300 (English or Spanish); 310-440-7305 (TTY line for the deaf or hearing impaired). The Getty Villa is at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California.
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United, Juve tracked Erling Haaland, but he chose Salzburg
1yMichael Yokhin
Man United's Pereira, Maguire 4/10 in dismal display vs. Burnley
PSG ease past Reims to reach League Cup final
4hReuters
Woeful Man United humbled at home by Burnley
Real Madrid earn narrow Copa win over Unionistas
Man United, Juventus and Dortmund tracked Erling Haaland, but he chose Red Bull Salzburg
Erling Haaland helped Molde eliminate Hibernian from the Europa League. Getty Images
Michael YokhinESPN.com writer
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is one of the best Manchester United signings ever. Acquired as a little known youngster from Molde for just £1.5 million in the summer of 1996, he went on to become a hugely influential forward -- especially when coming off the bench -- scoring 126 goals for the club. Thus it is only logical that a new striker from Molde should attract the interest of the Red Devils, especially when one takes into account that he is coached by Solskjaer himself.
That is why Manchester United sent a scout to watch Erling Haaland in action with Molde at Brann Bergen in July, during the World Cup. The scout was in for a treat. Brann were unbeaten at the top of the table, but Haaland, who was still 17 at the time, incredibly scored four goals in the first 21 minutes to lead Molde to an emphatic 4-0 win. The fourth was a penalty, but the first three were expertly taken, and reports claimed that United would try to sign the prodigy as fast as possible.
Juventus and Borussia Dortmund were also monitoring the situation closely, but Haaland had other plans. At the beginning of 2019, he will join Red Bull Salzburg after signing a five-year contract with the champions of Austria last Sunday. With the club expected to sell their star striker Moanes Dabour, the Norway Under-19 international should be in line for a lot of playing time, which was the main reason behind his choice. Unwilling to follow in the steps of another promising Norwegian talent Martin Odegaard, who joined Real Madrid too early at the age of 16 and lost his way, Haaland is taking another route entirely.
In fact, he had always valued being on the pitch on weekly basis. Haaland has been followed by scouts ever since making his debut for second-division Bryne at 16. Hoffenheim offered him a trial and wanted him to join their state-of-art academy, but the youngster preferred to go to Molde instead. He wanted to become a professional and continue playing in a senior squad, while getting to work with a legend like Solskjaer was a huge bonus.
The gamble paid off handsomely for all involved, and Solskjaer carefully nurtured his young protege, improving his play and defending him when needed. Last season, Haaland was mostly used as a substitute, which could actually be a compliment as far as the coach is concerned. He duly scored two winners when coming off the bench. After doing so at Viking Stavanger, Bryne's local rivals, he wildly and provocatively celebrated in front of home fans and was harshly criticised, but Solskjaer was on his side as usual. "Why shouldn't he do it? He is just a boy who must be allowed to show emotions. It meant a lot to him," Solskjaer said.
This season, the striker has become Molde's star. After the four goals at Bergen, the coach claimed: "He is destined to become a top player. He reminds me of Romelu Lukaku." It is easy to see why such comparisons are made. Very strong physically, Haaland has a huge presence in the penalty area, but possesses a decent touch and good vision as well. He is not just a burly centre-forward, but is also able to produce smart assists. His tactical awareness is phenomenal for such a young player.
Naturally, Solskjaer would love to have sent his favourite pupil to Old Trafford, but that is where their preferences differ. Erling is the son of Alf-Inge and was born in Leeds in July 2000, just before his father moved to Manchester City. Even though Leeds United were relegated from the Premier League when the toddler was two, Haaland Jr. chose to support them, and even claimed: "I dream of winning the title with them."
The rivalry between Leeds and Manchester United is quite fierce. Perhaps even more significantly, Alf-Inge's problems with the Red Devils' legend Roy Keane are well documented -- the Irishman infamously admitted in his autobiography that he injured the Norwegian midfielder on purpose. All that means that Erling's chances of fulfilling Solksjaer's wish in the future might not be unreachable. He should probably feel much more comfortable following his father's footsteps at Manchester City -- and such a possibility is not out of question if his professional development continues at the current rate.
"Haaland should definitely become a world-class striker," Dagbladet journalist Oyvind Godo told ESPN FC. "He is strong as a bear and fast as a horse. He is a killer; a goal machine. He has the physics and the end product that Odegaard is missing. The choice of Salzburg is very good, because he is going to be an important player there from the very beginning. It is important to play a lot at his age."
For now, he is still at Molde, and his form has been remarkable lately. Haaland scored a penalty and provided an assist in another demolition of Brann Bergen. The leaders were thrashed 5-1 this time, and amusingly those are their only two defeats this term. With nine goals, he is second top scorer in the entire Eliteserien. Last week, he netted twice as the Norwegians sent Hibernian out of the Europa League.
On Thursday, Molde visit heavy favourites Zenit in the playoff round, and it is a good opportunity for the rising star to make even bigger headlines.
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Research Show subpages
Awards Show subpages
Reading Global: Constructions of World Literature and Latin America
Project lead: Prof. Dr. Gesine Müller
Project duration: 1 September 2015 to 1 September 2020
Project funding: Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC)
In observing the highly productive and heterogeneous fields of research into World Literature over the past 15 years, one element stands out, which is that almost all relevant contributions to current theorizing have built their respective approaches around two fundamental problems of global literary phenomena. On the one hand World Literature is no longer viewed as a static canon, a series of distinguished and authoritative works, but as a complex and dynamic process involving historically varying mechanisms of global reception (see for example the work of Damrosch 2003, Ette 2012 or the studies edited in Küpper 2013). On the other hand, most of current research work shares an awareness of an irresolvable problem with which every current investigation is ultimately confronted, that of the sheer volume of material and attendant difficulties in operationalizing the object of study; as Moretti puts it: “[W]e are talking of hundreds of languages and literatures here. Reading ‘more’ seems hardly to be the solution” (2000, 55).
The answers that current theory formation has so far attempted to provide for these two core problems in the debate on World Literature must be viewed both as critical and as insufficient inasmuch as they are incapable of implementing, on the specific level of analysis, the knowledge that they have themselves formulated with regard to the significance of circulation in global literary fields and the sheer quantity of material. The principal problem of these studies lies in their disciplinary limitations of an analysis informed solely by literary studies, which are incapable of engaging the material and economic factors involved in the global circulation of literatures—factors that these studies themselves identify as being fundamental for the “functioning” of World Literature.
http://romanistik.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/22736.html
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/197084_en.html
Created: 5. December 2018, changed: 7. January 2019
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Philip Hammond Music
Composer and Arts Correspondent
Medium Length Biography
Full Length Biography
More Archive Content
As someone who never really expected to reach the age I have reached, almost suddenly I find myself a person of “experience”, a musician with “a wide career” behind him, a locally grown talent whose life, paradoxically, could be seen as “revolving around a fifteen minute radius” - I am someone who has his feet firmly planted in his own community - and that requires a sense of humour.
De rigueur, I have a website - that is what you do nowadays. But it is also something that I wanted to do for myself. I’d prefer to construct my own memorial rather than rely on anyone else to do it for me.
Here the interested can find articles, music, biographies and pictures of what I have done over a career that has lasted several decades. In retirement, I do what I like to do...that is to make music, to deal with musicians either professional or not, to write and to communicate.
That’s my opening gambit and it will be my pleasure if you decide to continue your exploration.
Welcome to www.philiphammondmusic.co.uk
“Philip Hammond’s setting of three poems by Verlaine was a subtle and beautiful evocation of French impressionism, with a dash of Schoenberg’s symbolist style thrown in. Lore Lixenberg summoned a beautifully ripe sound….” Ivan Hewitt Daily Tel
Sir James and Lady Galway will be performing my "Carolan Variations" on their tour of the US October/November 2013 with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta
Miniatures and Modulations includes "The Beardless Boy" which appeared on Michael McHale's recent debut CD album entitled "The Irish Piano". You can see Michael perform it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ7zmd93jKE
Click here to get in touch with Philip Hammond.
Copyright 2019 - Philip Hammond - www.philiphammondmusic.co.uk - All right reserved.
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Tom DeLonge, TTSA and 'Sekret Machines': Is Disclosure Going Mainstream?
Page 7 of 38 First 1 7 17 38 Last
Thread: Tom DeLonge, TTSA and 'Sekret Machines': Is Disclosure Going Mainstream?
14th March 2017 05:50 Link to Post #121
Avalon Retired Member
Re: Tom DeLonge, TTSA and 'Sekret Machines': Is Disclosure Going Mainstream?
Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
(Peter Levenda is merely a scholarly co-author and sidekick, and has no control over this process. He's just adding what value he can, and is permitted to.)
Peter Levinda looks to be aware of what is going on in so far as the "eyes wide shut" religious ceremonies the elite partake in. I'm just inferring based on his other works, but they are compelling if you take the time to look them over and realize the "gods" message Tom Delonge is "messaging" right now.
The Nine (Sinister Forces: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft, Book 1)
The roots of coincidence and conspiracy in American politics, crime, and culture are examined in this first volume of a three-part set, exposing new connections between religion, political conspiracy, and occultism. Based on the premise that there is a satanic undercurrent to American affairs, this study examines the sinister forces at work throughout history, from ancient American civilizations and the mysterious mound-builder culture to the Salem witch trials, the birth of Mormonism during a ritual of ceremonial magic by Joseph Smith Jr., and Operations Paperclip and Bluebird. Not a work of speculative history, this exposé is founded on primary source material and historical documents. Fascinating details are revealed, including the bizarre world of "wandering bishops" who appear throughout the Kennedy assassinations; a CIA mind-control program run amok in the United States and Canada; a famous American spiritual leader who had ties to Lee Harvey Oswald in the weeks and months leading up to the assassination of President Kennedy; and the "Manson secret."
Sinister Forces—A Warm Gun: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft
The roots of coincidence and conspiracy in American politics, crime, and culture are investigated in this second volume of a three-part set that exposes new connections between religion, political conspiracy, terrorism, and occultism. Not a work of speculative history, this exposé is founded on primary source material and historical documents and provides strange parallels between supernatural forces such as shaminism, ritual magic, and cult practices and contemporary interrogation techniques such as those used by the CIA under the general rubric of MK-ULTRA. Fascinating details on Nixon and the "Dark Tower," the Assassin cult and more recent Islamic terrorism, and the bizarre themes that run through American history from its discovery by Columbus to the political assassinations of the 1960s are revealed.
Sinister Forces—The Manson Secret: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft (Sinister Forces: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft
The roots of coincidence and conspiracy in American politics, crime, and culture are investigated in this examination of the connections between religion, political conspiracy, and occultism. Readers are presented with detailed insight into how Charlie Manson became a national bogeyman as well as startling connections between Nobel Prize–winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli, Carl Jung, and synchronicity; serial killers, multiple personality disorder, and demonic possession; and magic, surrealism, and mind control. Not a work of speculative history, this third volume of a three-part set is founded on primary source material and historical documents. Fascinating secrets are divulged involving Hollywood icons such as Marilyn Monroe, David Lynch, and Jane Fonda as well as links between the Cotton Club murders, the Bluegrass conspiracy, and the Son of Sam cult.
The Dark Lord: H.P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant, and the Typhonian Tradition in Magic
Traveling through the worlds of religion, literature, and the occult, Peter Levenda takes his readers on a deeply fascinating exploration on magic, evil, and The Dark Lord as he investigates of one of the most neglected theses in the history of modern occultism: the nature of the Typhonian Current and its relationship to Aleister Crowley's Thelema and H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon.
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9th April 2017 14:38 Link to Post #122
too close to the hot air exhaust
Having spent several hours catching up with what Delonge has been saying in various interviews, I'm quite concerned that he's being drawn into a 'Project Bluebeam' scenario down the road.
The whole case he's making is that the secret project people are heroes dealing with something incredibly threatening. It may well be so, but the potential for the people feeding him his story to lay out the groundwork for a world capturing (NWO) move through his story is huge.
.................................................. my first language is TYPO..............................................
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11th April 2017 01:52 Link to Post #123
Disclosure Lite or Bluebeam Lite ?
I've just listened to an extraordinary conversation between John Burroughs, Linda Howe and Grant Cameron on Phenomenon Radio. I think it's at least a week old but I caught a repeat last night. (There does not seem to be any youtube versions of Phenomenon Radio since 2015)
There is a signal from space that is going to be announced. Also, according to Cameron, Trump has been briefed about the ET issue and even taken on a trip to see something special. Fascinating gossip I have not heard anywhere else yet.
This sounds like "disclosure" is hotting up and on the brink of going live.
I missed the first 10 minutes before I clicked the record function, the rest is here:
https://app.box.com/s/rt5533vlid26uknlfxmox7dkcshnas6a
Last edited by norman; 11th April 2017 at 01:57.
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Avalon Founder
Thanked 273,811 times in 20,258 posts
Posted by norman (here)
Excellent, many thanks. Here's the whole thing (16 March 2017):
http://kgraradioarchives.com/Shows/p...Disclosure.mp3
The portion you recorded starts at 1:15:34 (you actually got the last half hour or so). It's well worth listening to all of it from the beginning, and there's a ton of stuff to talk about here.
Grant Cameron and Disclosure are also linked and discussed on this thread:
The Government's UFO Disclosure Plan with Grant Cameron
Last edited by Bill Ryan; 11th April 2017 at 03:31.
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journeying to the end of the night
I listened to the jimmy church interview today. Here are my takes...
- Delonge is clearly passionate about the subject. But I would say his attempts at humilty are unsuccessful. Having said that, i can appreciate the ego thrill this might give someone; it's an unprecedented situation for anyone to be in, so I wont judge him too harshly there.
-however, it was tiresome hearing him say things that give the impression that he is light years ahead of all us lowly forum dwellers or "crazy conspiracy theorists". It's odd to me how he can ridicule the cabal or david icke hypothesis (bankers, industrialists, dark military and corrupt politicians ruling the world) when there is almost incontrovertible evidence to suggest it is so...while simultaneously embracing these stories (whether true or false) being fed to him by these military guys (im guessing military guys...he wont say in the interview) that offer no such evidence. It's almost as if his ego is too big to even consider the earthly conspiracy, because he feels he is beyond that now...this is the impression I get.
-in a way he's like the anti Greer. He seems to be saying all ET's are "bad". It's possible he's being played to create even more polarity in the alt media..more infighting. Tptb love absolutes and despise nuanced thinking....and here it would appear that they have created the "et good" team and the "et bad team". Now they can sit back, crack a beer, and watch the chaos ensue.
-the "chosen one" syndrome is the oldest trick in the book, and Delonge may be falling for it here. It's a favorite move of the ET's during abduction scenarios, and the military were apparently taking notes.
- I find it nearly impossible to believe that Delonge has "pitched" an idea that the military, with maybe 70 yrs of ufo experience, hasnt thought of already. Even harder to believe is that he believes he has.
-he said "consciousness" is the first line of defense against these bad ET's. ...that we can drive them away merely with a cheerful countenance. Then why is the military stealing all our money to "protect" us from them? Here we have 2 dubious statements that alone seem kinda silly....but when combined contradict each other and seem even sillier (he also said shouting the name of Jesus or Buddha will stop an abduction experience in its tracks....which is the height of naivete)
- I think the interview proves nothing but this: if you can't really discuss sensitive topics to any meaningful degree for whatever reason, it might be better to wait till you can before giving an interview. Plus, any time someone has "handlers"..run.
Last edited by Mike; 11th April 2017 at 07:25.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4xh8I9XuUg
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The problem with Grant Cameron is here (near the start, at 19:16 in the long 16 March interview):
Cameron: "There are no real evil people in government."
This is what's also being spun by Tom DeLonge, who states that the military-intelligence community are 'heroes'.
It's important to note that if a disclosure initiative really is under way, this would be an essential priming of the audience to present military intelligence as a bunch of good guys presented with an unprecedented, humungous problem.
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a bunch of good guys presented with an unprecedented, humungous problem.
We'd better all flock together in the globalist fold then.
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Cameron comes over as being excited to the point of being almost frantic, and really quite hard to listen to.
Like Steven Greer, he rejects any idea of ETs being evil, and talks in woolly terms of one-ness and consciousness (which, in my view, he knows little about). He credits Dan Smith as a kind of channel for Ron Pandolfi: but in my own experience, from back in Serpo days, Dan Smith is fantastical and absolutely not a credible source.
Cameron is adamant that 'the US President is running the show'. (OMG. What kind of researcher is he?)
He also excitedly promotes experiencer Chris Bledsoe, but never mentions the excellent abduction research by David Jacobs (and before him, Karla Turner). Researchers of the highest caliber, they each conclude quite a different story. They stress that what abductees and contactees report, earnestly and sincerely, may not be in any way what actually happened.
One of the other things Cameron is over-excited about is that there's been a drip-feed of partial disclosure for many years, and he presents this as if this was his own startling new realization: he doesn't seem to realize that we've all known and understood this for years.
My one-sentence summary: Cameron is being quite dangerous here, and has a very limited view which he sees through distorting, very rose-colored lenses.
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abmqa
Listening to this now and I'm loving how Linda Moulton Howe calls him out on his evil alien stance. She is one of the best IMO.
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I believe as a fact that "evil aliens" exist. Given the vast possibilities of other intelligent beings existing in uncountable numbers, it is my opinion that some/many of those aliens would do harm to us as just a matter of science. If an advanced alien life form were to abduct and kill some humans beings in order to learn about them, would that make them evil? Depends on the viewpoint?
No one blinks an eye at the fact we humans test new drugs on life forms we deem as lower then humans. We kill other mammals for food. We seem to have the right to do this because we are a superior intelligence. (and love hamburgers
It is apparent to me that aliens have abducted many people. I feel those in control of the information on this are extremely afraid of us learning that some of those human abductions resulted in humans being mutilated (similar to cattle mutilations).
This is a third rail in UFO research. People who spoken of this have been ridiculed. Bill Cooper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_William_Cooper may have been killed because he dared to speak about hearing about them finding mutilated human bodies on a recovered crashed ufo. That and his revelations about 9-11 or both, he was a problem that needed fixing.
https://archive.org/details/HumanMut...AztecNewMexico
Richard D Hall has done some research on this see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsBIkhwCNVA
Richard D Hall has many other interesting videos worth a view IMO.
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little "q and a" with Delonge. his arrogance is beginning to enrage me (david icke is nothing but a "weirdo"). i think if i saw him on the street id assault him
https://www.reddit.com/r/AngelsAndAi...c9&sh=d5c825a1
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Domp4547
Posted by Mike (here)
WOW! What a kook! David has done more for exposing the truth than Tom ever will with his sci-fi disinfo. I cannot and will not believe that the government are the good guys when it comes to disclosure. If it makes me close minded for completely ignoring anything that comes out of Tom's mouth.......than so be it!! Ill take decades of research over a pop punk artist looking to cash in on his new sci-fi adventures.
If it vibrates.....it's an illusion
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Posted by Domp4547 (here)
Domp4547 I don't have time for this guy either and I am not bothering to listen to him anymore.
Tom's disrespect of David Icke, well that's just another nail in his coffin.
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Thanks. Worth posting in full, I think.
Note: This Q and A was from April, 2016. But his arrogance seems undented still.
What do you believe really happened at Roswell?
Although I have not asked the Roswell question, I was told there were "numerous" crashes and we have been reengineereing the tech
So what do the aliens want then ?
I believe it has something to do with the human soul
When will humanity start to receive technology that will change our current situation?
We already have. Read Philip Corsos book. I was told it is true
Cutting to the chase, before it gets nuttso in here, there are lots of alleged types of Et's zipping around. Can you enlighten us to the who's, what's and why's specifically?
Good and Bad gods... There are multiple ones.
In other words, have they been coming here for a very long time, like prehistory long time?
yes. That is exactly right.
First question I have is, of the craft you and your partner wrote about in your book, are they confirmed craft via your handlers, for lack of a better name, or is that part of the fiction of the book and if they were confirmed were the mechanical functions of the craft as stated in the book?
That is a real craft. I believe the Skunk Works built it.
One take-away from the book is that “alien abductions” are theatrical events using advanced (reverse engineered) craft, drugs and costumes. Many abduction stories talk about genetic material in the form of semen being extracted and/or pregnancy implantation - though you don’t get into that specifically in the book (Betty and Barney Hill are brought in to imply this, I think).
Alien abductions are real, but long ago the military toyed with it as well to muddy the waters. There are adversaries here and off planet. We are playing a chess game with Russia, China and the "off planet Others". A Unified world is the one weapon we have never created, and what I offered as an idea to the General. Not that I could do it, but if that idea would be intimidating to the others.
Do you have access to, or an estimated timeframe for, the release of physical evidence? Documentation, written statements, photographs, videos, materials, etc...?
Its been happening for years. There is a current outreach program that operates in its own way.
do you believe that extra terrestrial bodies were retrieved at Roswell 1947?
Hi tom , how can we be sure you're not a disinformer , I say that I find it strange that by defending the Masons are a seeker of truth . A big hug from Argentina .
I assembled Advisors from very specific parts of the Government, not the areas that have active counter-intel programs. Yes, Intelligence, but not couter-intel.
The book reads like corporate interests have usurped government by operating more than one black budget weapons program. Regardless of where the tech originally came from, the threat seems to be placed elsewhere?
Is the western world at war with itself via special interest groups who have the money and means to reach the stars?
No. The world doesn't get along based off manipulations of the others. And for that reason they each have advanced weaponry. Corporations are the ones building these things because of resource, skill and proprietary law.
In your OP you said "the gravity of the situation" and that for some reason stuck me. It's all about gravity isn't in? My question to you is have you seen or have personal knowledge of people that have a complete understanding of the force of gravity or any technology that is able to generate or manipulate gravity?
Yes, I was told that the ability to engineer and manipulate gravity has been created.
Who are they? Where are they from? What are they doing? Why are they doing it? According to whom? Why should we trust what 'they' claim?
They are the "gods" of the past. They may be clones, need to ask that. Well, i did, but did not get a response on that. They are interested in DNA and genetic manipulation. According to an Advisor that has no one higher than his authority in this field.
I am also curious to know if you believe animal mutilations are from an extraterrestrial source?
Animal Mutilations ARE from the UFO phenomenon. I WAS told that.
tom, i would love to be in your position, at least partially knowing things i have wanted proven my entire life. are we the only species that call earth home? do they call their home earth? are the species that you know of benevolent?
The "gods" have good and bad races. there are multiple species.
Question the second: What are you views, if any, on the man David Icke? Do you support his theories or (like many others) think he is a crackpot? I believe he makes some articulate points, personally. But, I am quite insane.
I think he's a weirdo. Sorry.
I realise that the level of specificity I have described might seem kooky, and it could be that you aren't aware of the exact circumstances I have described. But, would you say that the big guys know that there's an element of what we might call 'demonology' at play? I promise I'm not a religious nutjob, nor a fully whacked-out conspiracy theorist - I have a rational, pragmatic, agnostic approach to these things. But I certainly believe there's at least a couple of fronts in this war of stealth which revolve around the dark side, literally.
I believe it is demonic. This would make sense with my knowledge. Its not spiritual, its a normal tactile and physical species. Using advanced machinery to impose and achieve something with the human race..
So you say that you were sat down and talked to about everything you thought you knew was true about aliens and UFOs and got your mind blown away because most of it is. But when you sat and listened did they also have picture, artifacts or anything else to prove that the evidence they were telling you is true???
I was able to verify their positions within the areas they were in charge of. Just trust me if you can.
Tom..If you find the world "boring"..i respectfully suggest you are not reading enough or trying hard enough.
You are right.... I just have ADD
Any chance you can give us a bullet point summary? An overview of the massive truth regarding the UFO phenomenon?
If not, my question is- Are people being abducted? Is it by aliens? Is the US military involved?
the stories of ancient gods are true..
What if, by this point in time, Roswell has become just that, a cover up? Our entire focus as a whole is on Roswell and Roswell alone, while extraterrestrial dudes could be camping out every night in another state, or even another country. Where would you put that secret location?
A place called "RAM-SITE" in NM - yes, I believe AREA-51 was a decoy to some extent
Is there any smoking gun evidence that you have come across that we may not be aware of?
Corso's testimony was true, but read his notes- Not the book.
How does this info fit with the Greer/Bassett/Disclosure POV?
Dont follow them. They are not correct.
Tom long time fan and skeptic. Just wondering if you joined the Free Masons as an undercover operative to obtain such information or is it truly your beleif in them (the masonry) to live life in that type of aspect? Knowing you wont be able to answer this due to the "code" just give us some subliminals to help us help you if your stuck in there.
Masons are good for "free-thinking man, building a free-thinking world
Tom, Hi. You talk of the questions you have asked humans about the UFO Phenomenon, but if say you had the chance to question "Them", What would your first Question be. ?
Are you after the souls of ma
Is there any way that we will see this new technology in a near future? And where did it come from?
Look up "black triangle UFO"
Hey Tom, what are some prime examples of government technology and weaponry being adapted from any sort of extraterrestrial technology?
Lasers, most Flying Saucers, Fiber Optics, Stealth
When can we expect to see the Documentary?
later this year
I think Icke is a weirdo. I am trying to make major motion pictures that will be Internationally played and discussed. This is the biggest form of communication on the planet. But to do that we need to create a path of success with our story to get the 200 million dollars that somebody else will pay to have it made. Its hard. Art is our biggest export. If a tweet would have the same effect Id do that. People respond to films, books and events... and if it builds over time, it will be massively communicated.
I've watched some of your interviews and am very intrigued with the information you have to share. How did you manage to meet and get in with the crowd who actually knows the truth?
Its a long story of respectful pitching, not taking 'no" for an answer, and having ideas of value for their time and effort.
Andrew_K (14th April 2017), Billy (17th April 2017), Bluegreen (14th April 2017), BMJ (16th April 2017), Bob (14th April 2017), Debra (17th April 2017), DNA (14th April 2017), Foxie Loxie (14th April 2017), gaiagirl (17th April 2017), KiwiElf (20th February 2018), Magnus (30th May 2017), Mike (14th April 2017), norman (14th April 2017), Shannon (15th April 2017), Star Tsar (14th April 2017), The Freedom Train (17th April 2017)
Well this transcript interview - read with eyes almost a year after first reading about delonge's claims - comes off loud and clear - the guy is a tool. Totally handled.
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The Freedom Train
Ha! As usual, your sense of humor hits home for me, Norman. Thanks for fulfilling my daily laugh quota!
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...ast-once-a-day
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Star Tsar
Orion Arm
Thanked 34,626 times in 12,066 posts
TNIMP
Tom DeLonge Announces New Documentary With NASA & FusionTV
Published 25th April 2017
Tom has tweeted details of a new documentary in conjunction with NASA available on FusionTV in the near future.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_LTKgL8byw
Last edited by Star Tsar; 26th April 2017 at 01:41.
I for one will join in with anyone, I don't care what color you are as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this Earth - Malcolm X / Tsar Of The Star
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Kevan
Whitley Strieber talks about may 16:
http://www.unknowncountry.com/specia...ar-and-reality
Gods, Man, War and Reality
Tom DeLonge has said that he will conduct a disclosure event on May 16. But what does disclosure actually mean, and, in a larger sense, what are the visitors anyway, and would disclosure even be about aliens from another planet? Tom refused to interview on Dreamland, so Whitley explores the ideas in his book Gods, Men and War, and what they mean in the context of his own experience of living with the visitors in his life.
Don't assume that you know what this is about. It is a very unexpected journey into a new vision of mankind and what we call aliens. It goes beyond the usual notions that aliens are creatures from another planet and that there were interventions from other worlds in the past that have formed humanity and human life and, in a sense, imprisoned us.
Read the original source: http://www.unknowncountry.com/specia...#ixzz4fNosVMqk
Last edited by Kevan; 26th April 2017 at 18:54.
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p+52
This obviously has parallels to Steve Greer's Unacknowledged, in that this has the potential for mass appeal, although I don't recall any marketing push for this as significant as Greer has been doing for months.
See my review of the movie, Unacknowledged in the UFO topic thread:
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...Unacknowledged
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Posted by Kevan (here)
Interesting reply found in the comments..
Whitley, I listened to this last night before going to bed and was curious about what disclosure means for Tom DeLonge. So, I typed in his name, looked at his image, then decided to see if I could have a dream about what he is going to disclose?
It is around 11PM, I am in bed, drifting off to sleep and have this image of him in my dream-eye.
Not yet dreaming BUT I see him in what looks like a theater and sitting in a balcony. He is surrounded by JAPANESE KOI FISH. The one directly to his left is orange in color BUT the Koi is sitting upright on it’s tail. There are many of these fish surrounding Tom D.
That's it. No dreams, only this one image. I woke up at around 2:15AM with this same image still in mind. https://www.123rf.com/photo_36167727_stock-photo.html
https://www.koisale.com/
Only wondering here if a picture is worth a thousand words? Something fishy/an exaggerated fish story/fish tail/tale? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.
Posted by Carollee on 21 Apr 2017 at 13:38
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STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA "NEW RUSSIA"
STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
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Yury Bashmet occupies a special place among musicians of the present day,
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Composers worldwide have grasped on to this phenomenon and, specially for Bashmet, have created more than fifty works for viola.
Bashmet’s appearances have a hypnotizing effect on listeners. As one British critic has noted, his music making seems "like rain, falling drop by drop, infiltrating the heart and animating it."
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Size comparison: twice the size of Pennsylvania; slightly smaller than Oregon
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note: in addition to serving as the UK head of state, the British sovereign is the constitutional monarch for 15 additional Commonwealth countries (these 16 states are each referred to as a Commonwealth realm)
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elections: House of Lords - no elections; note - in 1999, as provided by the House of Lords Act, elections were held in the House of Lords to determine the 92 hereditary peers who would remain; elections held only as vacancies in the hereditary peerage arise) House of Commons - last held on 8 June 2017 (next to be held by 5 May 2022)
election results: House of Lords - composition - men 583, women 208, percent of women 26.3% House of Commons - percent of vote by party - Conservative 48.8%, Labor 40.3%, SNP 5.4%, Lib Dems 1.8%, DUP 1.5%, Sinn Fein 1.1%, Plaid Cymru 0.6%,other 0.6%; seats by party - Conservative 317, Labor 262, SNP 35, Lib Dems 12, DUP 10, Sinn Fein 7, Plaid Cymru 4, other 3; composition - men 442, women 208, percent of women 32%; total Parliament percent of women 28.9%
Judicial branch: highest courts: Supreme Court (consists of 12 justices, including the court president and deputy president); note - the Supreme Court was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and implemented in October 2009, replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom judge selection and term of office: judge candidates selected by an independent committee of several judicial commissions, followed by their recommendations to the prime minister, and appointed by the monarch; justices serve for life
subordinate courts: England and Wales: Court of Appeal (civil and criminal divisions); High Court; Crown Court; County Courts; Magistrates' Courts; Scotland: Court of Sessions; Sheriff Courts; High Court of Justiciary; tribunals; Northern Ireland: Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland; High Court; county courts; magistrates' courts; specialized tribunals
Political parties and leaders: Alliance Party (Northern Ireland) [Naomi LONG] Brexit Party [Nigel FARAGE] Conservative and Unionist Party [Boris JOHNSON] Democratic Unionist Party or DUP (Northern Ireland) [Arlene FOSTER] Green Party of England and Wales or Greens [Sian BERRY and Jonathan BARTLEY] Labor (Labour) Party [Jeremy CORBYN] Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) [Jo SWINSON] Party of Wales (Plaid Cymru) [Adam PRICE] Scottish National Party or SNP [Nicola STURGEON] Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland) [Mary Lou MCDONALD] Social Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP (Northern Ireland) [Colum EASTWOOD] Ulster Unionist Party or UUP (Northern Ireland) [Robin SWANN] UK Independence Party or UKIP [Piers WAUCHOPE, interim leader]
International organization participation: ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BIS, C, CBSS (observer), CD, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, G-20, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD (partners), IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINUSMA, MONUSCO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Pacific Alliance (observer), Paris Club, PCA, PIF (partner), SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNMISS, UNRWA, UN Security Council (permanent), UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
National symbol(s): lion (Britain in general); lion, Tudor rose, oak (England); lion, unicorn, thistle (Scotland); dragon, daffodil, leek (Wales); shamrock, flax (Northern Ireland);
national colors: red, white, blue (Britain in general); red, white (England); blue, white (Scotland); red, white, green (Wales)
National anthem: name: God Save the Queen
lyrics/music: unknown
note: in use since 1745; by tradition, the song serves as both the national and royal anthem of the UK; it is known as either "God Save the Queen" or "God Save the King," depending on the gender of the reigning monarch; it also serves as the royal anthem of many Commonwealth nations
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Michael TATHAM (since 10 July 2019); note - Ambassador Sir Nigel Kim DARROCH (since 28 January 2016) resigned on 10 July 2019)
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco consulate(s): Orlando (FL), San Juan (Puerto Rico)
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Robert Wood (Woody) JOHNSON IV (since 29 August 2017)
embassy: 33 Nine Elms Lane, London, SW11 7US United Kingdom
mailing address: PSC 801, Box 40, FPO AE 09498-4040
telephone: [44] 20-7499-9000
FAX: [44] 20-7891-3151
consulate(s) general: Belfast, Edinburgh
The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is the third largest economy in Europe after Germany and France. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil resources, but its oil and natural gas reserves are declining; the UK has been a net importer of energy since 2005. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, are key drivers of British GDP growth. Manufacturing, meanwhile, has declined in importance but still accounts for about 10% of economic output. In 2008, the global financial crisis hit the economy particularly hard, due to the importance of its financial sector. Falling home prices, high consumer debt, and the global economic slowdown compounded the UK’s economic problems, pushing the economy into recession in the latter half of 2008 and prompting the then BROWN (Labour) government to implement a number of measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial markets. Facing burgeoning public deficits and debt levels, in 2010 the then CAMERON-led coalition government (between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) initiated an austerity program, which has continued under the Conservative government. However, the deficit still remains one of the highest in the G7, standing at 3.6% of GDP as of 2017, and the UK has pledged to lower its corporation tax from 20% to 17% by 2020. The UK had a debt burden of 90.4% GDP at the end of 2017. The UK economy has begun to slow since the referendum vote to leave the EU in June 2016. A sustained depreciation of the British pound has increased consumer and producer prices, weighing on consumer spending without spurring a meaningful increase in exports. The UK has an extensive trade relationship with other EU members through its single market membership, and economic observers have warned the exit will jeopardize its position as the central location for European financial services. Prime Minister MAY is seeking a new "deep and special" trade relationship with the EU following the UK’s exit. However, economists doubt that the UK will be able to preserve the benefits of EU membership without the obligations. The UK is expected to officially leave the EU by the end of March 2019.
Gross national saving: 13.6% of GDP (2017 est.) 12% of GDP (2016 est.) 12.3% of GDP (2015 est.) GDP - composition, by end use: household consumption: 65.8% (2017 est.) government consumption: 18.3% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 17.2% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 0.2% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 30.2% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -31.5% (2017 est.) GDP - composition, by sector of origin: agriculture: 0.7% (2017 est.) industry: 20.2% (2017 est.) services: 79.2% (2017 est.)
Agriculture - products: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish; milk, eggs
Industries: machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food processing, textiles, clothing, other consumer goods
Population below poverty line: 15% (2013 est.)
note: data cover general government debt and include debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions
Fiscal year: 6 April - 5 April
Current account balance: -$99.21 billion (2017 est.) -$139.3 billion (2016 est.)
Exports - commodities: manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco
Exports - partners: US 13.2%, Germany 10.5%, France 7.4%, Netherlands 6.2%, Ireland 5.6%, China 4.8%, Switzerland 4.5% (2017)
Imports: $615.9 billion (2017 est.) $591 billion (2016 est.)
Imports - commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs
Imports - partners: Germany 13.7%, US 9.5%, China 9.3%, Netherlands 8%, France 5.4%, Belgium 5% (2017)
Debt - external: $8.126 trillion (31 March 2016 est.) $8.642 trillion (31 March 2015 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: $2.11 trillion (31 December 2017 est.) $1.611 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)
Exchange rates: British pounds (GBP) per US dollar - 0.7836 (2017 est.) 0.738 (2016 est.) 0.738 (2015 est.) 0.607 (2014 est.) 0.6391 (2013 est.)
Electricity - exports: 2.153 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Electricity - imports: 19.7 billion kWh (2016 est.)
Refined petroleum products - production: 1.29 million bbl/day (2017 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 47 billion cu m (2017 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 176 billion cu m (1 January 2018 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy: 424 million Mt (2017 est.)
Telephone system: general assessment: technologically advanced domestic and international system; one of the largest markets in Europe for revenue and subscribers; will complete the switch to fibre by 2025; mobile penetration above the EU average; govt funding for trial 5G technologies; FttP provided to over million customers; super-fast broadband available to about 95% of customers (2018)
domestic: equal mix of buried cables, microwave radio relay, and fiber-optic systems; fixed-line 50 per 100 and mobile-cellular 121 per 100 (2018)
international: country code - 44; numerous submarine cables provide links throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and US; satellite earth stations - 10 Intelsat (7 Atlantic Ocean and 3 Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region), and 1 Eutelsat; at least 8 large international switching centers
Broadcast media: public service broadcaster, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world; BBC operates multiple TV networks with regional and local TV service; a mixed system of public and commercial TV broadcasters along with satellite and cable systems provide access to hundreds of TV stations throughout the world; BBC operates multiple national, regional, and local radio networks with multiple transmission sites; a large number of commercial radio stations, as well as satellite radio services are available (2018)
Internet country code: .uk
Pipelines: 502 km condensate, 9 km condensate/gas, 28603 km gas, 59 km liquid petroleum gas, 5256 km oil, 175 km oil/gas/water, 4919 km refined products, 255 km water (2013)
(2015) standard gauge: 16,534 km 1.435-m gauge (5,357 km electrified) (2015) broad gauge: 303 km 1.600-m gauge (in Northern Ireland) (2015)
(2009) paved: 394,428 km (includes 3,519 km of expressways) (2009)
Waterways: 3,200 km (620 km used for commerce) (2009)
by type: bulk carrier 129, container ship 109, general cargo 162, oil tanker 177, other 993 (2018)
Ports and terminals: major seaport(s): Dover, Felixstowe, Immingham, Liverpool, London, Southampton, Teesport (England); Forth Ports (Scotland); Milford Haven (Wales) oil terminal(s): Fawley Marine terminal, Liverpool Bay terminal (England); Braefoot Bay terminal, Finnart oil terminal, Hound Point terminal (Scotland) container port(s) (TEUs): Felixstowe (3,849,700), London (2,431,000), Southampton (2,040,000) (2017) LNG terminal(s) (import): Isle of Grain, Milford Haven, Teesside
Military branches: Army, Royal Navy (includes Royal Marines), Royal Air Force (2013)
Military service age and obligation: 16-33 years of age (officers 17-28) for voluntary military service (with parental consent under 18); no conscription; women serve in military services including ground combat roles; must be citizen of the UK, Commonwealth, or Republic of Ireland; reservists serve a minimum of 3 years, to age 45 or 55; 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service by Nepalese citizens in the Brigade of Gurkhas; 16-34 years of age for voluntary military service by Papua New Guinean citizens (2016)
Military expenditures: 2.2% of GDP (2016) 2.05% of GDP (2015) 2.22% of GDP (2014) 2.25% of GDP (2013) 2.51% of GDP (2012)
Disputes - International: in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement between the UK and Spain; the Government of Gibraltar insisted on equal participation in talks between the two countries; Spain disapproved of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory); in 2001, the former inhabitants of the archipelago, evicted 1967 - 1973, were granted UK citizenship and the right of return, followed by Orders in Council in 2004 that banned rehabitation, a High Court ruling reversed the ban, a Court of Appeal refusal to hear the case, and a Law Lords' decision in 2008 denied the right of return; in addition, the UK created the world's largest marine protection area around the Chagos islands prohibiting the extraction of any natural resources therein; UK rejects sovereignty talks requested by Argentina, which still claims the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and partially overlaps Chilean claim; Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm
Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 17,231 (Iran), 13,041 (Eritrea), 9,839 (Afghanistan), 9,720 (Syria), 8,959 (Sudan), 7,742 (Pakistan), 6,772 (Zimbabwe), 5,711 (Sri Lanka) (2018)
Illicit drugs: producer of limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin American cocaine, and synthetic drugs; money-laundering center
United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaAustraliaGermanyFranceIrelandNetherlandsSouth AfricaItalyNew ZealandSpainChinaSwedenJapanMexicoIndiaBrazilNorwayRussiaBelgiumDenmarkPolandSwitzerlandTurkeyPhilippinesFinlandAustriaHungaryCzechiaHong KongRomaniaSouth KoreaUnited Arab EmiratesPakistanPortugalSingaporeArgentinaIsraelGreeceIndonesiaMalaysiaPuerto RicoSloveniaThailandCroatiaTrinidad and TobagoSaudi ArabiaBulgariaCosta RicaSerbiaIranColombiaSlovakiaUkraineEgyptVietnamChileCaribbean NetherlandsKenyaBangladeshIsle of ManThe BahamasTaiwanPeruLithuaniaMoroccoIcelandMaltaNigeriaEcuadorEstoniaPanamaUruguayGuatemalaKuwaitLatviaAlbaniaQatarCyprusLuxembourgVenezuelaIraqBarbadosAlgeriaGeorgiaMongoliaJamaicaDominican RepublicArubaBosnia and HerzegovinaJordanSri LankaLebanonBermudaBahrainGuamNorth MacedoniaNamibiaZimbabweGuernseyVirgin IslandsTunisiaJerseyOmanHondurasKazakhstanSaint Kitts and NevisBelizeGhanaCuracaoCayman IslandsEthiopiaCambodiaMauritiusBelarusBurmaAfghanistanNicaraguaParaguayLibyaNepalArmeniaTanzaniaSyriaAzerbaijanBoliviaEl SalvadorCote d'IvoireUgandaBotswanaZambiaSaint LuciaPalestinian TerritoryReunionAntigua and BarbudaGrenadaFijiSurinameGuyanaSint MaartenSenegalMozambiqueSudanAngolaTurks and Caicos IslandsHaitiMoldovaLaosFaroe IslandsYemenMalawiNew CaledoniaSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesBruneiMonacoMontenegroPapua New GuineaUzbekistanRwandaMadagascarNorthern Mariana IslandsCabo VerdeSaint BarthelemySomaliaEswatiniCameroonKyrgyzstanSeychellesFrench PolynesiaLiechtensteinLesothoGibraltarBurkina FasoKosovoMacauMaldivesFrench GuianaBritish Virgin IslandsAnguillaBeninTogoDominicaSaint MartinThe GambiaCubaLiberiaGuadeloupeFrench Southern and Antarctic LandsAmerican SamoaDemocratic Republic of the CongoAland IslandsRepublic of the CongoMartiniqueVanuatuBhutanGuineaPalauDjiboutiFalkland IslandsTongaTurkmenistanSierra LeoneAndorraMaliTajikistanMicronesiaSouth SudanSan MarinoMontserratChad « Previous Country | Next Country » Back to Flag Counter Overview
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Tripping on the Threshold of the Doors: The Difficult Negotiation of the Visionary in Ginsberg’s Drug Poems
Harma, Tanguy. 2019. 'Tripping on the Threshold of the Doors: The Difficult Negotiation of the Visionary in Ginsberg’s Drug Poems'. In: 8th Annual Conference of the European Beat Studies Network (EBSN). Nicosia, Cyprus 9-12 October 2019. [Conference or Workshop Item]
Tripping on the Threshold of the Doors.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.
Official URL: https://ebsn.eu/2019-conference-nicosia-cyprus/
Motivated by the search for a cosmic consciousness, Ginsberg wrote a series of poems under the influence of a variety of psychoactive substances, such as ‘Laughing Gas’, ‘Mescaline’ and 'Lysergic Acid’ (1959). Through these poems, Ginsberg seeks to record the minute details of his altered condition by attempting to disrupt an ordinary form of consciousness – or, in the words of Blake, by ‘cleansing the doors of perception’; a strategy that allows the poet, under the influence of different drugs, to capture potential visions of a spiritual nature and to communicate them to the audience/reader.
Thus, Ginsberg’s ‘drug poems’ may be apprehended through the lens of the Prophetic; a tradition relayed by poets working in a Romantic trend that Ginsberg actualised in the midst of the 20th-century in America by aiming not only to reach and embody the mystical experience, but also to pass it on to the reader by means of a visionary poetics (Portugés), a poetics largely implemented in ‘Howl’ for instance. In the ‘drug poems’ however, Ginsberg remains mostly unsuccessful in achieving transcendental breakthroughs not only for himself as a speaker, but also for us as readers, and I will shed light on several factors that may account for this failure.
I will underline the crucial role played by reflexivity in these poems, as Ginsberg attempts to self-consciously register his own altered states of consciousness. The constant monitoring of the self, coupled with its immediate transcription in writing form, generates a double-consciousness that interferes with the spontaneous flow of experience and tends to disrupt the poet’s intuitive expression. This reflexivity is a factor of self-alienation: it initiates an anguish that takes over the speaker and ruins his chances at encountering, and channelling, the transcendent.
In equal measure, I will also show that the failure to convey what is left of the visionary in these poems stems from their inoperative poetics, whose primary purpose is to mimic the experience rather than perform it; a poetics which cannot truly embody the vision it describes, and which therefore loses the ability to alter the reader’s own consciousness.
Beat; Allen Ginsberg; hallucinogens; entheogen; visionary poetics; the prophetic; Blake; American romanticism; intuition; Emerson;
https://ebsneu.files.wordpress.com/2019/...
English and Comparative Literature
11 October 2019 Completed
26 March 2019 Accepted
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Holland Bloorview tops list for researcher intensity in listing of top 40 research hospitals
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital is ranked as one of Canada’s top 40 research hospitals for an eighth consecutive year, according to a new ranking released by Research Infosource Inc. today.
Canada’s leading hospital in childhood disability research is ranked first in researcher intensity for small hospitals with spending less than $400 million. The Bloorview Research Institute spent $627,000 on applied clinical research per scientist in 2018.
Holland Bloorview also ranked second in hospital intensity with 13.4 per cent research spending as a percentage of total hospital expenditures in the small hospital category.
Overall, Holland Bloorview placed 36th out of the top 40 leading research hospitals, hospital networks and health authorities in Canada.
“Every day, 20,000 researchers and research staff across Ontario’s research hospitals are working to discover better care, develop cures for disease, and deliver world class treatments,” said Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and chair of the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario (CAHO).
“Holland Bloorview is honoured to stand should-to-shoulder with our hospital-sector colleagues in being recognized for the critical role research plays in serving children and youth living with disabilities as well as their families,” added Tom Chau, vice president of research and director of the Bloorview Research Institute.
Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals 2019 highlights Ontario hospitals’ leadership role in defining the province as a competitive centre of health research and innovation, both at the national and global levels.
Research Infosource ranks institutions annually on numerous indicators including success in attracting financial support for research and research intensity by hospital and per researcher.
CAHO represents Ontario’s 23 research hospitals that play a unique and vital role in the province’s health care system. Holland Bloorview is one of 19 of CAHO hospitals who made this year’s list.
Read CAHO’s press release on this year’s top 40 list here.
The full ranking can be found at: researchinfosource.com
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RCM home
Research Online Home
By Item Type
The practice and context of a private Victorian brass band
Herbert, T. (1999) The practice and context of a private Victorian brass band. In: Nineteenth-century British music studies. Music in nineteenth-century Britain, 1 . Ashgate, Farnham, Surrey, pp. 105-118. ISBN 9780367146221 (hardback) 9780429052774 (e-book)
In the 19th century, a variety of circumstances and a multiplicity of musical and social functions produced several models of brass band. While in the densely populated areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire similarities might have emerged very quickly, elsewhere bands must have developed largely oblivious of what was to become the brass band movement. The Cyfarthfa Band from Wales is a vivid example of such phenomenon; Dicken's 1850 characterization of it as a 'workers' band is misleading and disguises its true identity. Its repertoire was more sophisticated than that of other bands of the period, and it seems to have been the focus of attention from some of the most prominent figures of the day.
https://www.routledge.com/Nineteenth-Century-Briti...
Please note that the link above is to a 'Routledge Revivals' version of the original 1999 volume, republished on 5th June 2019.
Brass bands, Victorian era, Cyfarthfa Band, Wales
Music and society
Ms Katharine Liley
http://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/631
© Copyright Royal College of Music
RCM Research Online is powered by Eprints3 and is hosted and managed by ULCC.
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My faith is the core of my music. It’s the reason behind what I do and without it my music wouldn’t be the same.
Austin is more than just the capital city of Texas, the Lonestar State. The city has positioned itself as a cultural staple adopting the nickname The Live Music Capital of the World. Anyone whose experienced an Austin City Limits, or South by South West festival would hardly disagree. Between Austin’s festival scenes, and UT-Austin’s collegiate culture and sports legacy, there’s little wonder if anything special can come from the Capital City.
Wande, born Yewande Isola, is a budding Hip Hop artist dynamic performer, Austin, TX native that is here to inspire. Using her infectious rap skills and personality, she accomplished an impressive 11-song release cycle in 2018 that featured a mix of features and original songs, earning her a Rapzilla,com Freshman nod for 2018, and launching her rap career. The momentum culminated in her being offered a recording contract offer from Reach Records where she worked as an A&R administrator and would become the first woman artist in the label’s 16 year legacy. “It was fulfilling knowing my work didn’t go unnoticed, given how much effort I put in,” said Wande.Ç
It wasn’t all just music. With Instagram as her preferred social media outlet, Wande grew her audience to over 10K followers with a daily regimen of photos and videos that spoke messages of hope, faith, and creative inspiration. “It’s encouraging getting to interact with people all over the world and see firsthand the impact these little nuggets can have on people.” “It also encouraged me to keep going with my music career based on the love and feedback I was getting from people,” Wande said.
With an undeniably youthful spirit, she oozes confidence, while an ability to simultaneously promote humility throughout her songs. On her 2018 single “Gotta Live” she raps about her path to success saying, “The blessings are fitted/ that means you can’t get it/ but you can get yours, if you just stay submitted.” #BARS. This compelling and uplifting combination distinguishes her from peers who may settle for braggadocio only. “Yea, I had a plan, but God flipped it/ blew it up like POW/ I was sowing seeds, now it’s looking like I need the plow,” she raps on “Fuego”, which shows her insistence on centering faith in her music. “My faith is the core of my music.” It’s the reason behind what I do and without it my music wouldn’t be the same,” she says.
On the question of gender, many would view working as a woman in the male-dominated Hip-Hop industry as a disadvantage. Wande has a different take. She instead sees this imbalance as an opportunity to empower women to be bold and pursue their goals. Offering her thoughts on the systemic gender-based inequalities, biases, and expectations in the genre she says, “I won’t let other’s expectations determine my future or what I’m capable of achieving.” “To me, it’s about doing what I’m called to do. I’m just going to focus on that.”
Authenticity is another theme that flows through Wande’s work. From her music to her style, the Nigerian-born Texas-raised rapstress does not shy away from showcasing the beauty and richness of her culture. “I realize there’s power in my name so rather than trying to Americanize it, I fully embrace that part of my identity,” Wande says. With a wide range of stylistic capability, and cultural richness to draw from one thing is certain; Wande is poised to become a uniquely uplifting and unstoppable force.
Jan 25 – Wande
Universal Studios Florida
‘Blessed Up’: UT Austin alumna Wande Isola signs with record label
Reach Records’ newest signee Wande is “Blessed Up” [Video]
earmilk.com
Christian hip hop is having a moment: 6 rappers you should know
amp.usatoday.com
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Star Wars: Deleted Magic
Re: Star Wars: Deleted Magic
Post: # 8377Post Garrett Gilchrist
https://twitter.com/MarciRobin/status/6 ... 7628693504
https://twitter.com/TheMCSPCA/status/689207123901812736
http://elitedaily.com/life/adam-driver- ... d/1352294/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZHe7GmW0AALaYh.jpg
Did you know: George Lucas' first sketches/notes for Star Wars seem to specify a ship based on Gerry Anderson's "Stingray?"
Also, though there's no concrete evidence of this yet, the Millennium Falcon seems to be jokingly named as a variation on Space 1999's Eagle. The design of the ship had to be changed after George Lucas and others thought it too similar to the Eagle.
http://kitbashed.com/blog/a-complete-hi ... ium-falcon
Because the humans from the Mos Eisley Cantina deserve a little attention too. Where are the action figures for Jenny Cresswell and Swilla Corey? ;)
http://www.starwars.com/news/meet-the-h ... ey-cantina
"Dr. Evazan" has had an action figure. And Wuher. And Boshek. Maybe some of the other guys.
Even the "Tonnika Sisters" haven't gotten figures. Apart from this 90s minifig of "Brea Tonnika," which I had:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73 ... 4f64d5.jpg
It's never been a line which had many women in it -- or a movie series --
There's a rumor that "Senni Tonnika" (Angela Staines) hasn't consented to the use of her likeness in merchandising. Some actors didn't sign a waiver at the time. (Apparently others signed waivers much later when appearing at conventions to sign autographs.)
But that wouldn't prevent the creation of "Brea" - unless the characters are considered too similar.
I hear Lucasfilm has them on a list of figures that will never be made, said it's for legal reasons, and taken the sisters out of the running in the "fan's choice poll." That could be a George decision though.
Here's a 2009 article about the "state of the Cantina" as action figures:
http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/stat ... e-cantina/
Since then, as you'd expect, plenty more characters have been made. Even humanish woman Leesub Sirln.
Also Bom Vimdin, Kal Fas, Mosep Binneed.
I see that Toryn Farr has now gotten an action figure as well - a minor Rebel on Hoth and one of the only women to have a line in the original trilogy (see also: Beru, Mon Mothma).
Rogue One is a movie for grown-up Star Wars fans. For many of you, this is exactly the Star Wars film you've been waiting for. It's dark and serious, lacking the humor and light touch of the original 1977 film, and for some viewers it may leave you cold. This is a Star Wars prequel, but it's hard to imagine Jar Jar Binks in this world. It also, for once, makes the words "Star Wars prequel" seem like a good idea. While George Lucas worked overtime to create new worlds, this film, like The Force Awakens, gets more mileage out of using the world the original films already created. Fans will be pleased, since the film takes great joy in recreating the look and feel of the original Star Wars films, and bringing back over a dozen characters we thought we'd never see again. There are many scenes here which will make longtime Star Wars fans gasp in shock, and I recommend going into the film knowing as little as possible. Spoilers are everywhere.
Rogue One also takes glee in going farther and digging deeper than the 1977 film could have, with state of the art special effects and a more brutal tone showing the horrors of war. It is a bleak film, and literally darker than the original films were. There is a lot of nostalgia in seeing environments from the original film again, like the Death Star and the Rebel base at Yavin IV, recreated in every detail. But they're often lit darker and filmed in a very 2016 way, with handheld camera and constant CGI. At times, director Gareth Edwards behaves like a kid given full control over the toy store, using characters and situations from the original as if he'd been waiting his whole life to do so. And that joy is eventually infectious, even in a film that takes the "War" part of "Star Wars" very seriously.
The very international cast adds to the feel that this is a "war movie." It's a sea of different thick accents, and "American comedian" is not among them. You'll care about these characters, and cheer as they storm the beaches and take on the Empire, but they're not quippy and quotable. While the original film was known for its humor, there are few wisecracks to be found here. Alan Tudyk is the exception, playing K-2SO, an android with an attitude, who ends many scenes with a joke. It's easy to wonder if some of his lines were added in post production. If BB-8 in "The Force Awakens" is the new R2-D2, this cynical droid is a new C-3PO.
The innovation here is to take the familiar world of Star Wars, tell a new story within it, and tell that story well. Rogue One wants to be an art film as much as it wants to be a good Star Wars movie, and it does all right in both respects. This is a good, solid, well-made film, and a real technical achievement. I would say it's better than The Force Awakens, or at least much more naturalistic, but the two are very comparable to each other. Rogue One's real achievement is making this all look easy - like making a new Star Wars film is the most normal and natural thing in the world. We know that's not true, since George Lucas made three Star Wars prequels which are full of wild ideas and awkward moments. Lucas tried a lot of interesting things which often didn't work. As with The Force Awakens, this is a new generation of Star Wars film which is happy to copy the old films visually rather than try something new. But this is also a generation of Star Wars films which takes itself seriously, and there is a skill and competence at play here which assures us that the world of Star Wars is in good hands.
The film begins without an opening crawl or John Williams fanfare, just a title card for "Rogue One." There isn't even the Star Wars logo, which is odd because otherwise this is the most Star Wars-y movie you've ever seen. The film actually feels a bit like a Star Wars "expanded universe" spinoff, like a comic book or novel, where plot points that passed by quickly in the original films are filled in with an entire huge adventure.
And this is a film which rewards longtime Star Wars fans. You'll see many characters from the original trilogy and even the prequels, and great care is taken to recreate the seventies look of George Lucas' trilogy.
One character in particular - and I hate to spoil this - is recreated in CGI. You'll gasp as he's revealed, and it works well as a one-scene gimmick. But the character sticks around for the duration of the film. That's a lot to ask of a CGI creation, even one as well done as this. We're forced to try to take the character seriously as an actor, and that's a bit of a stretch. But its nice to see ILM really reach for the state of the art in effets.
What is clear is that we're decades beyond Jar Jar Binks, and George Lucas should be proud of how far the filmmaking technologies he pioneered in the original and prequel trilogies have come. You'll be dazzled by an onslaught of artful CGI effects work that the original films couldn't have dreamed of.
The battles in space, with X-Wings and Tie Fighters and all other kinds of craft, work overtime to do more in every shot. I found it a little hard to care about the action, but that was always true of the space battles in Star Wars films. There's always a bunch of pilots who the movie isn't about - although fans will be pleasantly surprised at who shows up for the fight.
This is a film that, like the old expanded universe, works hard to flesh out corners of the Star Wars world and make the original movies better with that backstory. Of course the original movies don't need any help to be popular, and enough happens in this prequel that you'll wonder why we didn't hear about any of it before. But that's not a bad problem for Star Wars to have, and it brings to mind the novels and comics of the 90s, which came up wtih backstory for everyone and everything.
The cast is full of familiar faces who play their roles with a casual ease. They come across like old pros even when they don't have much to do. There is none of the awkwardness of the prequels here. These characters aren't as much fun (or as likely to sell toys) as even the characters of "The Force Awakens," but it is at least refreshing that this film treats its cast as something more than good or evil cartoon characters. There is moral ambiguity here, and a feeling that every character has done things they're not proud of.
Felicity Jones is all defiance as lead character Jyn Erso. She anchors the film, although it's hard at times to get a handle on her character. She's had a tough life and presents a tough exterior while still coming across as young and unsure of herself. But the movie also asks her for some bigger acting moments, unusual for a Star Wars film - crying over a message from her father, or making inspiring speeches to rally or convince the rebels. It feels at times like Jones has to deliver whatever character the scene requires, and it's likely that there was a lot of discussion about her character behind the scenes. But for the most part Felicity Jones makes all look easy and I can't think of another Star Wars lead who would have succeeded under the circumstances.
Diego Luna plays Captain Cassian Andor with a murkier morality than your usual Star Wars hero. It's fair to say this guy would have shot Greedo first, and shot a lot of other people as well. He dresses like a less cool Han Solo, but underplays the part, with none of that swagger. He's a serious and empathetic character, walking with the story's weight on his shoulders and doing more acting with his eyes than with his Mexican accent. He carries himself soulfully and we never doubt he'll do the right thing in the end.
Donnie Yen's character is a blind monk with martial arts skills and an affinity to the Force. When he's introduced, you'll hear references to the original 1975 script to Star Wars, as he talks about "The Force of Others" and Kyber crystals. As a team with Wen Jiang, the Chinese duo are fun to watch and ground the film in a certain spirituality, reminiscent perhaps of the Japanese samurai films that inspired Star Wars to begin with. They aren't Jedi but treat the Force with a reverence that we haven't seen since the first film - the sort of spiritual belief people carry in times of war.
Ben Mendelsohn plays Imperial Officer Krennic. He's got the right look and attitude, and could have stepped out of the Imperial forces of the old trilogy. But there's an awkwardness about him. He's often seen in the rain, looking a little ineffectual, though still dangerous. His collars are often wrinkled and the actor loses his temper a little too easily. He's often asked to carry scenes almost single-handedly, acting alongside people who aren't really there. It basically works. This is a villain role that's difficult to screw up, and Mendelsohn doesn't.
The film works hard to capture the look of 1977. Alistair Petrie as General Draven could have stepped out of The Empire Strikes Back, and it's nice to see more of Rebel leaders Mon Mothma and General Dodonna, here played by Genevieve O'Reilly (reprising her role from Revenge of the Sith) and Ian McElhinney.
Forrest Whitaker, as Saw Gerrera, is an unusual character who departs the film too quickly. He wears a life support machine which recalls that of Darth Vader, an idea reminiscent of George Lucas' early drafts of Star Wars.
The design of the film is largely taken from the original trilogy, recreating the 1977-1983 films in exacting detail. There is a new, more colorful Stormtrooper design which looks like it could have been concept art from the original films. There are new aliens, but overall the design for Rogue One plays it safe, copying the past even more than The Force Awakens did. And why not? This is the visual stuff people love about Star Wars, and the film treats it like coming home.
Tonally, this is not quite the Star Wars we know. The original Star Wars trilogy had a light tone overall. The Empire Strikes Back is of course the darkest of the three but still treats its characters like children, for the most part. It's clear in retrospect that there's something about the tone of the original trilogy - the first film in particular - which is difficult to replicate, something even Return of the Jedi struggled with.
Meanwhile the prequels had their own tone, as cartoony as they were cold and inaccessible. Director George Lucas used all kinds of new and unusual ideas visually, and that level of invention is certainly missed in the new films. But on a basic filmmaking level, most of what George was doing failed, and the prequels are riddled with awkward acting and writing.
For good and for bad, the prequels also paved the way for a new kind of digital filmmaking, driven by computer graphics and greenscreen. Rogue One manages moments that the earlier films couldn't have dreamed of.
It's hard to compare these new Star Wars films to the old ones. It's easier to compare them to one another - movies made to recapture what we loved about the franchise, while taking themselves seriously on a storytelling level. For good and for ill, this is zombie Star Wars, brought back from the dead to entertain the living. But if the films continue to be this technically well made, moviegoers should have no complaints.
Rogue One is not the most loveable or accessible film, by Star Wars standards. But it's a film which sneaks up on you. It does so little wrong that you're eventually overtaken by how much it does right.
The question becomes whether people can be happy and thrilled with a Star Wars movie without a big upbeat happy ending. This one doesn't mind being a downer. But it is thrilling and heroic, and it works on a large epic scale while still seeming small and personal. The film accomplishes a lot and works hard while making it all seem easy. By taking "Star Wars" out of the title, it's as if this film is happy to be underestimated, even while it embarrasses itself less than any Star Wars film since 1980.
The first teaser trailer for Rogue One now feels like an entirely different film than what we got. Not that that's a bad thing. It focuses on Jyn Erso's defiance and her criminal past, and shows a younger version of Forrest Whitaker's Saw Gerrara. All the characters in the final film, like Captain Cassian Andor, seem like a darker bunch with sketchy pasts, but clearly Jyn Erso was cleaned up to be less so.
Compare that to the final trailer, which matches the tone of the finished film, and the difference is eerie. It's hard to get a handle on Jyn Erso's character in the finished film, and it's pretty clear why -- the harder edges of that character were softened in reshoots and editing.
http://www.slashfilm.com/rogue-one-miss ... r-footage/
http://screencrush.com/rogue-one-traile ... the-movie/
http://collider.com/rogue-one-deleted-scenes-trailers
Shoutout to all the reporters hired to write up lists of the easter eggs and callbacks in Rogue One, and showing how little they actually know about Star Wars trivia.
One writer apparently hadn't noticed the two 1977-era pilots leading the X-Wing attack.
Another thought "Captain Antilles" was a shoutout to pilot Wedge Antilles. Same name, but Captain Antilles is strangled by Vader at the beginning of Star Wars, and mentioned later by C-3PO.
I haven't yet seen a writer mention all the references to early drafts of Star Wars - "The Whills," Kyber crystals, "The Force of Others" -- but I've already stopped reading.
We know from photos that Biggs Darklighter and Jek Porkins were recast for "Rogue One." I don't know if they're seen at all in the movie.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--zIKTTHT3P4/ ... G_7978.png
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blog ... -maybe.jpg
(That's a weird choice anyway, since Biggs wouldn't have been part of the rebellion at this point yet --!)
filmfan94
Post: # 8951Post filmfan94
R.I.P. Carrie Fisher
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/movie ... -leia.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmhjvkj8_aw
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Home » US News » Mumps outbreak declared over: Columbus Public Health
Mumps outbreak declared over: Columbus Public Health
After reporting on the first mumps cases at the Ohio State University in early March, seven months and hundreds of cases later, the outbreak of the contagious viral disease has been declared over.
Image/Columbus Public Health Facebook page
According to Columbus Public Health, the community mumps outbreak has been resolved with less than one case per week sustained over seven consecutive weeks (Aug. 3-Sept. 20, 2014). During this time, only three cases of mumps with onset of illness were reported. The most recent central Ohio mumps case was reported on September 2.
“We are pleased that the central Ohio mumps outbreak has been resolved, but it’s important to remember that a new outbreak can occur at any time and without warning,” says Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Teresa Long. “Now is the time to make sure all immunizations are up-to-date and you and your loved ones have received two doses of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine so you are protected.”
In all, 484 mumps cases were reported in the central Ohio outbreak – exceeding the total number of cases (438) reported in the United States during 2013.
The number of mumps cases in central Ohio also represented the highest incidence in Columbus, Delaware, Franklin, and Madison counties combined since 1979 when 930 cases were reported.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from January 1 to August 15, 2014, 965 people in the United States have been reported to have mumps.
For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
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The history of Odessa Township:
The southwest corner of Ionia County was made property of the United States by the Chicago Treaty of August 20, 1821. This treaty was signed by General Lewis Cass and chiefs of the Pottawattomie, Ottawa and Chippewa Nations. The land was surveyed during October and November of the year 1830.
The early settlers were correct in believing the area to be excellent land for farming and grazing. Most of which was covered with timberland, the principal part being beech and mapel with some oak, plus the well known swamps.
The Village of Lake Odessa located on the edge of Jordan Lake is a small part of our beautiful township. The C& O Rail Road passes through the township along it's many Depot stops.
Humphrey R. Wager, a capitalist from Ionia developed Lake Odessa in 1887. He suspected that the railroad would soon pass through the area, so purchased an 80 acre farm on the route. The Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railway built their track to connect Grand Ledge and Grand Rapids. The first train came in 1888. The village was incorporated in 1889. The village was named for the two lakes, Tupper Lake and Jordan Lake, and the Township of Odessa.
Present population: 2,256.
Odessa-named after a city in Russia- is one of the southern border-towns of Ionia, lying upon the Barry county-line, and in the United States survey is known as town 5 north, range 7 west, having Berlin on the north and Campbell on the west. Agriculture has always been, and is likely to be for some time to come, purely its interest, since there is within the town’s limits neither railway, village nor water-power. There are, however, post-offices in profusion to the number of four, named respectively. Algodon, South Cass, Lake City, and Bonanza, at the latter only of which is there even a semblance of a village. There is some waste-land in the town, but, generally considered, Odessa is a good farming-region, and its inhabitants are a thrifty, industrious, and comfortably circumstanced people.
Subpages (2): Extended History Information Mrs. Shupp History
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The racism of the Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany are compared and analyzed at seminar co-led by USC Shoah Foundation’s Wolf Gruner
In the segregated American South, racist laws banning blacks from public places such as libraries and swimming pools were instituted at the local level.
In Germany, laws placing similar prohibitions on Jews were also – initially – a matter of municipal control.
But whereas the U.S. federal government reversed the local segregation laws with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Nazi-run centralized government in Germany universalized its local laws with the adoption of several decrees after the Nuremberg Laws in 1935.
Exploring such comparisons between Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South is the focus of an ongoing two-week seminar at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. that began today.
Co-led by USC Shoah Foundation’s Wolf Gruner – as well as a professor from Harvard and a professor emeritus from the University of California – the event is for university faculty from across the nation who teach Holocaust studies or U.S. Civil Rights history.
The aim, Gruner said, is to introduce concepts that enable instructors to make meaningful comparisons, as well as to expand awareness among U.S. university students of Holocaust history.
The 2018 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for Faculty, which runs through June 15, will pay special attention to how these practices sharply diverged as Nazi antisemitic policies turned into widespread, state sanctioned murder and genocide in the 1940s.
Called “Racial Practice: Theory, Policy, and Execution in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South” the seminar will introduce the audience to the many ways in which the two experiences were products of a global movement based on pseudo-science that legitimized racism and violence in the name of eugenics.
The event will include lectures on racism and antisemitism in the early 20th century, race laws in Nazi Germany, spaces of segregation, perpetrators in Nazi Germany, and lynching as a spectacle.
In his lectures, Gruner – a professor of German-Jewish history at the USC and Institute’s founding director of the Center for Advanced Genocide Research – will share the results of his research, much of which defies conventional wisdom about anti-Jewish laws of Germany in the 1930s.
“People think (anti-Jewish laws are) all coming from Berlin from Hitler, and local governments just implement it,” Gruner said. “It’s quite the opposite, really. The government of Germany eventually picked up ideas from the bottom.”
The severity of anti-Jewish laws didn’t just vary city-by-city – they varied according to the personal prejudices of the department heads. In Hamburg, for example, because the head of the welfare department was especially racist, it was very difficult for Jews or Roma families to get welfare benefits, Gruner said. But in the same city, the economy department was less so, and Jewish-run businesses fared better than their counterparts in other cities.
Occasionally – before 1935 – the anti-Jewish strictures of local governments were even blocked by Berlin.
“They were too far ahead,” Gruner said. “Foreign correspondents would pick up on the incidents and write articles in newspapers. And in Berlin they would kind of be asked by the diplomats in Germany, ‘What are you doing there?’”
Leading the seminar with Gruner is Evelynn Hammonds, an African American studies and history professor at Harvard University; and Clarence Walker, a professor emeritus of American History at the University of California, Davis.
This is the second time Gruner has been asked to co-lead the seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Several years ago, Gruner – who published a book in 2015 about the discrimination against the the indigenous population in Bolivia – spoke at a seminar geared toward Hispanic serving higher education institutions.
Gruner has authored 12 books. His latest, “Anti-Jewish Persecution in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia - Local Initiatives, Central Decisions, Jewish Responses,” has won three distinguished prizes.
USC’s Holocaust and genocide studies collection goes from nonexistent to one of the best in U.S.
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Rutman Teaching Fellow Harry Reicher Delves into the Visual History Archive
Planning for Forthcoming Program on Contemporary Antisemitism Underway at Board of Councilors’ Meetings
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Center's Outreach and Academic Cooperation in 2019
Monday, December 30, 2019 - 12:00am
A Message of Unity and Action After New York Antisemitic Attacks
Our Top Stories of 2019
Monday, December 23, 2019 - 3:00pm
USC Shoah Foundation partners with Fox Searchlight Pictures to launch JOJO RABBIT Education initiative
Thursday, December 19, 2019 - 11:51am
Holocaust survivor’s family reads family letters from WWII on stage in Germany
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Journalist and Podcaster
Citizen Akoy: Basketball and the Making of a South-Sudanese American
Next Up at Fenway
Sorcery at Caesars
The Rhythm Boys of Omaha Central
Sports Media Guide
Hiroshi Kanda
An Interview with Hiroshi Kanda
“When I started covering professional baseball I couldn’t imagine working in the U.S…Now I can cover the highest level of baseball in the world – that’s exciting.”
“I like living in New York, except for my rent. It’s terrible.”
“If you are not bilingual it is hard to cover the manager or opponent’s players.”
“Ichiro speaks English very well and Johjima too. When they talk to their teammates they don’t need translators. But when they talk to media they use it.”
Hiroshi Kanda: Interviewed on January 18, 2007
Position: baseball writer, Kyodo News
Born: 1966, Tokyo
Education: Osaka University, 1991, Art History
Career: Kyodo News 1992 –
Personal: married, two children
Favorite restaurant (Japan): Bungo, Osaka, “good sushi”
Favorite restaurant (U.S.): Pam Real Thai, NYC, 404 W. 49th St. “the best Thai in the city”
Favorite hotel: Sailport Resort, Tampa, “during spring training – beautiful view of the ocean”
From the Kyodo News website:
Kyodo is a nonprofit cooperative organization run on an annual budget, primarily made up of membership dues and revenues from nonmember subscribers.
Kyodo’s Japanese-language news service is distributed to almost all newspapers and radio-TV networks in Japan. The combined circulation of newspaper subscribers is about 50 million.
Kyodo has some 1,000 journalists and photographers. More than half of them are posted at the Tokyo head office, assigned to political, financial, business, city, sports, science and cultural news desks plus various government offices and business organizations. Others work at five regional offices and 48 local bureaus across the country.
For international newsgathering, some 70 full-time correspondents and 40 stringers are posted at 50 places outside Japan. News coverage focuses on the Asia-Pacific region, where some 50 staffers, including local employees, are posted at 19 places. The second largest concentration of correspondents is in North America, followed by Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.
Q. How big is your sports staff in the United States?
A. Two baseball writers and one editor in New York, one baseball writer in Los Angeles, one more in Seattle, and now one in Boston.
Q. Will you have a full-time reporter in Boston to cover Daisuke Matsuzaka?
A. Yes. He will live in Boston and will cover Daisuke Matsuzaka all season. Even if Matsuzaka pitches once in five days he will cover every game of the Boston Red Sox. On the days Matsuzaka does not pitch the stories will be shorter.
Q. How many Japanese players get this type of coverage?
A. Four players. Ichiro Suzuki and Kenji Johjima in Seattle, Hideki Matsui in New York. And now Matsuzaka.
Q. Why is Matsuzaka a big story in Japan?
A. We have no professional basketball or football. Baseball is the biggest professional league in Japan – it is our national pastime. Matsuzaka won the national championship of high school baseball – it is so big in Japan. Not so many people watch college baseball – most colleges with a good baseball program are in the Tokyo area. In other areas people follow high school baseball – each of the 47 prefectures has their own team. People are crazy about high school baseball and he won the national championship. He was a first round pick of the draft and won 16 games in his first year as a pro.
Q. Is Matsuzuka easy or difficult to cover?
A. Do you mean is he good for media?
Q. Yes, is he good for media?
A. Okay, but I have never covered him. I think he is good for media. Since he was 16 or 17 he has been covered by most Japanese sports media – he should get used to being covered.
Q. What about Ichiro?
A. I don’t say good, but that’s his style. Same thing in Japan – he didn’t change at all. Everyone knows that’s his style. He doesn’t say much every day. But when the season starts, or the season is over, or the first half is over, or he plays in the All-Star Game, he will talk. When he has a press conference he is very talkable.
Q. What about Matsui?
A. He talks every day. Because of his playing for the Tokyo Giants, which gets the biggest media coverage in Japan, like the Yankees – he has a long history and he can deal with it. He has to. He made his style in Tokyo.
Q. If Seattle plays the Yankees how much do you write?
A. One long story – two or three short stories.
Q. How would you describe your job?
A. When I started covering professional baseball I couldn’t imagine working in the U.S. Free agency started in 1993 in Japan – until then no player could come to the U.S. I couldn’t imagine a player like Matsui or Ichiro playing in this country. In the last five years everything has changed and now it seems like every star player is coming to the U.S.
Q. When did you come to the U.S.?
A. In 2003, with Matsui. I was covering the Tokyo Giants. I came on the same flight as Matsui. My wife and children came after me.
Q. Do you have a good job?
A. Yes.
Q. What do you like about it?
A. I’ve been a baseball writer – I covered Japanese professional baseball more than 10 years. Now I can cover the highest level of baseball in the world – that’s exciting.
Q. Your thoughts on living in New York?
A. I like living in New York, except for my rent. It’s terrible.
My family likes it. My two children (ages 12 and 8) are in public school in Manhattan.
Q. What is the hardest part of your job?
A. I cover more than 150 games a year. The first year I covered more than 170 games including playoffs. Sometimes a flight is cancelled or delayed – anything can happen – but I have to get to the ballpark.
Q. Is it a physical grind?
A. A little bit – especially the second half of the season.
I get to the ballpark at about 3 – the clubhouse will open at 3:30 so you have to be there. I’m there until after midnight.
Q. Is your beat competitive?
A. I think so.
Q. Who are your main competitors – who do you worry about the most?
A. I don’t want to tell you.
Q. How many Japanese reporters will be in Boston?
A. I’m not sure. On Opening Day almost every Japanese sports media will be there. More than 50.
Q. And later in the season?
A. Maybe 20 including TV.
Q. Which American media do you rely on for information?
A. Associated Press. New York Times. New York Post. Daily News. I watch ESPN and read ESPN on the web.
Q. Is Japanese coverage different than American?
A. The story is not different. The way we cover baseball is different. In Japan they don’t open the clubhouse for media. You have to go to the ballpark earlier and wait for players in the parking lot or in front of the clubhouse.
Q. Are your stories about the game or personalities?
A. Mainly on the game, but sometimes personal. That’s because I write for a wire service.
Q. Japanese newspapers are more gossipy and personal?
Q. Is covering Major League Baseball a good assignment for a Japanese reporter?
A. Yes. I think so. If he likes to travel in the U.S.
Q. Are most Japanese reporters bilingual?
A. Some are not. If you are not bilingual it is hard to cover the manager or opponent’s players.
Q. Are the players’ translators helpful?
A. Ichiro speaks English very well and Johjima too. When they talk to their teammates they don’t need translators. But when they talk to media they use it.
Q. Why?
A. They don’t want to make mistakes.
Q. Do you miss Japan?
A. Not really. I know I’ll be back to Japan. This is my fifth year – it will be the last season. They told me. It’s not in my hands.
Q. Will you be sad to leave?
A. It’s okay.
(SMG thanks Hiroshi Kanda for his cooperation)
Posted on September 22, 2017 April 12, 2018 Author adminCategories Interviews, Sports Media
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Home » C-Suite, CSR, Food+Beverage, Non-profit »
Flow Water joins the B Corp-certified movement
The brand's CEO argues the stamp of approval is important, even if most consumers don't yet recognize it.
By Justin Dallaire
Since its founding in 2014, packaged water brand Flow Water has built its reputation around sustainability and “mindful hydration.” Now, having earned the stamp of approval from a third party non-profit, it can further position itself as a leading CSR company.
The company – which recently hired its first VP of marketing – was labelled B Corp certified earlier this month by the B Lab, a non-profit organization that “serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good,” according to B Lab’s website. In essence, B Corps use business solutions to solve social and environmental problems.
Only 2,297 corporations worldwide have received B Corp certification to date, with Flow Water being the first Canadian water company to do so.
Nicholas Reichenbach, Flow’s founder and CEO, says the brand will be incorporating the certification logo on the next iteration of its packaging; it has already done so on its website. Still, he says the goal of applying to be B Corp certified has more to do with “doing the right thing” than wooing socially conscious, environmentally minded consumers. The reason is that the B Lab and its label are not yet widely recognizable. That said, Flow is taking the opportunity to educate consumers on its meaning and significance.
This year was the first time Flow applied for the certification, following a push from an investor with ties to the environmental industry. Moreover, Reichenbach says the company wanted to wait until the opening of its brand-owned manufacturing facility in Aurora, Ontario, earlier this year. The packaging plant is powered by Bullfrog Power, which relies on 100% clean electricity.
To receive the B Corp designation, a company must meet verifiable standards in social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. The B Lab evaluates everything from a business’ corporate structure, to its practices and impact on employees, customers and the community. Reichenbach says it can be difficult for water companies to become certified, seeing as water extraction presents a number of environmental challenges.
However, Flow’s water is extracted from a natural spring in Bruce County, Ontario, and filtered naturally, which minimizes water treatment. Its Tetra Pak packaging is made of materials (mainly paperboard) that are 100% recyclable and up to 70 percent renewable. Flow’s DreamCap is made of plastic derived from sugar cane, an innovation that has helped it reduce its carbon footprint.
While Flow’s core target market is women aged 18 to over 55 who care about health and wellness, Reichenbach says the company’s social and environmental initiatives have attracted millennials who tend to value CSR.
B Corp-certified companies must earn a score of between 80 and 200 on the B Impact Report; overall, Flow earned a 92 and scored particularly high on the “community” component, which evaluates a company’s supplier relations, diversity, involvement in the community, and charitable giving.
B Lab, Flow Water, Nicholas Reichenbach
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Introducing strategy’s CMO Council for 2020
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Forest Preserves
Cook County Budget
Forest Pres. Budget
Property Tax Appeal
Health & Hospitals
Land Bank Authority
Policy Resolutions
Unsung Heroine
Office phone numbers:
The Cook County Code of Ordinances are the current laws of Cook County.
Search current and proposed Cook County Legislation in Larry's exclusive legislative library.
The Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange trade 60% of the world futures contracts.
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | All
from the office of Commissioner Larry Suffredin:
Growing MWRD tree program shelters region from storms
First Phase of North Branch Trail Extension Opens
Forest Preserves of Cook County Fall Events Schedule Now Available
Plungers demonstrate improved water quality in Cal-Sag Channel
The Forest Preserves of Cook County is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony for its newly remodeled General Headquarters
New Trier rowers' success a reflection on cleaner waters
First human case of West Nile virus in suburban Cook County
Fight the Bite Cook County campaign to prevent West Nile and Zika viruses launches today
Meet the Forest Preserve Foundation's Newest Board Members!
New pact between MWRD and Cook County Sheriff leads to safer streets, cleaner waters
Update: Cook County Central Campus Health Center
Chicago Area Clean Cities, Forest Preserves of Cook County to Showcase Success of Alt-Fuel Lawn Mowers
Chicago Mayor Emanuel And Cook County Board President Preckwinkle Launch Industrial Growth Zones Program
Can’t bring your bike to the preserves? Rent one through Bike and Roll!
John Plante reappointed to the Metra Board of Directors
Swallow Cliff Pavilion, Second Stair Set Now Open in Palos Region
Grand Opening Ceremony for Swallow Cliff Pavilion, Second Stair Set
Forest Preserves of Cook County Celebrates National Trails Day
Camp Dan Beard Open for the Summer in Northbrook
Forest Preserves of Cook County Launches Pilot Program for Youth Employment
Outdoor Recreation is Close to Home
Chicago’s True Nature: The Forest Preserves of Cook County
Silver Star Banner
Forest Preserves of Cook County to host Nature Block Party
Forest Preserves of Cook County to host The Big Sit
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Page 5 of 21 displaying items 101-125 of 501
Preckwinkle readies for Rauner budget cuts
Crain's Chicago Business
Cook County demands payment from state for kids left waiting in jail
WBEZ
Newsviews: Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart
Push for cops to get heroin OD cure
Homan Square Station Not a 'Black Site,' But Probe Needed, Official Says
DNA Info
Public defender nominee a 23-year office veteran
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Veteran defense lawyer nominated to be Cook County public defender
Church Road properties annexed into Winnetka
Cook County may ask for reform of ComEd contributions policy
Lawmakers push to cap Cook County bail bond fees
Ending the 'innocence tax' in Cook County
Despite claim, sanitary district never OK'd Red Seal plan: officials
Higgins signs back on to medical district project
Cook County Land Bank hires new director
Cook County Land Bank hires new executive director
Inside Cook County Jail, where inmates get Obamacare
Cook County offering free measles vaccinations in Palatine
'Gestapo' tactics at US police 'black site' ring alarm from Chicago to Washington
The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site'
The Watchdogs: Ruling on Sheriff Tom Dart’s Merit Board could put firings in doubt
Electronic monitoring spikes in Cook County
Dart: Rauner budget cuts “alarming,” lack “financial sense”
Cunningham out as public defender
Inmate killed in Cook County Jail shouldn't have been locked up there
Cook County corrections officer charged
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Page 92 of 323 displaying items 2276-2300 of 8065
The views expressed in the press articles do not necessarily reflect or are endorsed by Commissioner Larry Suffredin and our office.
Paid for by Larry Suffredin and not at taxpayer expense. A Haymarket Production.
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November 2002 - Blabbermouth Archive
NORTHER Announce Final Gig Of 2002
Finland's NORTHER will play their final gig of 2003 in Nivala on Dec. 21. As previously reported, NORTHER recently finished mixing the first single from their as-yet-untitled second full-length album at Finnvox studios for a Jan. 20, 2003 release through Spinefarm Records. The follow-up to last year's "Dreams of Endless War" effort was recorded at ...
WINGER Guitarist In Talks To Rejoin DOKKEN
WINGER guitarist Reb Beach is strongly rumored to be eyeing a return to the DOKKEN lineup for the group's upcoming U.S. tour with WHITESNAKE and THE SCORPIONS. When asked about the possibility of rejoining forces with Don Dokken following the latter's stints with John Norum and Italian guitarist Alex De Rosso, Beach said, "Looks good ...
KUSH Set Fall Release Date For Long-Awaited Debut
Rap-metal supergroup KUSH (a.k.a. THE KUSH PROJECT), which features FEAR FACTORY bassist/guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers, FEAR FACTORY drummer Raymond Herrera, DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter and CYPRESS HILL frontman B-Real, are currently polishing up nearly 30 tracks for possible inclusion on their long-awaited debut album, tentatively due in the fall through Sony Records. "It started out ...
THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY Cancel UK Tour
Sweden's THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY, who are fronted by former REFUSED screamer Dennis Lyxzen, have been forced to cancel their UK tour due to a "serious back injury" suffered by the singer. A statement from the band reads: "Unfortunately THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY have been forced to cancel their upcoming UK tour due to serious ...
GODHEAD Ink Deal With REALITY ENTERTAINMENT
GODHEAD have signed an exclusive, worldwide deal with Reality Entertainment. The band — who were previously signed to MARILYN MANSON's Posthuman Records — are presently in the studio with producers Warren Croyle (who also heads up Reality) and partner Joe Floyd recording their sophomore CD for an early 2003 release. "We wanted to go with ...
CKY Confirmed For Remainder Of GUNS N' ROSES U.S. Tour
Pennsylvania's CKY have been confirmed for the remainder of the ongoing GUNS N' ROSES U.S. tour, which is currently scheduled to conclude on Jan. 3, 2003 at the Forum in Los Angeles. ...
THE CROWN Line Up Italian Dates
Swedish thrashers THE CROWN, recently rejoined by original vocalist Johan Lindstrand, have announced two Italian shows during March. They are as follows: Mar. 08 – Milano, ITA @ Transilvania Live Mar. 09 – Vicenza, ITA @ Midian ...
TNT Perform 'Music Industry' Showcase
TNT played a "music industry" show this past Monday night (Nov. 25) in Oslo, Norway at the Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel. Check out a couple of photos from the show at this location. ...
DEFTONES To Play Headlining Dates In Australia
DEFTONES will perform a couple of solo headlining concerts in Australia in January in conjunction with their appearance there as part of the Big Day Out Festival. Confirmed dates so far are as follows: Jan. 23 - Uni of NSW Roundhouse, AUS Jan. 30 - The Palace Complex, VIC, AUS In other news, the band ...
CATHEDRAL Confirmed For France's STONED WIZARDS FESTIVAL
CATHEDRAL have been confirmed for the Stoned Wizards Festival at La Loco in Paris, France on Dec. 8. Other bands scheduled to appear at the event are HERMANO, NEBULA, THE MUSHROOM RIVER BAND, ORANGE GOBLIN, SOLARIZED, LOWRIDER, MISDEMEANOR, BLACKSTONE, LOADING DATA and EON MEGAHERTS. ...
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Conferences \ Point-of-Care Diagnostics World Congress \ Agenda \ Ryan Bailey
Ryan Bailey's Biography
Ryan Bailey, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ryan C. Bailey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with affiliate appointments in the University’s Department of Bioengineering, Institute for Genomic Biology, and Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. Prior to joining the faculty at Illinois, he received degrees in chemistry from Eastern Illinois University (B.S.) and Northwestern University (Ph.D.), and completed postdoctoral training jointly at the California Institute of Technology and the Institute for Systems Biology. Prof. Bailey’s research group is generally interested in developing highly multiplexed and parallelizable detection strategies for point-of-care diagnostics, with applications in advanced genomic, transciptomic, proteomic, and epigenomic analyses. Prof. Bailey was named by Technology Review Magazine at a Top Innovator under 35 and has been recognized with a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Arthur F. Findeis Award for Achievements by a Young Analytical Scientist, and a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, among others.
Silicon Photonic Point-of-Care Sensors for Multiplexed Diagnostics
Friday, 19 September 2014 at 14:30
Add to Calendar ▼2014-09-19 14:30:002014-09-19 15:30:00Europe/LondonSilicon Photonic Point-of-Care Sensors for Multiplexed DiagnosticsPoint-of-Care Diagnostics World Congress in San Diego, California, USASan Diego, California, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
The concept of personalized medicine is predicated on an ability to comprehend a patient’s disease state in a highly informed manner that ideally illuminates an effective, molecularly-targeted treatment strategy. A growing body of evidence suggests that the simultaneous measurement of many unique biomolecular signatures from a single clinically relevant sample would be incredibly enabling in achieving such an informative diagnosis. Unfortunately, this is an analytical feat that currently not possible using established methods, thereby limiting the implementation of informative molecular diagnostic and theragnostic strategies in the clinical treatment of disease. In response to this and other bioanalytical challenges that simultaneously require high sensitivity, high level multiplexing capability, and scalable and cost effective sensor fabrication, our group has developed a new biomolecular analysis platform based upon silicon photonic microring resonators. This detection strategy leverages well validated semiconductor fabrication, laser sources from optic telecommunications, and conventional microarraying tools to create highly multiplexed and robust biosensor arrays that are extraordinarily sensitive to biomolecular binding events at the sensor surface. In this talk I will describe our efforts to develop this emerging platform in the context of creating multiplexed detection solutions for point-of-care diagnostics.
Add to Calendar ▼2014-09-18 00:00:002014-09-19 00:00:00Europe/LondonPoint-of-Care Diagnostics World CongressPoint-of-Care Diagnostics World Congress in San Diego, California, USASan Diego, California, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
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Aktuelle Ausgabe, Politik
by Redaktion
The representative of Uzbekistan to Austria and the International organizations in Vienna, Sherzod Asadov, on the political relations between Austria and Uzbekistan.
We highly value the fact that on January 15, 1992 Austria was among the first countries to recognize the independence of our country. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Austria have maintained a good momentum of all-round development, highlighted by enhanced political mutual trust and economic cooperation.
Considering the great importance attached to the development of mutually beneficial relations with this leading European state, in January 1994 the Embassy of Uzbekistan was opened in Vienna.
Our bilateral cooperation is one of deep friendship, trust and mutual support on the international arena. Over the past dynamic and constructive period, we have formed a solid legal framework, which covers such areas as economy, investments, tourism, transport, environment, sustainable development, science and education.
Mechanisms for exchange of views on main topics of the bilateral and international agendas have been established between our countries. Political aspects of cooperation are discussed through contacts between parliamentarians and consultations of the ministries of foreign affairs. Thus, the last round of the inter-ministerial dialogue was held in Tashkent in April 2016.
Bilateral Economic cooperation
More than 30 enterprises have been established in Uzbekistan with the participation of Austrian capital that carry out their activities in such areas as chemical industry, machinery, construction, pharmaceuticals, agriculture etc. We have to work very hard on economic side of our relations because the current modest trade turnover amount does not correspond to the economic potential of our countries.
I would like to note that on January 11, 2018 the President of the Republic Uzbekistan, H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, held a first ever meeting with the heads of all diplomatic missions abroad. During this summit, the leader of Uzbekistan clearly indicated economic diplomacy as the priority of the national foreign service and set a formula for further activities, aimed at increasing three of the main economic indicators: exports, investments and tourism.
Therefore, we are now working very closely with WKO and the business community here to bring the best Austrian companies and their technologies, knowledge and experience to Uzbekistan.
Active development in recent years has received cooperation in the field of tourism. The rich historical, cultural and spiritual heritage of Uzbekistan increasingly attracts tourists from Austria. For the past few consecutive years we’ve been observing a steady increase in the number of Austrian tourists visiting Uzbekistan. This year we’re expecting more than 4000 travelers from this beautiful country that will visit such jewels of the Great Silk Road – Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva and other marvelous cities in Uzbekistan.
An important instrument for deepening business and investment cooperation is the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. Meetings of the commission are held regularly, and to date, six meetings have been held in this format. In addition, entrepreneurs of the two countries have the opportunity to communicate directly within the framework of regularly organized business forums.
Reforms in Uzbekistan
In December 2016, Uzbekistan entered a new phase in its development by starting far-reaching social reforms, which are designed to further improve the well-being of its people. On February 7, 2017 the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, signed a decree “On action strategy on further developing of Uzbekistan”. The action strategy on five priority directions on development of Uzbekistan is designed for 2017-2021. The document was widely discussed before it was adopted. It is aimed at improving the efficiency of the reforms, creating conditions for full and accelerated development of the state and society, implementing the priority areas for modernization and liberalization of the country in all spheres of life.
A vital part of that process has been the implementation of the measures outlined in the Government’s declaration of 2017, that marked the year for dialogue with the people and promotion of human interests. As the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, made clear in his address to both houses of parliament on December 22, 2017, government agencies must make the principle that they serve the people a cornerstone of their work, rather than the other way around.
As part of the effort to put this principle into practice, a new system is being used to engage in open dialogue with the public and to address their grievances effectively. Public reception offices and a virtual reception office of the President of Uzbekistan form the foundation of this system and function as a unique democratic institution that handles petitions from citizens. The main objective of these changes is to promote the interests of the people.
Economic reforms in Uzbekistan
Political and macroeconomic stability is a distinctive feature of Uzbekistan. As part of an effort to achieve deeper economic reforms, 2018 has been declared the year for entrepreneurship, innovation and technology in Uzbekistan.
As a matter of priority, entrepreneurs will be provided with the fullest support, specifically by making it easier to import high technologies and the latest scientific breakthroughs and to integrate them into production processes.
We are embarking on the path of innovative development that seeks to fundamentally improve every aspect of the Government and society.
According to the World Bank, we carried out the most reforms in the Europe and Central Asia region in the past year. As a result, this year we moved up to 74th place in the World Bank’s ease of doing business global rankings and earned a spot in the top ten global improvers.
Thanks to the measures implemented in 2017, the steady growth rates of economic growth amounted to 5.5 percent, the volume of exports increased by 15 percent. The positive balance in foreign trade reached $ 854 million.
Now the time is right to invest in Uzbekistan, because the business climate is changing, the economy is gaining momentum, which makes doing business easier.
Having a population of more than 32 million – almost half of the entire population of Central Asia, Uzbekistan is the biggest consumer market in the region. Advantageous geographic location and proximity to the biggest markets make our country an attractive place for foreign investors. In addition, we have the Free Trade Agreement with CIS countries which ensures duty-free access of Uzbekistan’s products to regional markets with population of more than 300 million.
According to observers, within a short period of time, Uzbekistan has created a completely new atmosphere in the region, which in the future can significantly improve the image of all Central Asia in the international arena. Recent breakthrough agreements with neighboring countries are gradually shaping the notion of the region as a full-fledged Central Asian five.
Kroatien: Nationalfeiertag
Apostolische Nuntiatur: 5. Jahrestag von Papst Franziskus
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Kacey Musgraves to Host Christmas Special Featuring Lana Del Rey, Dan Levy, Zooey Deschanel
Kacey Musgraves will be getting extra festive for the holidays this year, hosting her very own Christmas special titled The Kacey Musgraves...
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Declare Jet Skis Are the Future in "2099" Video
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan recently unveiled their latest collaboration "2099" from Charli, and now the futuristic pop tune has been treated...
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Reunite for New Song "2099"
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan dropped the delightfully nostalgic single "1999" last year, and now they're looking to the future on a follow-up...
Charli XCX Announces Guest-Loaded New Album, Hits Canada on World Tour
Charli XCX has at last announced her new album. Called simply Charli, the pop star's third proper studio effort arrives on September 13 via...
Miley Cyrus, Troye Sivan, Lena Waithe to Guest Judge on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 11
RuPaul's Drag Race returns for its 11th season later this month, and the star-studded list of guest judges has just been announced. Mile...
Thom Yorke, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga Shortlisted for Oscars Best Original Song
For the first time ever, the Oscars have revealed the shortlists in the musical categories of Best Original Song and Best Original Score. ...
Troye Sivan, SOPHIE, Tirzah and Empress Of Represent the Future of Pop Best of 2018
While a whiff of nostalgia hung across the 2018 pop landscape, the past 12 months were nevertheless a banner year for forward-thinking pop m...
Ariana Grande Unveils 'Mean Girls'-Inspired "thank u, next" Video Trailer
Ariana Grande has been teasing her epic chick flick-inspired "thank u, next" video with plenty of tweets and photos, but now she's shared a...
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Really Want You to Remember the '90s in Their "1999" Video
Last week, pop experimenters Charli XCX and Troye Sivan shared their "1999" single complete with a Matrix-inspired video. If that wasn't '90...
Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Party Like It's '1999' on New Song
Pop outliers Charli XCX and Troye Sivan were barely able to tie their own shoes in 1999, but it hasn't stopped the pair from toasting the pr...
Troye Sivan and Ariana Grande Unveil "Dance to This" Video
Troye Sivan recently invited Goddess herself, Ariana Grande, to jump on his track "Dance to This," and now the pair have unveiled some match...
Ariana Grande and Troye Sivan Release New Single "Dance to This"
Newly engaged pop diva Ariana Grande has been hinting at multiple collaborations with Nicki Minaj, but before we get to hear "Bed" or "The L...
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Wave Music Community Board > Record Releases, Playlists and Online Mix Shows
Congrats Kerri Chandler (Dj Awards/Dj Of The Year)
.................................................. ............................
Congrats Kerri Chandler on Winning your Second Award (Dj Awards)
Kerri 'Kaoz' Chandler one of deep house music's originators, has been injecting soul into music since the early nineties.
Kerri 'Kaoz' Chandler one of deep house music's originators, has been injecting soul into music since the early nineties. An ambassador of the natural and instinctive 4/4 beat, Kerri's influences can be traced back to New Jersey growing up in a family of jazz musicians. His father being a respected deejay, provided Kerri with a rich background in the origins of soul, disco and the New York Underground Sound (known also as "Garage" music). Accompanying his father to the gigs, Kerri began playing records at the Rally Record Club in East Orange, New Jersey at the tender age of thirteen. Exposed to such musical creativity, it wasn't long before Kerri found himself interested in production.
Since the signing of his first single "SuperLover/Get It Off" by Atlantic in 1991, Kerri began producing a prolific body of work that has helped coin him one of the most respected house producers in the world. This has been achieved by remaining true to his style. When listening to tracks such as the "Atmosphere EP" on Shelter Records and the seminal, "A Basement, Redlight and A Feeling" album on Madhouse, one has to marvel at Kerri's ability to not compromise his unique sound for commercial gain. His ability to blend tradition and innovation produces avant-garde music with soulful roots reaching back into the history of Afro-American music. Tradition as in the soulful roots of Jersey house, innovation as in his use of streamlined sparse arrangements and technology, Kerri masters rhythm and space piecing together vocals and instruments with uncanny precision delivering beautiful monster jams.
A spiritual man, Kerri prays before making a record. Each project is an attempt to inject his free spirit into a groove. In the expanses of his breaks the odd counter rhythm will inexplicably appear for a second and then disappear, creating fleshy excitement, not mechanical repetition. His now legendary bass-lines go from heavy and heady to playful and quirky while remaining deliriously intoxicating. His fusions, clamped to the beat of his unique thundering kick drum, redefine house music at every turn. His hooks are loving details, paying attention to horn hits, washes of synthesizers, and catchy choruses creating songs with brutal drive. A believer in peace and harmony, Kerri blames soulful house's positive vibes for its failure to make it commercially, as its openness to influences are difficult for many to accept.
Kerri is fascinated by technology and its application to creativity. He has built his own studio and spends hours creating new EFX units and sound machines. Taking a fearless leap into millennium technology, he has recently innovated new tools and employed creative ideas designed to revolutionize the way we think of traditional deejay mixing. Kerri uses his deejay sets to inject a spirit into the dance floor. More than a mere deejay spinning records, his sets are "live" during which he remixes tracks whenever he can by incorporating keyboards, vocalists, percussionists, guitars, violins, horns, projector screens, laser synths or just his own excellent soulful voice. Armed with a lap top computer, thousands of MP3 files, his own handmade mini-mixer and a cutting-edge imagination, Kerri has been wowing audiences around the globe while inspiring debate and envy in top industry circles about his new toys.
If you think all house music sounds the same, has no soul and is just four to the floor, then I suggest you do some rethinking and check out Kerri Chandler's latest releases and back catalogue…You'll be glad you did!
Last edited by robbi : 09-17-2019 at 02:12 PM.
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Blonde Donna
Some Recent Performances
Dalton Baldwin -
Lorraine Nubar
Pianist Dalton Baldwin is renowned for his concerts with such well-known singers as Elly Ameling, Jessye Norman, Frederica von Stade and William Parker. He has recorded the complete songs of Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, Duparc and, more recently, the complete songs of Ravel with Jessye Norman, Teresa Berganza and José Van Dam. Dalton Baldwin was born in Summit, New Jersey. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music and Oberlin Conservatory. Mr. Baldwin conducts intensive three-day Master Classes at Westminster Choir College in Princeton where he works with both singers and accompanists as part of the college's program in coaching and accompanying. Over fifteen years ago he helped establish the International Art Song Festival at the college, which is held every few years.
Dalton Baldwin died December 12, 2019, at almost 88 years of age, while flying home after teaching in Japan.
We will miss him -- and his art -- greatly.
Soprano Lorraine Nubar's busy international career is divided between performing and teaching. Her expressive voice and communicative power have been enjoyed most recently by audiences in the United States, France, Sweden and Japan. A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Nubar is currently a Visiting Professor of Voice at the Paris Conservatory, at the Paris Opera School and at the Lyon Opera School. She has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School of Music since 1980. A frequent judge at national and international competitions, she has been on the jury panel of the Young Concert Artist Competition since 1979.
©2002-2019 Vermont Opera Theater
Vermont Opera Theater
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Dylan House Apartments
Back to London Apartments
Dylan House Apartments offer their guests modern, high standard apartments which are suitable for all kinds of London visitors: families, friends, groups as well as business travellers. This luxury accommodation is located near the tube station Paddington. All the main attractions of London are therefore within easy reach. Featuring flat-screen satellite television and fully equipped kitchenettes, the stylish apartments of the Dylan House are ideal for a comfortable and convenient stay in London.
Dylan House Apartments - Address
Name: Dylan House Apartments
Address: London South West - London - W2 3DW - England
Accommodation: Studios - London South West
Reservation: +44 (0) 871 789 9292
Help line: +44 (0) 871 789 9293
Nearest Station: Paddington
Travel Map: Dylan House Apartments Map
Dylan House Apartments - BOOK
Make your booking for Dylan House Apartments now!
Please enter the date of arrival and length of stay to check rates and availability.
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Dylan House Apartments - Pictures
Dylan House Apartments Amenities & Facilities
24 hours reception Balconies
Fax facilities Iron facilities
TV in all rooms DVD Player
Welcome basket (by arrangement) Central Heating
Non smoking Rooms Bags after Checkout
Safe deposit CD Stereo
Safe deposit Umbrellas available on request
Dylan House Apartments Map
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France: Cake maker threatened with legal action by black activists unless he stops selling "Racist" chocolate cakes
10:02 14words No comments
A cake maker in the south of France has been threatened with legal action for inciting racial hatred unless he stops selling cakes deemed “obscene” by an anti-racism group in France. The baker told The Local he's a victim of "intellectual terrorism".
The owner of the pâtisserie in the town of Grasse, near Nice could find himself in hot water after being accused of selling racist cakes.
The sweet pastries in question, named “Gods” and “Goddesses” are in the form of obese people, covered in dark chocolate with over-sized sexual parts.
While the baker who sells the little men and women filled with shortbread and chocolate mousse sees the cakes as inoffensive, for one anti-racism group in France, they are anything but.
“It’s pure and simple racism,” Louis-George Tin from France’s Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) told The Local.
After being made aware of the cakes by a shocked customer, CRAN denounced the “obscene slave trade caricatures that tap into the tradition of colonial racism” and threatened to lodge a complaint for inciting racial hatred.
“We are in a country where the word equality is part of the constitution, which means it doesn’t allow for racism. Does he think these treats adhere to the values of the French Republic?” said Tin.
“We must fight this kind of racism. I cannot imagine what would be said (rightly) if an African baker decided to represent Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary in a similar way,” Tin said.
The group has asked the local mayor Jerome Viaud to take a stance.
However the baker Tannick Tavolaro remains defiant.
He told The Local he found the complaint absurd and firmly denies he is racist.
“At first I thought it was a joke then I read the news. It’s absurd and hurtful. These pastries have absolutely no racial connotation at all," he said.
“It’s made of chocolate mousse, which is why it’s black. The characters are little human beings, a man and woman but not a black man and a woman,” said Tavolaro.
“These people who attack me don’t know my story or my career or who I am. It’s just intellectual terrorism and I won’t yield to that kind of terrorism,” he said.
Tavolaro has vowed to continue to make his controversial cakes despite the threats.
“I am not racist. I do not belong to any political party. I just argue for freedom of speech,” he told The Local.
It's not the first time a bakery in France has provoked outrage over its creations.
In September last year a pâtisserie in Auxerre was forced to change the name of its biscuits named "bamboula" and "negro" after complaints from anti-racism groups.
And it's not just in France.
In 2012, Sweden's then culture minister Adelsohn Liljeroth came close to losing her job when she cut into the vagina area of a cake modelled on a black woman's body, which was part of an art project.
Posted in: Africa,Anti Zog Media,Cancer of Europe,Europe
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On-line resources from the
American Studies Resources Centre at LJMU
ASToday
American Moderns: Bohemian New York and the Creation of a New Century by Christine Stansell, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010
420 pages. ISBN 978-0-691-14283-8
Reviewed by Richard Martin, Birkbeck, University of London
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Histories of urban modernity at the dawn of the twentieth century habitually turn to Paris, London, Berlin or Vienna as the exemplary sources of bohemian life. In this updated edition of a study first published in 2000, Christine Stansell demonstrates that between 1900 and 1920 New York’s Greenwich Village was the stage for some of the most intriguing developments in politics and culture anywhere in the world. In emphasising how this exciting new community arose within an ill-defined period in American history, Stansell proves that American bohemianism was not a pale imitation of its more famous counterparts in Europe, but in actual fact was often a much more progressive force, particularly with regard to gender relations. In so doing, she provides a hugely enjoyable account of how Greenwich Village became such an iconic site and how New York emerged as America’s pre-eminent city.
In the book’s most compelling passages, she paints vibrant portraits of the era’s leading radical figures, including the anarchist Emma Goldman, the journalists John Reed and Louise Bryant, and the critic Randolph Bourne. Stansell writes with evident sympathy, but no lack of critical rigour, about their intoxicating determination to live modern and progressive lives. She pays attention to important political schisms within New York (for example, the debates between anarchists and socialists) and to its latent inequalities (such as the exclusion of black Americans from bohemian circles). As such, she offers a more sophisticated and nuanced treatment of this cultural scene than the overtly romantic portrayal seen in Warren Beatty’s film Reds (1981), which focuses its attention on Reed and Bryant’s turbulent relationship.
It is feminism that constitutes the period’s greatest achievement for Stansell. She claims that “nowhere in Europe – or indeed the world, for that matter – did modern culture orient itself to the New Woman as its defining figure as it did in America.” The new space that was carved out for gender relations was not without its complications and contradictions, as Stansell acknowledges. Nevertheless, this was an environment where friendship, conversation and sexual relations, as well as reading and writing, were all considered important political activities in which women led the way. Indeed, Stansell suggests that the origins of the sexual revolution that took place in America later in the century lie in the behaviour of these Greenwich Village bohemians.
American Moderns ends on a sad note, with America’s participation in World War I creating a climate of oppression and censorship that smothered progressive politics. By 1920, both Reed and Bourne were dead, Goldman had been deported to Russia, while Greenwich Village lay at the mercy of tourists and property speculators. This is not to detract from the inspirational legacy this cultural milieu left behind. Stansell’s book will certainly appeal to all those wishing to know more about radical politics in America, and its relationship with art and domestic life. Illustrated with numerous photographs and cartoons, this book serves as a fascinating reminder of New York’s vital leftist tradition in the early twentieth century and its immense contribution to the nation as a whole.
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American Studies Today Online is published by
American Studies Resources Centre, Aldham Robarts Library, Liverpool John Moores University, Maryland Street, Liverpool L1 9DE, United Kingdom.
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E-mail info@americansc.org.uk The views expressed are those of the contributors, and not necessarily those of the Centre, the College or the University.
© Liverpool John Moores University and the Contributors, 2011
Articles and reviews in this journal may be freely reproduced for use in subscribing institutions only, provided that the source is acknowledged.
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Bylaws and Financial Report
Bylaws | Financial Report
Bylaws of the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association
ADOPTED AT THE UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2014 PROVIDENCE, RI
The Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association (“UUHA” or “Association”) is a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois and recognized as tax exempt under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States.
Article I-Name
The name of the organization shall be “Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association, NFP;” formerly called “HUUmanist Association” (2001 - 2014), “Friends of Religious Humanism” (1996 - 2001), or “Fellowship of Religious Humanists” (1962 – 1996).
Article II-Membership
Section 1: Membership
Membership in the UUHA is open to all Humanists who are in substantial agreement with the Unitarian Universalist Humanist philosophy and the positions and policies adopted by the Association, and who support the UUHA’s mission and programs.
Membership is subject to continued acceptance by the Board of Directors of the Association (“Board”).
The Board shall establish membership dues. Members in good standing are those whose dues are paid current or who have been deemed by the Board to have otherwise satisfied their dues requirement.
Only members in good standing shall have the right to vote on Association business or in Association elections.
Section 2: Termination of Membership
Membership shall be automatically terminated by death or by nonpayment of dues, and may be terminated by written resignation or in accordance with procedures established by the Board.
Article III-Membership Meetings
Section 1: Annual Meeting
A meeting of the members of the Association shall be held annually. The Board shall set the place and date of the meeting and the Secretary shall notify members at least thirty (30) days prior to each meeting.
Section 2: Voting
Votes may be cast either in person or by proxy ballot. Proxy ballots will be sent to all members of the Association to be used by those who will not be attending the annual meeting of the Association.
Section 3: Quorum
Twenty members in good standing or 10% of the membership, whichever is larger, shall constitute a quorum. Submitted proxy ballots may be included in the quorum determination.
Section 4: Agenda
The agenda for membership meetings shall be established by the President and published by the Secretary after inviting suggestions from the Board and the membership, subject to the will of the members assembled at a valid meeting.
Section 5: Parliamentary Procedure
The membership meeting of the Association shall be conducted in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order (current revised edition) except where otherwise prescribed in these Bylaws or in policies or regulations adopted by the Board.
Section 6: Action
An affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of those members in attendance at a valid meeting shall serve as a mandate to the Board to either adopt the measure at its next meeting or to submit it to a mail vote of the entire regular membership for decision by a majority of those voting thereon.
The affirmative vote of a simple majority requires only that the Board consider the measure at its next meeting.
Article IV-Board of Directors
Section 1. Powers and Responsibilities
The Board shall govern the Association and establish its policies on behalf of the membership and, with the advice and opportunity for participation of the membership, shall determine the purpose of the Association.
The members of the Board shall serve in a fiduciary capacity and shall not in any instance act against the best interests of the Association or place the interests of self or any other organization above the best interests of the Association. Each member is expected to act prudently, providing attention and concern in all actions, and to adhere to the laws of the land and the rules and regulations of the UUHA.
Section 2. Membership
The Voting Members of the Board of Directors shall consist of the President, the Vice President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and six Directors at Large. The officers and Directors at Large shall be elected by and from the membership of the Association, Other nonvoting members may be appointed by the Board from the membership for one-year terms.
The Executive Director of the Association, the immediate past president, and the editor of the Association’s Journal. shall be ex officio, nonvoting members of the Board.
Section 3. Terms of Office
Officers of the Board shall serve for terms of two years, with the Vice President and Treasurer elected in odd years, and the President and Secretary elected in even years.
Members-at-Large of the Board shall serve for terms of three years, two to be elected each year.
Section 4. Vacancies
Vacancies among Directors and Officers shall be filled by the Board until the next election.
Upon the failure of any Voting Member of the board to attend three (3) consecutive regular Board meetings, the Board must affirmatively vote to retain the Member. Otherwise, immediately following the call to order of the third meeting, the seat of such Member shall be deemed vacant.
A Voting Member may be removed from office upon 2/3 vote of the entire Board when the continued tenure of that Member is deemed contrary to the best interests of the Association.
Section 5. Board Meetings
The Board shall meet regularly at least three times each year at a time and place determined by the Board. These meetings may be conducted via telephonic or electronic conference with the prior agreement of a majority of Voting Members.
The agenda for regular meetings of the Board shall be established by the President after requesting agenda items from the Voting Members.
Six (6) voting Members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.
All Board meetings, except executive sessions and telephonic or electronic conferences, shall be open to all members of the Association in good standing.
Section 6. Action
Except as otherwise prescribed by law, the Articles of Incorporation, or these Bylaws, the act of a majority of the Voting Members present in a meeting having a quorum, shall be an act of the Board.
The Voting Members shall, whenever possible, reach decisions by consensus in a manner consistent with these Bylaws and other policies established by the Board.
Should the Voting Members not be able to reach consensus, and in matters not addressed by these Bylaws or other policies established by the Board, Robert’s Rules of Order (current revised edition) shall prevail.
Section 7. Interim Referenda
For any issue deemed by the President to require board action between meetings, said issue may be clearly set forth in writing to each Voting Member at least ten (10) days prior to a vote, which may be taken by postal mail, electronic mail, telephone conference, facsimile, or other media.
Section 8. Executive Committee
The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary, and the Treasurer.
The Executive Director shall be an ex officio, nonvoting member of the Executive Committee.
The President may appoint additional, non-voting members of the Executive Committee.
Except for the power to amend the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of the Association, the Executive Committee shall, when acting unanimously, have all the powers and authority of the Board in the intervals between meetings, subject to ratification of the Board at its next meeting.
Three (3) members of the Executive Committee shall constitute a quorum.
Any member of the Executive Committee may bring an issue to a vote between meetings of the Board by clearly setting forth said issue in writing to each member of the Executive Committee ten (10) days prior to a vote which may be taken by postal mail, electronic mail, telephone conference, facsimile, or other media.
Section 9. Indemnification
The Association, to the extent of its assets, shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Directors of the Association from any loss incurred as a result of acts performed in the regular course of attending in good faith to his or her office on behalf of the Association.
Section 10. Conflict of Interest Policy
No member of the Board of Directors shall participate in any discussion or vote on any matter in which he or she or a member of his or her immediate family has potential conflict of interest due to having material economic involvement regarding the matter being discussed. When such a situation presents itself, the director must announce his or her potential conflict, disqualify him or herself, and be excused from the meeting until discussion is over on the matter involved. The chair the meeting is expected to make inquiry if such conflict appears to exist and the board member has not made it known.
As part of the annual board meeting that approves the coming year’s budget, the chair of that meeting will call for board members to announce any possible conflicts of interest. If, after hearing members’ responses and after making further inquiry as warranted by the circumstances, the governing board or committee later determines the member has failed to disclose an actual or possible conflict of interest, it shall take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action.
No immediate relatives of any employee or Board member shall be employed by the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association as long as the original employee or Board member remains with the organization. Exceptions to this policy without Board involvement include interns and project employees hired for short periods. An exception may also be made without Board approval if two employees should become relatives while working for the Unitarian Universalist Humanist Association.
Article V-Officers and Employees
Section 1. Officers
The Officers of the Association shall be the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, each elected by the membership for two (2) year terms and serving until their successors are elected, and the Executive Director.
Section 2. President
The President shall preside at meetings of the membership and Board, and shall perform such other duties as are usually incident to the office of President or as may be assigned by the Board of Directors. In accord with the established written and understood policies and positions of the Association and Humanism, the President shall speak, directly or indirectly, for and on behalf of the Association, and may commit the Association to the positions, declarations, or activities of others.
Section 3. Vice-President
The Vice-President shall serve as President whenever the President cannot perform the duties of that office and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President or the Board.
Section 4. Secretary
The Secretary shall provide for the safekeeping of the corporate records of the Association; be responsible for keeping minutes of the proceedings; assure timely notice of Board and membership meetings; record and report all agenda and referenda; and be principally responsible to assure the performance of such other duties as are usually incident to the office of Secretary or that may be assigned by the President or Board.
Section 5. Treasurer
The Treasurer shall chair the Finance Committee and assist in and oversee the preparation of a detailed annual budget. He or she shall report to the Board and membership, if necessary, any substantial departure from the approved budget or from established policies of the Association, assure continued development and implementation of fundraising strategies, ensure that staff provides financial information and disclosures to regulatory authorities, members and the general public, and oversee periodic audits of all books and records of the Association. He or she shall also be principally responsible to assure the performance of such other duties as are usually incident to the office of Treasurer or that may be assigned by the President or Board.
Section 6. Executive Director
The Executive Director reports to the President, is accountable to the Board, and responsible for the performance of the Association within the directives, policies, and budgets established by the Board.
The President shall present for the approval of the Board any request to appoint or terminate the Executive Director, except on an interim basis. The President shall be responsible for the supervision of the Executive Director, and may determine and adjust the terms of employment subject to approval by the Board.
The Executive Director shall be responsible for the appointment, termination, the terms of employment, and supervision of all staff.
The Executive Director shall advise, make recommendations to, and assist the Board in formulating policies; implement Board policies and directives; oversee the daily management of the Association; and represent the Association to the public.
In accord with the established written and understood policies and positions of the Association and Humanism and, whenever possible, in consultation with the President or an available member of the Executive Committee, the Executive Director may speak for and on behalf of the Association and may commit the Association to the positions, declarations, or activities of others.
Section 7. Limitation on Employees
No paid employees of the Association may be elected to the Board or serve on the Nomination Committee during their employment or for a period of one (1) year thereafter.
Article VI: Elections
Section 1. Elections
There shall be an election of Officers and Directors at the annual meeting of the membership each year. Section 2. Nomination and Election Committees
A Nomination Committee of five (5) Association members shall be appointed annually by the Board.
Section 3. Nominations
The Nomination Committee shall solicit candidates to serve as Directors after requesting nominations from the Board and membership of the Association.
The Nomination Committee shall take care that it submits a slate of candidates that is reasonably representative of the membership.
The Nomination Committee shall publish its nominations to the members of the Association.
Section 4. Eligibility
An eligible nominee is any person, age eighteen (18) or older, who, at the time of the nomination, is a regular member of the Association in good standing.
Section 6. Balloting
Two individuals from the membership shall be appointed as Tellers by the Nominating Committee to count all valid ballots, declare the winners, and inform the Secretary. The Secretary shall assure publication of election results to the Board and the membership.
The election of Directors shall be by plurality of valid votes cast.
When, in addition to the regular seats on the Board, there are unexpired terms of Directors to be filled, those receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected to the longest terms; those receiving the next higher number of votes shall be elected to the progressively shorter unexpired terms.
Section 7. Assumption of Office
Newly elected Voting Members of the Board shall assume their duties the first day of July following their election.
Article VII: Committees
Section 1. Appointment
Except as otherwise provided in these Bylaws, the President shall appoint and may remove, with the advice and consent of the Board, the Chair of any committee, council, panel, commission, task force, or similar body.
Unless otherwise provided for in these Bylaws or specified by the Board, the Chair, with the advice and consent of the President, shall determine the size and select the members of his or her committee.
Section 2. Standing Committees
In addition to those provided elsewhere in these Bylaws, the Standing Committees of the Association shall be:
Finance Committee, consisting of the Executive Committee chaired by the Treasurer, to assist the Board in preparing and monitoring its budget, to oversee the management of the assets of the Association, and to oversee fundraising efforts for the Association.
Review Committee, consisting of the Executive Committee chaired by the President, to continuously review and annually evaluate the performance of the Executive Director in comparison to a set of prioritized goals, which goals shall be aligned with the Association’s goals as set forth in the written Strategic Plan. The annual performance appraisal of the Executive Director shall be conducted using input from the Board, UUHA staff, and other stakeholders and experts as deemed appropriate by the Committee, with the results of such review and the current list of prioritized goals for the Executive Director presented to the Board for ratification.
Office of the Publisher, to oversee the direction and policies of UUHA publications in accord with its Charter established by the Board.
Article VIII: Affiliates
Organizations that agree and identify with the mission of the UUHA, and whose aims and activities are compatible with those of the Association, may be Affiliates of the Association upon application for and issuance of a Certificate of Affiliation by the Board.
Article IX: Management of Assets
No one may obligate the Association, financially or otherwise, except by prior authorization of the Board, it’s Executive Committee, or the President.
Termination of the Association
If and when the Association is dissolved or otherwise terminated, its assets shall be distributed only to Humanist and/or Unitarian Universalist organizations that are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt under § 501(c)(3) of the tax code of the United States
Article X: Regulations
The Board may establish regulations, policies, or procedures to carry out the purpose of the Association consistent with the Articles of Incorporation and these Bylaws.
Article XI: Adoption and Amendment
These Bylaws were adopted by a two-thirds majority of the Voting Members of the Board voting on April 28, 2014, in telephone conference, and supersedes all previous Bylaws.
These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds majority of the Voting Members of the Association present and voting at a meeting having a quorum, provided that the amendment is submitted in writing and placed on the agenda at least 30 days prior to the meeting.
Originally signed and attested to by: Neil Gerdes, Secretary, and John B. Hooper, President Last Amended: April 28, 2014
2014 - 2015 Budget
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Cps Founded Letter
Check to make sure your home is free of hazards, has adequate food, safe sleeping arrangements, etc. I was founded give or take around this time of year in 2017 and they said it will be on there for 5years. Large enteroviral vaccination studies to prevent type 1 diabetes should be well founded and rely on scientific evidence. • A list and summary of all child protective services (“CPS”) investigations or cases involving your children (dates opened and closed, names of CPS office & investigators, reasons for investigation, & outcomes, whether founded/substantiated or unfounded/unsubstantiated). Highways England works with the Department for Transport. DFPS will give you instructions on how to request this review in the letter it sends when it closes the investigation. Spiral X blanks are 250% more structurally rigid and 180% less prone to twisting than standard blank construction. Unlike a criminal case, parents involved in a D&N case are not prosecuted for a crime. Appealing Child Protective Services Findings. KDADS Appoints Dr. Child Protective Services (CPS) is a part of Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) within the Arizona State Department of Economic How To Sue CPS In Federal Court f you want to sue Child Protective Services in federal court it is best that you hire an attorney. Intent to relocate letter, sample relocation letter to ex husband, letter of intent to move out of state, example letter of intent to relocate. The British Army protects the United Kingdom’s interests at home and abroad, providing a safe and secure environment in which all British citizens can live and prosper. Consult a lawyer in particular if the allegations are serious. Roger McKinney @rmckinney9 Monday Sep 23, 2019 at 4:42 PM. (b) Domestic violence has been identified and if providing the notice would increase. / POLICE INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES 15. Login ID Password Parent Portal Password Reset Login Assistance : Log On : Copyright © 2003-2018 Follett School Solutions. Snyder could request an internal management review of the CPS investigator's founded findings, and the internal review would be concluded about 60 days after the request. Our duty is to make sure that the right. The Indiana Department of Child Services engages with families and collaborates with state, local and community partners to protect children from abuse and neglect and to provide child support services. Intent to relocate letter, sample relocation letter to ex husband, letter of intent to move out of state, example letter of intent to relocate. A nation trapped by its own history, by Robert Saunders. The DC who conducted the interview had an appointment with the CPS on 1st August to see if things should go any further. ChildLine is responsible for receiving verbal and electronic referrals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Showing letter: J. Mediation is a meeting attended by the mediator, the parents or guardian of the child, their attorneys, the CPS representatives involved in the case and the CPS attorney. The Charlestown Preservation Society is a 501C3 not for profit organization founded in 1967 to stop the. The Crown Prosecution Service. I got a “founded” letter from CPS. CPS inital letter logo template vector icon, simple, clean and strong for any business or phisycal fitness Internet of Things(IoT) and Cloud Computing concept. Reports are reviewed for investigation. You have the right to file a Service Complaint if you feel that you have not been treated fairly during the investigation. In recent years, harm reduction has. Guide, letter example, grammar checker, 8000+ letter samples. Suite 500 Overland Park, KS 66210. Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services, Inc. Dependency & Neglect (D&N) cases are ones of abuse or neglect of children. To explore the similarities and differences in CPS workers’ understanding and application of specific CPS. And to see what not to do, read these examples of bad recommendations from counselors (coming soon). (CPS) is a specialty finance company that provides indirect automobile financing to vehicle purchasers with past credit problems, low incomes or limited credit histories. They can also assist you in writing 'cease and desist' letters to any employers or other entities who are reporting false information. The SUCCESS Partnership is an education initiative founded in 2013. Spruce units run on coal. CPS must make a reasonable, good faith effort to determine the last known address or location of the alleged perpetrator. Simply put, this means that they believe there was some credible evidence present to suggest abuse or neglect towards children. When the abuser or neglector in a founded disposition is a foster parent of the victim child, the local department shall place a copy of this notification letter in the child's foster care record and in the foster home provider record. Timeline: the history of child protection. A public, comprehensive community college in middle Tennessee, located 30 miles northeast of Nashville, offering more than 90 academic programs, associate degrees, certificates, and continuing education. Each level of the process is designed to give the appellant a progressively more formal means to voice concerns over the disposition reached by the local social services agency in the investigation and disposition of a CPS complaint. Led by Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsel, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) focuses on constitutional and human rights law worldwide. CPS must receive your request within 30 days of the date you got the letter. ] You should also attach to your letter to OCFS a copy of the memo from OCFS dated. TowneBank has no control over any other website and is not able to endorse, guarantee or monitor content, availability, viewpoints, products, or services that are offered or expressed on any site other than this one. 1948 The Children Act 1948 established a children's committee and a children's officer in each local authority. Under the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, OIG is authorized to carry out both investigations and audits to "promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of, and … prevent and detect fraud and abuse in … [the Department's] programs and operations. S (Cincinnati Organization of Parents for Suzuki), and the Suzuki Cooperative of CPS. The official athletics website for the North Dakota State Bison. We're changing the world one idea at a time. The world’s largest cyber defense competition, the CIAS continues to run its technical platform today. Some states use other names, often attempting to reflect more family-centered (as opposed to child-centered) practices, such as. You will receive a letter from CPS called a “Notice of Indication,” telling you that the report was indicated. Family Services. CPS June 2008. I mentioned to you before that my expectation of rough usage, in consequence of my German nationality, had proved completely unfounded. You will sometimes write a letter like this on behalf of someone else, such as your child, your elderly parent, or someone who has placed you in charge of his or her affairs. in Accounting (MSA) program has a strong foundation in ethics, which is in high demand by corporations and accounting licensing bodies. This letter is prepared by the investigating Worker and signed by the Worker and the investigating Worker's Supervisor. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, political beliefs, or disability. The healthcare landscape is always evolving, and so are the financial challenges facing providers and their teams. Anyone can report suspected abuse to CPS, often anonymously. / POLICE INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES 15. Please bring your family and join us on Sunday from 1pm to 4pm for our annual Fall Harvest Roundup at Rocky Reach Dam. Call 1-888-KID-HERO to learn about trainings for Foster or Adoptive Parents and recruitment events for prospective parent(s). Find out what Find out what mandatory reporting is and who must report. This course will provide a solid foundation for understanding different modeling paradigms, and explore them through a deep dive and hands on implementation for three CPS domains: Energy, Medical, and Automotive cyber-physical systems. FAQ about Child Abuse/Neglect Investigations 1. How do you find out if the cps has thrown out your case? My husband was arrested and questioned about accusations from step children which was dropped 14 years ago and thrown out by the cps. The Department of Children & Family Services works to meet the needs of Louisiana's most vulnerable citizens. That's not what it's about. During that review process the word "founded" was inadvertently left out. Joining expertise, thought leadership, and personal first-hand stories from our colleagues, Beacon Lens presents a fresh, unique take on all things behavioral health. Name and Address of Perpetrator, Parent or Caretaker, Facility Director, and Victim (if appropriate) Dear Superintendent (name):. CPS may ask you for more information or may share new information with you to help them determine whether abuse or neglect has occurred. Use the intake number above to make an anonymous report. ] You should also attach to your letter to OCFS a copy of the memo from OCFS dated. Sep 18, 2019 · Chicago Public Schools theater teacher, local actor charged with assaulting former student The letter did not mention the allegations against Ewing that CPS said surfaced more than a month. Spruce units run on coal. Upon receipt of a report, a child protective services (CPS) unit supervisor shall assign the case for a field investigation, alternative investigation, or alternative response, such as a referral to Family Builders. So, you should always check with an attorney about the circumstances of your case before taking any specific action. If you are indicated, DCFS will send you a letter saying which definition you are alleged to have committed. This judge also knew the parent had at least two case witnesses whom arrived to testify in court and had to fly in over four hundred miles away (from the state the parent is originally from) and willfully refused to accomodate the parent's witnesses to EVER testify. The Loudoun Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is a program of LAWS. It is typically ANYONE can be put on Abuse Registry who had CPS Cases previously and who were founded, substanited, or indicated. CPS then begins an investigation, which it has 60 days to complete. This will include all dispositions, whether founded, unfounded or unable to determine. Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services to many of the world’s most admired brands, including 80 percent of the Fortune 500. Two-year school provides programs, schedules, registration information, library access and distance learning programs. Box 13066, Austin, Texas 78711, Phone: (512) 463-1300. Texas Health and Human Services and Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin broke ground on the construction of a new hospital to replace Austin State Hospital, the oldest psychiatric hospital in Texas. Victims of crime have been sent too many letters containing spelling mistakes, wrong addresses and other errors, inspectors have found. An assessment of the child's safety. Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent from CPS Energy’s Vice President of External Affairs Rudy Garza to Alamo Heights Mayor Louis Cooper in response to the Alamo Heights City Council. this is not criminal court and you're not going to jail behind it. Preponderance of. Local Office Address. The password must be 8-16 characters in length. Become a DHHR CPS Worker: This video has been created to help explain the day to day duties and responsibilities of a Child Protective Service Worker. By balancing theory and practice, quantitative and qualitative research methodology, and classroom learning with hands-on exposure, MPP graduates can go on to pursue careers in government, academia, research, advocacy, or as experts in a specific area of policy. However, if ACS/CPS determines that the report made is founded, you will receive a letter stating that the report is "indicated" against you. "The Promise of Gwinnett” campaign is a means of focusing attention on the importance of public education, the role it plays in our nation, and the outstanding schools found right here in Gwinnett County. As you know, I cannot legally compel you to resign, as there is nothing in. The Center for Patient Safety (CPS) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting safe and quality health care by reducing preventable harm across the healthcare continuum. CPS working ‘to ensure no student ever goes through that again’ In a letter to district stakeholders, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said she is committed to ensuring students and schools are “free of all forms of harassment, abuse and discrimination. The Children's Division is responsible for the administration of child welfare services. From the very beginning, elitism was alien to the very spirit of our community, which. The Indiana Department of Child Services engages with families and collaborates with state, local and community partners to protect children from abuse and neglect and to provide child support services. The League of United Latin American Citizens is the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country. This indicator reflects the number of family assessments completed by Child Protective Services in response to a report of child abuse or neglect. If a child protective services (CPS) investigation determines that the allegation of child maltreatment is unsubstantiated (also referred to as unfounded), this means that there is insufficient evidence for the caseworker to conclude that a child was abused or neglected, or that what happened does not meet the legal definition of child abuse or neglect. The letter should be fairly formal, brief and to the point. The company was founded in 2016 under the name Canadian Prestressing Services (CPS) by Ex-employees of Major companies having experience in PT works design & execution in middle east & India. Who Should Write a Character Letter of Reference for Court? A character reference letter doesn’t need to be from a high-profile or otherwise “important” individual. What Social Workers Do. It is typically ANYONE can be put on Abuse Registry who had CPS Cases previously and who were founded, substanited, or indicated. In August 29, 1945 letter from Claude Shotts to Harland Gibson, he relates how the Starnes Amendment to the 1945-1946 Appropriation Bill was renewed, and a bill introduced by Congressman Winstead (prohibiting the discharge of CPS men for any reason so long as combat troops were in the Army), meant that Selective Service had decided to withdraw its earlier proposal to discharge as many as 75 CPS men to work with UNRRA and the church agencies in overseas relief. Lenny Letter, the female-targeted newsletter and website founded three year ago by Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, is closing its doors. Semenenko and one to Ms. Funded by the U. Who Should Write a Character Letter of Reference for Court? A character reference letter doesn’t need to be from a high-profile or otherwise “important” individual. However, every case is different. The Children's Division responds to all reports alleging child. This article discusses some general things for parents to be mindful of when working with child protective services (CPS) and social workers to regain custody of their children. Local Office Address. Dear {Perpetrator's name or guardian/parent's (if minor)}, Our office received a report of abuse. At the end of our investigation we determined there is reasonable cause to believe abuse occurred. stock news by MarketWatch. We work closely with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (responsible for the curriculum), the National Child Passenger Safety Board (provides recommendations and guidance. In truth, investigators, prosecutors, and courts must respect your right to counsel and your right to remain silent. They can also assist you in writing 'cease and desist' letters to any employers or other entities who are reporting false information. Q Can I make a written statement explaining what. He passed away in August, 2004 at the age of 77. The board was established in 1980 to license and regulate psychologists, social workers, professional counselors, master level psychologists, marriage and family therapists and addiction counselors. The official athletics website for the North Dakota State Bison. Our role is to protect the public. It was founded in 1971. Our simple admissions process is designed to provide access to a Northeastern education to students worldwide. After the investigation is completed, you may request a copy of the investigative assessment and your DLR/CPS file. The Indiana Department of Child Services engages with families and collaborates with state, local and community partners to protect children from abuse and neglect and to provide child support services. Includes links to operational segments, investor relations, and jobs based in Wayne, Pennsylvania. As a mandated reporter, you may not be aware of the CPS team's actions after you make a report. 22VAC40-705-10. • Accidents — CPS and law enforcement always consider that an accident or illness may have caused a child’s injury when assessing abuse allegations. Upon receipt of a report, a child protective services (CPS) unit supervisor shall assign the case for a field investigation, alternative investigation, or alternative response, such as a referral to Family Builders. Hear Captain Andy Miller of Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, Jackson, and his father, Rob Lessig, recount the details of the accident, the efforts of search and rescue teams to haul Jackson who was critically injured up a 50-degree embankment, and Jackson. In your friends case it is likely for failing to provide adequate supervision in relation to the child's age and level of development. rights to due process of examining the doctor's evidence against him -- and to start "cooperating" with DSS. CPS is an academic organization under the leadership of the China Association for Science and Technology. CPI Elements ™ Cards and Packaging. Welcome to Curie High School, home of the Condors! We believe Curie is the most exciting high school in Chicago! We offer a diverse range of academic programs that develop the potential of every unique student we serve and put them on the path to post-secondary success. By Lawrence Jay Braunstein. The Children's Division is responsible for the administration of child welfare services. Upon receipt of a report, a child protective services (CPS) unit supervisor shall assign the case for a field investigation, alternative investigation, or alternative response, such as a referral to Family Builders. Each level of the process is designed to give the appellant a progressively more formal means to voice concerns over the disposition reached by the local social services agency in the investigation and disposition of a CPS complaint. Hamilton College is a private, liberal arts college in New York State that features a need-blind admission policy and an open curriculum. Snap Publications revived the herbivorous beast and in October 2013, the all-new and improved Rhino Times was started. The official athletics website for the North Dakota State Bison. 9, 2019 for the new Government Center Building on Braddock Avenue NE in Buffalo. Where Great Minds Get to Work. Suite 500 Overland Park, KS 66210. Manufactures, distributes, repairs and overhauls aircraft components and fabricates, processes and distributes metal industrial products. Chipain's 10-4-19 Parent Letter in the Principal's Messages section. In this case, several outcomes can occur. To learn more about the range of medical, health, and mental health programs available to the community, contact Columbia University Medical Center Government & Community Affairs at [email protected] You can read my write up for it for the UK Criminal Law Blog here and my draft response here. They Took the Kids Last Night is the title and opening line of my just-published book (Praeger, October 31, 2018), drawn from over 30 years of helping families navigate a treacherous and error-prone Child Protective Services system (CPS). In keeping with the principles of openness and transparency, the governing Council of the College has deemed certain information about physicians to be in the public domain. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) provides a wide range of necessary and life-saving services to many West Virginia residents. Includes links to operational segments, investor relations, and jobs based in Wayne, Pennsylvania. 4: The minute you become aware that your family is being investigated, YOU MUST find an attorney who has experience in fighting CPS or DCFS. Find your yodel. Its purpose is to promote the development and popularization of physics. To request a copy of medical records click here. Welcome to the official website of Harrow Council. Every three weeks, a child dies from a TV tip-over. Click Here To Learn More! You can make a difference in the life of a displaced child. County Government – Write a letter to each and every member of your county board of supervisors (sometimes called county commissioners) detailing actions that show illegal activities or injustice on the part of local caseworkers. Bradley, Jr. Plus Helen Lewis meets the satirist Chris Morris, Stephen Bush on the Brexit breakdown, Emma Sky on Jim Mattis’s memoirs, and David Hepworth on why Abbey Road reigns supreme, 50 years on. An International Baccalaureate World School. Appealing a Founded DHS Child Abuse Assessment in Iowa Puryear Law » Legal Blog » DCFS and DHS Child Abuse Accusations » Appealing a Founded DHS Child Abuse Assessment in Iowa In Iowa, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for investigating child abuse and neglect allegations. At the end of our investigation we determined there is reasonable cause to believe abuse occurred. Welcome to Scholarships. Texas foster-care crisis: Children sleeping in CPS offices again as more removed from homes but state out of places to care for them. Child Protective Services. Villanova University is a closely connected academic community with renowned faculty, rich resources and a personalized, supportive learning environment. 1 of 2 CPS Energy’s J. Roger McKinney @rmckinney9 Monday Sep 23, 2019 at 4:42 PM. Industrial Solutions. If you live in another state, it is CRITICAL that you investigate your own state's law on child abuse investigations. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is a federally recognized American Indian tribe located near the city of Highland, Calif. CPS provides families a variety of services to strengthen families so children can stay safe at home with their parents. A cover letter (US), covering letter (UK), and sometimes called an application letter, is a one-page letter that accompanies your CV. Local Office Address. OneSight is bringing eye exams and glasses to the 1. DCF-259 Letter to Reporter DCF-305 Report of Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect DCF-306 Determination Letter DCF-306B Unfounded Letter: Out of Home Perpetrator DCF-306C Founded Letter: Out of Home Perpetrator Police Reports (intake related) Other Truancy Referrals G. Founded Abuse in Nonregistered Child Care Parent. Spruce units run on coal. In recent years, harm reduction has. Our community of passionate, curious minds is one that turns values into vision and ideas into action. Our simple admissions process is designed to provide access to a Northeastern education to students worldwide. From the very beginning, elitism was alien to the very spirit of our community, which. We act as an independent regulator to protect the public interest by making sure our firms, members, students and affiliates maintain the highest standards of professional conduct. One is for an experienced candidate, and another is for an entry-level applicant. About CPS GROUP. Perhaps you received that letter many months after ACS placed your name in the SCR. A well-crafted appeal letter can clearly state your side of the situation and help convince the powers-that-be to overturn an unjust decision in your favor. North Avenue Baltimore, MD 21202 443-984-2000. Funded by the U. Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global, experiential, research university built on a tradition of engagement with the world, creating a distinctive approach to education and research. Should it be under review and should be reformed? Yes. If DFPS thinks that you were responsible for child abuse or neglect and you disagree, you can request an administrative review of the investigation, unless a court has upheld the findings. There’s power in the pen. Rather than waiting on a tutor or writing center, we provide nearly instant comments on your paper. As Missouri's most comprehensive public research university, the University of Missouri educates tomorrow's leaders and finds solutions to society's most pressing issues. CPS was founded in 1991 and currently purchases contracts in 48 states. Learn about the quality care options for your child near you. The object of this series is to suggest how an investigation should be done correctly. Perhaps you never received that letter at all. School Nutrition and Fitness provides a districts nutrition services department with the tools and information needed to get the word out about the program. Open Enrollment begins Monday, October 14! Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to review your medical, dental, and flexible spending account elections, enroll/change your current plan offerings, and make decisions about what might be the best option for you. Elon University is a mid-sized private university in North Carolina that is nationally recognized as the premier student-centered environment for experiential learning. You can read my write up for it for the UK Criminal Law Blog here and my draft response here. A summary of legislation enacted on differential response, alternative response, dual track and family assessment processes which are approaches in child welfare that allows child protective services to respond differently to accepted reports of child abuse and neglect, based on a number of different factors. Mobile optimized. Our service provides a means for individuals to apply for PA Child Abuse History Clearance online and for mandated reporters to report child abuse in Pennsylvania. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), the Technical Assistance Center on PBIS supports schools, districts, and states to build systems capacity for implementing a multi-tiered approach to social, emotional and behavior support. Manufactures, distributes, repairs and overhauls aircraft components and fabricates, processes and distributes metal industrial products. You have 30 days from the date CPS sent the letter to ask them in writing to review the decision. Growing up as daddy’s little girl, Haifa’s father has suffered through multiple heart attacks. 40 and 3490. Founded in 1821, Bartholomew County is located in the southeastern part of the state with Columbus serving as the county seat. Welcome to Scholarships. The law requires CPS to provide written notice to the parents or other subjects of the report concerning the rights accorded to them by the New York State Social Services Law. Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers contend with high workloads, low pay, and incredibly. The Arbor Day Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation and education organization. The Houston Health Foundation works with donors, organizations and volunteers to forge public-private partnerships that help the Houston Health Department bring valuable health services to the children and families of underserved communities. What makes a strong letter of recommendation here? Check out our full guide and new examples here. 2001 Revised Edition. a review process if the results are "founded" or "substantiated. The Customer Experience Suite by Nextiva offers a complete view of the customer journey. Healthy Menifee’s newest program, Livabetes, is a free community resource aimed to help Menifee residents increase their fitness levels, provide nutritional education and try new activities in order to enhance their lifestyles. Click on this link to watch the video West Virginia Weatherization Public Hearing Plan (New) West Virginia Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) Attention Members! Understanding Letters you may. Power Restored to Nearly All Sonoma County Residents. Using the search bar above, you may search by form name or number. As a long time fan of the snow fairy scent, I’m so happy with how this smells, it’s exactly what I wanted it to be! Sweet musky fairy floss goodness. , the New York State School for the Blind, the New York State School. Promptly notify the Office of the Family of Children's Ombuds of the contents of the report and disposition of the investigation when a third founded finding is made involving the same child or family. Dictionary Term of the Day Articles Subjects BusinessDictionary. Unlike a criminal case, parents involved in a D&N case are not prosecuted for a crime. More Aspen information regarding account sign-up instructions and support can be found on the CPS student resources page and parent resources page and the Parent Portal FAQs page. As a mandated reporter, you may not be aware of the CPS team's actions after you make a report. University of Mary Washington. DCF-259 Letter to Reporter DCF-305 Report of Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect DCF-306 Determination Letter DCF-306B Unfounded Letter: Out of Home Perpetrator DCF-306C Founded Letter: Out of Home Perpetrator Police Reports (intake related) Other Truancy Referrals G. The latest Tweets from JCPS Early Childhood (@JCPSEARLY). Issues and Recommendations. Notice will be given on CPS founded dispositions made prior to August 4, 2000 as provided in OAR 413-010-0717. Explore our resources page to learn more about the 3 domains of performance and how the overall system works. An investigation ends when DFPS decides that: • the investigation has been completed; • the investigation cannot be completed because the family cannot be located, or the family has refused to cooperate and legal intervention is not appropriate; or. Texas CPS was ordered by a Houston judge to pay $27,000 in 2016 for misleading the court in order to remove a child deemed not to have been in imminent danger. The background check is $100 but if you are very concerned, it may be money well spent. The official home page of the New York State Unified Court System. The agency exists to remove children from situations where they're being abused, but once the kids are in CPS's hands, parents have NO control over where they'll be placed. We are currently working to improve the accessibility standards of our website to comply with best practices and standards as defined by Section 508 of the U. However, if CPS/ACS determines that report that has been made against a subject is founded, you will receive a letter saying the report has been indicated against you. Sep 18, 2019 · Chicago Public Schools theater teacher, local actor charged with assaulting former student The letter did not mention the allegations against Ewing that CPS said surfaced more than a month. San Manuel is one of several clans of Serrano Indians, who are the indigenous people of the San Bernardino highlands, passes, valleys mountains and high deserts who share a common language and culture. He passed away in August, 2004 at the age of 77. Child Protective Services (CPS), while it may refer cases to the district attorney for prosecution, focuses on protecting children from future abuse or neglect. in Creativity from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College. The Standard is a marketing name for Standard Insurance Company (Portland, Oregon), licensed in all states except New York, and The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York (White Plains, New York), licensed only in New York. Letters from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were deemed. The American Public Power Association is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. However, even in the unlikely event that the incident happened, this is still not just cause to take a child without due process. You have the right to file a Service Complaint if you feel that you have not been treated fairly during the investigation. The Daily Hampshire Gazette is the essential daily news source for the Pioneer Valley from Northampton, MA, in Franklin County. Mobile optimized. The law further requires the local social services districts, in conjunction with local school districts within in its district, to develop and submit written policies and procedures regarding the reporting of educational neglect by each school district and the investigation of educational neglect allegations by local Child Protective Services. Whether you are starting a family or well into retirement, you can count on Nationwide’s protection and support. Suite 500 Overland Park, KS 66210. (CPS) is a specialty finance company that provides indirect automobile financing to vehicle purchasers with past credit problems, low incomes or limited credit histories. Federal law requires state child protective services (CPS) agencies to maintain records of all reports and cases they process. Members of County staff, and representatives from the BKV Group architecture firm and Contegrity Group construction management team gathered to mark the occasion. S (Cincinnati Organization of Parents for Suzuki), and the Suzuki Cooperative of CPS. Give you a letter called a Notice of Existence, informing you that you have an open investigation of abuse or maltreatment. In other words, this simply means that there was some credible evidence to establish neglect or abuse against children. Sep 18, 2019 · Chicago Public Schools theater teacher, local actor charged with assaulting former student The letter did not mention the allegations against Ewing that CPS said surfaced more than a month. Championing grassroots progressive politics, civil liberties, human rights, economic justice, a healthy environment, and a reinvigorated democracy. A million members, donors, and partners support our programs to make our world greener and healthier. There are no costs for you to request your records. A Loudoun County Public Schools English teacher has been placed on leave following an investigation conducted by a private school in Washington, DC, linked him to credible assertions of sexual misconduct with students there in the 1970s and 1980s. If a child protective services (CPS) investigation determines that the allegation of child maltreatment is unsubstantiated (also referred to as unfounded), this means that there is insufficient evidence for the caseworker to conclude that a child was abused or neglected, or that what happened does not meet the legal definition of child abuse or neglect. Under the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, OIG is authorized to carry out both investigations and audits to "promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the administration of, and … prevent and detect fraud and abuse in … [the Department's] programs and operations. Conscious Discipline Excels in Harvard Analysis of Top 25 SEL Programs. Aramark provides food service, facilities and uniform services to hospitals, universities, school districts, stadiums and other businesses around the world. IPUMS CPS harmonizes microdata from the monthly U. The DC who conducted the interview had an appointment with the CPS on 1st August to see if things should go any further. Power Restored to Nearly All Sonoma County Residents. Welcome to Girls Preparatory School, a private school for girls in Chattanooga, Tennessee, enrolling middle and high school students in grades 6-12. Radford Parks and Recreation Receives Award at VRPS State Conference Judged by a jury of its peers, Radford Parks and Recreation received an award in the Snapshot Moment (population 25,000 and under) category for the “More than a name on the Wall” photo. If you suspect that a child has been, or is in danger of, abuse or neglect , contact the county Children's Protective Services 24-hour emergency response phone. Welcome to Curie High School, home of the Condors! We believe Curie is the most exciting high school in Chicago! We offer a diverse range of academic programs that develop the potential of every unique student we serve and put them on the path to post-secondary success. Resources for residential and business customers. The University of Baltimore provides Knowledge That Works in a vibrant, urban setting. CPSS | Complete Consumer Portfolio Services Inc. November 21, 2017 3 | P a g e POLICY OPTIONS Support Oppose Option 1. DBS Foundation Social Impact Prize. Sodexo integrates catering, facilities management, employee benefits and personal and home services to create an improved quality of life for the people we serve, our clients, employees, customers and the community. Rosetta Stone is the best way to learn a foreign language. (a) The [CPS] county agency worker shall inform the county agency administrator or the [CPS] county agency supervisor, as determined by the administrator, if a child is the victim of a second indicated or founded case of child abuse. Letters from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were deemed. A summary of legislation enacted on differential response, alternative response, dual track and family assessment processes which are approaches in child welfare that allows child protective services to respond differently to accepted reports of child abuse and neglect, based on a number of different factors. The best hope is that children are kept safe so they can stay in their own homes with their families. The Houston Health Foundation works with donors, organizations and volunteers to forge public-private partnerships that help the Houston Health Department bring valuable health services to the children and families of underserved communities. When someone contacts the SCR about a case of suspected abuse or maltreatment, a report is generated and sent to Child Protective Services (CPS). First impressions always count. Your letter does not have to be long. The Office of Child Protection Ombudsman (OCPO) is an independent office created to investigate complaints about the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS). During that review process the word "founded" was inadvertently left out. During a family assessment, the Child Protective Services (CPS) worker will: Conduct an initial safety assessment and develop a safety plan for the child if needed. Led by Jay Sekulow, ACLJ Chief Counsel, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) focuses on constitutional and human rights law worldwide. On Friday, October 11, the County closed the six Alternate Emergency Reporting Stations set up Thursday for affected residents who may have been unable to use their home phones to call 9-1-1, and began deactivating its Emergency Operations Center. Nationwide offers home, small business and auto insurance, as well as retirement products and financial resources. I got a “founded” letter from CPS. The law established child protective services (CPS) in each county in New York. Disagreement letters to vendors. NASVO was founded in 1987, because we felt that VOCAL, or the Victims of Child Abuse Laws, Inc. The Loudoun Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is a program of LAWS. The Department of Human Services (DHS) reviews the results of the FBI fingerprint record check and sends the applicant a letter that indicates the result of the review and whether or not the applicant is eligible for a position that involves direct contact with children under the Child Protective Services Law (CPSL). This A-Z Faculty Directory includes more than 150 of our Colleges' dedicated faculty and expert practitioners from the upper levels of government agencies, multinational corporations, and key think tanks and non-profits. If you are not home, CPS will leave a Notice of Home Visit letter informing you of the visit. It will also explain your appeal rights. Some jurisdictions now employ an alternative response system. CPI Elements ™ Cards and Packaging. No matter what your size or fund-raising status, we can tailor our services to fit your needs at every stage of your company’s life cycle. We are a company built on people and the relationships we continue to build with our contractors, manufacturers and employees will continue to be the backbone of our company. We champion diversity, entrepreneurship and innovation. CPS Supports Culture Improvement The Center for Patient Safety (CPS) recognizes a “just” culture is an important and necessary program in every healthcare organization. Appealing a Founded DHS Child Abuse Assessment in Iowa Puryear Law » Legal Blog » DCFS and DHS Child Abuse Accusations » Appealing a Founded DHS Child Abuse Assessment in Iowa In Iowa, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for investigating child abuse and neglect allegations. As a proud member of the Youth Connection Charter School Network, YCCS West was founded in the Austin Neighborhood of Chicago and stands at the forefont of competency-based education with the success of students in mind.
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Managing Director: Ian Roche
In 1985, after an Earth Science degree at Oxford, Ian joined Amerada Hess Limited, the UK subsidiary of Hess Corporation, as a geologist. He initially worked on producing North Sea fields as well as on developments such as the giant Scott field. After playing a leading role in the West of Shetland exploration team which discovered the Strathmore oil field, in 1991 Ian joined the company's nascent international business in a new ventures role. While working predominantly in the Far East and Australia, Ian also led technical projects in Venezuela, Algeria and Azerbaijan. He left Hess for OMV in Vienna in 1998, where he took on a combined technical and commercial business development role. He led the successful acquisition of Cultus Petroleum NL in 1999, the first ever hostile international takeover by an Austrian company. While at OMV, Ian worked on a diverse range of upstream projects across the globe. He returned to the UK and to the North Sea in 2007 when he joined Energy Development Partners as Commercial Manager. He has managed Aurora's business since inception. Ian is a council member of UKOOG, the trade body representing the onshore oil & gas industry.
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(Polymede, Arne, Scarphe, etc.)
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1844):
ALClMEDE, a daughter of Phylacus and Clymene, the daughter of Minyas. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 45 ; Schol. ad loc. and ad i. 230.3 She married Aeson, by whom she became the mother of Jason (Ov. Heroid. iv. 105 ; Hygin. Fab. 13 and 14), who, however, is called by others a son of Polymede, Arne, or Scarphe. (Apollod. i. 9. § 8).
POLYMEDE, a daughter of Autolycus, was married to Aeson, and by him became the mother of lason. (Apollod. i. 9. § 16 ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 175.) Apollonius Rhodius (i. 233) calls her Alcimede.
ARNE, A daughter of Aeolus, from whom the Boeotian town Arne (afterwards called Chaeroneia), as well as the Thessalian Arne, were believed to have derived their name. (Thuc. i. 12 ; Paus. ix. 40. § 3; Müller, Orchom. p. 392).
Source: William Smith (ed.), The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 3 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1867).
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In 1992, Randy Armstrong and Genevieve Aichele began collaborating as Armstrong & Aichele, a performance ensemble which merges music, movement, storytelling and theatre to animate timeless stories that appeal to audiences of all ages. Together they perform "World Tales," with music played on traditional instruments from all over the globe -- the Native American flute, the African djembe drum, and the North Indian sitar, just to name a few.
The stories include traditional favorites like Anansi the Spider and original retellings of ancient myths. "World Tales" performances and "A Mosaic of Music & Stories from Around the World," the album of the show, have won rave reviews all over the country.
Working as Artists-in-Residence at dozens of schools and community organizations throughout New England, Armstrong & Aichele have been the recipients of numerous grants from the NH State Council on the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Download bios (PDF) for Randy Armstrong & Genevieve Aichele.
Hailed by the Boston Globe as a "sure-fingered guitar virtuoso", Randy Armstrong is the
co-founder of DOAH WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE and UNU MONDO. With a collection of over two hundred instruments from around the world, including acoustic, synthesizer and nylon-string guitars, sitar, balofon, djembe, koto, charango, mbira and a wide variety of percussion and stringed instruments, he has amazed audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Alaska, and India. Randy recently returned from Central America and West Africa performing and studying with Garifuna musicians and drummers in Dangriga and Hopkins, Belize and Ewe, Fanti and Ga drummers in Accra and Legon, Ghana. He has performed at Carnegie Recital Hall and festivals at Lincoln Center in New York City. In 1998, Randy was selected as an artist representative to attend a Cultural Trade Mission to Ireland, Northern Ireland and England sponsored by Governor Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and in May 2005 attended a Curatorial Research trip on Son Jarocho music in Xalapa and Veracruz, Mexico for the New England Foundation for the Arts. He was appointed by NH Governor Craig Benson as an arts councilor for the NH State Council on the Arts in 2003 and reappointed by Governor John Lynch in 2008. In the summer of 2007, Randy toured internationally in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and South Africa and celebrated the digital and compact disc release of the new Armstrong & Aichele: World Tales Volume Two, winner of several Parents Choice Awards. He created original scores for the 2009 New Hampshire Theatre Project production of William Shakespeare’s, HAMLET funded by a grant from Meet the Composer, Inc. and the 2010 Phillips Exeter Academy production of MACBETH. In 2012, Randy performed a concert tour in Cuba with Voices From The Heart and in April 2015, he will perform with ConTutti in Puerto Rico.
As a composer and performing artist with Do’a World Music Ensemble, his music has been acclaimed as "a marvelous kaleidoscope of shifting melodies, rhythms, and instrumental colors" by DOWNBEAT magazine. CD REVIEW stated, "guitarist Randy Armstrong…has composed some of the brightest contemporary instrumentals this side of the hemisphere." Do’a’s fifth album, WORLD DANCE, released in 1988, reached the top 10 of several national charts including #7 in BILLBOARD.
Randy Armstrong scored the music for a four-part PBS series, DINNER ON THE DINER produced by British filmmaker, Jon Guilbert. The series explores four famous train rides through Spain, Scotland, South Africa and Malaysia/Thailand with a double-CD released concurrently with its premiere by Ellipsis Arts nationally distributed by Ryko. "Evocative...Timeless" --Barnes & Noble.com. The programs aired on the PBS network in June 2000. In May 2003 his album, NO REGRETS was released by DOMO Records and reached the top 10 of several radio airplay charts. In 2005, Randy joined forces with 16 artists from coast to coast on a compilation CD entitled the TSUNAMI RELIEF PROJECT released by Atta Girl Records with all profits aiding Tsumami survivors through the CARE Agency. Randy Armstrong has performed, recorded and appeared on over 40 albums and film scores.
Randy holds a degree in composition and world music studies and has conducted workshops at schools, universities and cultural institutions throughout the United States. He is an adjunct faculty instructor of West African drumming and North Indian sitar and tabla at Phillips Exeter Academy and teaches for the Graduate Studies Integrated Arts Program at Plymouth State University.
He also performs with the award-winning storytelling, music and movement duo, ARMSTRONG & AICHELE: WORLD TALES that has been receiving wide critical acclaim. With Do’a World Music Ensemble and as a solo artist, he has been the recipient of numerous grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the state arts councils of Arkansas, Arizona and New York and the National Endowment of the Arts. He has shared the stage with such artists as Dizzy Gillespie, King Sunny Ade, the Paul Winter Consort, Babatunde Olatunji, Fatoumata Diawara, Pierre Bensusan, Michael Hedges, Eddie Palmieri, Mose Allison and Richie Havens.
Genevieve Aichele is a theatre artist – a performer, director, teacher and playwright. A resident of Portsmouth, NH, she received her degree in Music & Theatre for Community Programs from the University of New Hampshire in 1975, graduating summa cum laude. She is a co-founder and currently serves as artistic director of New Hampshire Theatre Project, based at the West End Studio Theatre in Portsmouth. Genevieve is a juried Roster Artist/Trainer for VSA-Arts International and the NH State Council on the Arts, an adjunct faculty member of the Plymouth State University Graduate Program, and an affiliate of The Woodland Group. She has performed, directed and taught performing arts from Boston to Seattle to West Palm Beach, from Dublin to Hong Kong to Frankfurt.
Genevieve Aichele has directed professional and student performers in a variety of theatrical venues throughout New England. Recent professional directing credits include the The Music Hall’s 125th Anniversary production of Caste and John Wopps, for which she won the 2002 Spotlight Award for Best Director. Genevieve has also directed and toured with Clara’s Dream: A Jazz Nutcracker for MaD Theatricals; directed Follies: A Vaudeville in 9 Acts for the Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival with special guest Bill Irwin; and directed Ballet Theatre Workshop and Festival Ballet of Rhode Island in Carnival of the Animals and Knights of the Square Tables in collaboration with choreographer Mihailo Djuric.
Genevieve has directed thousands of youth during her 30 years of working as an Artist-in-Residence. She has directed the NH Theatre Project Youth Repertory Company, a pre-professional training program for teens, in productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night as well as Aristophanes’ The Birds; Idiot’s Delight by Robert Sherwood; and Harvey by Mary Chase.
Along with her work in professional and youth theatre productions, Genevieve frequently directs community arts programs in her role as artistic director of New Hampshire Theatre Project. These have included multi-generation, multi-media projects such as Neighborhoods (for which she won the 2002 Spotlight Award for Community Arts) in Portsmouth, NH; The World Sits Down to Dinner in Rye, NH; and Aunt Chip & the Triple Creek Dam in Greenland, NH. These productions feature large casts (between 50-150) of both amateurs and professionals, ranging from pre-schoolers to senior citizens. Genevieve also adjudicates regularly for both the American Association of Community Theatres and the New Hampshire Educational Theatre Guild.
In her performing work, Genevieve combines music, theatre and movement with traditional storytelling techniques to weave tales of wonder, courage and humor for all ages. Her original one-woman performances of Resurrection and Gently Gone combine monologues, songs and poetry to take the audience on a powerful journey through the beauty and pain of the creative soul. Reviewer Todd Hunter describes her work: “Genevieve Aichele has taken the brave choice of baring her soul in performance and has achieved what many artists strive to do but only few truly accomplish: to find the truth. Her success is to the benefit of all who attend her performances.”
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© Armstrong & Aichele
PO Box 128 • Dover, New Hampshire 03821 USA
Web www.armstrongandaichele.com
Email info@armstrongandaichele.com
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LENAHAN
PARAMOUNT (PROMO VIDEO)
"The second annual Bethlehem Celtic Classic was a huge success. Most of the young folks raved about the Clan.............they were terrific............a rare example of total energy. The applause left no doubt how the audience felt about the Clan."
Irish Edition
"The Clan are America's Number One Celtic Rock band."
"Equally good at Celtic dances, British elegies and pop, The Clan's members seem to respect their musical ancestors without kowtowing to them."
Morning Call, Allentown PA
"The Clan play with a brashness akin to a mule kicking down a wooden fence.......the concert score: Stockton's Wing 2, The Clan 3"
Folk Roots Magazine, UK
"One of the country's best young Celtic rock bands..............."
N.Y. Daily News
"Exciting, incredibly danceable and great fun.............exceptional bagpipe playing............a treat from start to finish. Celtic rock with real bite."
Rock 'n' Reel Magazine, UK
"the Ventures meet the Dubliners........"
Good Times Magazine, NY
"Tom Lenahan made my evening at the South Street Seaport Concert Series........The Clan had everything going for them............the crowd were right into it"
Irish Voice
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18th Street Arts Center’s 7th Annual Beer Art & Music (BAM) Festival 2016
Santa Monica, CA – Start with a sunny Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica, CA. Add craft beer brewed by a world-class, friendly group of brewers who geek out about beer. Mix in groundbreaking LA punk legend Alice Bag and up-and-coming punk band The Sex Stains ... all centered around artists’ studios and contemporary one-of-a-kind art projects.
Los Angeles’ most artful craft beer event is back again on September 24, 2016 from 1pm-5pm. 18th Street Arts Center’s signature benefit event, BAM Fest (Beer Art & Music Festival), is a renowned Westside craft beer festival, prized for its trifecta of all things fun–a celebration of contemporary art, music, and California’s finest craft beers.
With 40+ breweries and 100+ beers, live ground-breaking punk bands, contemporary art installations, open artist studios, artist vendors, and gourmet food trucks, BAM Fest is ready to draw record-breaking crowds in its seventh year as one of LA’s most anticipated cultural celebrations.
Presale starts August 22nd with tickets just $40 until 9/10, $45 until 9/23, and $50 at the door. Proceeds benefit 18th Street Arts Center, a 26 year old artist residency program and arts center that has fostered and supported the work of many of Los Angeles’ most engaging and diverse artists, and has built bridges to artist communities around the globe.
We really enjoyed the BAM event at 18th Street [Arts Center]. Loved the food, the gallery exhibits, the interesting crowd, and the entertainment. It is the best fundraiser I've been to, ever. Very creative, lively, and entertaining!
~ Melinda Gray AIA, GRAY Matter Architecture
Participating breweries have been carefully selected by fundraising and cultural event producer, Nicole Gordillo of Tap & Cheer Events, and represent some of the best of the craft beer industry. The 40+ breweries range from big to small, including the popular and widely known Stone Brewing Co and El Segundo Brewing Co., to newly launched breweries including LA-based Indie Brewing Company. Santa Monica’s only local brewery, Santa Monica Brew Works, will also be a part of the fun and have even given 18th Street additional support as one of the lead sponsors. Other sponsors include Whole Foods and Saatchi Art.
We had a blast at BAM Fest. We will sponsor and be part of the festival every year. You guys did a great job!
~ Scott Francis, President and CEO, Santa Monica Brew Works
A special bonus for BAM Fest attendees will be the opportunity to participate in 20-minute mini-educational sessions called Crash Courses that will cover everything from beer and food pairing to how to make a DIY homebrew. And for those who prefer fermented grapes to hops there will also be an area to sample some of Southern California’s finest wines as well as home brewed sodas by local home brewing clubs.
Every year the music lined up for BAM Fest is just as diverse as the beer. This year BAM will feature live music from groundbreaking artist Alice Bag and rising indie punk act, Sex Stains.
Trailblazer Alice Bag is a singer/songwriter, musician, author, artist, educator, feminist and icon in the punk world and beyond. She was the lead singer and co-founder of the Bags, one of the first punk bands to form during the first wave of punk rock in Los Angeles.
Sex Stains, formed in early 2014, is a Los Angeles quintet comprised of stalwart members of the punk and indie underground. Pulling from late 70’s and early 80’s post-punk, Sex Stains’ music alters between thought-provoking punk, infectious dance rhythms, angular guitar sounds and cacophony.
Alice Bag | The Sex Stains
And the art is everywhere. BAM Fest guests will have the special opportunity to explore a dynamic interactive installation by LA-based art collective Lucky Dragons, an exhibition by Taiwanese Canadian artist Hao Ni, and a special pop-up group show of LA artists organized by Hao. Throughout the campus will also be installations by Japan-based artist Kaoru Hironaka, painter Yvette Gellis, and a presentation by the groundbreaking media collective EZ TV. BAM guests can participate in artist-inspired photo booths and art-making workshops including Marcus Kuiland-Nazario’s popular Crafternoon.
To soak up all the scrumptious brews, a diverse selection of six food trucks will provide a bounty of signature dishes. Plus, there will be pretzel necklaces! With the marriage of beer, art, and music, BAM Fest has brewed a one-of-a-kind fundraising event. This is one craft beer festival no one should miss!
Don’t want to drive? There will also be a FREE Bike Valet, so cruise on down!
The new Metro Expo line stops right at 17th/SMC, only a block away from the festivities. The Expo is only a 40 minute ride from downtown, so ditch the car! Learn more here.
Tickets are on sale at
http://bamfest2016.eventbrite.com
For more information about BAM Fest 2016 and 18th Street Arts Center visit: http://www.18thstreet.org/bam
All proceeds benefit 18th Street Arts Center, Southern California’s leading artist residency who values art-making as an essential component of a vibrant, just, and healthy society
PARTICIPATING BREWERIES (so far!)
101 Cider House
Angel City Brewery
Ballast Point Brewing Co.
Boochcraft Kombucha
Boomtown Brewery
Boston Beer Co.
Boulevard Brewing Co.
Drake’s Brewing Co.
Enegren Brewing Co.
El Segundo Brewing Co.
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
Golden Road Brewing Co.
Indie Brewing Co.
King Harbor Brewing Co.
Kinetic Brewing Co.
Ladyface Ale Companie
MacLeod Ale Brewing Co.
New Belgium Brewing Co.
Phantom Carriage Brewery
Saint Archer Brewing Co.
Santa Monica Brew Works
Sixpoint Brewery
Smog City Brewing Co.
Strand Brewing Co.
The Dude’s Brewing Co.
Three Weavers Brewing Co.
Transplants Brewing Co.
Wolf Creek Restaurant and Brewing Co.
MORE ON ALICE BAG
Trailblazer Alice Bag is a singer/songwriter, musician, author, artist, educator, feminist and icon in the punk world and beyond. She was the lead singer and co-founder of the Bags, one of the first punk bands to form during the first wave of punk rock in Los Angeles. The Bags are considered one of the key bands of the early Hollywood punk scene that centered around the Masque in 1977-78. In 1981, members of the Bags appeared as the Alice Bag Band in the seminal documentary on punk rock, The Decline of Western Civilization. Alice is a punk rock pioneer and a product of the same scene that gave us Black Flag and the Germs. As an author, educator, lifelong badass and the leader of The Bags, among many other bands, she’s been a prolific and guiding light for Chicana punks, and continues that force-of-nature output with fierce songs of protest and massive shredding. Alice went on to perform in other groundbreaking bands, including Castration Squad, Cholita, and Las Tres. She has published two books, including the critically acclaimed memoir Violence Girl in 2011 and the 2015 self-published Pipe Bomb For the Soul, based on her teaching experiences in post-revolutionary 1980's Nicaragua.
Alice's influence on popular music is highlighted in the Smithsonian exhibit, American Sabor.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7416407/alice-bag-solo-album-la-punk-the-bags
http://remezcla.com/features/music/alice-bag-chicana-punk-icon-interview/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AliceBag
Instagram: https://instagram.com/alice_bag
Tumblr: http://alice-bag.tumblr.com/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+AliceBag1/posts
MORE ON SEX STAINS
Sex Stains, formed in early 2014, is a Los Angeles quintet comprised of stalwart members of the punk and indie underground. Lead vocalist Allison Wolfe was part of first generation riot grrrl bands Bratmobile and Cold Cold Hearts, both on the underground label Kill Rock Stars. Lead vocalist Mecca Vazie Andrews is a well- known choreographer and the artistic director of “The MOVEMENT movement” and has worked with artists such as Daft Punk, Toro y Moi, Marina Abramović, and Liz Glynn. On drums is David Orlando, who drummed in Warpaint and is a resident DJ for L.A. clubs Dub Club and Punky Reggae Party. Guitarist Sharif Dumani played with Atlanta soul man Cody Chesnutt and his Headphone Masterpiece band, and the Tyde. Puerto Rico transplant Pachy Garcia (Prettiest Eyes) rounds out the sound on bass guitar. Pulling from late 70’s and early 80’s post-punk, Sex Stains’ music alters between thought-provoking punk, infectious dance rhythms, angular guitar sounds and cacophony. Sex Stains play regularly throughout California, having graced Burger-a-Go-Go and Echo Park Rising festivals, as well as sharing bills with the likes of the Pop Group, ESG, the Julie Ruin, Shannon & the Clams, the Coathangers, Chain & the Gang, and Alice Bag.
BAM LINKS:
BAM Webpage: http://18thstreet.org/bam
18th Street artists: http://18thstreet.org/artists
BAM Fest Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beerartmusicfestival
BAM Fest Twitter: @BAMFestLA
18th Street Arts Center Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/18thStreetArts
18th Street Arts Center Twitter: @18thStreetArts
18th Street Arts Center Instagram: @18thStreetArts
18th Street Arts Center Tumblr: 18thstreetarts.tumblr.com
18th Street Arts Center Youtube: youtube.com/user/18thStreetArts
Tap & Cheer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tapandcheer
Tap & Cheer Twitter: https://twitter.com/tapandcheer
Tap & Cheer Instagram: http://instagram.com/tapandcheer
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Engineer sent text 22 seconds before fatal train crash
NEW: AP: Senate passes bill to give billions to Amtrak
Crash killed 25 people, including train engineer Robert Sanchez -- the texter
NTSB: Text sent at 4:22:01 p.m. on September 12; crash happened at 4:22:23
After crash, California Public Utilities Commission banned texting on the job
Next Article in U.S. »
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A Metrolink engineer driving a commuter train sent a text message about 22 seconds before the train collided with a Union Pacific freight train last month, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.
The crash killed 25 people, including the engineer, Robert Sanchez, during Friday rush hour in Chatsworth, a northwest Los Angeles suburb.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday night cleared a rail safety reform bill that would give Amtrak $13 billion dollars over five years, its passage partly pushed by the September 12 collision, according to The Associated Press.
The bill, which passed by a 74-24 vote, will go before President Bush who has not said if he'll sign it. The Federal Railroad Administration told the AP that safety technology mandated by the legislation would have prevented the crash.
The bill adds 200 new safety inspectors and requires technology be installed by 2015 that can slow a train that runs a red light or jumps off track.
The NTSB earlier determined the brakes on the Metrolink train were not applied before the collision and that stop signals at the scene were working properly, said Kitty Higgins, an NTSB member assigned to the investigation.
The bill also limits the hours a week rail crews can work, and prohibits shifts longer than 12 hours, the AP said.
On Wednesday, the NTSB said that Sanchez, 46, sent a text message at 4:22:01 p.m. on September 12, the NTSB said, citing information on his cell phone activity that the safety board subpoenaed from his service provider.
The preliminary estimate of the time for the head-on collision is 4:22:23 p.m., NTSB said, citing Union Pacific train's onboard recorders.
Sanchez last received a text message at 4:21:03 p.m., NTSB said.
Human error led to fatal train collision, spokeswoman says
From 3:03 p.m. -- when Sanchez returned from a break that had lasted several hours -- until the collision, the engineer received seven text message and sent five, the NTSB said. The safety board did not identify with whom Sanchez was exchanging text messages.
From 6:44 a.m. until 8:53 a.m. that day, when Sanchez was also in charge of a train, he received 21 text messages and sent two dozen, the NTSB said.
"The Safety Board's Recorder Laboratory is continuing to correlate times recorded for use of the Metrolink engineer's cell phone, train recorder data, and signal system data to a common time base," NTSB said.
After the incident, California Public Utilities Commission banned train operators from texting on the job.
In pushing for the ban, Commission President Michael Peevey said cell phone use by engineers "may have been a factor" in train accidents this year in San Francisco and Sacramento, California.
He did not elaborate on details of those incidents. Thursday's order is temporary until the state commission decides whether to make it permanent.
Metrolink prohibits cell phone use by engineers on the job, but Peevey emphasized there is no federal or California regulation barring cell phone use by engineers while trains are moving.
Twenty-four bodies were found at the scene after the collision. A 25th victim, a man in his 50s, died at a hospital. More than 130 people were injured.
The agency said it also has been in contact with two teenagers who told a local television station they were exchanging text messages with the engineer just before the crash.
Higgins said investigators interviewed a Metrolink train conductor who had worked with Sanchez since April.
The conductor "had no issues of his time working with the engineer and on how the engineer operated the train," she said.
All About Train Travel • Los Angeles • U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
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