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Home > Employment > Employing Someone With A Learning Disability
Employing Someone With A Learning Disability
By: Lucy Debenham BA (hons) - Updated: 14 Oct 2012 | *Discuss
People with learning disabilities sometimes find that are many barriers when it comes to finding and securing employment. However, in recent years there have been a number of steps taken to help learning disabled people overcome any existing difficulties or discrimination and enter into the workplace.
The aim of the government and many learning disability advocacy groups is to challenge and change many of the misconceptions that exist about the abilities of people with learning disabilities and learning difficulties. Employers are also required to make applications and interview processes accessible for people that are disabled or have learning disabilities so that they can have the same opportunities as non-disabled people available to them.
By entering into employment, many people with learning disabilities are able to break free from marginalisation, and work towards social inclusion and independent living.
Working Opportunities
People with learning disabilities and learning difficulties are most often able to work effectively and prove to be reliable, valuable employees. However, only a small proportion of people of working age with learning disabilities have actually entered employment.
Organisations such as the Foundation for People With Learning Disabilities have set up initiatives to assist people with learning disabilities and difficulties with finding suitable employment. Many of these organisations also advise businesses how they can link up with services in their communities so that they are more accessible for learning disabled people.
Responsibilities Of Employers
Employers are required to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) to ensure that disabled people are not discriminated against on the basis of their disability. From 2004 it was stipulated that all employment, regardless of size of the organisation, and with the exception of the armed forces, is encompassed by the DDA.
Under the DDA, it is unlawful for employers to treat their disabled employees less favourably than other non-disabled employees because of their disability. When recruiting or employing someone with a learning disability, employers are also expected to make reasonable adjustments so that they can perform to their full potential.
These reasonable adjustments can be made to workplace or business practices, as well as physical adjustments to the working environment. Reasonable adjustments might typically include making provisions for wheelchair access, modifying written instructions into oral format, or accommodating needs for change in working hours.
It is believed that people with learning disabilities should have the same opportunities to reach their full potential in their careers. For this to happen, they need to have equal opportunities when applying for new jobs and promotion. Likewise they should not be discriminated against on the grounds of their disability if redundancy or dismissal is being considered.
Naturally, their suitability for a particular role or job promotion should be dependent on their skills and professional capabilities. However, in order to enter into the recruitment process in the first place, people with learning disabilities are often dependent on the recruiter affording them equal opportunity to apply.
For instance, a person with learning disabilities may be perfectly suited to a role, but the application or interview process doesn’t allow them to fully exhibit their abilities. They may require extra time in recruitment tests, or might benefit from being allowed to apply via an alternative medium, such as tape or Braille.
By following guidance set down under the DDA, employers are not only increasing their chances of finding a suitable candidate, but also empowering people with learning disabilities to realise their full potential.
All About Employment and Learning Disabilities
Learning Disabilities and Preparing for Employment
Becoming a Speech and Language Therapist
Becoming a Learning Disability Nurse
How Can I Prove My Son Has Learning Disabilities?
What Standards Should Adult Daycare Providers Meet?
All About Asperger Syndrome
All About Reading Disabilities
All About Williams Syndrome
All About Writing Disabilities
Art Therapy and Learning Disabilities
Diagnosing and Assessing Learning Disabilities
How I Detected Signs of Autism in My Child: Case Study
How to Define and Categorise Learning Disabilities
Incontinence and Learning Disabilities
Learning Disabilities and Self-Injurious Behaviour
Menopause and Women a Learning Disability
Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities
Transitions and Young People With Learning Disabilities
What Is a Learning Disability?
What is Opposition Defiance Disorder?
Disability Rights & Values
An Overview of the Mental Health Act
An Overview: Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Learning Disabilities
Becoming a Parent with Learning Disabilities
British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD)
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Employment
Getting the Right Standard of Care
Independent Living for People With Learning Disabilities
Issues Surrounding Ethnicity and Learning Disabilities
Social Inclusion and Learning Disabilities
The Human Rights Act and Learning Disabilities
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act
UK Government Initiative: Valuing People
Using Medication to Deal with Behaviour Problems
Vulnerable Adults and Protection from Crime
What is Person-Centred Planning?
What is the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)?
What is the Mental Capacity Act 2007?
Assessing Children for Special Educational Needs
Communication: Autism and Asperger's Syndrome
Further Education for People With Learning Disabilities
Learning Disabilities and the Montessori Method
Learning Styles for Children with Learning Disabilities
Normalisation and Learning Disabilities
Placing Children With a Learning Disability in School
Pre-School Education Needs for Children With Learning Disabilities
Quick Guide to Learning Disability Services
Support for Children in Mainstream Education
What Are Special Educational Needs?
Advocacy and Learning Disabilities
Advocacy for Individuals With Learning Disabilities
All About Adult Placement Services
All About Self Directed Support
Becoming a Carer for a Child with a Learning Disability
Becoming a Carer for an Adult with a Learning Disability
Challenging Behaviour and the Use of Medication
Depression and Learning Disabilities
Financial Support for Carers
Gaining Life Skills
Healthcare Support and Entitlements
Housing Support and Entitlements
Maintaining a Social Life When you Have a Disability
NHS Campuses for People With Learning Disabilities
Support for Parents of People With A Learning Disability
Support for Siblings of Young People With Learning Disabilities
Transport for People with Learning Disabilities
What Are Day Services?
What is Positive Behaviour Support?
What is 'Time Out'?
ADHD & Learning Disabilities
All About Cerebral Palsy and Learning Disabilities
All About Dyslexia
Autism (Autistic Spectrum Disorder)
Fragile-X Syndrome
How Dyspraxia Affects Learning
How Epilepsy Affects Learning
How Tourette's Syndrome Effects Learning
Quick Guide to Rett Syndrome
Quick Guide to Semantic Pragmatic Disorder
Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome
What is Angelman Syndrome?
What is Asperger's Syndrome?
What is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?
What is Klinefelter's Syndrome?
What is PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Disability?
What is Prader-Willi Syndrome?
What is Turner Syndrome?
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AFL SOUTH EAST▾
On behalf of AFL South East I would like to extend a warm welcome to coaches, officials, players and spectators to the 2019 Frankston and Districts Junior Football league (FDJFL) finals series.
Congratulations to all teams that have made it through to this stage of the season, with a lot of hard work taking place, both on and off the field, to make this season a rewarding one.
The next three weeks is always an exciting time of year when the best performed teams come together to test their skills and teamwork against some high-quality opponents.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for boys and girls to showcase their skills in a great environment, with family and friends flocking to venues to offer their support.
In fact five venues will host FDJFL finals across the next three weeks and I thank all of those clubs and their dedicated band of volunteers for their efforts. Chelsea, Devon Meadows, Frankston Rovers, Langwarrin and Mordialloc are set for some terrific sporting action over the coming weeks.
This season has been a very important one for junior football in the region with the introduction of the AFL South East Top-Age competition bringing a fresh and vibrant new look – and increased competitiveness – to the under-17 boys and under-18 girls levels.
I would like to thank AFLSE Chief Operating Officer Shaun Connell and League Operations Managers Pauline Pawsey (FDJFL) and Nicole Edney (SEJ) for their hard work in bringing the new competition to life.
Bringing the FDJFL and SEJ clubs together has certainly been done with the betterment of junior football in mind.
And I ask everyone who attends this finals series, the coaches, officials, players and spectators, to keep one thing at the forefront of their mind while at the football.
Respect the game - this is football - this is fun!
The expectation is that the game is treated in a respectful manner both inside and outside the fence.
Parents, guardians and spectators should remember that children play football for fun - they are not miniature professionals – and deserve encouragement, not ridicule or abuse – for making a mistake or losing a game of football.
Players should always play by the rules and support and encourage their teammates.
To the umpires who have been selected to officiate in these big games, congratulations on your appointments and we wish you well.
Australian football is one of the most difficult games to officiate.
Split-second decisions are made, and we implore the football community as a whole to respect the umpire’s decision at all times.
To our major partner, Bank of Queensland-Frankston, thank you for your ongoing support and for allowing us to service our FDJFL clubs.
To our Corporate Partners – Chisholm, St Kilda Football Club, LoCo, Heatstrip, Totally Workwear and SEDA – thank you for playing a huge role in making the 2019 FDJFL Finals Series what it is today.
We are also excited to be continuing our digital record app for this year’s finals series. The digital record app was introduced last year and was a great success, with welcome messages, FAQs, fixtures/results, ladders, team lists, live scores, game-day information and maps and directions available for the duration of the finals series.
Please go to www.aflserecord.com.au to keep up to date with all the FDJFL finals action.
And please remember… respect the game - this is football - this is fun!
Region General Manager
AFL South East
FAQ's▾
Adults (17 years and above) $8
Pensioners/Concession $5
Juniors/Players (16 years and under) Free
A ticket purchased from one FDJFL finals venue will gain access to other FDJFL finals venues and AFL South East Top-Age finals venues on the same day.
Entry fees subsidise umpires, paramedics, premiership cups and medallions, digital record, footballs and security.
Digital Football Records
AFL South East is taking an environmentally friendly approach and producing digital records only for the 2019 Junior Finals Series. Being digital eliminates the possibility of running out of records, as has been the case at several venues over the last few years.
A reduction in costs, and ease of access across multiple venues are other benefits of going digital.
The digital record includes a welcome message from AFL South East RGM John Anderson, fixtures/results/ladders, team lists, maps and directions, and offers from AFLSE partners.
Go to www.aflserecord.com.au to access the 2019 AFL South East Finals Record on your mobile device.
No alcohol is to be consumed at any junior game across the AFL South East region. Incidents are to be reported to Ground Marshalls and Ground Management on the day.
Smoking is prohibited at any junior game across the AFL South East region.
Dogs are banned from both the FDJFL and SEJ junior finals series.
Guide Dogs and Service Dogs are the only exception.
Ground Manager
Each finals venue will have at least one League Executive member present.
Each finals oval will have a host club-appointed Ground Manager.
Rooms and Shorts
Clubs will be notified each week regarding home and visitors change rooms and coloured or white shorts.
Game Durations
Under 11, 12, 13, 14G & 16G Fifteen (15) Minute Quarters with No Time On. Breaks 3,8,5 min.
Under 14 to 17 & 18G Twenty (20) Minute Quarters with No Time On. Breaks 3,8,5 min.
Officials approaching Umpires
No Officials are to approach the Umpires during the game. Any issues to be addressed are to presented by the Team Manager, accompanied by the opposition Team Manager, to the League executive member or Ground Manager. They will then take up whatever matter that needs to be addressed.
Spectators on the Ground
Spectators will not be allowed on the ground at any stage during the finals series. Spectators are not permitted on the ground prior to the game or at quarter time, half time, three-quarter time and or at the conclusion of the game.
As per the home and away season.
Drawn Games
If scores are level at the completion of the fourth quarter the ball shall be returned to the centre of the ground and the game will continue for two five-minute halves.
Coaches are not permitted to address their players between the end of the fourth quarter and the start of extra time, nor between any periods of extra time.
Each team shall kick in the same direction as they did in the fourth quarter for the first half of extra time. Teams will change ends for the second half of extra time.
If scores are still level after the two five-minute halves, a third session of extra time will take place.
Teams will kick in the same direction as the second half of extra time and the next score will win the game.
Codes of Conduct are designed to help improve the environment for players, coaches and supporters during the home and away season and finals series.
It’s important that everyone involved on match days is familiar with what is considered to be ‘reasonable behaviour’.
Parents and Spectators
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Social sciences → Etymology
Whos big idea was it to make certain words "curse" words? Why those words?If it is just a religious thing, why does the "curse" effect non religious people?
by Anonymous 3 hours ago
American Idle
Who the f*ck knows. ;-)
Big Purple Blob in a rainCOAT
IMO, words misusing God's name (title) are the "curse" words. "Damn" in its original context actually means "condemn to hell," so saying "damn it" is the same as saying, "send it to hell," the original curse. To put "God" in front of "damn" makes it stronger. Some people misconstrue the curse as telling God to *go* to hell, but it's actually telling God to *send* someone or something to hell. Words degrading people (particularly women) are offensive, but they're more put-downs than curses. Calling a woman a "b!tch," for example, calls her a female dog, not a human being worthy of human respect and dignity. (Side note: Ever notice that a woman is a "b!tch," but a man is either a "son of a b!tch" or a "b@st@rd"? Both of those terms point the finger at his mother, not at the man himself.) Finally, some words became offensive because people are uptight about body functions. Germanic-based words tended to be shorter and blunter than Latin-based ones. Even today, the longer a phrase is, the politer and more politically correct it sounds. What used to be a janitor is now an environmental services technician, for example. It was the same way in the Middle Ages, so that "defecate" became more socially acceptable than "$h!t," "derierre" more than "@$$," and "copulate" more than "f...." You get the idea.
Are you a "wordmaker"? ( do you make words up, and give them definitions...)
Does the non-common use of certain big words in everyday life justify the mockery of someone who does? Why or why not?
Why is it such a common typo for people to omit the space between the words "a" and "lot"?
Why is it that when you send a package by ship it is called "cargo", but if you send a package by car its called a "shipment"?
Why is the weight measure "pound" abbreviated "lb"?
How come we call spare change in our pocket or money we receive back after purchasing something "change"? Why is it called "change"?
Why do some people get so angry and defensive when they hear (or read) the words: "It's just the internet"?
Why do people pronounce an imaginary "r" on the end of words ending in "a"? For example, "vodkar and tonic"
"If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you?" What is the meaning of the song "IF?
Why do we call police,"cops."
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Harrison School of Pharmacy Home About HSOP Slogan Welcome from the Dean HSOP at a Glance Mobile Campus Employment Academic Calendar History of Pharmacy at Auburn The Man Behind the Name The Walker Building Educational Philosophy HSOP's Vision: The Practice-Ready Graduate Strategic Plan [PDF] Policies & Procedures How to Apply Program Disclosure Directions to our Campuses Visitors Guide to Campus Auburn University Email HSOP Communications
Pharmacy Home / About the Harrison School of Pharmacy / HSOP Slogan
HSOP Slogan
On April 22, 2014, the Harrison School of Pharmacy introduced a new school slogan: "Making Medications Work Through Innovative Research Education and Patient Care."
The idea of a slogan was first brought up in 2012, with a call put out to students and faculty to submit ideas a year ago. While the intention was to review the submissions and select a winner, the end product ended up being a conglomeration of the submissions.
The slogan hits on three main areas as part of the mission of the Harrison School of Pharmacy: Innovative Research, Innovative Education and Innovative Pharmacy Practice.
Faculty will discover and develop new drugs, and improve how existing medications can be used more effectively. Our groundbreaking research enterprise will engage in interdisciplinary collaboration with other researchers across the globe to save and improve patients’ lives.
Innovative Education
The Auburn graduate will be ready to adapt to a changing practice environment and provide leadership to capitalize on those changes for the betterment of patient care and the profession. Graduates will be exceptionally prepared to contribute to a safe and effective drug distribution system, increase access to primary care and ensure that patients’ drug therapy is optimized.
Innovative Pharmacy Practice
By directly engaging patients and health care systems, we will improve health outcomes and promote progressive changes in practice. The School will establish, maintain and evaluate collaborative inter-professional patient care practices for the betterment of patient health and advancement of the profession.
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Fictional Dates
Re: Fictional Dates
Post by HerrPfister » Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:01 pm
This has always intrigued me, so here's what i've gleaned :
They are in Germany August 1981 - August / Spetember 1982. Here's how I came to this conclusion :
In 'Who won the War, anyway?', when Dennis is pleading Neville's case to Herr Ulrich and says Pfister 'must have made a mistake', Ulrich says Pfister is reliable, and digs a letter out of his files
"Here is my letter to Herr Pfister, dated August --". I can't remember the exact date stated (I think the 5th, off the top of my head), but it's definitely August because Ulrich pronounce it 'Owgust' which sticks in my mind because I have a German friend and that's how she pronounces it. Presumably, with the number of Brits clamouring to work abroad and the fact that Deninis implies Dusseldorf is one of the more desirable locations, they would have sgined on fairly quickly after that. So August is the start time.
Now, what prompts Oz to return to England in 'When the Boat comes in'? The news that Keegan has signed for Newcastle.
From Wikipedia :
Keegan had fallen out with McMenemy over the manager's failure to strengthen Southampton's defence (which conceded 67 goals in 1981–82) while the team was at the top of the table.[20] There were also rumours that McMenemy had charged the whole team of cheating after a 3–0 defeat by Aston Villa in April 1982 to which Keegan took great exception. Although Keegan joined Saints' next pre–season tour, he had already decided to move on to seek a new challenge, and a few days before the start of the 1982–83 season he signed for Second Division Newcastle United for a fee of £100,000.
The 82-83 season started on 28th August, according to footballsite.co.uk so they would have left around this time, meaning their stint in Germany was 1 year.
That's my theory anyway. if anyone can add to it, please do!
Ta-ra for a bit.
agabloodydoo
Post by agabloodydoo » Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:22 pm
Aside from Moxey and Barry sunbathing I got the impression it was always cold on the site (Neville’s reference to proving they’d been in Germany was to come back with pneumonia).
I don’t know if it was conveniently timed or if written into the script, but didn’t the lads stop working in Germany due to the employment laws on foreign labour changing? Any idea when that was?
Slightly off topic…. But one thing I did notice last time I watched series 1 is that when the lads are in the office being told about the German labour laws changing, Bomber looks like he’s been sunburnt, however in the next shot where they’re in the bar (where Moxey reveals his record), the sunburn has gone!
Post by Gary M » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:12 am
Some footy related clues to the Series 1 timeline, whether intentional or otherwise:
1) the Sunderland Liege friendly match would've been before the season began, so July/August
2) Oz says he rang his missus to get the FA Cup draw - since Newcastle were in Div 2 at the time they would (i think) have entered in the 3rd round, which i think was drawn in December (?). I doubt whether Oz would've cared about the earlier rounds featuring teams from the lower divisions.
3) When Neville is listening to the Ajax-Bayern Munich game, the commentator mentions Jan Molby. According to Wikipedia, Molby played for Ajax 82-84.
Post by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet » Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:11 pm
The date of the letter Barry sends to the lads is dated, Wednesday May 15th no year for the date. So, lets say Neville sees Dennis the same week in Newcastle, and Dennis says...'We'll gan dan Tuesday after dinner...' so that's 21st May......
So Neville and Dennis at 'The Bel and Dragon' is May 21st....
So working from those dates, the lads are at Thornley Manor on Monday 27th May?
Post by Hallwood » Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:38 pm
It's a while since I saw the episode, but when Dennis tells them of the job at Thornley Manor, Barry says "but that only gives you... days to finish this!" I can't remember how many days he says they have to finish Barry's house.
Post by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet » Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:55 pm
They start on Thornley Manor on a Monday, because Dennis tells them that at Barry's.....
Howard Radcliff
Post by Howard Radcliff » Fri Feb 15, 2013 11:24 pm
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet wrote: Great post Pete M.
I have often wondered the same, and only the other day, I remember figuring out once that they must have been in Germany through Christmas, but I cannot remember why I came to that conclusion now....
With reference to the lads spending Christmas in Dusseldorf I have the following theory:
In Series 1, Episode 2, (Who Won The War Anyway), Dennis and Neville talk to Herr Ulrich suggesting there must have been an ‘administrative cock up’ when relating to Neville’s employment as a carpenter. When Dagmar retrieves the records dated ‘August 4th’ we can assume the lads started work, say mid August at the earliest. 6 months would therefore take them through Christmas to mid January. The weather would have been considerably colder with rain, frost and likely snow certainly towards the latter episodes of Series 1. Anyone who has worked on a building site over winter will know construction work is very much weather dependent and unpredictable at this time of year!
Given the benefit of doubt - even if the lads had commenced work in say September or October, they would have most certainly spent a cold Christmas in that hut!! And not a Christmas decoration in sight eh!!
Post by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet » Sat Feb 16, 2013 10:46 am
That could have been the same reason, but I can't remember its so long ago.....
I am trying to think of any dates mentioned in the Spanish episodes.
The only thing I can think of is the lads being in The Sun newspaper, the date might be possible to see.
Hedley Irwin
Post by Hedley Irwin » Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:13 pm
Howard Radcliffe wrote:
There's also Keegan signing in August (presumably the following August), and Barry telling Trevor that Dusseldorf in January was no picnic
I need some slippers, and some soap
Post by Gary M » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:25 pm
It is not possible to put together a definitive timeline for Series 1 since there are too many inconsistencies. The best we can do is evaluate the reliability of every piece of evidence:
FACT: Keegan signed in August. So assuming Oz isn't looking at an old newspaper we can indisputably place him in the hospital in August.
Wayne's(?) testimony: The lads spent 6 months in Dusseldorf.
Barry's testimony: The lads were in Dusseldorf in January.
Wayne(?) or Barry or both must have misspoken, since 6 months previous would be February. So Christmas in the hut is unlikely. (The weather is purely circumstantial. Any given day on site in Northern Europe can be unseasonably warm/cold sunny/cloudy.)
The letter dated August 4th suggests, but is not proof, that the lads started around then. If the "6 months duration" is even an approximation, then they must have been hired several months after the letter was sent.
Keegan signing date is the only hard fact.
Post by Hedley Irwin » Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:41 pm
Gary M wrote: It is not possible to put together a definitive timeline for Series 1 since there are too many inconsistencies. The best we can do is evaluate the reliability of every piece of evidence:
You're a right little Hercule Parrot!
Just a thought, we know from If I Were a Carpenter that Dennis knew Dusseldorf already, and that Barry had worked with Dennis once before. So, when Barry said that Dusseldorf in January was no picnic, it is possible that he was referring to a previous visit.
Post by AWP Corsa Tim » Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:46 pm
That's a damn good point Hedley!!
Post by Breaking Away » Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:49 pm
Yes, well done bonny Lad!
Post by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet » Thu Mar 07, 2013 6:54 pm
But, why would Barry mention that?
It wouldn't mean anything to the viewers, where as 'Dusseldorf in January is no picnic...' to viewers who have just watched Series 1, 2 years previous would know what he's on about.
I assume 90% of viewers wouldn't remember Barry telling Dennis in the first episode....'Barry, Barry Taylor, we worked together....' and Dennis saying...'We worked together once...'
I think he means when he was there, and he's also talking about the lads at the time.
Well, I've made me point....
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ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Progress
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We are a community managed wildlife group based in and around Wenvoe, a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The group is made up of volunteers, many of whom live locally and others who come to help with our various projects.
Most of our work takes place in the parish of Wenvoe and St Lythans, which stretches from the edge of Caerau in the north, Dyffryn in the west, Barry in the south and Wrinstone in the east. We manage one Nature Reserve, four Community Orchards and help with a Community Woodland. Activities involve conservation, hosting visits, leading wildlife and foraging walks, monitoring wildlife and giving advice on local biodiversity.
With a good mix of meadow, woodland, streams and hedgerows the area offers much to see as far as plants and wild creatures are concerned and is being increasingly used as a base for professional ecology courses.
Wenvoe Tree Trail has been updated,
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CLICK HERE to download your latest copy.
Visit us on Facebook for our latest photos and information.
Home - Contact - FAQ's - Membership - AGM - Constitution - Policies - Copyright
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Comerica Names Clarke American as a National Quality Excellence Vendor
DETROIT--June 20, 2002--Comerica Incorporated presented Clarke American with a 2002 National Quality Excellence Vendor Award in a ceremony Tuesday, June 18, hosted by Elizabeth S. Acton, Comerica's executive vice president and CFO. Clarke American is one of five recipients of the award, which recognizes organizations that continuously demonstrate their professionalism, dedication and support of Comerica's vision of helping people be successful. Each year Comerica nominates vendors that supply products and/or services to the bank. To be considered for the award, a vendor is first nominated by a Comerica senior manager. Following that, each nomination is thoroughly reviewed, and a team comprised of Comerica employees from its primary markets of Michigan, Texas, California and Florida selects the award recipients. Clarke American provides checks and check-related services, contact center services and direct response marketing solutions. Last year Clarke American supplied Comerica with more than 567,000 orders of checks and accessories at a service rate far exceeding the industry average (source: Comerica Performance Measurements). Clarke American has had a relationship with the bank for more than 18 years. Charles Korbell, president and CEO of Clarke American, said, "Receiving a National Quality Excellence Vendor Award from one of our banking partners is truly an honor. This recognition by Comerica further confirms our company's belief that providing excellence in all product and service areas is not just important, but essential to meeting and exceeding our partners' and customers' expectations." "Clarke American's assistance during the Imperial conversion last year and their excellent call center service are just two of the many examples of Clarke American's consistent flexibility and support of Comerica's check-printing needs," said Ralph W. Babb, Comerica's president and CEO. "We appreciate their customer service and willingness to partner with us to meet our needs."
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"The human mind is like Van Halen. If you just pull out one piece and keep replacing it, it just degenerates."
(SPOILER) Discuss the first episode of Dollhouse. Enjoy the experience of watching a brand new Joss Whedon show.
Yes it's the official Whedonesque discussion thread for 'Ghost'.
Simon | Dollhouse | 17:01 CET | 643 comments total | tags: dollhouse, ghost, joss whedon, your time has come to shine
Oh boy, oh boy, I can't wait. It's been far too long since we've had some weekly Joss.
UnpluggedCrazy | February 13, 17:02 CET
My only advice: Don't go in wanting what you miss (Buffy, Angel, Firefly). Go in wanting Dollhouse to be what it is. Then decide if you like it. But mainly, have fun! I'm going to enjoy checking in here and on Twitter while the East Coast is watching.
[ edited by The One True b!X on 2009-02-14 02:04 ]
@theonetruebix | February 13, 17:04 CET
I'm on the US West Coast. It's going to be just like getting my damned comics via TFAW: by the time I'm ready to join the conversation, everything will have been said. Hope all the rest of you enjoy it, though. Hope even more that it gets numbers.
snot monster from outer space | February 13, 17:04 CET
Worst part about being in Australia.
Whereas its midday Saturday 14th here.
Its not even Dollhouse o'clock yet.
DAMN YOU AMERICANS AND YOUR CRAZY LOPSIDED TIME!
Get it together Obama...
aus-mitch | February 13, 17:04 CET
Don't go in wanting what you miss
Wait...so you're saying that this show isn't set in New Sunnydale on a terraformed planet in the outer rim?
That's it, I'm out of here!
b!x, I've had my expectations attuned accordingly from the beginning. Luckily, I told a friend not to expect the end-all be-all of all-time awesomeness, because he said if he hadn't known going in that it wasn't supposed to be crazy brilliant, he would've been pissed.
That's the reaction I'm most dreading. I don't think we'll necessarily be getting that from the majority of folks around here, but I also don't want non-fans tuning in and then tuning out if the first episode's not immediately hooky.
Turns out that the Fox channel for Northern Virginia Comcast is just a big old white burst of static tonight. No Summernator, no dollies. So now Hulu and iTunes compete for my patronage.
Pointy | February 13, 17:07 CET
54 minutes to Dollhouse. Sarah Connor is on now. Will crack open the popcorn soon. :)
mirrorshades | February 13, 17:07 CET
Have fun watching Dollhouse!
Joss: make it available for the internet next time, f*@* Nielsen ratings...
Krusher | February 13, 17:08 CET
That sucks. Commiseration.
Sorry to hear that Pointy. Maybe an aftereffect of the huge ice storm?
Ack, Pointy, suckage!
Pointy, where in Northern VA? I'm in Northern VA and Fox is fine on Cox.
NurseBobbi | February 13, 17:17 CET
Arlington. Comcast. It's alright, this sort of thing builds character. Of course I already have a lot of character. Is it possible to have too much character? ;-)
It's alright, this sort of thing builds character. Of course I already have a lot of character. Is it possible to have too much character? ;-)
Someone's going in wanting what he misses....;-)
Well, if anyone who's stuck with Comcast wants to come over, I'm in Springfield. My e-mail is nursebobbi at cox dot net. Must like dogs. I have 4.
Pointy, I work in Arlington at Marymount University.
[ edited by Bobbi on 2009-02-14 02:25 ]
Oh this is so exciting! To actually be able to discuss a new episode of Joss tv on Whedonesque again! (And this will be the first time for me.)
Wow, small world, I'm in a Maryland suburb of D.C. (and work outside Tyson's). And Comcast sux.
By the way, any of the other local Whedonesquers going to Farpoint in Baltimore this weekend? I can't wait! Alan Tudyk is always amazing. :-) And isn't he going to be guesting in Dollhouse too? How appropriate.
[ edited by AnotherFireflyfan on 2009-02-14 02:23 ]
AnotherFireflyfan | February 13, 17:22 CET
There's a new Jossverse video.
Ah, that's sweet of you, Bobbi, thank you so much, but the Merlot has spoken, and it says, "Don't drive."
[ edited by Pointy on 2009-02-14 02:24 ]
Hulu said they'll post the episode tomorrow. Also DC area, as it happens.
Sunfire | February 13, 17:24 CET
Wow, with so many people near D.C. we should have gotten a shindig for the episode. ;-) Maybe when the finale airs?
Does anyone know when Dollverse.com or FOX.com will have the episode up?
Let Down | February 13, 17:26 CET
How long 'til it starts over there? I can't make sense of US TV schedules and timezones, or at least not enough to translate it into Australian EDST. I mean, I tried, but looking at these comments, it's obvious that I was a couple of hours out...
snowinhell | February 13, 17:26 CET
If the Merlot is speaking, I'd say "Lie down, close your eyes and wait for the sanity to return." ;)
Emmie | February 13, 17:27 CET
Wow, with so many people near D.C. we should have gotten a shindig for the episode. ;-)
I tried. No takers.
Good advice from the merlot, Pointy.
Seems like many of us in the DC area are here at the moment.
~ 30 min for the eastern zones, snowinhell.
Hulu said they'll post the episode tomorrow.
Which means it's possible they'll have it late tonight, which has been happening a lot lately with the shows they're allowed to post "next day".
ETA that I mean "late tonight" in the West, because they do have to at least wait for it to air here, heh.
If I watch it on Hulu, I get to see it on my Big Mac Monitor, so all's for the good.
ETA Thanks for the tip, B!x, I may see Dollhouse before I see the dawn.
Sunfire, I saw your note but wasn't sure I'd be able to host either. The house needs cleaning, but I'm here, so company is welcome.
luckies that live on the east coast :pouts:
dulce_serenidad | February 13, 17:31 CET
Thanks Sunfire. :) This is exciting, even if I don't know when I'll be able to watch it.
One more Northern VA poster here: Vienna. (Cox is working.) We need "Comicon: DC" !
SteveP | February 13, 17:33 CET
Enjoy, everyone (sorry, Pointy, and also non-U.S. volk.) I'll be back much later. I'm on the left coast, and there's miles to go...
Forgive this analogy, if it offends, but: most times, I prefer a slow build and eventual release, rather than a quick pop out of the gate.
Well, those are actually mixed metaphors, but I hope my meaning is clear, if manic.
; >
QuoterGal | February 13, 17:34 CET
Enjoy the premiere of Dollhouse, those who can. Personally, I'm going to bed. Why, you say? Well, it's half past two in the morning here, gorram! Us respectable Europeans have to go to bed at some point, you know.
Oh and also, make sure you guys discuss at least a thing or two other than Eliza's tank top. For instance, talk about her hair in stead. Mmmmm, Eliza-hair... Shiny...
Xyron | February 13, 17:35 CET
Looking forward to hearing what you all think. Enjoy!
zeitgeist | February 13, 17:35 CET
US East coast is almost a go.
Numfar PTB | February 13, 17:37 CET
I'm excited! I've got my red vines and my coke all ready.
badwolf | February 13, 17:38 CET
Samberg and Parnell would waggle their fingers at you - its Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious!
Mr. Pibb! Anyone else remember the old ads with the hot air balloons? No, wait, ignore that. Threadjack. Carry on with Dollhouse.
This is going to be an exciting thread to try and keep up with. I am so excited.
Yes, Dollhouse :) Can't wait to see the full opening titles and all. Its a good time to be a Whedonesquer!
They don't sell Mr. Pibb here :[
I feel slightly left out that I didn't visit the concession stand in time to watch the show in a few. Does beer count? I have no candy and/or popcorn in the house.
1234567890 unix time and Dollhouse time, great to be in the ride :D
Beer counts if its good beer ;)
This is my first official comment ever, I think!! In more exciting news, Dollhouse in T - 14 minutes.
Rune | February 13, 17:46 CET
So what are the odds of Whedonesque getting crash Fandango'ed tonight?
I'm taking bets. ;-)
I hate comcast ... switched to verizon fios and love it ... Fox in all it's glory here ... Pointy switch to Cox if you can.......
resa | February 13, 17:48 CET
I was a latecomer to BtVS, AtS, and Firefly, so this is my first Joss show premier. Exciting!
UPC - way less likely than it was last year ;) I will not jinx it further!
Bobbi - right on!
How many points do I get for a Newcastle?
And hi Rune!
BIG points for Newcastle in my book!
resa, my in-laws just got Verizon Fios and the installation (which took two weeks and many hours on the phone to tech support to successfully complete) was a nightmare. Quote from the tech guy who couldn't get their Internet setup: "I'm not a computer guy; I'm a phone guy. Call the Geek Squad." Jerk.
OK. Back to Dollhouse.
You have a book of points?
YAY, it's finally here!!! I can't believe it was so long ago that we were buying Dollhouse pencils (without a clue of what Dollhouse was).
I have to leave for a birthday party. Right. Now. :(
I'll catch up on the thread in about 5 hours when I've returned home and seen the show (via DVR). Have a great time you guys!
And welcome to the party Rune.
alexreager | February 13, 17:52 CET
Yes, would you like to see it?
If you come to Comic-Con, you can bring it with you.
6 minutes. Exciting night even though I did watch what I could of Firefly, I didn't know much about Joss. Now it's a different world!
:) Alright, but it'll still be imaginary. That doesn't mean that I can't show it to you, right? Special welcome to anyone watching a Joss show live with a side of Whedonesque for the first time; we're thrilled to have you along for the ride!
Can someone please describe it in real-time? They don't have Fox in Austria. :(
wiesengrund | February 13, 17:56 CET
Looks like it's about that time for the other side of the US. Have fun, all!
There will be recaps aplenty all over the internet tonight, I am sure.
Hey, why is there no coverage of the Summer/Eliza-hosting? Shouldn't Terminator be on already?
Sweet! Ok, I'm ready. Crap no bottle opener.
Ah, didn't let that stop me. Pried it open with a wine bottle opener.
I'll shoot it over to you via telepathy, wisengrund.
Does anyone else think it would be really funny if all of this excitement faded into disappointment and anger after Dollhouse airs?
Not that I want that to happen, I just think it'd be an amusing contrast.
Racoon Boy | February 13, 17:58 CET
It's about to start! Huzzah!
Lioness | February 13, 17:59 CET
Anyone know when the episode is going up on Dollverse?
Not really, Racoon Boy, and I can assure you that a lot of people will enjoy it. I've enjoyed it several times already and plan on doing so again tonight.
Time to refill my beverage. Only a few minutes to go.
Considering it'd be illegal for it to be there, I assume not until it's on Hulu and can be embedded.
I think by reactions will be mixed. But by episode 6, there will be no doubt, that this is the best thing that happened to TV in the last 5 years.
"The year's most anticipated season premier."
You sure it's illegal? The Dollverse main page proudly announces that it will be hosting the episodes and that if we watch it there Fox can track us and we'll count as viewers
I'm enjoying the beverage updates. The question of the evening - what did you drink when Dollhouse premiered?
Let Down, because they're probably going to be embedding the Hulu stream.
Dollverse will embed the Hulu streams and its trackable. ETA: WBStm
[ edited by zeitgeist on 2009-02-14 03:02 ]
Ah right, cheers
Emmie, Wild Turkey OTR.
Ok, Echo just crashed her motorcycle and she decides it would be a good idea to sexily throw her helmet aside...
Beer. A lot of beer.
I wanna be in America right now.
Well the network made her do it, obviously ;) Actually, maybe that's the bike riding and the dancing.
I already feel the character development. Nobody gets out uncompromised.
Who's twittering this as it airs? Or anywhere to get a blow by blow as it's happening?
No tv reception here. Sigh.
(Yes, I know i could have fixed that before tonight.)
leenah | February 13, 18:06 CET
Dear Joss, that skirt is short.
Some people are chatting it up here.
I liked the memory-wipe effect.
It's started? Then must be time for me to log off to avoid spoilers...
Before you go - Echo isn't made of chocolate! Haha SPOILED!
(Sh-she's not? But, I thought... Well, then, is she at least made of chocolate icecream?)
Credits!
I was just thinking that this must be the kidnapped child, and lo and behold...kidnapping and opening credits.
No, in fact if you put chocolate ice-cream on her, it... are you ready for this? MELTS!
Ads, the disadvantage of watching live tv.
I'm scared to buy a Hyundai now.
Yeah I think that dress's length is illegal in some states.
fortunateizzi | February 13, 18:14 CET
I'm actually still wondering if the dress wasn't a CG shot added in post :)
Ooh. Reed Diamond. I loved Homicide,. It was my first non-Joss DVD set.
Those Actives are breaking crimes left and right. ;)
Luckily in a later episode, Echo becomes a Congresswoman and gets those laws changed at the Federal level. Good work, Echo!
So, her body temperature's high enough to melt chocolate icecream... Hmm... Oh, I know! I've got it! She's made of hot chocolate, isn't she?
(Wow, I'm bad at actually logging off and walking away, aren't I?)
fortunateizzi, it was definitely illegal in my junior high.
Oh, Amy Acker!
Doesn't seem to be working so well :) Enjoy the episode later! Looking forward to learning about Dr. Claire's scars later on...
Loving the Acker scene.
Don't everyone post at once. (No, I get it. Watch now, post later.)
I think "mixed bag" is a polite way of describing the twitter buzz.
[ edited by wiesengrund on 2009-02-14 03:23 ]
i'm only 10 minutes in, but did they steal the special effects from Tru Calling?
Pamelajaye | February 13, 18:22 CET
SO when's Echo morphing, you know Power Ranger style.
Twitter buzz definitely mixed. But that's up from the early (like first ten minutes) real-time response which was almost entirely from people who hated what they were seeing.
Pamelajaye, in Tru Calling, we saw what we'd already seen. In this, we see stuff we haven't seen as it's being wiped.
I think its important to note that people like to plan on hating things in advance and then grudgingly kinda sorta admit later that thaey liked it ;)
I hate that comment, but I planned to in advance.
Right now it's back to "mixed". But Tahmoh seems to make people happy.
You'll admit to liking it by 1-2AM PST at the latest ;)
An asthmatic in a high stress job? Here's hoping stress isn't one of her triggers.
I suspect that people who like it may be too busy watching to twitter, while those who hate it are less engrossed.
Rachelkachel | February 13, 18:29 CET
Besides Tahmoh, Amy seems to get the most twitter love.
Just to jump back a little bit - how great was it to see Written & Directed by Joss Whedon on your screens again? Right?
Great, zeitgeist. And how often to hostage negotiators wear stiletos?
Some guy named Josh. Never heard of him before.
If rumors are true, that will be the only time we can read that this season.
All of the ones I've ever seen on TV do ;)
Stress effect on Echo. Uh oh.
Interesting ... so far liking the mystery of the actives and the personalities.
RavenU | February 13, 18:38 CET
It's funny. I remember the critique of having the Actives being imperfect and who would want a near-sighted, asthmatic negotiator, right? But I like the idea that they're imperfect because they're copies of real people, the best. Because perfection pales in comparison to the bizarre amalgamation of personality traits and talents that create an exceptional person. Flaws create motivation and forge the will to become exceptional.
Plus flaws are interesting.
Yo, what's with the early Twitter hate, b!x? Gimme the deets. I just don't understand why someone would object to the opening that strongly...
Yep, seeing Joss as writer and director was fabulous!
I've missed it so!
whedon is GOD | February 13, 18:39 CET
Hm, the buzz is now on to "interesting". Could align with the "good, not great"-critics by the end of the show.
Woo.
There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch is pretty important for believable magic/science/phlebotenum.
KingofCretins | February 13, 18:40 CET
I'm just jealous because I can't wear heels anymore. (Bad hip--need replacement. Don't want surgery.)
Wow. The asthma's a real issue. Not a great idea for this particular personality.
My understanding is that it wasn't a choice so much as a side-effect of getting the best available negotiator personality package. The highest highs with a few unfortunate side-effects.
What Emmie said.
As tweeted, really enojying so far, a few minor issues, but the negative reviews was too exagerated.
Yep, definitely moving towards "good" now, buzz-wise.
I'm sure he didn't name it "Ghostbusters" because of some copyright-issues.
She's morphed into River!
So for those of us who don't twitter and live in Australia and therefore won't get to see it till 2053, how was it?
library hooligan | February 13, 18:44 CET
That's weird. My recollection of how Topher describes it is that it's very much a matter of his choosing. The entire conversation about being nearsighted was about how Topher can interfere with the way her brain processes her visual sense. So why would the asthma not also have been a deliberate choice on his part?
library hooligan email me. Got tips, if you want to try it out. I'm watching it almost live, a bit of short delay.
Haha, KoC, I was thinking the same thing.
And it's not over yet, library hooligan.
Ah, that makes sense, Emmie. They use intact personalities, so flaws come with the desired traits.
B!x the impression I got, is that came from the package, as the imprints are from real people.
Then why would Topher explain the nearsightedness the way he did? He didn't say, "Because this personality was nearsighted." He said, "I can interfere with how her brain processed visual imagery", as if he was actively doing so when he imprinted her.
b!x, it wasn't a matter of Topher's choosing. He was describing how it was possible to do what he did, but it's an actual person she's been changed into, flaws and all.
This is awesome, actually.
I think Topher has to choose, but he has to balance -- if he just takes the best out of every personality they have, the Active's persona is probably unstable or fractured.
B!X, the way I understood it is by removing what they view as imperfect they would in fact make a person even more imperfect - like pulling a loose thread in a sweater and creating a huge hole. One piece removed makes the whole construct collapse.
[ edited by Emmie on 2009-02-14 04:22 ]
The buzz has slipped to "good" now. Definitely.
the guy from Journeyman still seems to be playing a cop
We'll see, I suppose, in later episodes. But I don't think that's correct. (To quibble on another point: Other dialogue suggests imprints are not of a single personality, but personality traits from different people.)
if he just takes the best out of every personality they have, the Active's persona is probably unstable or fractured.
He said ominously... we will find out about unstable and fractured before the season's out, I'm sure :)
Well, either what UPC said or an inconsistency. Maybe Topher gives himself credit when it's not due?
Well, I'm sold.
Fredikins | February 13, 18:51 CET
Numfar haz mail.
So wait, is he saying the persona was the result of multiple peoples' traits? Huh?
B!X, for argument's sake Ms. Penn having been traumatized as a child is both a flaw and an asset. It causes her to have dangerous stress reactions, but it also is what motivated her to strive to help save kidnapped victims. So what makes her great is also what makes her flawed.
Yay, arguments discussions about what things mean in a new Joss Whedon television program!
Yes, UPC, I think that's what he said.
I'll relisten to all of this when it airs here, taking this thread into consideration, to see if I was taking it wrong, but my memory is that it was suggested that Actives are not imprinted with a single actual persona, but a persona Topher constructs out of many different people.
I do think Topher was taking more credit than really was realistic. I think that imprints are a bit of an art as well as a science and its not as point and click clean as far as what you get as Topher is acting. I do recall thinking that there was some mix and match involved in a successful imprint, I'll go back and re-listen to Topher's lines about it again after the show is over again. That said, its something I would like to have someone from the writing staff expound upon, especially his Purple Mountains Majesty.
ETA - I did manage to muck up what I was trying to say there, b!X - more later. The explanation of the "how it works" made Topher sound like he had more control than he does, while the rest of the explanation sounds like its a little bit of a mystery what works and doesn't and why.
That's even weirder to me, zeit. Because I don't hear Topher's explanations as "point and click clean" at all. In fact, it's actually his own explanations that reinforced, for me, that sense of Tohper as artist.
You're both right -- it's clear he *does* make them out of multiple people. That's what an amalgam is. But he has to construct an *entire* personality, and that means good stuff and bad stuff. Just like actual people have had imperfect lives, so must the Actives if they are to function.
First time I've watched a Joss show as it airs! Exciting!
Cold Opening: I think that sucked me in well enough. Of course, I was looking to be sucked in, so that might have something to do with it. I think it did a good job (or even great job) of setting up the premise, though it probably helps that I knew about the premise before.
It's already got me into the characters, as well. The Handler character especially piqued my interest right away, with his moral conflict and all. The expression on his face when Echo said he was 'good people' or whatever was wow.
The opening credits were nice, I especially liked the tinker-toy-esque bit at the end.
Act I: I was a bit surprised to see Amy Acker so early, since I was under the impression she wouldn't be in the first episode, but I guess that was the old pilot and I never clarified the news later.
Juxtaposed boxing scene was a bit obvious, but certainly effective, I guess. It was sweet when he kneed that dude in the face Muay Thai-styles.
"No one is to be brought to justice." Sweet line.
Act II: I have admit, I'm impressed how Eliza is pulling off the hostage-negotiator personality. It really is like watching a different storyline within the show.
This far in, I'm pretty sure I'm already sold.
Act III: The FBI storyline doesn't really interest me all that much at this point.
Echo storyline, however. Wow.
Act IV: (man I dig these short commercials) I like the Handler character, it is decided (I don't have all the character names memorized yet).
"We do not have a client" "We have a mission!" adfiuashfjhasdadawesome
Act V: This show is so cool.
So. So. Cool.
Wow that new Doll is kind of terrifying. Well, whoever she was being was terrifying.
I don't know if I'm missing something with that closing scene, but I was a little confused. I think I know what was happening, but I don't know if I was supposed to know who any of those people were.
Overall, I really enjoyed that. Would watch again.
Grr! Arrgh!
Nolan | February 13, 18:58 CET
Liked it. Looking forward to more. "The world is in need of some serious saving." :)
GRRRR ARRRGH!
Grr. Argh. Yay!
OMG - grr argh is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't wait to see a brandy-new Grr Arrgh!!!! :D
GRRRR ARGH
I'm sold.
Litwall | February 13, 19:00 CET
Grrr argh! Ha! That was awesome to see again on a live broadcast. I'm about to watch that scene again to see what exactly Topher said about how the imprints work.
KingofCretins, I think we were all agreed that the flaws had to be there too. We're differing on whether the flaws exist in the personas Topher uses, or if he chooses them himself somehow.
Okay, those last ten minutes were CLASSIC Whedon. Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man, next week looks incredible.
I am so happy.
Yeah, that was pretty awesome. And Eliza sold me.
pat32082 | February 13, 19:01 CET
Gr Arg!!!!!
Alpha looks exciting. I was not nearly as disappointed as all the buzz was making me believe I would be!!
"You can't fight a ghost." SO GOOD! SHE WAS DEAD!!
Exclamation points are not doing justice!!!!
Buffy the Slayer Layer | February 13, 19:01 CET
The Middleman!!!!
Nebula1400 | February 13, 19:01 CET
So happy, stimulus package signed and Dollhouse is on!
All is well with the world.
hbojo | February 13, 19:01 CET
Yeah I didn't understand what was happening in that last scene... were we supposed to?
ETA: Oh wait, I think I just got it. Was that supposed to be the uhh agenty guy we saw earlier? The one who we also saw boxing? Haha, sorry, I haven't read a lot online so I don't know everyone's name. So he killed those guys, whoever they were?
[ edited by fortunateizzi on 2009-02-14 04:05 ]
I think he chooses which flaws in the personalities he's drawing from to keep.
His "art" is just in the crafting together of one personality from several, and the making people near-sighted because they *have* to be for the personality to fit.
[ edited by Olya on 2010-04-24 00:05 ]
Olya | February 13, 19:02 CET
Oh, I'm a fan. That was majorly intriguing.
The Dark Shape | February 13, 19:03 CET
Eliza does have the acting chops to do this series. This is just the beginning, and Joss and Co. are going to be able to give her the means to prove it!
Got email answering now.
And, yes I'm sold too.
I loved that feeling at the end where things ended fairly well for Echo - she saved the girl and symbolically saved the personality of Ms. Penn from more trauma thereby giving her that accomplishment, yet while I'm happy that the company got away clean it also gave me this horrible feeling of unease. Compromised, indeed. I'm totally ready to be compromised again next week.
I'm firmly in the satisfied and entertained camp. A good intro and I can see how it's only going to get better from here.
You aren't supposed to know what the last scene is about for sure yet, but you will :) I have a lot of thoughts about that that I'm going to shut up about for now.
Well, all of the reservations I had were blown out the window after I saw Eliza play, like, four people in one go. Can't wait to see what goes down! Plus... Amy Acker!
I still don't like the singing in the theme though. ;)
Daburcor | February 13, 19:05 CET
What I most want to know (when the time comes) about where that last scene is going is: Does the Naked Guy just carry about stuff about Echo wherever he goes? Or are those dead people someone Echo knows, and they had that stuff?
Chills a couple places for totally different reasons:
1) Eliza with her arms up dancing next to a blonde girl. Buffy shout-out!
2) The edit of Eliza carrying the little girl out of the house. The moment is very poignant, but we barely get to feel it before it cuts back to a "clean slate" Echo in the Dollhouse. Nice editing touch that drove the stakes* home.
*I swear I didn't mean to make a whedonverse pun.
caeli | February 13, 19:05 CET
I had misgivings about Eliza's acting chops... but the blank look between "personalities" convinced me.
I clapped my hands when I saw that lovely Grrr argh! live again.
Yay! For Joss back on my TV every week.
BuffyGroupie | February 13, 19:06 CET
Grrr Argh!
Too long since he's been on TV!
Such a good show. I'm in love.
JustNick | February 13, 19:07 CET
I actually wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. It was awesome in a box. I love Fridays. Now, I must go and watch Mr. Marsters be the baddy on Numb3rs.
NYPinTA | February 13, 19:08 CET
That was excellent. I'm such a fan. I almost cried when Grrr Arghhh came on the screen. I didn't realise how much I missed it.
The man's a freakin' genius. That's all.
Even without the BSG-fans that are right now watching and not twittering it came around to quite a cool twitter buzz by the end.
I can't even express my many levels of happy bliss... GRRR ARGG... Joss Whedon... and if that weren't enough... it's also an awesome show!
Shelly | February 13, 19:08 CET
Until tonight, I was a first-run virgin, having come to Joss post-Firefly. I giggled out loud when "created by" came up, and again at "GRR ARGH". The rest of the hour, completely absorbed. Now comes the permanently crossed fingers.
circusgeek | February 13, 19:09 CET
Buzz on Twitter kicked up into a better range once the show ended.
Yay...just yay! And I got 5 people new to Whedon to watch and they liked it too. More yay!
chance | February 13, 19:09 CET
I really enjoyed the episode.Eliza was great as I expected as was the supporting cast(loved seeing Amy again)and I think the series has a lot of potential.
I'll admit,I never could get into Firefly.I watched the show as aired.Watched it again on DVD in the correct order and saw Serenity.But it just wasn't my type of show(the western angle).Dollhouse seems much more my speed.
[ edited by Buffyfantic on 2009-02-14 04:12 ]
Buffyfantic | February 13, 19:09 CET
I think by far this is the most cruel show that Joss has created. I'm not saying that to slam it, I just mean the way in which the characters are treated. In Buffy, Firefly, and to a lesser extent, Angel, the characters had some sense of community and belonging. Here, there seems to be none of that. While I still find the show extremely intriguing, I can see how that lack of community might keep some form connecting as easily as they did with the other shows.
I really like the idea of combining other identities to form the ones the Actives are implanted with, mostly because it has the potential to cause a lot of trouble, as we saw in this episode. Maybe that's a part of the factor that allows Echo to retain her memories.
I also really loathe Topher. He seems like an arrogant, pretentious asshole. Which means that Mr. Kranz is doing an amazing job, really. ;)
Overall, I enjoyed the episode, even though I wasn't immediately drawn to it like Buffy or Firefly. But I think that will come with time. And it was very heart-warming to see the Mutant Enemy logo a the end. :)
deepgirl187 | February 13, 19:10 CET
I don't know why people like Alan Sepinwall didn't buy Eliza's performance, I really don't. She wasn't Faith in skirt suit at all.
There wasn't a dull moment in the entire episode.
My mom lives in an area hard hit by that recent ice storm. She got her power back just in time to watch Dollhouse. She had been looking forward to the show despite some of the negative reviews she had read. (She's quite fond of that Josh Whedon.)
Her review? "The critics were wrong."
AuntArlene | February 13, 19:11 CET
I came into it now expecting to see BTVS/"Angel"/"Firefly", but somethign new and good from Whedon. What I saw barely had any Whedon on it at all. From the crummy motorcycle race with annoying song playing during, to just the plain "feel", it's like FOX has put their fingerprints on this.
I can live without the humor he does in other series, 'cause not every show needs it (though I miss it), but this just didn't come across strong enough on it's own emotions, and the droning, do-nothing scoring in the back ground sure didn't help.
An older review stating it was't like Dushku becoming someone else, but rather Dusku dressed as somebody else, is fairly accurate. It was like Dushku in glasses.
By the end I was bored, even felt like just turning the TV off and doing something else. Whedon has stated the show "found" it's stride in later episodes; I hope so, because I won't give this show a full 13 episodes to impress me.
Dushku: average performance, could have been a LOT better.
Olivia Williams: okay, but her character just feels empty, like it's missing something, and she's too cliched for my Whedon tastes.
Fran Kranz: completely boring. Just a walking shell who puts some lines and looks in occassionally, but I wouldn't even blink if he vanished a few episodes later.
Harry Lennix: now this character I like; just looking at hgim you get the feeling there is more to him and that he can actually act.
Rob Simonsen & Mychael Danna's score: background servicing. A composer change is strongely needed for the series.
If a 10 Star system was used, I'd have to rate the episode as a *****. If it wasn't for my love of Whedon, and the aforementioned later foot-finding of the series, I wouldn't keep tuning in.
Oh, and every show he's done had a memorable music theme, this one ... totally forgettable. A new theme is needed as well.
tharpdevenport | February 13, 19:11 CET
And a shout out to Mr. Edward James Almos. Hee!
I loved it - after reading some of the critic's reviews I was a bit worrried about the first episode, but I think its a great start and can't wait to see more.
So exciting to have Joss back on TV!
Passion | February 13, 19:11 CET
Wow. That was great. I was incredibly worried based on some of the critics' reviews of the first few episodes, but having watched it, I disagree with them completely. Eliza did a fantastic job. Many critics said that it was lacking in Whedon's trademark wit, but I disagree with that as well. I think this may be Joss's best first episode. It wasn't too expositiony; it flowed very well. Woo. I'm a fan.
la maestra julie | February 13, 19:11 CET
I enjoyed it. More of a set up than I needed but I hope enough for those who have not been obsessing for months and months.
It seemed pretty clear to me that Toper considers himself an artist - a bit from here, a bit from there and the perfect person for the job is created.
My worry is that we will get used to Echo's memories being wiped so the poignancy will be lost. Twice already we have seen things she would probably prefer to remember. Will we eventually just shrug and say "Oh well.She'll lose that one"
The flashes of her remembering has started soon than I expected.
How was Remote-Free-TV? Did "Ghost" feel stretched?
Topher: You see someone running. The first thing you gotta ask is are they running to something or running from something. The answer is both. See these personalities come from scans of real people. Now I can create amalgams of those personalities from here or there but a greatest hit - it's a whole person. Achievement balanced by fault. By a lack. Can't have one without the other. Everyone who excels is overcompensating. Running from something.
So that's how I understand the dolls. Topher can tinker here and there, but if he removes what he views as a potential flaw he's also damaging the strength that's created to overcompensate for that flaw.
Aww, today it sucks to be in Australia...
Glad MOST of you seemed to have enjoyed it- if you didn't then remember that Joss himself concedes that the series takes a few episodes to find its groove.
SO happy that this day has finally come, though!
missb | February 13, 19:16 CET
I'm wondering if this is like Firefly, where a two-hour pilot would have been a better introduction to such a different environment. Still, the hostage "engagement" involved me more than I thought it would. And +1 on how much "Grr Arrgh" rules.
Topher's point about flaws is that being talented is not enough, the personality needs motivation. We see this in pro sports, the ones who work the hardest usually have a chip on their shoulders.
I see that I wasn't the only one to notice Eliza's white dress :-) , but I'm surprised the ladies haven't commented in this thread on Tahmoh's abs. Although the bathroom scene is well away from the main story, I thought it brought the funny. ("Wash your hand... and your shoes.")
[ edited by OneTeV on 2009-02-14 04:19 ]
OneTeV | February 13, 19:17 CET
I'm still not quite convinced, Emmie. But I'm more open to your interpretation of everything Topher says about it than I was before this thread.
OK so I saw the end of the show and it was AMAZING! Unfortunately, my DVR acted up and didn't record the beginning! So far so good...but I have to find the whole episode...
Yeah..more Joss and I'm just thrilled. Eliza is AMAZING on the show....I'm always happy to see a fellow Bostonian doing well. :-)
WitchyGrrl | February 13, 19:18 CET
Maybe the little demon groaning "Grr Arrgh" could be changed so after "Grr", he stops, kind of fumbles in speech, then turns to us and scartches his head like he doesn't remember. ;-)
the show itself was awesome, but after the amazing theme songs in Firefly, Buffy, and Angel, please fix it oh my god! Other things... that dress was basically a long shirt, but I'm not complaining. If this was the hurried and humorous one of the bunch, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series! PlEEEAASSSEE Dollhouse Season 2!
Among other things... GRR ARGH YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!
Edit: Loving the shorter commercial breaks!
[ edited by Chris the Bloody on 2009-02-14 04:22 ]
Chris the Bloody | February 13, 19:20 CET
I nearly had a heart attack earlier in the evening. Our power went off about 20 minutes before Terminator was set to begin, and stayed off until about 5 minutes before Terminator came on. I didn't really have time to be happy about it, since I then had to scramble around making sure things recorded properly.
You know you're a fan when you want to watch a show again almost as soon as it airs.
Scraggles | February 13, 19:22 CET
The wit was there, but it was a darker beginning of a series than Joss's previous series (serieses?). I like that! It makes it different, yet it is definitely Whedony. The careful set-up of future story threats has me enthralled.
Of course, FOX in our area had to have a special news report monopolized the screen for 5 minutes, making the shows image about the size of an iPod... No disrespect to the cop killed, or his family, but running that interference for so long did nothing for the family (who would NOT continue watching Dollhouse under those circumstances, and not want an image of the crime scene superimposed on any show), and nothing for the people watching the show.
Wow, now that we're "back" to the first 20 minutes, the buzz is bad again. Did he screw up that opening in any way?
Will this be on iTunes?
I wanted to express my thoughts on the first Ep.
In simple terms the beginning didn't really grab me, but the end was magnificent. It should hook people. Especially that final scene. With Caroline (is that her real name?) commenting on the Grad Vid.
Like others the FBI arc right now doesn't seem super appealing. I was not a fan of the fight scene mixed in with the yell fest. However, whoever that actor was playing Ballard's Boss was awesome.
I just thought at the beginning that Dushku and Kranz were over-acting their characters. I'm really not a fan of that "Did I fall asleep line." I have a feeling though that Topher is probably going to become my favourite character. And I'm interested to see what's going on with him and Dr. Saunders.
The show really picked up when Miss Penn/Echo/Dushku (lol) recognized the abuser. The lines in the van were awesome. I thought Dushku was awesome! And of course the "You can't fight a Ghost." line was incredible.
For any Whedon fans you can tell how much potential this show has, and I hope they can do a lot of arcing, we'll see though. For non-Whedon fans I think it did an excellent job setting up the show and hooking you in.
I'm very excited.
EX | February 13, 19:24 CET
People probably realize the motorcycle chase/dancing were the network's doing :)
So, how was the Summer/Eliza-hosting-thing?
Network fingerprints all over that piece. ;)
I freakin' loved it! and its only gonna get better, love the little cliffhanger at the end.
In regards to the poignancy of the memories being lost after the wipe, my guess is that Echo will eventually retain memories after the wipe.
I know that some people may not consider me the most objective being a JW fan but I can't help but think were some of these critics watching the same show? lol
WheelsOfJoy | February 13, 19:27 CET
I've never been a fan of a Joss show while it's on air, since I came into Buffy, Angel, and Firefly late. But this show was everything I expected and more! I can't wait until next week's episode! Two of my favorite shows back-to-back on Friday nights! I'm loving it!
And I love, love, LOVE the opening credits and theme.
HowlingLupe | February 13, 19:28 CET
Cheesy. A lot of FOX-generated crappy banter. Insulted everyone's intelligence - ours, Summer's, and Eliza's.
I liked it more than I expected, given the mixed reviews. I don't expect trouble identifying with the 'blank slate' Echo, as many people feared. Instead, I look forward to watching the emergence of Echo's underlying self over the longer arc. Amy & Dichen were good too.
Nobody can say FOX didn't pull out every stop to promote this show, though.
And the dancing was perfectly good, as was the dress :) Did network make Eliza dance on "Buffy" and "Angel", too?
[ edited by KingofCretins on 2009-02-14 04:36 ]
Definitely pleased. Still a little concerned about Dushku and how she'll tackle the roles.
(Then again, I was also worried about Boreanaz being able to carry his own show..)
QuanticoMVP | February 13, 19:34 CET
I actually liked blank-slate Echo quite a bit. Plus the way she and Sierra smiled at each other as they passed in the shower near the end. The innocence is very intriguing.
wiesengrund , I would say that the beginning of the episode was a bit "on the nose" and felt dumbed-down. I assumed it was a result of Joss rewriting to appease the network's desire for a clearer first episode. You know how Fox is, they think their viewers need everything spelled out for them. It got much better as the ep progressed.
Loved the show, can't wait for the next episode. Want more now.
Tymen | February 13, 19:36 CET
Leak!
I wish it were next Friday. I want MOAR.
All hail the return of Joss and Grr Argh! I belong to the 'I loved it and can't wait till next Friday!' camp. I can see much gold to be mined here, and can hardly wait to see the directions Joss is going to take this.
Giles'chainsawchick | February 13, 19:39 CET
So, I already loved this episode, but then my girlfriend and I figured out (we think...) what was happening in the last scene, and my mind went crazy. I love you Joss Whedon :)
ETA that this episode (this show?) had a very The Inside feel to me. Which is good. I loved The Inside!
[ edited by Jobo on 2009-02-14 04:44 ]
sumogrip | February 13, 19:41 CET
There's a lot of comments on here, a lot to muddle through and I've tried lol but I just wanted to get a general opinion on the show one way or another? Were the critics right, or only a little, completely wrong? How many people loved it, hated it, found it ok or just were indifferent? I'm just trying to gage the mood of the show here so I'll get an idea of how much of a hit it was (or wasn�t'.)
vampmogs | February 13, 19:42 CET
It wasn't good.
The beginning scene was terrible and was a waste of time, the final scenes were decent and the only character I ended up liking was the handler.
Could the show become better? Obviously. I held off on reading reviews until after the airing. And I sadly have to say I agree with alot of the negative comments.
I'll keep watching but if it wasn't from Joss I would've stopped watching.
Lockescythe | February 13, 19:42 CET
Far from perfect, but entirely enjoyable and I think a very good opening act to a great show!
RCM | February 13, 19:42 CET
It was pretty great, IMO, and it will only get better. I actually think, in spite of network meddling, that it may have been his best pilot. Its at least a solid 7/10 for me if not better. Rewatching makes it better, too.
I'm currently rewatching it right now. It fits in the solid good column for me with the potential to get even better. I'm torn between giving it a 7 or a 8 out of 10, so split the diff and give it a 7.5/10. But it also has that edge of mesmerizing me with every scene where I want to keep looking back.
I think some people here are blinded by their love for Whedon and the lack of any new Whedon episodic TV in a while.
I liked it. It didn't grab me like I thought it would but I think it has potential later on.
xander fan | February 13, 19:49 CET
Yeah, 7.5 for sure :) Can't wait to rewatch all 13 of S1 in a marathon! You know, while waiting to hear about S2.
tharpdevenport - I know a lot of folks who didn't expect to like it from the premise, Whedon fans and non-Whedon fans who ended up being very excited by it. Its interesting how people who disagree with us are the ones who aren't seeing correctly, (instead of, say having a valid and differing opinion) isn't it? :) To take another example, I was SO looking forward to Studio 60 and loved everything Sorkin had done, but wow was Studio 60 a dog.
Or people have a legitimate difference of opinion based upon the episode itself.
Funny, how people can react differently. Overall, I really like this first episode, and if it's a sign, I'll really like the show in its entirety,
It's solid. And I really like this moody opening theme, my only complain about the opening sequence, is the lack of spotlight for each of the actors, they're just listed during the credits, but without a scene of their own, like in previous shows.
When you have comparritive television and acting abilities, no -- it's not a diffrerence in opinion.
I enjoyed it although pilots tend to make me a little crazy. I'm excited to see what happens in the next 12 episodes. It's great to have some Joss back on television again. Grrr Argh!!
I'm very pleased.
Scaniano | February 13, 19:53 CET
I loved it. Watched it with my mom, dad and one of my brothers, and they liked it too. I also got them on Terminator! Dollhouse was great, and I am sure it will get better. I just hope that Enver can do a good Russian accent. I have always been pretty picky about accents, but its been greatly amplified since I started taking Russian. Doing a good accent isn't hard, you just need to know to stress the right vowels and drop off the other ones. He didn't say much, but from what I heard was not bad (huh? I typed it and it confused me!) but I like where it is going. I couldn't hear enough to tell if it was good accent though. And while I know its the character, but it pained me to see Amy Acker all scarred up. Then again if she didn't have the makeup, some sort of cosmic imbalance may result from the amount of sheer beauty on Fox Fridays, as it is already teetering on the edge with Summer and Eliza. I have to say I cheered when Sierra killed the kidnappers, though having her do so was obviously a bit of dichotomy.
Eliza and Summer hosting could have been better... obviously it was scripted Fox stuff. But just seeing the two togther made me happy.
I loved the Edward James Olmos shout out, though to me he's freaking horrifying in BSG when he's angry, not at all fatherly! I also felt like the Terminator episode was heavily influenced by Baltar and Six, which sort of made up for the very little amount of Summer in it.
edit: changed the spelling of The Old Man's name so I don't look like a fool.
[ edited by SteppeMerc on 2009-02-14 04:57 ]
SteppeMerc | February 13, 19:53 CET
Are you actually telling us its not a difference of opinion? That you are just right and we are wrong? :)
loved the edward james olmos shout out. so true.
clearly some characters had second thoughts/ are kinda creeped out by wiping people's personalities (The handler, FBI agent, and the doctor). I'm pretty sure debating the ethics over the dollhouse will be done in every episode but---still i wish we had a little more information on how it actually goes down. Oh wait, thats why im gonna keep watching. haha.
Overall i thought it was a good pilot. I'm a little caught up on the technology aspect. Don't know why i can easily accept a futuristic space western but the thought of downloading people's personalities is still too much for me. Perhaps because the atmosphere is not spaced as much as firefly was. Either way, i find myself really stuck on how they receive personalities or code them or transfer them or whatever. If our experiences and memories can be digitized---how are we so different from machines? Terminator crossover? what?
the show has a lot going on right now in terms of subplots--- i hope they all wind in together nicely.
FunkyBeccaBecca | February 13, 19:56 CET
I think some people here are blinded by their love for Whedon
Well, that's certainly a possibility. But I also am appreciating this based on the what I view as categorically good. The theme of memory that continued throughout the language of the episode and the balance between the character relationships. The combination of eerie and enlightening, peace and disturbance. Not to say that your review was directed at me, but how is giving something a 7.5/10 being blind to its faults? If we were really blinded by love we'd be singing "oh em gees". I've been hearing good things from other people who've never watched Whedon shows before, so no I don't think it's blind Whedon love here.
Hehe, Topher is making me laugh during the rewatch. I certainly have some trouble with certain scenes like the boxing scene (really? how was that necessary?) and the motorcycle scene with Eliza sexily tossing her helmet away, but overall I found it very enjoyable.
Did anyone else wish that the credits featured more people besides Dushku?
Yeah come on tharpdevenport that's not really fair. People interpret "art" in their own way, I can look at one painting and think it's awesome and you can look at it and think it's awful but it doesn't mean you're right and I'm wrong, we just respond to and prefer different things. It doesn't mean I'm right and you're wrong.
I liked that the credit only featured Dushku Emmie :) It was a change from Joss' usual credits.
[ edited by vampmogs on 2009-02-14 05:01 ]
Thinking a little more, this was no more special or interesting than a random pointless episode from season 8 of "The X-Files". I'd love to see the original pilot Whedon show.
Technology doesn't bother me at all. I'm all for handwavium and saying "this is how it is", though I can understand how many do not like that. I guess it comes from my love of Star Wars, where the technology makes no sense at all, and almost all of it is impossible, but that doesn't matter. Hyperspace? Ok! Crazy mindwiping, mental implant thing? Okey dokey.
Though the comparision to Firefly is interesting, as Firefly is far more realistic (in its way) with the tech, or at least tried to be. For example, the no sound in space, no FTL, etc. Joss seems to be returning to the 'magic' explination, though to be fair it is only one episode in. I'm sure Topher will brag in numerous episodes about it, letting us evantually piece together some idea. Then again, it could just all be magic.
edit: To the above, that's your opinion, but not everyone thought so, both Whedon fans and non. Also, the characters and actors are far superior to that of X-Files.
This was really great. I can't wait for the next episode. It wasn't perfect, but what is? My biggest problem was with the excessive overt exposition in dialogue. Nevertheless, overall a very solid hour of television. I found Echo immediately sympathetic, and while a lot of the sympathy was for her downloaded personalities, her questions in the Dollhouse helped carry it over to the Echo-between-missions. I am a fan.
Amaranth | February 13, 20:02 CET
@The One True b!X
heh at the lone dissenting comment.
I enjoyed the show as a whole. Eliza's acting surprised me...in a good way, clear distinction between her characters...There was definitely the foundation for numerous sub-plots, as well as some foreshadowing ... ;). I'll take a bit to get hooked on the theme song...kinda 'eh' reaction. Best parts were having written and directed by again...and our beloved "grr, argh"..look forward to how things progress and develop.
SuperLaz | February 13, 20:04 CET
I think the pilot was flavoured with a healthy dose of awesomesauce. I can't wait to see where they go with this and develop Echo's memory and lack thereof. I'm also really intrigued to see more of Topher. I was kind of skeptical at first but Eliza seemed to fall into the negotiator role much more as the show went on. I wonder if that was a choice? (Also, sidebar: first time I've actually watched a Whedon show as it airs. I'm excited.)
Arcadia | February 13, 20:07 CET
Ah, the theme song. To date, I've only loved the Firefly theme song out of Whedon's shows. Angel was good in a dark way, but a bit overtly 'indie'. Buffy... I have to say not a big fan, I can't stand punk, and the majority of the music in the show itself was painful to me. Really made me wonder why the bronze was so big. But the Dollhouse theme song is probably my least favorite so far. I think in the future Joss should adopt the Lost style "flash the title while ominous groan plays", and be done with it. That or stick to writing his own theme songs, which he did so well with Firefly. :)
I thought the show was great. I admit it, I was a little afraid, especially cause I was never an Eliza fan. Plus, I stayed away from all spoilers cause I didn't want to hear anything bad. But I was all wrong. The show was definitely interesting. It sucks you in.
I can also see this appealing to other people. Meaning that non-Whedon fans will be able to relate to this better than to some of his other shows, because outwardly, this show is way more "normal" that his others. No vampires, for one thing, and no space cowboys. ;)
Huh, and I kinda enjoyed Studio 60, see, difference in opinion, it's a good thing!
I heard its not a difference of opinion ;) I really wanted to enjoy S60, but it was so... well, I think one thing was that it tried to tackle issues way out of the depth/grasp of the setting and characters. You can't necessarily tackle West Wing sized problems in a show set on an SNL-alike.
Wow, SteppeMerc, I actually really loved all the music in Buffy. So I guess you must be wrong!! lol
Right now, everything feels a little cold/distant to me. I mean, I know that's the point, but it's hard to really care about the characters if that's the case. I really like Harry Lennix's character... I think he is going to be the person we can really sympathize with, even more so than Echo. Like someone already said, though, what I've always loved about Joss' shows is their sense of community. I hope that get develops because right now there doesn't seem to be many "good guys." Still, all in all, I thought it was a good episode and look forward to seeing how the show progresses.
Topher wouldn't have these problems with differences of opinion. Wipe!
...I guess it's good we're not Topher.
Had to watch BSG, so I'm getting to this thread late. But, after a slow start, I thought the episode showed us a lot of promise for the future. The second half showed the Joss-man in action. Lots to think about.
palehorse | February 13, 20:13 CET
I dunno, izzi, I feel there are a lot of good guys in their own ways. I feel like Langton is definitely one and more than just "in his own way", actually. I also feel like Adelle is going to surprise people and that Topher wants to believe that he's a good guy, though he is a bit squirelly... I do enjoy him quite a bit :)
That's one thing I'm not worried about. I think the philosophy of 'everyone thinks they're the good guy' will play out nicely in creating very well-rounded characters.
I personally don't understand now any true television critic would have dogged the show. I mean only in the since that this was one of if not the best pilot in years even if it didn't seem altogether a Joss show. I know my opinion but still.....
It did have a since of fox in the show but the show is on fox so no biggy there. To me it was a little like Alias 2 and I can see how Whedon fans could be a little upset. I think it had just enough of the Joss genius to satisfy most of us knowing that he always improves as the characters and arcs grow. I did like the best of Alias though but this show has the potential to be even better.
I think Eliza has the chops if we get best that she's a quieter actor in non faith like roles.
I like Echo. I love her Handler. Topher and Dr Amy interest me. I can't wait until next Friday!!
beckyboo | February 13, 20:16 CET
I got a very strong La Femme Nikita vibe from the Dollhouse premiere (the TV series with Peta Wilson, not the film, which I've never seen) and that's definitely not a bad thing IMO. Although it may've been hokier at times than I imagine Dollhouse will end up being, the cast was very tight, it occasionally explored some similar themes, the scene with Echo's former real life persona in the teaser reminded me hugely of the whole taking-criminals-and-forcing them/guilting them into working for a shady organization, and I just loved Nikita. Although on that show, the memory wiping/re-programming didn't start until Season 4, really (I still haven't seen the fifth and final season of that series that was tacked on due to fan demand, a mini-season really, but apparently I didn't miss much and Season 4 felt like it concluded things well enough, if crazily). This similarity is due to the icily mostly-calm conniving overlord of a boss (Adele DeWitt feels a bit like Madeline, except Madeline wasn't British) and the set is a little bit Nikita, a little bit Wolfram & Hart from Angel, but overall feels like it's own thing once they go down those steps to the dolls' level.
Someone mentioned The Inside and I can sorta see that now, but the only real connection I feel there was in the personality given to Echo/Caroline (okay I'll just call her Echo in the future for simplicity, especially since Caroline might be pretty much gone for good). The child abuse thing reminded me of the lead character from The Inside. The Inside seemed to happen almost entirely at night though, whereas this show happened mostly in the day time this episode, and the palette of the show is a lot warmer than The Inside's, so it didn't feel like The Inside looks-wise.
A few very familiar-looking faces that I couldn't place, yay for IMDB.
My dad phoned after the ep aired and said "Joxer from Xena!" about Tahmoh Penikett, waiting for a response, and I was like "Umm, I watched like three episodes of Xena, I know the character you're talking about, I don't know if that's him"...then thought to myself that he would have had to seriously bulk up and age/fill out in the face if it was him. According to the IMDB, it's not ? But he is a major player on Battlestar Galactica. Yikes. If everyone could refrain from spoiling that series in the tons of Dollhouse discussion yet to come, that would be hugely appreciated by myself and the doubtless many others who're planning on renting and marathoning or blind-buying that beast and devouring it when the pretty complete set inevitably comes out later this year or in early 2010.
Olivia Williams (Adelle DeWitt) looked so familiar, and I do remember her from Below now that I see that credit, but even more excitingly recognizable, she's Moira MacTaggart from the X-Men 3 film ! I love that character, hopefully she'll feature in a better sequel in the future.
Harry Lennix looked the most familiar, I was wracking my brain, but nope, it wasn't coming. Of course ! It's the commander dude from the Matrix sequels...I barely remember him from his role early on in the least-good-of-the-series Season 6 of 24.
Reed Diamond (the pushy blonde agent/manservant of Adelle's who was getting in Langdon's face over the breach of protocol and flew Echo in the helicopter to rescue the little girl) was Terry on The Shield, a small but very significant role in that series.
I love that the organization (does it have a name, besides what the FBI is calling it?) kept the $8 million.
Promising pilot, not nearly the "cool but lacklustre" I was expecting after so many lukewarm/let down reviews (but I did very much trust in the opinions of those who've seen up to episode 4 or 5. The folks who watched ahead for True Blood weren't wrong after its iffy pilot and there've been a couple other shows over the years where reviewers getting screeners for several episodes in advance has assured and resulted in happy viewing). Very solid opening. I imagine some viewers were confused and may be having neck pains due to the crazy twisting plot-&-exposition whiplash though.
Kris | February 13, 20:16 CET
Dollhouse? More like Dullhouse! Right?
Actually, I haven't seen it. [/bitterAustralian]
Very good, bordering on great. All that "Just wait, it gets better, stick with it" stuff we've been hearing for the past few weeks in nonsense. It's already damn good.
patxshand | February 13, 20:19 CET
Since someone else brought up Studio 60... My opinion (sorry, I mean absolute fact!) is that the show was hilarious with the behind the scenes, the skits were boring. The show should never have wasted so much time on showing the skits of the show-within-a-show. How does this parallel Dollhouse? I think the Dollhouse itself (and probably long-term arcs with those characters) will be more interesting than the "engagements". Which will make an interesting dichotomy in the first few episodes, since Fox was pushing for the serial aspect.
I was beyond excited waiting for this show to start. I'll admit to love for all things Whedon, but I wouldn't say I'm blinded by it. If anything, I think I would be harder on a new Joss show because I expect that much more from it.
I think it was slow in the beginning and then it picked up. By the end I was wondering more about the characters and trying to figure things out, which means I liked it and I'll continue to watch.
And I cannot describe the feelings of Yay that I felt when I saw the Grrr! Argh! So happy to see that again.
chikymunkey | February 13, 20:25 CET
I liked it, didn't love it, but I definitely see potential for greatness. The first part with the motorcycles and the dancing didn't grab me at all, and neither did the boxing despite shirtless Tahmoh (but the FBI part was all right). I agree with the people who think Eliza's acting was fine, especially in the second half. I found Topher somewhat annoying in the part where he was explaining why she was nearsighted, though I liked him in other parts, so we'll see. He seems like a character I could really get attached to.
I'll need to watch it again before I really know how I feel - hurry up Hulu! Also, my TV spazzed out for about a minute and I missed some stuff that seemed like it might have been important.
Grr Argh!
I re-watched the opening scene (recording?) right after the episode ended to see if I could figure out what wasn't being said outright between Adelle and Caroline-soon-to-be-Echo. I can't figure it out, but she must have done something fairly awful or have screwed up big-time for Adelle to be able to shame her or guilt her or whatever she was doing, into signing that piece of paper.
Maybe Echo was an agent/handler herself at one time and the punishment for messing up hugely, maybe not in ever agent's case but just sometimes, is becoming a doll.
Maybe she was into drugs or accidentally killed someone. She looked either recovering from something in that first scene, or just really tired, stressed, and like she'd maybe been crying earlier. Kudos to the make-up folks though there.
Ah, the rampant speculation. How I did miss it (well, okay, not that much, I hang out on Lost boards occasionally. But for a Joss show/movie).
Was so happy to see the Grrr Argh at the end. Had forgotten all about it. Made me shout out Yay!!!
I am so happy this show is on. It did start out slow for me. But by the end it had all locked into place for me. I thought of it as the actor's finding their footing, a toe hold in the side of a very crazy cliff. I can't wait for the infamous episode six.
madmolly | February 13, 20:36 CET
I really really enjoyed this very first episode. The story was engaging and Eliza was good. This will really show off her acting range. I am praying that billions of people decided to give this a chance. I love it.
Did anyone else kinda squee at the ME, Grr-Arg at the end? I did. Also how cool is it to have a Battlestar Galactica actor in this?
cheryl | February 13, 20:36 CET
Yea, finally I can read Whedonesque again without fear of spoilers! I really liked the episode and can't wait for next week. Of course I'm going to have to pay someone to climb on my snow covered roof and install an antenna before next week because I missed whatever happened right at the end. Crappy reception.
deadbessie | February 13, 20:39 CET
I "liked" it, not blown away. But I know Joss will work his mojo and have me hooked like all his projects.
Out of Objects | February 13, 20:40 CET
Heh, not that I'm condoning it, but I had to go check and see how long it took for someone to get a .torrent up for those outside the US. In place as of about an hour prior to this post. Should've known.
Okay, so just some general reactions:
-I really hope Echo starts getting her memories back soon, 'cause it's a little painful to watch a grown woman acting like a two year old. That's enough of that, thank you.
-I like Boyd, he's pretty cool.
-Topher's gonna be the reverse Knox, I think. We're not gonna know what we think of him for while (though, he'll be moderately clever), and then he's gonna get a conscience. And then he's gonna die. Cause it's Joss.
-Sierra's totally new River! Awesome!
-Whoa, Olivia Williams is in this show. That's wonderful. Congrats on that one, big purple.
-I think it's my least favorite theme song of the four shows Joss has done. And I do think it's my least favorite pilot of the four, as well. I'd give it about a 7.5. Ultimately, I think the show will be a big, beautiful work of art but this one didn't give me a whole lot of anything. Nothing that pushed me over the edge.
That's all, I guess
P.S. Oh wait! I have to issue some concerns on Joss. Uh... My nickname in some circles (quite a few, actually) is Topher. And uh... My last name is Boyd. So, honored but... creepy...
leafblown | February 13, 20:43 CET
Geeze what to say since I love Joss' work and this didn't feel like Joss' work to me. The timing was off, Eliza didn't pull off the changes of personalities well. I didn't go in expecting Buffy or Angel or Firefly. I expected Joss' wit, Joss' dialog, Joss' handling of action, dramatic timing and his edge. I found it to be closer to any CBS procedural drama. Kind of cookie cutter.
I know the next episode will be better, and the one after that even better. Joss' shows usually grab me for the very start so this is a disappointment.
biffsbabe | February 13, 20:45 CET
To finally put my input into something that was discussed earlier, I believe the flaws (the nearsightedness and the asthma) were not only 'necessary' to appease Topher, but also a part of the memories that were put together. A memory of a person's childhood is going to include the memory of being nearsighted, which suggests that Topher cannot alter memories, just put them together in the best fashion. While Echo may not be nearsighted, if Ms. Penn has memories in which she is nearsighted, then Topher must alter Echo's brain receptions so that she is nearsighted.
In essence, if Ms. Penn woke up from her 'treatment' without Topher's alteration, she would immediately realize that she could see without glasses. Seeing is just a big part of a human's life.
I really liked it. It's not Buffy, or Angel or Firefly, and is not as funny or cute or dialogue-packed as those shows, but I think that it is very good.
I'm excited to learn about a lot of things, but something that hasn't been brought up yet: what exactly do the Actives think that they are being treated for?
Oh and. YAY GRR ARGH!
VeryVeryCrowded | February 13, 20:46 CET
Good point, VVC. It would create cognitive dissonance.
I can see where it felt like a procedural (CSI) during some scenes biffsbabe, but I thought the very un-procedural scenes subverted that nicely. Not to say the whole "You can't fight a ghost" cleverness doesn't show up in those kinds of shows sometimes, they love their dramatic irony or whatever you'd call that, but this pilot still had more heart than procedurals usually do.
I think because almost all the characters are suit-wearing professionals and, even more than that, because there is no close-knit family unit (Firefly) or chummy band of friends/colleagues (Buffy & Angel) right off the bat, this does feel very un-Joss-like in some respects. We're just being made to wait for that stage this time, assuming that's a set-up that'll come about (maybe we'll only see a couple characters at most ally/share info/bond meaingfully, but for the most part everyone will be out for their own interests, we'll see. That would be different for a Joss show).
Maybe this comment has been made (I swear I read all 283 of everyone's, but maybe I missed it), but did anyone else catch that obvious/silly, but still satisfying dig at reality-TV ? I liked (I still watch Survivor, but that's my only one. Thursdays are fun/funny night, except for when The Office decides to be poignant or heart-wrenching, though I like that too).
Maybe the actives aren't told/programmed with any faked knowledge of what they're being treated for (when the mission's ended or aborted), they just know/believe that they must attend to the treatment when their handler says it's time.
I'm gonna love to see Adelle and/or Topher and/or any of the other agents, or all of them collectively, shit a brick the first time Echo disobeys in a really assertive fashion or freaks out and throws them over the railing or something. Those kinds of scenes are always fun and sometimes hair-raising in movies or TV shows where the slave/subject rises up.
[ edited by Kris on 2009-02-14 06:00 ]
I'm happy. I really liked it. All of it.
taranova | February 13, 20:55 CET
I think the theme music would work better if they kept the lyrics in.
I like getting the innocent-Echo stuff, since really, it's *that* character's journey that is central to the show.
I know Harry Lennix has warned against assuming Boyd is the "moral compass" of the show, but so far, definitely is. I love his insistence that they have "a mission". When Dewitt countered that's an engagement, I think she totally missed or ignored the subtext of the word he chose. He, at least, wasn't talking about the job anymore.
There's an interesting parallel between the Dollhouse and Serenity (the business and the ship, respectively) as businesses. The Dollhouse is all about the engagement. Serenity is all about "the job". Yet both are occasionally dragged into someone else's dilemma in the process. Is Dewitt the Malcolm Reynolds of "Dollhouse", grudgingly dragged along like a twig in the river of moral imperative? I mean, I don't think anybody else could have authorized activating Sierra to "clean the operation", if you like.
That would probably make Boyd some mix of Zoe, Inara, and Book in terms of his role in challenging her instincts.
I get why Topher is there. I get why Boyd is there. I think I get why Dewitt is there. The Actives are desperate volunteers or victims (I'm guessing). Right now, I wonder... why is Saunders there? She seems really squicked by every part of her job so far.
If I may be a rebel, I liked the theme song. I thought it fit the visuals quite well, even if the visuals looked a bit like the late lamented "The Inside" by way of "Bones".
I thought the ep itself hung together surprisingly well given the obvious network fingerprints. It's not perfect, but pilots rarely are, especially in the Jossverse. As someone on TWoP said, "you know it's good because you come out of it with more questions than you had going in".
holeintheworld | February 13, 20:57 CET
Kris,Saw the dig. Giggled. And thought of Alec Baldwin eating brains. (Ick.)
[ edited by NYPinTA on 2009-02-14 05:58 ]
Grrr Arggh! I was so happy about that, and I got a quizzical look from my husband. So exciting!!
I think there was most reaction from both of us about Amy Acker. It just seemed ....uncomfortable...and I liked that. There might be a lot of attractive people floating around, but there's also a lot of surreality and creepiness. Amy Acker did a great job conveying that in few words. Creeeepy.
I liked the Edward James Olmos reference, that was great stuff. Tahmoh seemed very unlike Helo, which was great, but I'm not used to seeing him in colors other than grey, dirt grown or moss green!
I really liked that the hostage negotiator was flawed, and I liked the reinforcement that Topher had to be an artist � that the personalities he created were actually personalities, and not simply missions imprinted on someone, as if they were robots. An example would be Cameron or the other terminators on "Terminator." Echo isn't a robot, she has full personalities and those can be difficult and subject to fault. I liked that she had asthma, though that's something that perhaps should have been removed because it could be seen as an obstacle to facilitating the engagement.
And also...all respect to Henry Lennix, but did anyone else think Chiwetel Ejoifor would've been fantastic as Boyd? I really liked Henry Lennix, I just thought it would also be great if we saw Chiwetel working with Joss again.
Also, the TV spots with Summer and Eliza were really fantastic � I think it shows that FOX really knows what they have with these two women, and know how to play it up.
[ edited by The Ninja Report on 2009-02-14 06:01 ]
the ninja report | February 13, 20:58 CET
Hoo and I were quite pleased with the episode as a whole. He hated the theme song...we both had issues with the clunky, though required exposition. The white dress was scandalous! Meow.
That being said, thank god the gave her a prescription inhaler. That could make or break a great storyline. ;)
[ edited by Charmuse on 2009-02-14 06:04 ]
Charmuse | February 13, 20:58 CET
I get the feeling the fractured interpersonal relationships are representative of Echo's identity right now. That relationships will build as her identity builds. Like how Boyd's protectiveness of Echo will create a jumping off point when Echo is finally able to reciprocate this attachment to him.
Genericy.
Brett | February 13, 20:59 CET
Generic ?
I think it seeded enough hints that there's a lot more going on under the surface that it could maybe be looked at more as a generic bud that could open up into a more complexly built flower.
Plus it's a modern-set sci-fi show about memory-wiped-and-replaced people living in bizarre communal living quarters, so at the very least the set-up isn't generic, not in the least. Unless I haven't been paying attention to genre TV.
Brett's totally right. There are way too many shows dissecting the nature of personality/conciousness by means of secret organizations filled with mindwiped people being imprinted with new personalities. Whedon is a hack! This is just like every other damned show on TV! Seriously, though, Brett what did you like/not like and what did you think was generic about it?
*snarfle*
STUFF I LIKED:
1. The complete red herring of "the blurry vision" whose only real purpose was to make us miss the significance of the asthma and the inhaler. Its apparent slight "side affect" then was the trigger for all the ensuing badness. Plus the off the cuff "We also gave her asthma" or something to that affect, made me laugh. Nice delivery.
2. How the point of contact bad guy wasn't even the main bad guy. It all seemed pretty stereotypical and then he was offed and of course the whole time we've been conditioned to think (by all those previously watched shows) that the "real bad guy is the "inside man" - but he wasn't. In fact he turned out to be relatively decent by evil kidnapper standards, despite the way scary mask. And then just as you feel a displaced sense of warmth for the guy because he's going to be so kind as to let her walk out the door with the girl and keep the 8 million...he gets shot.
3. With the exception of the massively overloaded and slightly confusing exposition, there was some nice back and forth dialog. Good rhythm between the characters. Either them actors or them editors got one really great sense of timing. Or both.
4. Those brief moments of philosophical inquiry.
5. The intriguing, although way confusing, end with the guy and the bodies and the video.
STUFF I DIDN'T LIKE:
1. The opening "job" for Echo. I know it was a job and she was supposed to be the perfect date and it was all some guy's cliched fantasy but it was cheesy and boring. TOO cliched. In fact it felt completely unconnected to the rest of the show.
2. The Echo persona. I'm gonna assume that as Eliza got more comfortable it becomes more believable, but every time she went "Echo" I saw acting. That said, I've been trying to figure out just how would a "blank non-person" act? I'm glad it's not my job. Go Eliza.
3. The aforementioned exposition. Did it all really need to be there? Couldn't it have been simpler? Less detailed?
4. I don't really care about Echo as of yet. How do you care about someone who isn't a someone? She has no point of view if she's just erased all the time. The workers (doctor, handler, programmer) are far more interesting characters out of the gate.
5. Somehow I wish I had been a bit surprised when
Sierra rammed through the door guns a blazing. But it just seemed expected.
6. The theme song. There was a theme song?
THINGS I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT:
1. This place is illegal. So what is a somewhat ethical seeming ex-cop doing there?
2. How many times can you erase an active anyway? My flash drive will only take so much of it.
3. These people have no difficulty just murdering anyone to cover their tracks. How did this all come to be? How do they all really justify it to themselves.
4. You just know some employee somewhere in the dollhouse is going to be taking advantage of that whole lovely ease of erasing and there's going to be abuse of the system.
5. How blank are those personalities anyway?
6. That place is going to start seeming awful claustrophobic. How does a person remind them self of who they are when their entire environment is a control? Outward expression of self in the form of clothing and personal space is elemental. Will this be reflected as Echo experiences bleed through?
I'm sure I can come up with more, but those are my thoughts for now.
BreathesStory | February 13, 21:16 CET
Grr Argh!! I absolutely loved this episode! It was so much fun throwing Joss show watching party for the first time in years! I am a huge fan of Topher and the handler at this point. The FBI aspect doesn't really grab me as much. The scene at the rich dad's house where she had a flashback to Sierra was probably one of the coolest. I think the ambiance of this show is perfect.
One thing I find just really interesting is just how different this feels compared to the other three shows. I mean, you see that wonderful name at the bottom but the feel was really unique. I am definitely a fan! WOOOHOOO!!!
Hostile 17 | February 13, 21:19 CET
Great beginning (well, after the first scene with Olivia and Eliza) and great ending. The middle was OK. Very excited to see where it goes.
Theme song is great. I disagree with the haters.
daevid | February 13, 21:20 CET
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this series. It's certainly interesting, but it lacks the hook that Buffy and Angel had, which was also why I couldn't really get into Firefly.
I actually found Eliza Dushku to be a little grating. For me, she seems to work better in small doses, so I'm not sure what a weekly Eliza series will feel like.
I'll continue to watch, of course. I'm excited to see the original pilot next week.
Riker | February 13, 21:22 CET
You're going to be disappointed next week, then, Riker as next week is not the original pilot.
Not that I'm really surprised considering the type of people that hang out there, but the people on IMDB are really trashing the show:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135300/board
SteveJ2008 | February 13, 21:25 CET
I just watched it twice. I liked well enough it the first time, and a lot more the second time.
I loved the fact that actives can't be programmed with strengths alone. Strengths that exist as struggles against weaknesses are much more interesting. It's like customizable kryptonite for any situation. The writers must love it. It's also Joss with a 17-foot capital J: Think of Buffy's power and how it comes from darkness, or Angel's soul and how it exists only in the absence of happiness.
Because the actives' programming comes from scans of real people, it always has a built-in chance of failure. In other shows, Joss amplifies one person's highs and lows when that person has superpowers. On this show it appears that he'll splice different highs and lows into the same person. Since the source is a real person, it's never going to be sterile or predictable like programming a robot. Topher isn't a composer working with individual musical notes. Instead, he makes a mix CD of different people's souls, loads it into an active, and presses "shuffle". Cacophony ensues.
I didn't like the motorcycle or dancing scenes because there wasn't proper setup. They makes sense in the context of the "perfect date" later, but I didn't feel it along with the characters during the moment. I was thinking, "who are these people, and why should I care?" I was very concerned during the first 10 minutes, but then it got better quickly.
The dialog is definitely more "normal" than in his other stories. I miss the silly banter of Buffy, the retro-Chinese language of Firefly, or the future speak of Fray. Perhaps it's good that this show doesn't have those linguistic quirks if we want a to attract bigger audience?
It took 18 minutes to get to the first laugh. Hopefully that won't be the norm.
I disliked the boxing scene's literalness at first, but then really enjoyed the subversion at the end.
I had to watch the end twice to get it. "Alpha" appears to be the first active gone rogue. It looks like he's in Echo's house, that he's killed her parents, and that he's feeding information to Ballard?
Intelligent Calcium | February 13, 21:27 CET
The complete red herring of "the blurry vision" whose only real purpose was to make us miss the significance of the asthma and the inhaler.
Well, it was also there to set up Boyd running into the imprint room hoping she wasn't wiped yet, only to be disappointed because Echo has her "blank slate" look on her face... which then reverses again to turn out to just be her nearsighted look.
Also, these Summer/Eliza bits make me want to vomit in my mouth.
I dunno, there's actually a shocking amount of praise to be found there for an imdb board.
Eh. Halfway through. Very bored now..... Fastlane + CSI Miami. If I wanted to watch that gorram crap, I would have, but I didn't.
This isn't Joss. This is pure FUX crap.
petranef | February 13, 21:32 CET
I can't stop being bummed that Eliza and Joss didn't do a Faith series to actually enjoy watching this...
FaithFan | February 13, 21:34 CET
I don't even remotely see what the big deal about the Summer/Eliza scenes was. Were they wearing shock collars or something that I couldn't see?
Question about the ending -- How does an Active actually go "rogue"? It's not like they are omnicapable or dangerous in a way more spectacular than anyone else, unless one got away while it was programmed to be Jack Bauer or Hannibal Lector.
Because if it got away knowing things that it shouldn't about itself and angry about them along with the (presumably) psychotic effects of a splintered set of overlapping failed/failing imprints... chances are some of them are dangerous or as you say they are just as dangerous as any human being... which is not something to underestimate, btw. I know you meant it dismissively/pejoratively, but even without a super dangerous imprint, pissed off folks of even average intelligence can be nasty :)
b!x, ah yes, I forgot. Darn. Just going to have to watch it again. And again. : D
I thought the first 10 minutes or so were pretty weak, but it got a lot better as it went on. That bothers me though, because I've watched the first episodes of other shows and given up 10 minutes in.
In the first scene, all I could think was "Faith! Keep her away from The Glove of Minigon!" Then there was the motorcycle thing, which I guess was for other potential viewers; not me. Then there was the dancing scene, which was for the leg men in the audience... Then I became a leg man...
I didn't buy Echo's negotiator character at first. I was thinking "Come on, that's just Faith in glasses and a pencil skirt. You know better than that, Joss!" But it ended up working for me, as I did become invested in the success of that character. By contrast, when Amy Acker showed up, I wasn't thinking "Fred" even though she was wearing a lab coat.
I worry that Joss's best stuff is inaccessible to general audiences (e.g. the double meaning in lines like "Who does she think she is?") So, most of my concerns about the episode are based on my paranoia about it attracting and keeping a big enough audience. The critics that complained that it was confusing or hard to follow are huge idiots. It was not hard to follow, even by regular TV drama standards. The last scene was mysterious, but it was obviously supposed to be. But it's clear what's going on once you realize Echo is the fifth doll, and Sierra is the 19th. I don't think most people will recognize that alphabet though, without the more well known letters like Bravo or Charlie or Tango or whatever).
phong | February 13, 21:40 CET
I found it pretty uneven in quality so it was a bit underwhelming for me. There's tons of potential though, storylines and characters have me excited. Last 10 minutes were especially solid.
LOVED Amy,The EJO namedrp, and of course "grr argh."
Really unsure about Eliza however. She was fine in some scenes, very meh in others. Also the theme/credits are pretty dissapointing. =/
Rhodey | February 13, 21:41 CET
King, This might seem an overly simplistic answer, but I think going rogue means that a Doll has gone AWOL and is actively working to undermine the Dollhouse. I think the danger lies in their knowledge of the Dollhouse (it's supposed to not exist) and their interest in bringing it down. So not superpowers, but knowledge and exposure.
Anybody else think Ghostbusters when Topher was blowing on the hard drive after the memory wipe? Think that was intentional?
Emmie, I think his big danger is that he's gone loony-serial-killer. Leaking clues about the Dollhouse is just party of his crazy-serial-killer games. The "our first attempt at playing God goes bad and makes a crazy killer but we push on regardless and have somewhat more success eventually" thing has been done before (e.g. the episode Eve from The X-Files), but I don't mind; it's fertile ground.
I really like watching this show. I'm excited for next week.
streetartist | February 13, 21:54 CET
Isn't it possible that if Echo is going to start remembering things about her past life, the "rogue" doll could start remembering things about the personalities imprinted on him/her over time? Which includes dangerous things like martial arts training ect? There's many ways in which they could twist it to make it so the technology has gone wrong.
But I agree that the biggest threat is the very knowledge that the Dollhouse exists.
Enjoyed the show muchly, though it was not without fault. It had a few moments that screamed "this is a pilot" but very few pilots don't have those. Pilots are just really hard to make good and grabbing. Especially with network television. The thing I found myself noting the most while watching was how Fox it was while at the same time keeping itself very Jossian.
Things I loved:
Harry Lenix- come on, there's no arguing that guy.
the wtf ending that adds a level of scope to the series.
Victor's chin- it's just a really great chin and i am drawn to it every time he's on screen.
Echo being Echo- I can see the complaints but I loved it, then again I loved Thandie Newton's grown woman baby in Beloved, so what do I know.
The Eddie Olmos shout out.
Sierra.
Dr. Claire.
I was intrigued by Olivia Williams but am not sold on her yet.
I wasn't one hundred percent on board with the choice of opening engagement, but that wasn't for us. That was for the people across america turning in unsure who need something shiny to keep their attention. It isn't perfect but it's the nature of the network beast and thats the game that Jos wants to play.
But of course I'm wrong and it was just mediocre, so I should really watch it again so I can see this mediocre I seem to me missing out on.
[ edited by theMidnighter on 2009-02-14 07:03 ]
theMidnighter | February 13, 22:01 CET
After the horrible terminator episode tonight (IMO) I was so bored that I wasn't even paying attention to the first part of Dollhouse. I just re-watched it after getting a caffeine fix and enjoyed it much more the second time. There was a lot I missed the first time through. I enjoyed it overall though and can't wait to see more of the rogue active Alpha.
Why did they choose that part of the song for the title though?
They chopped out all the words and played the la la la part of the song.
The background soundtrack is really lacking as previously stated as well. I hope they work on that. A bad soundtrack can ruin a tv show or a movie. I expected more from the new age master of musicals. Star Wars wouldn't have been a great film without John Williams.
Oh yeah, I loved that dress in the dance club. It was not as great as the one she wore on Conan last night, but it was even shorter and leggier. I am glad Joss likes to sex it up a bit. I just hope it doesn't turn off female viewers too much.
[ edited by Jaynes Hat on 2009-02-14 07:14 ]
Jayne's Hat | February 13, 22:03 CET
Anyone who gave that a 'B' is clueless. Solid A-
PaulfromSunnydale | February 13, 22:04 CET
Okay, I was in a rush because I had to leave right after the show was over, but now that I've got more time, some very positive thoughts:
Topher wins the UnpluggedCrazy Best Frakking Character in This Whole Show Award already. Everything that came out of Fran Kranz's mouth was gold. Such a sarcastic, arrogant, little prick...ah, I love it. Like I said to my friend, he's like the Randal Graves of Dollhouse (cookie to those who get the reference). A lot of people seem huge on Boyd, and while I do like him, he's perhaps my least favorite character so far.
Also, there was very nice symbolism here. Echo rescues the girl from a cocoon-like chamber, only to immediately climb into a cocoon-like chamber herself. There were some other thoughts I had too, but I am going to have to rewatch this puppy. Might even do a lil' review.
Woo! Loved it! It was great.
savagenapkin | February 13, 22:06 CET
The show was pretty much average. Honestly, if this wasn't a Joss show, I think it would get cut very soon. It has a ton of potential, but I don't think we saw much of it in the pilot. There was never really a moment where I was on the edge of my seat or highly anticipating the next moment. If I didn't already know what the premise of the show was, I think it would have been a bit confusing.
I'll watch the next few episodes to see how the show goes, but I'm not really impressed so far. There's no real attachment to any of the characters and we NEED that.
Best thing this episode: shirtless Tamoh Penikett.
pngaou | February 13, 22:06 CET
Rewatching makes it better, too.
WZS™.
Yes, everyone should watch it twice.
Lots of little clues in there that I missed. But maybe I was still asleep from the craptastic non-summer terminator tonight as I previously stated.
There was at least one frame in that last sequence where I could have sworn that the guy is played by Alan Tudyk. But then there were also some that suggested otherwise.
Hey all. In desperation I've found Dollhouse online and I just started watching ... but the beginning seemed wrong so I stopped. Is it supposed to begin with grainy black and white footage of Adele and Echo talking before switching to colour close ups of them? If one of you lovely people could shoot me a really quick email telling me whether or not that is where it's supposed to start (eddieie@hotmail.com) I would be enormously grateful (I can't read any comments in this thread for fear of spoilers). Thanks!
Frakkin' wonderful. That's my view. Best first (aired) episode of any Joss series yet. I'm hooked.
I'm with snot! The hubby and I just watched it and both that it was fantastic. I'm hooked, line and sinker. So deliciously and provokingly disturbing and beautiful.
Must rewatch. STAT.
phlebotinin | February 13, 22:17 CET
Well, at the risk of being overly simplistic: I liked it. And seeing the "Grr-Arrg" at the end made my heart warm and happy.
Romo Lampkin | February 13, 22:18 CET
To balance out the negative out there, there are lots of positive comments over at the EW PopWatch blog.
Personally I liked it a lot. Not quite to the love stage yet but was instantly reminded of what I've been missing in television lately. There's always so much more to a Whedon show than what lies on the surface and Dollhouse is no exception.
I was worried about Eliza in this role, especially after reading critic after critic pan her versatility. But I saw four different characters tonight. Maybe I'll change my mind as we see more but for now I'm impressed.
As for the people who keep asking why you would go to the Dollhouse for your needs, I can only ask why wouldn't you? Clearly the Dollhouse has a reputation for delivering exactly what you need at any given time and they can do it almost instantly. If you can't go to the police and have to hire a kidnapping negotiator, why try to find a good one when you can go to people who can basically create the one most suited for your particular situation? Obviously there are some moral/ethical questions here about the type of people who would use a service like this but, those aside, I don't really see the argument for why you wouldn't use them. Especially since the Dollhouse clearly has been around for awhile and they seem to be running a multitude of engagements. If they've got a reputation for delivering the goods, then of course people will use their services.
And, yes, nothing thrilled me more than the Grr Argh at the end. Who knew one could love a vanity card so much?
raenstorm | February 13, 22:22 CET
My first gut reaction is that I liked it. I had a fun time watching it, and so did the people I watched it with. I haven't really examined it intellectually yet, mostly just fire bad tree pretty...
But I did enjoy how it is clearly going to be about identity. I believe Joss said this at one point, and it is the perfect plot for it. I love how right off the bat they say things hinting at the larger theme. What makes us who we are? The setup is perfect for it, because essentially we have a blank slate as the main character. Echo is someone who is no one. She has none of the things that make us real people. As her memories surface, we will get to see, step by step, what builds a person. This is also analyzed while she is active, with a strong focus on personality. This episode said that we are largely made up of our flaws, and that our flaws must be there for our positive qualities to be. This kind of stuff really intrigues me, and I really look forward to more.
I will probably think about this topic all week. YAY! Joss is back on TV!
Giles_314 | February 13, 22:24 CET
I am THRILLED! I thought the episode was exciting and even moving.... I agree w/Kris that there was definitely a La Femme Nikita note at the beginning/introduction to 'Caroline'.... A close friend (who never liked Faith) didn't think that Eliza was convincing, but I thought that the story sold it by having the client question her abilities/appearance and the way she broke down when she recognized one of the kidnappers.... I am very happy, but then I wasn't put off by the Eliza/Summer introductions either, they looked so cute promoting their shows, it is all good in my opinion.
And can I say how happy the 'grrr argh' makes me?!?! LOL
embers | February 13, 22:26 CET
I'm BSG'ing, but just popped in during commercial to say we loved it! Loved it! I can see what FOX kinda pushed in, and I can see lots of places for it to grow, but it's nonetheless ONE DAMN FINE SHOW! Really something, and I'm saying this sans kool-aid.
More TK...
[ edited by QuoterGal on 2009-02-14 07:28 ]
Okay, keeping in mind that Joss had to go back and recreate the opening episode thanks to Fox executives going, "I don't get it, not enough action, what's this about?", I thought it was fairly compelling. There's a nice Wolfram & Hart air about the digs, sinister, nothing supernatural. But I didn't love it. I think as we see more of the actives in action, and more twists and turns are introduced (I know of these, but don't know what they are as I avoided spoilers) the show will become more interesting and "Oh my God, what will happen next-like". Eliza is fine, but I don't think the changes in persona were very defined. In fact, she's more haunting after she's been wiped and not all there.
The ending was chilling - oh boy, someone's got a sick obsession. What a hook.
Other than that, I did have some fun with which characters in the show correlate somewhat recognizably to characters on Buffy or Angel. Good times: Tahmoh Penicott's agent = Mal; Topher Brink = Xander; Harry Lennix = Giles; Reed Diamond = an older Lindsey.
That's all I got as I'm completely exhausted.
Grrrrrr Arrrrrg
Nite.
Tonya J | February 13, 22:31 CET
At the risk of redundancy, given that there's 300+ comments, here's what I thought.
Loved it. I'm not a huge fan of procedurals, so I would've preferred it if less time was spent on the hostage situation and more on the stuff that really intrigued me. I already knew the set-up of the show from reading about it, and I'd seen the Big Spa before, but I wasn't prepared for how effectively the show creeped me out. The cut from "what if actions didn't have consequences?" to the motorcycle chase was perfect and I was hooked from there. Once you get involved in the world, everything that happens is tinged with this eerie mournfulness.
So it bummed me out a bit that the majority of the episode did its best to bury such a cool and unique vibe. The hostage negotiator idea wasn't bad by any means, and it's really interesting when you start to care about the scarred psyche of what's essentially a fabricated personality, especially when there's ANOTHER real person (Echo) being victimized by that personality. But what I got from the hostage stuff was more of a "huh, that's interesting" intellectual-type appreciation than the visceral almost-nausea of the stuff that dealt with who Echo is. I realize that they can't deal with who Echo is all the time; if they did, the show would have to be a miniseries or a movie. But I hope that in future episodes the two parts of the show match tonally a bit better. And I'm not worried because, even with these criticisms, I thought it was great and it seems headed in the right direction.
Phlogiston | February 13, 22:34 CET
Huh, I don't see those character correlations at all.
My impressions...
The less good stuff:
- Bit stingy on funny moments.
- Gratuitous, much? from the credits through the dance scene. And yes, forgettable music. But possibly it was wiped from my brain.
- Not very smooth, storyline-wise, with some moments not really meshing logically with others or seeming randomly pieced together. That may smooth out on a second-watching.
- Some of the in-the-Dollhouse scenes rang fairly hollow. Why the big spa set-up at all? Do their blank personas live to get massaged?
- Some iffy acting moments.
The good stuff:
- Loved that I got invested in the Ms. Penn persona and was rooting for her alternative happy ending through Echo's "adventure."
- Love the deeper setup of personas with fully human flaws and history; still, this seemed a bit inconsistent with the fluffy perfect date premise set up right off.
- Definitely some promising characters, some very interesting ethics at play, and some rogue action to look forward to. Much yay.
- Some awesome acting moments.
- Grr argh! My first live Whedon TV premiere.
Jav | February 13, 22:40 CET
I went in accepting that the pilot might be weak, but having no doubt that it would have a ton of potential and only get better as time passes. But I actually think the pilot was pretty damn good. Not perfect, but certainly engaging. And I still have no doubt that it will only improve with time. Nice work, Joss & Co.
Samantha | February 13, 22:44 CET
I watched an enjoyed it a lot more then I thought I would. I also knew it was only the first episode.
b!X- I'm sorry the spots with Summer & Eliza made you want to vomit. I found myself cheering! Nothing wrong with some of our favorite actresses promoting their show. It was more proof that FOX does wants Dollhouse & T:SCC to succeed.
The show was very intriguing. I found myself feeling sorry for Eco and interested in her story right away. The scene with the young blonde strapped to the chair with needles in her head was disturbing. I thought Echo was going to run in and save her but I guessing we will learn later.
Tahmoh�s character was very likeable & very intense. I can�t wait to learn more about his character as well.
Spacegirl3200 | February 13, 22:50 CET
So 2 random observations from me...
1) I can see where I'm going to have difficulty investing in the characters that are actives since they are so devoid of personality. I was vibing on Eleanor Penn but we'll never see her again...or will we? I would definitely bring back the implanted personalities that become popular for another spin.
2) It's hard for me to imagine any scenario where a guy orders up an active and doesn't end with "oh yeah I'm going to want to do her so make her hot." When the father of the kidnapped girl said he'd have a bed turned down for Eleanor I was like huh? Did he order ala carte?
IMMORTAL | February 13, 22:52 CET
L-O-V-E it! Can't describe how happy... Haven't seen a live Joss show in SOOOOOOO long! I let my roommate watch it again when he got home from work... "let" HA! Now I can say that I've seen every ep of a Joss show multiple times again! MUWHAHAHA! OK, now that the nerd rage has begun to fade, I am glad that it is good. I got worried by some of the reviews, and there wasn't much of the funny, but I didn't even notice that until it was over. Thought the reveal of Sierra being a second active on the job was really neat. I was glad that the scars on Amy weren't WAY over the top. I love her beautiful face. I like where I see the Topher/Saunders angle going... and I guess that's it for now... If you are reading these Joss, Eliza, and company, GREAT JOB!! I can't wait for the musical commentary on this ep!
[ edited by montresor on 2009-02-14 07:53 ]
montresor | February 13, 22:52 CET
Love the deeper setup of personas with fully human flaws and history; still, this seemed a bit inconsistent with the fluffy perfect date premise set up right off.
If you mean the teaser, I'm rewatching it now, and wondering if her imperfection might be the bit where she's a sore loser. Or, one of her imperfections, anyway.
So, did everyone get the asthma medication commercial right before the "We also gave her asthma"? Does that count as product placement?
hacksaway | February 13, 23:03 CET
I kind of loved it! Waaay more than I expected to after some of the reviews I read. Two concerns of critics that I thought might be a problem for me were not at all.
1) I was worried about Dushku being able to pull it off, but I thought she did a great job. Also, my husband, who disliked Faith enough to not really want to watch this, decided at the last minute to watch it with me and said, "I like her MUCH better in this show."(!)
And 2) the whole business of not being able to connect with Echo was not a problem for me at all. When she sat down in that chair happy & feeling like she was falling in love with a great guy, and woke up having forgotten all about him, I felt that loss she couldn't feel. And the same again when they wiped away her triumph over the negotiator's abuser. For me that was really sad.
I agree with criticisms of the first scene and of the heavy exposition, but there was much of interest here, and I can't wait to see the rest of it.
jcs | February 13, 23:03 CET
I am so excited about this show. Tonight's episode wasn't flawless by any stretch of the imagination, but it was intriguing, engaging (no pun intended), and the potential for how great it could be is definitely right there on screen. I didn't love this as a first episode, but most of Joss's season/series openers have left me cold, especially on first viewing. I'm wondering if I will become more endeared to this episode once I've seen the entire first season.
Just a couple of quick likes and dislikes:
Dislikes first, 'cause no one likes to end on a sour note:
-The kickboxing. Wholly unnecessary.
-Opening the show with Adelle and Caroline/Echo. It set a weird tone right from the get-go that was hard to shake.
-Who the hell are all these people? A lot of info was thrown at us, and not enough all at once. I'm curious to see how the characters of Adelle and Boyd are fleshed out, but they both left me cold tonight.
And now the stuff I liked:
-I was pleasantly surprised by Topher. From the previews I had seen, I thought he was going to put me off right from the start, but I found myself more intrigued by his character than anyone else's.
-Sierra commanding that hideaway, guns a-blazin'. That was a nice climactic visual to what could have become a weepfest of a hostage situation.
-The creepifying tone and musical score. Very effective.
-Eliza. 'Nuff said.
I can't wait to see what's in store in the coming weeks, especially the oft-talked about episode 6.
Joss and co., if you're reading this, I think you've got the potential for a fantastic show. Best of luck to you!
kasadilla | February 13, 23:07 CET
The episode overall was kinda cool... but confusing. Dr. Saunders totally threw me off.. i cant wait to know more about her...
theforgottenslayer | February 13, 23:13 CET
I know the comments have reached somewhere near the number of 350 at this point, but I just finished watching, and I wanted to say how much I enjoyed Eliza's performance.
I admit that I questioned whether she would come off as believable in all of the different personas she would assume as an "active": I'd never seen her work outside of the Buffyverse. I had no reason to worry, however. She did quite well, and I was surprised to see how much I cared about what was happening to her. I'm glad there were vulnerable moments. I look forward to seeing how Joss develops her awareness.
I'm a little irritated that screen time was utilized on showboating crap like the motorcycle racing/dancing instead of more character development, but I guess those were attention getting moments, and this was a premier. Ergo flashy bikes and provocative dancing.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I'm so pleased Joss is finally back making "small screen" serials. It's a real pleasure.
Rebekah | February 13, 23:19 CET
I had to dust off the manual but in case anyone is wondering what happens next, here's what we did in the old days for Angel episodes.
The day after - much discussion about ratings
A couple of days after - glee over the trailer and related promotional material
Days after - meta discussion
Simon | February 13, 23:21 CET
So happy I can take part this time! I started coming here after Serenity and long before Doctor Horrible. During the Long Hiatus. So glad it's over!
The presence of 'Alpha' in the story line is, by far, the most interesting part of it all, for me.
DisChunk | February 13, 23:28 CET
I liked it!
But I do have one question for Joss:
Why do you write such strong asthmatic characters?
AlanD | February 13, 23:29 CET
One more thing I liked: Summer and Eliza, together at last. For those interested, here's a You Tube clip of some Summer/Eliza outtakes. Enjoy!
Oh, and apologies if this link was posted somewhere up above! That's a lot of comments to sift through, and I am, in a word, lazy.
Wow, I loved it! Can't wait for the next episode! Thought the first part with the date and the motorbikes was hot and also sad, like Cinderella but she doesn't get the prince. The hostage part was really intringing and the end part left me wanting to find out more about Caroline and her back story. The premise is great and there's so much potential story arcs, endless possibilities, so I can't wait to see where it goes from week to week. Good to see familiar names in the the opening credits, it's like a homecoming almost, and especially grand to see written and directed by Joss Whedon! Joss, I heart you, that was awesome, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
RollingInKittens | February 13, 23:37 CET
I saw it. I liked parts of it, didn't love it, didn't like some of it. Have to say it has great production values - obviously Fox is spending money on this. Thought this first show was half of an episode - too many things going on or it felt like too much was crammed into it. Probably would not have sat through it if I didn't know it was a Whedon show since it was slow coming on. Believe that is going to be the problem, not too many people are as invested in this as we Whedon fans are - can't see them sticking around long enough to see the payoff. Can see this getting Firefly'ed. Even with Fox promoting it like crazy, premise is hard pressed to grab mondo casual viewers. For one, did not really care about the "engagements" and if that is going to be the draw for the casual viewer they're going to have to write that part better. As a Whedon fan, the overall arch is fascinating - and maybe therein lies a weakness as the "engagements" look like they will be the triggers that drive the over-arcing storyline. If Fox is banking on the engagements as being the main draw - can't see it happening as Joss seems to be using them as the means to and end here and not vice versa. Will have to see in the next few episodes.
Don't think the Terminator crowd will necessarily stay tuned for Dollhouse. Thought that was the point of the first 15 minutes was to lure us boys in with the motorcyles and short dresses. Don't think many of them stayed on after that though.
In another vein, did anyone else get the feeling that Eliza was projecting some weird SMG-like vibe. In some scenes I had this feeling of deja vu tied to SMG, couldn't shake it. My buddy watching with me said something to the effect that he thought it was the Buffy chick. I mentioned that she had been on Buffy - that she was Faith - and he said he didn't mean it that way but that he thought for a minute she was Buffy - with dark hair.
Anyway, I think I'm going to live this show week to week. Hoping for the best but sort of having this bad feeling. At least Joss has 12 episodes to get a foothold in.
North | February 13, 23:42 CET
It's not the promotion that bothers me, obviously. It's that they had to act like idiots.
The Dollhouse provides whatever so whomever their client needs and it that way they are kind of like publicist especially in the old days when things could be kept secret and secretive. (They are kind of W&H like as well). Clients retain the dollhouse because they don't have to worry about the clean up.
What I'm interested in is how far will the house allow a client to go with one of the dolls. Say a really rich client likes to rape women who really believe they are being raped and wants to be able to do that with little fear of repercussions; Would that be fair game? As long as the doll isn't physically damaged? Would the house believe that they are doing the society good since the victim would soon be mind wiped and would be no victim left? Or would they see that a bit like participating in a drugged up date rape? Or some less icky scenario.
I wasn't too impressed with those spots either. Couple of amusing lines, but mostly kind of awkward. And Eliza pretty much quoted one of the promos at one point.
I don't know why reviewers said there was no humor. I laughed a bunch of times. I also enjoyed Topher more than I thought I would.
The spots with Summer and Eliza were horrible and took away from the feeling of their characters. It seemed like they were selling something on Playboy TV, which I am not hating on, just didn't seem appropriate for a sci-fi night.
Butler | February 14, 00:05 CET
I was prepared to be underwhelmed after all the lukewarm reviews, but I was more than pleasantly surprised. I thought the pilot struck a decent balance between entertainment and moral exploration (even if they felt a little shoved together), and a stronger balance between dark ambiguity and triumphant heroism. The premise is even more exciting to me now that I'm not going to be holding my breath waiting for the good episodes - we just got our first.
Also, Amy Acker is already making my heart ache for her character, and we've barely met her. This is a completely new side of her, and it's utterly haunting.
[ edited by zoinkers on 2009-02-14 09:14 ]
zoinkers | February 14, 00:11 CET
An elegant defense, and an eloquent summery.
But, on to my own two cents...
I could have done w/out Caroline, or at least the yearbook thing, but at the same time I get where he was going with it and I respect it.
I thought that this pilot did an amazing job setting up people and relationships in no time at all (see "tyrant") and with every character I was left wanting to know more about them. I think the perfect example of that is Dr. Saunders. She had almost no time, but the scars on her face--and especially the way she was AWARE of the scars, all the time, in the very way she moved--really conveyed a ton of answers and questions about why she was there.
I didn't like the credits and was disappointed by the crappy non-song that had been hand designed by two people whose music I love, but my father loved it and swears it's perfect, so there you go...
I didn't notice any exposition in dialog, which is a huge compliment, actually. I mean, I noticed that I got information, but I was sucked into the storytelling and the people and I never felt like I was waiting out a monologue so we could get back to the show. So...points!
I liked Paul's introduction a lot, and I thought the boxing was a great way of explaining his personality, but while I liked his scenes individually after that, they didn't quite seem to mesh with the rest of the show.
Naked in a house full of dead bodies: icky thought process, no matter what your reasons. Not that I'm criticizing the idea, just noticing the character. Was it the "Lizzy Bordon" thing from Angel? (Did I spell that right? Oh, well.)
All in all, I really liked it and I think it will appeal to a wide audience, because it was both smart and understandable (except when it wasn't...understandable that is, Joss is always smart:).
About the personality engineering--it reminded me (and my father, we watched it together) a lot of roll playing. We have family friends who are very into Ars Magica and in that game you have to balance your strengths with weaknesses. It makes a person realistic, definitely, and it answers a lot of my questions about Dollhouse. I also loved Topher's explanation of it.
I didn't think the asthma was linked specifically to one of the "good" traits, I just thought that there had to be bad traits so he took ones that made sense and worked. I guess it's a question of how big his parts are--are they slices of people, or are they little nuts and bolts and easily separated washers?
Anyway, asthma may be a problem for the character, yes, but it made a ton of sense as a choice. People who have been physically abused/violated often have physical symptoms that manifest around it...so she needed a debilitating physical reaction to stress and danger, and asthma allows her to keep her head, unlike panic attacks, fainting spells, or the like.
Anyway, that was a really long yay vote.
I'm such a dork for not getting the ghost line. Must sleep and watch again. I think I'm a fan, and I think I'll like it better the next time. And the next time, and the next time, and...the...
*snore* (but in a feminine way, of course)
heinouslizard | February 14, 00:13 CET
"It's not the promotion that bothers me, obviously. It's that they had to act like idiots."
I totally agree Bix. For some reason it made me feel like I was back in high school, and the popular cheerleaders were trying to coerce me into going to a football game I had no intention of being suckered into attending.
"Like, come to the big game, like, okay?"
North - I'm part of the 'Terminator crowd' - it's a surprisingly thoughtful show. It really takes its time, and is far from the action-oriented spectacle one would expect (and maybe even hope for).
I didn't really care for the promos either, although, sadly, they were much better than similar ones I've seen.
I bet Eliza and Summer could manage a synchronized high-kick, though, which is more than I can say for the cheerleaders we had...:)
[ edited by heinouslizard on 2009-02-14 09:22 ]
Maybe this has been mentioned already (but it's such a long thread and I'm already up too late) - was the kidnapped girl's house the same location as the "plane" in the WGA strike vid posted here a while back - the one with Zack, Jed, and Maurissa?
Rather than echo (hah, didn't mean for that pun) everyone's sentiments, I'll just mention the dating service commercial I saw while watching the premiere...which almost seemed to be referencing the show. Wherein a man walks up to a store counter to "purchase" the perfect mate...maybe it wasn't so different from most cheesy dating service ads, but it made me giggle anywho.
Valse | February 14, 00:24 CET
After nearly a year (for me) of anticipation, I started watching the show...and then I couldn't sit still. I made a cheesecake, warmed up my dinner, placated a 5-year-old--everything but sit there and watch the entire episode. I am SO grateful for DVR. Tomorrow, I'll sit down, focus, and watch the show. From my brief moments of paying attention, I can say this: the end of the episode was far more captivating (i.e. it held my attention) than the beginning. But, wow, that white dress! I'm straight, but even I had to say d***.
ricetxpeaches | February 14, 00:25 CET
I'm intrigued, iz new and different, which should be exciting!
Becca5002 | February 14, 00:26 CET
was the kidnapped girl's house the same location as the "plane" in the WGA strike vid posted here a while back - the one with Zack, Jed, and Maurissa?
Doesn't look like it to me.
Ah ... it was the couch and the windows that reminded me of that location. But I guess the room in the pilot was two stories ... I'll have to look again. Thanks for the link!
I loved it. My roommate loved it too, and she's slightly twitchy about me trying to rope her into shows.
The helmet-throwing was absurd, as was the highly abbreviated dress. If the helmet had fallen off, it would have made sense, since taking the time to put it back on would have resulted in the guy getting that much more of an advantage in the race.
Anyway. I liked that we got to see who Echo was when she was actually her own person. Didn't expect that. Topher and Dr. Saunders are awesome. I loved the double-meaning of Topher's "running from something" bit, with how he was looking at heavily and mysteriously scarred Dr. Saunders with great interest while saying it.
The boxing scene actually made sense to me, even if it was rather gratuitous. Whenever he was making his points to the FBI blokes, he'd be rallying in the match, and whenever they were shooting him down, he'd be taking quite a beating in the match. And then, though he appeared to have conceded at the end of the conversation, he came out victorious in the match, so we know he's not the type to be giving up quite that easily.
Loved the bit in the bathroom. Loved the seemingly out-of-nowhere cliffhanger ending. Loved the flaws/strengths balancing and their unforeseen complications with the Miss Penn persona (and the promise of future such unforeseen complications). ADORED the redemption via Echo of the unknown real personality who was kidnapped and later committed suicide. "You can't fight a ghost," indeed. PERFECT.
Also, since watching the episode, I've realized that the premise of the show simultaneously reminds me of The Island and Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction. Which, since I think both are awesome, I find nifty. And it doesn't remind me of them to the point that I feel like I'm watching either with a Jossian makeover. I just love the connection that all three deal with personality and memory and their roles in defining who we are and what makes us human.
Definitely going to watch it again tomorrow, and cannot wait for next Friday.
Taaroko | February 14, 00:38 CET
I think there's a correlation between the answer to the questions b!X and others have aired about the flaws in the Actives' personae, and the sub-plot to which we're introduced by the closing scene.
If I'm right, the narrative to that sub-plot will show Alpha, the first doll created, demonstrating the dangers of ever imprinting someone with all strengths, and no flaws, with skill in many different disciplines; our flaws, perhaps, are what constrain our behavior, teach us through failure that some courses of action are immoral or impossible. For someone without flaw, carrying the skills of a dozen people who were the best at what they did, there is neither a moral nor a practical restraint on committing acts which would be impossible, for one reason or another, for the rest of us.
Just thinking out loud, but that's a place that I, at least, would be interested in seeing Joss explore.
Mercenary | February 14, 00:41 CET
I think the boxing scene made sense (I don't actually know anyone who didn't get it), but I'm in the camp that found it kind of unnecessary and a little too heavily metaphorical. Personally, I'd have found it more interesting just to see this guy we didn't know, Ballard, telling his bosses he'd back down. Only to have him reappear later in the episode not having done so.
But, while I do find it an engaging writing point to debate, my problem with it isn't a large enough quibble for me to get worked up over. Heh.
Interesting thought, Mercenary. (Who ever thought I'd say or type that sentence?)
I'm lazy, it's late, and my memory's terrible, so I'd like someone more obsessive than me to correct this quote: "I want to do everything - is that too much to ask?"
I kinda wish they'd held a bit longer on Echo's expression as the 'bed' closes - I remember it from an early promo and it's stuck with me.
The quote is correct, zoinkers.
Thanks again! I almost always get quotes wrong.
I've just watched it once so far. I'm ready to watch it again and expect to enjoy it as much as the first time if not more. And I'm excited to see more.
So far, I have the most connection with Boyd, and I'm intrigued by Adelle. I liked that they went as far as to show Caroline signing up for the Dollhouse, and we saw her before she was Echo in that video too (unless that was an imprint, of course).
Anyway, more thoughts after I've watched it again. Nothing sounded as good as the Grr Aargh at the end. I hope the ratings were good :) Nice work team.
Arabchick | February 14, 01:10 CET
Well, I'm back and I'll just say a few things - but very longwindedly - 'cause it's late & I'm tired, but I thought this was a great start on a fascinating show.
LOVING:
� Eliza's acting. I think she's doing a great job. She's got layers, and nuance, and she's doing good combos and variations of energy/power and withholding/subtlety. The only thing I can see - and I've seen it mentioned somewhere that Joss wanted less "bedroom eyes" from Eliza in one scene - is that maybe she has a hard time laying back on the "love me" attraction/charm stuff. It's so automatic for most actors - radiating that old sexy charm - that it can be hard to turn off. But like Adam Baldwin has said, it's better to have to be reined in than be pushed to do more, and I know Eliza can stretch her wings now that she has a role worthy of her talent.
� Everybody else's acting. They're all good - nothing less than top performers, I thought - Amy was perfect as the Doctor, Adelle rocked as Olivia, and everybody else was smashing. I can't wait to see more, especially of the other Actives. BTW, I hope we get to see some male Actives sometime soon, other than in the background, or this Dollhouse will start to feel lopsided.
� The writing - despite the many Exposition Songs that had had to be sung, this stuff was handled smoothly, and we've already got a good taste of how each character thinks & speaks - and a sense of what they're willing to show, and what they're hiding. There's humor, and subtlety, and in your face bad-assery and already a great variety of colors and tones. Nifty. There were a few things that seemed "hit you over the head with it" - like the boxing scene with Paul - but I dunno if that will feel the same for everyone.
� The direction. Joss obviously loves actors, and it shows. As usual in his shows, everyone seemed to work well as an ensemble, and there were no wrong notes, or over-the-topness, etc. That's good direction.
� Production values. Just top-notch. The Dollhouse set is lovely on the surface, but with glimpses of the creepy underneath. Everything else looked and felt right - kinda noir and very L.A. Special effects very... um, effective. (And gods, that refrigerator prison box was just horrible.) Oh, and the Chinatown shoot was beautifully done.
� The Summer-Eliza Interstitial bits. Bleh and serious feh. While seeing these two together was initially quite nifty (for about three seconds) the writing made me want to spork myself in the gelatinous optical orbs. Coy, arch, juvenile, inane. FOX, please. What's a "girl" gotta do to make you never do that again!
� Miss Penn in the van - from personality fall-apart to Negotiator With a Plan happened too quickly for me. I got past it fine, but it pulled me out for a while. I understand why she broke like that, but not why she got her shit together so fast just afterwards.
� Caroline and her Consequences. I thought it was maybe a little clunky to have this scene all at once at the top. I thought it could've been shown in flashes throughout and worked a little more effectively. But no biggee.
� Fox Action-Station touches. I don't need constant action and car chases and fights and movement to keep me occupied or entertained (although I do look forward to some things being blowed-up real good) - but on the other hand, I didn't mind it, either. Just don't shoehorn stuff in at the expense of much needed time to let things unfold.
Well, I could go on and on about it overall - there's so much to it, and so much that's very cool - the mirroring of the Ghosts imagery, the different little boxes and confined spaces conveying a sort of identity confinement in the midst of wide open spaces, Topher as the masterminding artist, etc,. etc. I did especially like the visuals on the credits & the musical theme works for me.
I'm looking forward - greatly - to re-watching this episode, and to seeing what's lined up for us next.
One thing:
Jaynes Hat: "Why did they choose that part of the song for the title though? They chopped out all the words and played the la la la part of the song."
They didn't really chop out the words - according to Jonatha, the "la la la" is what Joss wanted for the show theme, and the wordish stanzas were written & added for a later music video.
Finally, my partner, who can be very laconic in his appreciation, turned to me when the show was over and said, "That was amazing. Are you going to post something on that Whedon-place you visit? 'Cause tell Joss I think his new show is amazing."
So I done it.
VeryVeryCrowded and Emmie, you both beat me to this, but I'm since I wrote it all out, I'm putting it up anyway.
Maybe they use some characteristics of others, in the form of abilities and knowledge to give her greater advantage, but perhaps there is an over-riding conciousness they are using to imprint onto Echo. And perhaps the conciousness of the person they are imprinting on her would depend on certain aspects of that person being present in order to keep the illusion of this reality in place. That person was nearsighted, therefore, Echo must be made to be; same for the asthma. Because the imprint carries memories, such as the one of the kidnapper, and mingled with those memories are the physical characteristics. Too much to take out. Therefore, it is simpler to include the physical characteristics to complete the expectation. Remember that Adelle expressed that it was important for Echo to believe in the illusion and not to suspect that it was false. Perhaps not having those physical characteristics would impede the illusion.
I figured that I'd probably enjoy the show, but I didn't expect I'd do as much speculating about the future as I had for Buffy and Angel. (Missed most of Firefly when it was airing due to the messed-upedness of the scheduling -- watched it on DVD 3-4 epidodes concurrently each day over about a week in the summer of 2006. And just about cried when it was over.) But I am! My mind was spinning possibilities from the opening scene, and almost nonstop during the show. I love this!
Almost missed out on the Grr Argh at the end, but I just caught it. What a welcome sight and sound!
Judy | February 14, 01:40 CET
Well, I'm finally getting on here...as I watched it at a friend's house tonight.
I liked it. I liked Eliza's performance. I don't understand all the nay-saying in that regard. I loved the part when Topher talks about flaws, and how every person who reaches success in something is overcompensating for something else. It's good food for thought, Joss style.
What I really have a problem with are the commercials. Is it just me or are there more commercial breaks? I mean, yes, they are short commercial breaks, but I'd rather have a few longer breaks than a lot of little short ones. It kept taking me out of the story, and that was frustrating. Plus, I like the longer breaks for going and getting food... or you know, seeing a man about a horse (don't make me spell it out, cause TMI).
I felt that it was a bit cold -- lacking the humor of Joss' other shows. But I was also expecting that, and hey, if I had to rewrite a pilot at the last minute I think I would definitely be lacking in the humor department as well.
I think I like Boyd the most so far too. Though Sierra's entrance at the ending was pretty bad ass.
Definitely intrigued to see what comes next.
ShanshuBugaboo | February 14, 01:41 CET
Oh and QuoterGal, RE Eliza and Summer:
the writing made me want to spork myself in the gelatinous optical orbs. Coy, arch, juvenile, inane.
I wholeheartedly agree. I was quite embarrassed at that.
Completely unspoiled first impression (one viewing):
Was put off by the obvious Foxification of the first 10 minutes or so, but after that much improvement; by the last 10 minutes there were definite stirrings of giddiness and anticipation for next week's episode.
It's early for getting meta, but I can't help myself. Maybe Topher's lingering explanation of the importance of flaws in creating a fully believable identity can be applied to the structure of this initial episode as a whole? IOW, "Ghost" needs its flaws to be fundamentally approachable and vulnerable to our fantasies. If it was too perfect, too shiny and impenetrable, there'd be no place for us (more critical viewers/fans) to fit into it. Instead there's "stuff" we can do to it already -- mentally manipulating it to make it better in our mind's eye -- which allows each one of us to replay it and make it our own. The flaws actually make it more interesting.
How participatory. And voyeuristic. I'm intrigued ... and already compromised. I feel a little dirty now. Nice job! ;)
Wiseblood | February 14, 01:46 CET
I enjoyed it. I mean, I found it good, not great, but I've never been particularly into the pilots of Buffy, Angel or Firefly either, and love all three shows. I think that if it stuck to this procedural structure, I probably wouldn't stay interested indefinitely, but from past history, I'm guessing at the moment they're establishing the status quo so we know when they destroy it.
I found myself empathising with Echo's character, which is good, since I was worried that I wouldn't. I also thought that Eliza Dushku carried off all the parts well. What I liked particularly about blank-Echo was that she wasn't entirely blank. She had an edge to her, like something was still going on, like she was fighting to put something together. And I thought that was great.
Like someone theorised above, I'm also wondering if maybe the Dollhouse had bad experiences in the past with making an all-strengths-no-weaknesses active, and if that might be why they made Echo's character more human.
I didn't get to see the Grr Argh at the end, which made me sad, but I guess I'll get to see that when Dollhouse finally comes out over here. (I remember that at the end of Doctor Horrible, the Grr Argh was the one thing that could cheer me up after Penny's death.) I really liked the opening credits, though; but I guess since I was less into Firefly's theme song, it's just a matter of different tastes.
I'm really looking forward to next week. Also: this is my first Whedon premier as a member of Whedonesque (I was still just lurking when Doctor Horrible came out) and it's nice to be able to be part of that excitement and analysis. Not that I'm contributing anything, but still, it's nice.
Hi everyone! It's been a few years since I last posted here, when Serenity was in theaters. It's SO EXCITING to have a new Joss TV show. Given that I got into Buffy right after he went off the air, and I hadn't caught up with Angel before that show was cancelled, this is the very first time i've watched an episode of a Joss serial as it aired. So I invited friends over who I had gotten into Buffy.
I'm giddy! *waves to everyone*
I watched this with my friends, including someone who told me she had no idea why Joss was such a big deal, and even she loved it. :) Also, the other members of my viewing party loved it too! We're going to get together for next week!
I think this pilot does a great job roping in the casual viewer. It's premise is so open-ended and leaves much more to explore. There are so many directions this story can go. I'm left wondering: what IS the history of the dollhouse? What is Echo's real life, and why did she agree to sign the contract? Maybe someone finds out too much about the dollhouse, and their memory (or the memory of a main character) gets wiped and they become a completely different person? So much potential plot yumminess!
It was pretty cool to see all the parallels between Ms. Penn and Echo: the buried memories, and the struggle to find and assert who they are. Perhaps I'm stating the obvious - I have not been following these forums - but it seems like some of who Echo actually is mixes in with the imprints. As in, Echo doesn't simply come in during those brief flashes when she sees Echo's memories, but the "essence" of Echo herself also changes the people she becomes. The abused girl or woman who became part of her person had killed herself. But in Echo, she confronted her abuser and stayed strong.
Topher's explanation about both strengths and weaknesses, and how people have strengths because they're "overcompensating" for things, seems to be a "mission statement" for the show - that who we are is how we make ourselves. ALso, does this mean Boyd is a rookie? Because why would he need this explained to him?
It would be fun to see some of the same imprints come back, or even in other "dolls"(!). :)
As for the intro, I liked the fact that only Eliza was in it. It made me have no idea who in the pilot might die. ;) As you can tell, I'm spoiler-free. :)
Am I the only one who thought that Tahmoh's gratuitous long boxing scene was a way to rope in the OTHER half of people out there who might appreciate such things? :)
I also found a good dose of funny in the episode. Loved the setup of Ms. Penn being nearsighted so that when Boyd saw her confused look, he thought for a moment she was Echo again.
As for the first job... totally screams Fox. It was completely unrelated to the rest of the episode. It basically set out a male fantasy, and came off exactly as the kind of show one would expect from the commercials. Still, it's also not completely worthless because it sets up the prostitution/trafficking/something-is-wrong-here angle. It was also nice to see that this first imprint was not a stereotype: she had her own sweet affection for the guy, and actually had her own motivations. I also loved how the memory wipe brought us backward in time through her memories, gave us the beginning of the date, and then went back to her childhood - showing us these are full
I like how the pilot has established that the imprints can have flaws. It makes every "engagement" suspenseful. It's not like watching The Matrix, where the people had the powers of superheroes. Here, the imprints are actually like regular human beings (sure, some extraordinary, but each one is a fully fleshed, sympathetic person). Also, perhaps some imprints will not be sympathetic people - that would be interesting to see.
Add me to the chorus of people who love the "ghost" line. Such a great moment when you think of it from the abuser's point of view.
As you can see I'm gushing over this pilot! There's so much potential. I watched the pilots for Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, and I thought they were pretty good introductions to their respective worlds and a taste of what would follow. At the same time, I wasn't very sure if they would win over the general television-viewing audience. I loved Serenity, but I was also uncertain how it would be received. I have only watched a few series over the years because I have so little free time, but with my little TV-watching experience, I must say that when I watched the pilots for Alias, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica, I had this gut feeling that they would be successful shows. I have that same feeling with this one, too. It's original, fresh, intriguing, and seems pregnang with possibilities. Sex, mystery, action, and plot twists - what more could you ask for? ;)
I know folks love to analyze here, and I'm as ready as the next one to pick an episode apart, but I also like what I'm feeling in my gut right now. Bring on next Friday!!
P.S. - I have one question. For us spoilerphobes, is it safe to go back and look through the spoiler threads? Or will there get spoiled about future episodes?
[ edited by Ronald_SF on 2009-02-14 11:12 ]
Ronald_SF | February 14, 02:10 CET
This show is awesome, as i knew it would be, Joss never fails to please us =D
One of Many | February 14, 02:15 CET
Oh and for randomness.
TOA!!!!!!!!!
Just got time for a quick comment but ... I really, really loved this. There were certainly some flaws (I thought Eliza and Adele's conversation was a weird way to start the episode; some of the exposition was awkward; there were too many characters thrown at us too quickly - in particular I think Dr. Saunders was unnecessary and should have been introduced in episode 2 or 3) but for me the positive greatly outweighed the negative. Particularly towards the end it just got hugely compelling and, to be honest, I don't think Fox's interferences were too bad at all. I didn't mind the motorbike race (it was quite short much like Eliza's dress which I also didn't mind) and while Paul Ballard's boxing scene might have been unnecessary it was hardly worth worrying about. Best of all, I can really see this having appeal outside we hardcore Whedon fans
So, basically, I thought it was a little flawed but totally awesome and if this is the slow start we were supposed to fear I'm pretty damn excited about what will happen when it picks up pace
Oh and that was a freaky mask
And one final comment: I let out a loud nervous laugh when we learned that Topher put memories of abuse into Echo's head. Really creepy
Joss is Love. He brought something new to us; something not-very-Joss but still very Joss-like. How did that happen? Answer: Joss.
I love all the characters so far... I can't tell if "Victor" is already part of the Dollhouse, or if Ballard's words got him mixed up in it. Anyways, I found the men's room scene rather hilarious. I don't know if that's because it was, or because I've had a tiring day... whatever. I'm so back next week!
Unfortunately, my download didn't have the Grr! Argh! Sadness. :(
Braeden Fireheart | February 14, 02:39 CET
Last (U.S.)time zone to check in, as always. I need to watch this again, plan to do so right away.
I was so put off by the Summer/Eliza intro, as well as the overkill of the micro-mimi white dress and the totally disconnected motorcycle race with the cheesy, staged "oops, I lost my helmet so my sexy hair can fly" part, it left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the show.
All I could think was sexist/exploitative (about the intro) and clunky, cheesy, badly edited "did this really belong in this ep, originally", about the dance club/motorcycle bit.
It felt as it Fox not only meddled in that sequence, but totally constructed it from something that belonged in another ep entirely (maybe originally was in a different ep?)
The degree of exposition was downright intelligence-insulting, IMO (somthing for which I certainly don't blame Joss). I just felt beaten over the head with it. Including the boxing sequence, which would have been very effective, if they'd cut it time-wise by about two thirds. The entire first part of the show felt to me like something quilted together from pieces that were originally meant to be spread around in different eps.
I loved the very first scenes between Eliza and Oliva Williams. After that, it was almost as if they switched to a different show, then switched back again.
What I loved: the acting, uniformly excellent. I had faith ;) in Eliza and she didn't disappoint.
The closing sequence, which set up the possibility of something actually coherent but at the same time, intriguing and full of layered mystery (something that the dumbed-down first part of the ep lacked entirely, again so obviously no fault of Joss's but with the fingerprints of Fox meddling all over it).
I like the opening theme but wasn't crazy about the background music during the ep.
Hoping for better things to come. I know the better stuff has to be there, I just hope that we don't have to endure another five eps (as both Joss and Eliza have hinted) of over-exposition, disjointed sequences designed to work in "just enough" action, whether or not the storyline calls for it at that particular moment, and unworthy (for Joss) dialog, to suit the suits.
Hopefully, I'll like it better the second time around. Skipping the Eliza/Summer lead-in will help.
ETA: That came off more negative than I meant it to be. Just want to make it clear that all my problems with this ep are so obviously Fox-related, and that left me so needing to vent that I left out lots that I liked. Will get to that later.
I now understand the Fox hate, and how it was assumed that they would find a way to fuck with the genius that is Joss.
[ edited by Shey on 2009-02-14 11:58 ]
Shey | February 14, 02:41 CET
Oh and finally finally: IMHO 'Ghost' was considerably better than 'City Of', far from as good as 'Serenity' but probably a bit better than 'Train Job' and perhaps not as outright enjoyable and smooth as 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' but in many ways more impressive
I really liked it. It had a lot more depth than i was expecting and frankly I'm not quite sure why the critics gave it such a hard time. I'll watch this episode again, and I'm looking forward to the next one too.
This looks like it has the potential to be quite a complex series, which may reflect how much Joss and his colleagues have grown, and gained experience since the days of B+A, and Firefly. IMHO :-)
Rosalind | February 14, 03:00 CET
I also really enjoyed it. I was so worried that I wouldn't (and have to live in shame for not liking joss' work) but Joss does it again! His shows never fail me. I live in Australia so I just watched it illegally on the interent but thats just as good. Was really excited to see Amy Acker again too. Shame she is only recurring. It definately does suck you in, I really want to know more. Can't wait for the next installment!
cup-of-tea | February 14, 03:32 CET
When can we expect the first overnight ratings? :)
I also liked it way more than "City of", slightly more than "Welcome to the Hellmouth", and kind of on par with "The Train Job".
Dollverse has a trailer for the next episode here.
Ratings are going to arrive in a few hours time.
gossi | February 14, 04:10 CET
The breakout star of this show will not be ED, it will be Dichen Lachman.
Dana5140 | February 14, 05:15 CET
We made a bit of a night out of it. Sadly, the first 10 minutes didn't do much for me. If this was a rewritten pilot, I'm scared of what the original pilot was like. Of course, It couldn't have been much much better, but only if you have a brain, which as we all know, viewers do not, so dumb it down. We persevered. Amy's scenes were lovely. Eliza did Joss proud.
I have a feeling the pilot perhaps would have been better if they had started with the child being kidnapped . It's just far more compelling, and you would want to know what happened next. Starting with Echo partying wasn't exactly grabbing, despite the obvious cheap shots - short skirt, hot red bikes racing, hair toss etc. Was that more grabbing for the gents out there?
I think those scenes had their place, but maybe the order could have been better?
*dodges the cans being thrown at her*
Ivalaine | February 14, 05:30 CET
Ivalaine, I actually agree with you 100%. I am really not a fan of the almost upskirt nature of that party scene. The actress who played the kid was awesome I thought, btw.
Dana, I agree, I think Deech will be the breakout from this show. She's glorious.
I'm not sure of the need for can dodging (joke goes here), people mentioned all night on the discussion thread that they didn't like the action/sexy that got shoehorned in.
Oh I thought I recognised Sierra from somewhere. Way to step it up a notch from Neighbours.
Dichen is big with the awesomeness :) She really stood out in her little time on screen.
Yeah, only a few sentences but her Yank sounded pretty good too.
OK, very late to the party so sorry folks, just skimmed your no-doubt witty, thoughtful, erudite comments.
I'm not sure if i've totally ODed on Kool-Aid and can't tell good Joss from bad Joss anymore but that, to me, was a great pilot.
I'm already engaged with the main characters and intensely curious about the others and though I don't like Echo yet (cos right now there's no there there) i'm already on her side. It's touched on the arc, it showed the ambiguity without making any simple-minded judgments, it had me actually willing one character (Boyd) to stay his course above all else (all humans reading this probably know at what point) and that's after "knowing" him for, what, 40 minutes ? And it had a genuinely dark moment of suspense, an actual doubt as to what would happen, with an instant payoff (when she asks for her glasses - my only issue with that being, why wasn't she wiped ? Did Miss Penn abort the process before Topher started ?).
It did everything I wanted of it basically, it showed me the path without telling me the destination. Made me feel good in parts and then ask myself why and the same with feeling bad. Plus, humour - which reviewers said this didn't have any ? Maniacs ;).
(and I love the early hint that what Echo becomes is always unique, always different, always more than the sum of her "component parts". The poor woman that was abused couldn't get past what happened to her but Ellie Penn could cos Ellie Penn has just a little bit of Caroline/Echo in her)
It's gonna get dark though I think, it's gonna genuinely ask some hard questions - not the nice abstract ones we can all shoot the breeze about and think nothing of 5 minutes later, real, difficult, "this might hurt a bit" questions about society and where we all stand in it. Can't wait ;).
Saje | February 14, 05:49 CET
Here's what Dichen moved from.
Looking forward to Matt Keeslar being on the next episode. Love "The Middleman." Joss has put together an amazing roster of guest stars!
I really hope Dollhouse shows up on iTunes. I need something to keep me going at the gym. (I haven't gone regularly since they moved Buffy and Angel reruns too early for me to get out of bed!)
After a year long of speculating, without actually wanting to know to much facts, "Ghost" managed to wrong many of my expectations.
After all the bad press, I was very pleasently suprised by Eliza's acting. And after all the talk of dumbing things down I was expecting the conversation between Adelle and Echo to run like a clear cut introduction to make sure everyone in the audience would fully understand what the Dollhouse is: something like Adelle explaining how the Dollhouse works, maybe over a montage with give some examples of actives on their missions. Instead there was the sudden cut to the motor racing. I didn't know what to make of that one immediately : wondered if it was a flashback or flashforward, so instead of the overly explicit exposition aimed at Joe Regular I was expecting, the show started out confusing to someone who knew all about the premise.
Having read there would be a sexual and an action oriented engagementin the first ep and having seen the first trailer, with the date with the older guy and the mexican assasin engagements, I was expecting the first one to be my favourite.
In the actual episode however, I was hugely dissapointed with the first engagement. Really strange the show opened with such a terrible act, I hope it didn't turn away to many viewers. (why didn't they kept the one from the original trailer or put in something else all togheter, this one wasn't connected to the rest of the episode anyway.)
Then I was very pleasantly surprised with the "Ghost" storyline. I actually got involved with the story and love how it shows all the ways in which the show can work. IMO the second half of the show already was one of the best pieces of television of the year.
The FBI storyline, which I somehow expected to hate after the first released scene, the one with "Echo" and the FBI agent, also worked absolutely perfect. (Also didn't mind the boxing at all.) The inner workings of the Dollhouse were just as intriguing as I had expected, but the huge power of the Lennix character was something I hadn't seen coming at all.
the Groosalugg | February 14, 06:03 CET
Yep, I thought the boxing worked very nicely as an entertaining little expository shortcut for Ballard's character. Not got a lot of quit in him has he ? ;) The stuff with his FBI bosses reminded me of The X-Files quite a bit, this idea that someone has to be on this case because of an edict from on high, it's just that the mid-level powers that be have accidentally picked the perfect guy for the job.
And yeah, I meant to mention Eliza cos I really believed her as Miss Penn, again, totally disagree with whichever reviewer said he only saw Eliza in a business suit she was plainly a different character to the first engagement (which I think they included largely to have a bit of throwaway action PLUS show us how the imprinting worked before the setup with Miss Penn).
And the internet starts writing reviews:
"Ghost at the Independent Comics Site
Xyrqurqualym | February 14, 06:14 CET
Eliza Dushkus not sexy? Did he see the dress she was in? Her legs in that dress? Is he blind?
[ edited by Tymen on 2009-02-14 15:21 ]
No way I'm going to get through all these comments.
So to add my own for other people not to get through:
Like Eliza. But Joss thinks a lot more of her acting ability than I do. Miss Penn... didn't buy it.
Didn't buy Topher's explanation (such as I understood it) of why the Actives are given flaws and background traumas. Nevertheless, found the impact of the realization that Echo's been given those flaws very moving, somehow.
Why do we go in with Helo, er, Paul already suspecting the Dollhouse exists and even having the name "Dollhouse"? Are we going to get more information on how he discovered this? It just seems out of nowhere.
If it weren't Joss, I doubt I'd be sticking with it, but it's Joss, and he gets all the benefit of the doubt in the world from me, for very obvious reasons.
Oh, the promos? Summer and Eliza, both of whom I like (adore Summer), as dimwits? Hated them. HATED them.
Kirochka | February 14, 06:22 CET
I understand the reason for the first imprint with just the quick flash of the sex but the dancing was a mistake for me - I just saw Faith at the Bronze. And then I saw a serious Faith. Well, ok, not Faith. Eliza. The trouble for me I think is that we don't know Echo as a character yet and so both characters could be the same person in different circumstances. Who I am on the dancefloor is different from who I am at work.
I was more impressed with Echo wiped. There must have been a lot of discussion around how to act in that state. How much knowledge do they have? Why don't they question everything?
I've been having a look around the internet for reactions from viewers and the good reactions are making me feel pretty positive. Obviously there are places on the internet which are just plain nasty, but I've stumbled on a sizeable number of people who didn't know much or anything about Joss Whedon but really liked the episode (enough to seek out fansites) and I've also seen that most of the people criticising the show say they're planning to stick with it for at least a few more episodes. So I'll be feeling pretty upbeat for the next little while (and hoping not to be proven wrong by disastrous ratings)
I agree with what some people have said here about the first 10 minutes being a bit rocky. But I can't imagine that that many people really stop watching a show if they don't love the first ten minutes (assuming it's not truly dire).
I have a fair number of friends who I plan on encouraging to watch Dollhouse on Hulu (sadly it's not on Australia TV) but I was going to wait until 2 or 3 episodes were out because I thought that 'Ghost' might not make a big enough impression. But given how strong 'Ghost' is I think I can start the gentle bullying ahead of schedule
[ edited by Let Down on 2009-02-14 15:27 ]
Finally, I've been able to join Whedonesque!
I thought it was great! It had the excellent Joss Whedon feel to it but it was unique to the show and the Dollhouse set was awesome - kind of like hotel/spa version of Wolfram & Hart. I loved the boxing scene. As for the opening credits music: it wasn't what I expected, but it was nice, I liked as Nolan said the 'tinker-toy-esque' end.
The plot and dialogue was strong as I reckon Dollhouse has great potential.
Shep | February 14, 06:25 CET
I think there was much more layered into that first imprint section than people are giving Joss credit for. Much of it will likely make us go "Oh!" as we see more episodes.
For example, the Cinderella reference by the "John" (to use a not-entirely-inappropriate phrase), contrasted after she returns with the sarcastic line from Boyd about her finally finding the right guy.
LOTS of Joss there, just not the same Joss who was writing five years ago.
[ edited by PaulfromSunnydale on 2009-02-14 15:31 ]
Ok, this is too much text to cover so I'm just gonna state my opinion and be done with that. It was good but kinda heavy handed at times. It did manage to show some of the future complexities that we're in for which does seem promising but not as engaging as one could have hoped. And one thing that was kinda disappointing was that none of the characters was immediately likable. The most engaging and interesting character was actually the one that wasn't there, which was Ellie Penn, Echo's assumed persona. Basically it was kinda The Train Job but without a Kaylee and a "kicking a guy into an engine" scene. But since I'm a jaded old Whedon fan I'm well aware that there's nothing to worry about. His shows always takes a few episodes to find themselves. As an introduction this worked fine and I'm excited for next Friday...
And while on the subject of shows that aired yesterday... OMG, BSG is blowing my mind! O_o
[ edited by Djungelurban on 2009-02-14 15:38 ]
Djungelurban | February 14, 06:30 CET
Didn't buy Topher's explanation (such as I understood it) of why the Actives are given flaws and background traumas.
I thought the episode answered that really well (when the client asks her to prove to him that she knows what she's doing, to tell him why she does it - basically he wanted to know there was a 'soul' behind the imprint and that's partly why Topher does it. As he says, they're not robots, they have to be able to deal with the complexities and demands of the all too messy real world and for that they need to be people, actual and whole - maybe ;) - and people have ghosts, right ? It's what drives us). And more explicitly of course (more plot oriented if you like) the little girl would've been raped and then killed if Echo/Miss Penn hadn't had her flash-back based insight i.e. without her past she'd have been less effective on the mission.
Well, sexy is like funny in that it's entirely subjective. Except in this instance, where that guy's just wrong ;).
It was pretty good. Sucky theme music, but all in all pretty nice. I'm not totally hooked yet, but it's certainly something I want to watch more of, which is more than can be said about most series. I guess the expectations can be a bitch, for most other creators this would have been an awesome opening. Still, smooth and gripping enough, and luckily everybody keeps saying it gets better soon!
That said, I just wish the network(s) would stop meddling so much, this episode had Fox executives all over. I just wish the good stuff comes before people get bored... I mean, just check Buffy pilot or Firefly pilot (the real one). Excellent openings, now just back off, shoo shoo, let us watch creative stuff, not something toned down average appealing-to-masses-with-tits. I do love looking at all those sexy Eliza promo pics, but still the dance was just an annoying waste of time: nice to watch in youtube, but I'd rather see content...
Eerikki | February 14, 06:48 CET
WSS. :) Even though Eliza isn't my personal ideal, even I'm not blind (or dead.) Not sure about Mr. Reviewer.
Rowan Hawthorn | February 14, 06:50 CET
I knew I would like it, but, god, I didn't know how much I would like it. It's so slick and sexy and intelligent and creepy and beautiful all at once!
flugufrelsarinn | February 14, 06:53 CET
Definitely exceeded my expectations, I'm looking forward to more.
I totally get the flaw thing in general;it makes sense, and adds complexity and interest. But I do think it is somewhat implausible (within this world, I mean, I don't expect actually plausible), that Topher would select the personality of a suicide, especially for an incredibly hazardous situation. I mean, what there is of Caroline in Echo adds some strength, to good effect, ultimately. But what a chance to take with the life of a little girl.
toast | February 14, 06:54 CET
Exceeded expectations seems to be a common theme, though there is a contingent bent on saying that everyone hated it. I keep hearing from people who liked it more than they expected and are looking forward to all of the potential (no pun intended,, Vi fans) they see in it being realized.
Saje, thanks. That makes it make more sense (why the Actives are given "flaws"). Also more horrifying (the horrifying part I got; the rest, obviously not so much).
Couldn't jump in last night, we had a roomful of people. Our verdict: good start, maybe a 6 or 7 on 10-scale. We all thought Eliza was great. A lot of necessary business to set things up, which we could accept. Three negatives came up as we talked it through afterwards: some were OK with memory-wiping but not with memory-importing as a premise, none of us was sure what kind of rent-a-doll thing people would pay $1 million for, and the setup seemed a bit close to the Peta Wilson "La Femme Nikita" series (I didn't think of this but others mentioned it).
That said, I wouldn't miss an episode.
doghouse | February 14, 06:58 CET
I can't help but feel that the people who are getting all hung up on the opening sequence (that dress! the cheesy motorcycle bit! etc) are doing roughly the equivalent of bitching after the opening of the BSG pilot "well, it's all just an excuse to show cliched "hot alien sex." Or, perhaps more to the point, the equivalent of bitching 1/4 of the way into "Welcome to the Hellmouth" (anyone else noticing how close hellmouth/dollhouse are?) "oh, jeez, not another show about sexy, sexy highschool kids in California?"
I just loved this show. It delivered on all the creepy "how deep does the rabbit hole go" stuff. That opening sequence was obviously meant to be cheesy--the point is to show us that the actives are the playthings of rich doofuses (doofi?) whose ideas of a great time are like cliched FOX action shows. This is all part of the Active/Actor metaphor, and perfectly underscores that. But, really, it's pretty obvious that that stuff isn't going to be a big part of the series once things begin to unravel.
Is there a record for the number of comments on Whedonesque? Did this thread break it?
nyrk | February 14, 07:36 CET
The one criticism of the pilot that does seem to me to have some merit--though in the event I wasn't very bothered by it--is that they didn't do enough to explain why the billionaire-du-jour would hire an Active to do the negotiation for his daughter. He wasn't breaking any laws and there must be private companies that do this kind of thing. He didn't even get the kind of negotiator that he wanted.
That suggests to me that their simply not going to bother trying to make this part of the world plausible (rather like the way they just don't bother to really make it believable that no one in Sunnydale knows about vampires...), which is a fair enough genre loophole to exploit.
I absolutely loved this show. It far exceeded my expectations. I'm so happy we've got more weekly Joss. I think this show is gonna be kick-ass, and totally believe Fox won't cancel it.
MikeyB | February 14, 07:47 CET
Dichen Lachman far exceeded expectations, considering her little time on screen. I didn't expect much from an ex-soap actress, but she was awesome.
One qualm: "I've been involved in at least 12 negotiations." At least? Wouldn't that then just be 13 negotiations? That line didn't sit right for me anyway.
Loved it, and want to see the next episode, but I don't think it'll go beyond "entertaining" until a proper arc really starts. Also, Topher rules.
MattK | February 14, 07:50 CET
I thought it was meant to ring oddly--that we were beginning to push the boundaries of her implanted memories.
Well, they did make it clear that he had done business with the Dollhouse before. Presumably he knows from experience that you can't get anything better, so when his daughter got kidnapped it was the first place he went. The one I had a problem with was the all around sucky first engagement, where the necessity of a Doll/Active was far less clear to me.
Overall, like everyone else, I felt that it exceeded my lowered-by-early-reviews expectations. I think that, basically, reviewers were holding it to a higher standard, a is-it-as-incredible-as-other-Whedon-shows standard, which would be fair except that often even other Whedon shows don't meet that standard (especially in their first episodes). If it were JUST another procedural/spy/action show, and were judged as such, I think it would have gotten really high marks. I found it to be a seriously enjoyable hour of television.
Septimus | February 14, 08:08 CET
Yep, there's a record (though I can't remember which thread or how many posts ;). But nope, this one is a ways off yet.
Yeah I wondered that too, that Miss Penn/Echo might have some inkling that there're things she's done but doesn't remember.
Re: the first engagement, we don't know how much a doll costs so it's hard to judge just how "perfect" a date would have to be to justify the price to some (ludicrously rich) people. They might do it for the same reason some guys hire prostitutes i.e. not because they have to but partly for the illicit thrill.
It strikes me that people would come to the Dollhouse, as the man with the kidnapped daughter did, because they want the Perfect person for the job and that perfect person might not exist or might take too long to find. Topher is creating the person who is most likely to do the job as the client wants it done.
Clearly, the Dollhouse has its own ideas on what it takes to do the job but they must be in synch with their clients most of the time or they wouldn't have repeat business.
I wonder if we will see more about where these personalities come from.
Yeah, I can see some amazing flash-back episodes about where the dollhouse gets the memories from (if Joss et al gets the chance).
Alright Mr. Whedon, you done your job. A night of sleep and I woke up thinking about "Dollhouse." More thoughts after my up-thread:
1. I'm not worried about the whole "Personality of the Week" thing. "Monster of the Week" was a non-issue after season one of BtVS and Joss has obviously picked up a thing or two since then.
2. It was my understanding (so quite possibly wrong - I need to rewatch) that the imprinting was a combination of personalities and therefore a bit of a crap shoot with what came out. Meaning, they can't control everything. Lot's o' possibilities.
3. Where do the personalities come from? Are all the people dead? If they're dead, WHY are they dead? If not, what would happen if imprinted Echo ran into the original?
4. There's only so many wealthy people in the world and not everyone will want to indulge in the "service." So, will we have repeat clients on the horizon? That would be cool. I could see last night's guy wanting a date with Echo.
5. IF "Caroline" is her true personality, there's the interesting question of what kinds of sticky fingerprints all the others will leave behind. How much of who we are is our experience?
6. Why does the Dollhouse really exist? There are easier ways to make money.
7. An interesting way to examine the "thingness" that we all too often treat others like. Somehow I doubt the actives are seen exactly like real people to the corporation. They have definitely been turned into objects.
So my overall impression is: GOD! The possibilities! No wonder Joss was excited! After all, I can't stop thinking about it. I'm totally over the weaknesses - moving on to the good stuff: obsessing.
Okay, now I need my morning tea so I can obsessively have new thoughts - hopefully more coherent ones.
I don't want to be redundant, I found this episode incredible, can't wait to see where it goes from here!
The one thing I disliked that hasn't been mentioned (this is
stretching the boundaries of being very nitpicky mind you) the little things before the commercial breaks that were like *Dollhouse will be back in (60,90) seconds* just go and come back!
edcsLover9 | February 14, 08:24 CET
Yikes, that opening is of the 'on-the-nose ambiguity' variety. A form of philistinism - and usually a by-committee sort of thing, alas. Poor Joss. Having seen nothing else - no time yet, busy turning 30 last night - I find myself looking forward to the day when Whedon can run off with Buffy's syndication money and mount small-scale serial productions without interference from a goddamn network and a goddamn studio.
Can't wait to see the next few episodes, am nervous about the pilot, alas. The premise of this show, and the way Joss has spoken about it, give me hope; I like darkly-grownup Joss (cf. Serenity, 'Objects in Space,' Buffy issue #5, his writing about the strike, etc.). The man's an extraordinary comic writer but at times his verbal cup runneth over once too often, lending kind of a manic tone to proceedings; writing in comics has made him more terse in an interesting way. I'm excited to see him bend his verbal talents to the symbolically-overloaded Dollhouse.
But I'm nervous about this pilot. Alas.
waxbanks | February 14, 08:30 CET
I can see the network fingerprints...but, shining through is the work of Joss and company. I loved the episode. I see why they wanted the first episode re-tooled for the non-Whedonverse folks living out there (there handful that there are *grin*).
It slowed the show down a tad bit for me. But, I still loved it. I can't wait to see what comes next.
Does this mean I agree with Fox? No. I just see how big business doesn't always *get* what they are putting on air. *sigh*
And, the fact that Eliza was smiling so much? Oh, gads. That was wonderful. As Faith, she didn't really throw out joy towards the world...so, having her in a role where she can be so very very happy (even as an imprint) makes me love her even more as an actress.
ctofine | February 14, 08:31 CET
I had said before that I was thrilled, but that was last night, right after seeing it.
NOW I'm beyond thrilled: I dreamed about 'Dollhouse' and woke up thinking about the karmic implications. Echo (should I even think of her as Caroline?) was downloaded with a damaged/suicidal personality, it is like Eleanor Penn was hard wired to fail, so falling apart when she saw her 'ghost'/kidnapper was not surprising (Topher made a big mistake). But where did that strength to go beyond her programming come from? It is like Echo redeemed Eleanor's life, fulfilled Eleanor's life's goals. It really has some power over-tones IMO. I think there is a lot going on here.
The pilot was pretty wicked! I was and I'm still a little unsure about Eliza. I trust Joss vision though.
I just hope FOX doesn't pull any of their old stunts!
techvq | February 14, 09:01 CET
Much potential, many questions, hopefully some will get answered soonish, I find the 'lets never answer any questions until later much later' shows quite annoying.
All characters grey with the ability to go either way leaves me confuzzled and annoyed, like me some black hats that I can root for, was hoping Adelle would come close to Madeleine/Operations ("La Femme Nikita") but in my book she never did get that defining moment.
The show seems a bit cobbled together, hope the next episode gives a clearer picture, will be waiting impatiently for the story arc.
Better than many reviews led me to believe, still wont come close to filling the Buffy shaped hole in my tv watching, probably not intended to a very different type of show :)
jpr | February 14, 09:02 CET
Ok, finally watched it!
I won't read all 444 posts before me, but read a few and saw some interesting reviews from you guys...
And I will try not to write too much, but I just wanna put on record here that every little bit of expectation was worth it! Joss totally delivered imo!
I loved seen Eliza back! I LOVED seeing Amy back! I loved to see the new faces and I dare say I already have some favorites... and above all things, I loved to the some familiar names on the credits, ending with "written and directed by Joss Whedon".
This is my first Whedon-show premiere, cause I started with Buffy S3 (but while it was airing Season 4), so my first season premiere was S5 (and Angel S2). And I was late for the Firefly party. So... I was even more excited. And it was as good as it gets for me. The long hours waiting for a way to see it (cause I'm in Brazil) were totally paid off.
Uh, I think I got side tracked... forgot what I was going to say...
Well, I'm very intrigued by the whole thing, I can't wait to watch and see where things go. And I don't think the "Personality of the Week" thing will be an issue. I think it'll set the situations between and for the deeper development of Echo (or maybe we could say Caroline...). And can't wait to find out more about Alpha!
And I guess I'm less picky than most of you, but... I don't mind motorcycle chase/dancing thing. It actually reminded me of Dark Angel, which was nice, and you know... as much as we, Whedon fans, are all a bunch of very very very smart (and very pretty) people, I don't see harm in a little of "futile" stuff here and there, as long as it doesn't take over the show and Joss' ideas (and maybe it's just me being naive, but I have complete faith that Joss wouldn't let it happen).
So yeah, I'm not worried. And I look forward to the painful hours waiting for it to be online every Saturday dawn.
maxsummers | February 14, 09:16 CET
I don't think they're all dead. Topher seemed to imply it was unusual that the woman the memories came from was dead, when he told she commited suicide. The fact that she committed suicide also seems to imply the "donors" of the memories die in more or less 'natural' circumstances.
The follow up questions are very interesting. Actually all your questions are very interesting BreathesStory! Nice to see how much Dollhouse gives us to think about.
All characters grey with the ability to go either way leaves me confuzzled and annoyed Well, I love it. But I like it even more when you know all characters will go all ways (yes I know this sentence might be completely meaningless), and I think that's the way Dollhouse is going to be.
I think that one of the primary attractions for clients of going to the Dollhouse would be, to paraphrase that brilliant student of human relations Charlie Sheen, that you don't pay them for what they do, you pay them to forget it afterward. (Charlie Sheen: "you don't pay a prostitute for sex you pay her to leave.") I think that the after-the-mission (sorry, after-the-engagement) mindwipe has to have a lot of value for people that want to hire someone to do something that they don't want anyone else to know about.
Oh, and I think the client from last night WAS a repeat client. I believe that was alluded to in the conversation when he placed his order for an active.
Just watched it. Really really liked it. I also would give it an E if this was an O.W.L. grade.
I think that the after-the-mission (sorry, after-the-engagement) mindwipe has to have a lot of value for people that want to hire someone to do something that they don't want anyone else to know about.
Except that I got the strong impression that the "mindwipe" process was storing the events of the engagement.
[ edited by snot monster from outer space on 2009-02-14 18:54 ]
Not to mention the files at the Dollhouse, Customers, requests, amount paid, the handlers surveillance photos. Enough to guarantee repeat business.
[ edited by jpr on 2009-02-14 19:00 ]
Yeah, all those records kept and payments... that is what got Charlie Sheen in trouble. It could be that the 'Dollhouse' does a good business of blackmailing customers who think they can avoid being repeat customers.... The possibilities for corruption are really pretty endless.
He also seemed to have engaged Echo before. It's a subtle thing but his voice tone really suggested that when he was saying he was surprised they sent her as the negotiator and not a man.
It is like Echo redeemed Eleanor's life
Yes, and I loved the transition from that stirring redemption to the flash! wiped Echo. Eleanor gone. This show is going to create characters for us to care about & then kill them over and over. How Joss can you get?
When is the original pilot going to air? I thought it was turned into episode 2. What gives?
I enjoyed last night's episode. I read a few reviews days before and I thought that the episode was going to be weak but it ended up being really good. I did hate the motorcycle/club scene, but everything after that was entertaining. Also, I was impressed with Eliza's performance. I was one of those people who thought that Eliza might not have enough range to pull off all these different characters, but she definitely proved me wrong and I think she did an awesome job. I'm definitely excited to see more episodes of this show.
[ edited by ria on 2009-02-14 19:37 ]
ria | February 14, 10:36 CET
I can just see it now. Joss is there, reading all the comments and thinking "They didn't like my motorcycle/club bits? But they were my favorite bits! I fought the network to keep them!"
I finally saw the show, and I like it. The love part will be growing I hope over the next episodes. Eliza does a wonderful job sofar, and the whole Dollhouse idea feels eerie to me. And what's up with Dr. Saunders??
The intro with the racing and clubbing was fun to watch :)
[ edited by Krusher on 2009-02-14 19:59 ]
The degree of exposition was downright intelligence-insulting, IMO (somthing for which I certainly don't blame Joss).
Except that if you feel this way about the exposition, you have to blame him, because he wrote it.
Reading some of the comments now...
I agree, Dichen is the one to watch. She had the awesome factor in all her little scenes.
Weird. I cringe at Lachman's line-readings when she storms into the house.
Really, b!x?
I thought it was very direct and almost robotic, but I took it as the way they'd programme someone to just finish the job and clean up the mess. Just "make" someone very down to the point. So I liked it.
A few comments the morning after, now that my brain isn't all "mushy-mush ready for Alex Baldwin-alien type to gobble on down".
I'm wondering if, since the imprinting procedure as we/Echo saw it, is so painful, what the repercussions physically/psychologically might be down the road, assuming the series goes several seasons (could what happens in Episode 2 based on what we saw at the very end of Episode 1, be a result of a science that isn't absolute? After all, we don't know that much about it yet).
What do you think about the premise mentioned by someone at another of my hangouts (which I didn't mention last night but actually thought was a daring move, jumping right into why Caroline might be there) that Adelle is Caroline's mother? I thought Adelle was much more headmisstress-y in a low-key way than motherly, but it kind of made me twitch a little.
Maybe. That would make sense, but it doesn't resonate in my ears as direct/robotic, it renders as uncommitted to the line. Maybe my ears are nearsighted.
Riker, the original pilot has been totally scrapped and will not be aired. Ever. From my understanding, certain portions of it will be recycled.
There were definitely a few moments of uncharacteristically expositional dialogue (the beginning scene springs to mind), but when I think of this less as Joss's new show and more as Joss's new attempt at making a show Fox will keep, it starts to look really good next to Lie to Me, the first episodes of Terminator (before its story got going), Prison Break, etc.
I think it was actually one of his strongest pilots to date. Buffy's first episode is a tad weak, of course suffering from Joss not directing yet. Angel had Buffy to build up its atmosphere, but was extremely expositional every time Doyle opened his mouth. Firefly's "Serenity" is still his best, but that was a two hour movie they didn't air, so I should really match this against "Train Job", which I liked okay, but which felt really anticlimactic after being built up for Serenity over the previous month.
Paul's stuff, though a conventional character for this type of show, was feeling very fresh for some reason. Come to think of it, Helo was a pretty standard character that Penikett played with such sincerity that you really cared about him like you hadn't seen this story before. I think I could watch Tahmoh cook spaghetti for an hour.
Lachman definitely had a cool arc through the episode, and though I knew where a lot of it was heading, I was pleasantly surprised with how they brought her back into the episode.
Eliza is a leading lady, not a character actress. I think many of the reviewers wanted someone pulling a vanishing act into these personalities. Admittedly, that would have been fascinating, but I don't think that's Eliza's job, here. Fox and Joss's primary worry is us getting attached to Echo, which means it has to be an "Eliza, if she were..." sort of performance, and I think that she did a phenomenal job.
PuppetDoug | February 14, 11:46 CET
Yeah I also liked the rather brief scenes Lachman was in. I just hope we get see a lot more of her and the other characters next week.
[ edited by Rhodey on 2009-02-14 20:49 ]
That's interesting, Tonya J, but at the same time is a bit of the "Darth Vader is my father" cliche.
Tonya J, I've had that thought as well for some time now. I'm not sure I actually believe it yet, but it is something that crossed my mind the second time through that opening scene between Adelle and Echo. "You're just loving this", to me, seems like the sort of line one delivers to someone one already knows, not just some random person you've pissed off.
Yes, I will 100% agree that it seems like Echo and Adelle know one another personally. But her being Echo's mother just seems so...been there, done that.
I think it was just that it was the most immediately obvious thing to pick if you think there's a previous connection.
I just rewatched the entire episode, which is always the test (for me), and I liked it even better the second time. The dialogue hints at all kinds of subtext and the filming is lush and beautiful. Most shows become very flat and boring the second time around, and here I can see the depth that Joss has always put in all his shows!
Disclaimer: I love Joss. Changed my life. My guess is that given the opportunity he (has or) will elevate this series, its characters, and its story telling to great heights.
That said, I really wanted to get away with just typing "genericy" (way back up there) not only because I was tired and because it really summed up my feeling, or lack of feeling about the episode quite well, but also because I didn't want to type out a list of disparaging comments and have it be confused with anything more than a list of disparaging comments.
But really the show didn't hit me much at all--either positively or negatively (Well, okay, I guess negatively, but that was both due to and offset by my faith in the auteur...). I mostly just thought "generic." That's why I typed just that. And then I added the "y" cause, Joss.
And, to be clear, especially in light of the couple of people who questioned my take, I wasn't referring to the concept but rather the execution. But, letting the pilot stand on its own, meaning Whedon and all potential aside, it almost bored me.
Granted the Foxified opening was what it was, but it didn't have to be. It could still have been a Jossian Foxified opening, but it wasn't. Or not that I could see.
We all might have expected that the opening scene would feature one of Echo's implanted personalities, but did she and the action have to be so dull (generic)? Shiny bikes, shiny windblown hair, and shiny legs? With all thanks to Seth and Amy, "Really?" A race? And on empty city streets? "Really?" Sexy dancing? "Really??" That's what one comes up with to lure the non-believers? Were we supposed to become invested in a three minute love story as a means of sympathizing with our girl?
What about an introductory vignette that stands alone but is really fascinating, or surprising, or exciting, and to all viewers, not just those who can't tell the difference between a Whedon and a Bruckheimer or an X-Box? I'm put in mind of the opening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", a fast, brilliant, establishing scene, otherwise unrelated to the main plot, that stands alone as one of the most fun and memorable openings in all of movie history.
But I suppose shiny works too, Mr. Fox executive. I'm sure he was under a gun of some sort and I could never be sarcastic to Mr. Whedon...
As for Ms. Dushku's performance, if this episode was all I knew, I'd think this could be rough for her. She doesn't strike me as a chameleon. And it's not like she'll have a lot of time to flesh out characters. And her as Echo? Right or wrong, and maybe there's no other way to handle it, I found the doe-eyes and the slightly bewildered sense of peaceful wonder grating--and yes, generic. And please note I love--LOVE--her as Faith.
As for the rest of the episode, nothing about it wowed me. Or screamed Joss. Maybe it whispered. Or stated but while clearing its throat a few times. It did feel a little procedural as others have written. And I hate procedurals, Jock; I hate 'em! Raiders on the brain... For this reason alone I'd find it generic.
And I have questions. If the FBI can't confirm the existence of this organization in the however many years it was noted the guy's been trying, how do the clients know about, much less find it? And personalities, okay. But these guys can implant diseases? Granted stress-induced asthma might have enough to do with brain function and near-sightedness is a nervous system issue as well, so I can accept those if need be. Just as long as we're not asked to believe that diseases that function on a more physiological (other than the nervous system), cellular, or immuno level can be implanted and wiped clean. Also, I think Penn was made nearsighted in part not only as a red herring to surprise via the asthma attack but to justify her wearing glasses. And, speaking of generic--glasses and a tight bun? "Really?" Okay, I'll stop typing that...
The handler, already ambivalent? And still there? No one is worried? Anyone think his personality might get wiped clean at some point as a means of making him forget what he knows? And Echo walks right in on the programming of a new doll? Are we to assume that anything she sees, learns will be wiped out with the next treatment? If not, how will she retain enough information to piece together who she is?
Okay, guess I've been enough of a buzz kill. But I'm looking forward to next week for sure...in case anyone was somehow getting the impression that I wasn't. They're just (yes, critical) observations, and questions.
But it's still Joss.
[ edited by Brett on 2009-02-14 21:40 ]
Were we supposed to become invested in a three minute love story as a means of sympathizing with our girl?
I didn't get the impression that this was the intent of that scene. I think (as seems to be the consensus), this was Fox getting it's fast-action/hot-chicks opening scene.
I already see the potential of this show, which is what I didn't get from the Buffy pilot. I discarded Buffy when I saw it for the first time (although, thankfully, I got into it eventually)
So to me it looks hopeful. Makes me wonder about the original pilot though! It has a strange sort of quietness about it though, nothing like other shows like Terminator, I guess that makes it eerie somehow..
Below the surface, you can feel Joss's presence, but he needs to crawl out and get on top. Let the crawling beging the next episodes.
Brett, the contradictions/concerns you just described have to hinge on suspension of disbelief in a piece of entertainment. If we had everything explained to satisfy our discontent, it wouldn't be very good. In real life, how many times have we found out how something happened and just couldn't believe the details? However, we're pretty smart here, thus all the questioning and analyzing, and you brought up some excellent points.
I think you make a strong point about the first part of the episode Brett. If Foxified[tm], it still is done very badly. It's not even like the idea of showing how the concept can contain action, romance, sexuality was really that crazy, it's mostly the terrible execution that put me off.
However I do think after the first engagement the episode does pick off.
Something like this: Also, I think Penn was made nearsighted in part not only as a red herring to surprise via the asthma attack but to justify her wearing glasses. IMO is exactly the Jossian 'Foxification' that wasn't delivered in the begining of the episode.
It's a bit hard to really know, but I don't think I'm just giving this a chance because of the attachement of the name Whedon. Maybe I would have been even more blown away without it and any of the attached expectations.
[ edited by the Groosalugg on 2009-02-14 21:53 ]
If there's one bad thing I can say about Joss Whedon it's that he seems to have been on the verge of doing a Battlestar Galactica or a Lost his entire career, and been talked into Buffys and Angels and Fireflys instead, every time. Those shows are wonderful, but you do realize some of our favorite things are due to studio "meddling"? Every time he's about to get dark, gritty, and mysterious, these networks, which I don't think have ever been worth a one of his shows (the WB? Fox? Come on, ABC and NBC at least show some understanding of genre) convince him to add more of this and less of that. The fact that we still get excellent content that straddles the line between monster-of-the-week and long form serial is a testament to how amazing and adaptive Joss is as a writer.
That being said, I think this was his most ambitious concept, and should not have been messed with. It's just not as flexible as the others were, because it's such a grand premise. the Fox-y scenes are going to be more forced. The noir feeling described in the original pilot sounded dead-on. Blade Runner! Dark City! Don't explain anything, Joss, I wanna be completely in the dark! This is clearly the inferior artistic achievement, but the show still looks like one I'll love by the middle of the season.
Tonya J said:
Re: Harry Lennix, I have to agree more with The Ninja Report --
Harry Lennix == Chiwetel Ejiofor,
and to add to that,
Topher Brink == a pale copy of Tom Lenk
Reed Diamond == a pale copy of Alan Tudyk
Olivia Williams == a potentially better version of Stephanie Romanov
I'm simultaneously afraid of an intrigued by the potential of all these interesting side characters. On the one hand, side characters are something Joss does better than anyone. He fleshes them out more than most showrunners bother to do. On the other hand, they're in danger of falling into the archetypes he's already set up in the past, especially when the casting produces such look-a-likes.
That said, I ADORED Amy Acker. Her character has more potential than all the rest, to become a deep, multi-faceted person.
chickenbird | February 14, 13:00 CET
--I didn't get the impression that this was the intent of that scene. I think (as seems to be the consensus), this was Fox getting it's fast-action/hot-chicks opening scene. I'M JUST TRYING TO FIND SOME REASON FOR/VALUE IN THE CHOICE OF THE PARTICULARS OF THAT OPENER, WITHIN THE CONFINES OF WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW THE NETWORK DEMANDED.
--I already see the potential of this show, which is what I didn't get from the Buffy pilot. I discarded Buffy when I saw it for the first time... THE POTENTIAL IS MULTIFACTETED THOUGH. FIRST, THERE'S THE POTENTIAL FOR STORY TELLING BASED UPON THE PREMISE, AND MOST PEOPLE COULD SEE THAT. BUT IT'S THE POTENTIAL FOR GREAT STORY TELLING THAT MATTERS, AND OUR VIEW OF THAT COMES FROM WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW AND BELIEVE ABOUT JOSS AND COMPANY. SO IT WOULDN'T SURPRISE ME THAT PEOPLE WOULD HAVE MORE FAITH (!) NOW, AS THEIR EXPECTATIONS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED AND REINFORCED. THIS ALSO EXPLAINS WHY SO MANY CAME TO BUFFY LATE IN THE GAME...EITHER AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO POSITIVE WORD OF MOUTH OR BY STUMBLING ACROSS SOMETHING THEY'D NOT THOUGHT ENOUGH OF TO WATCH FROM THE START (AS I DID) AND FINDING OUT THEY WERE WRONG. MY POINT IS THAT I THINK AT LEAST SOME PEOPLE ARE BASING THEIR ENJOYMENT OF THIS EPISODE ON ITS POTENTIAL, NOT ON IT AS IT STANDS.
--Brett, the contradictions/concerns you just described have to hinge on suspension of disbelief in a piece of entertainment. If we had everything explained to satisfy our discontent, it wouldn't be very good. In real life, how many times have we found out how something happened and just couldn't believe the details? However, we're pretty smart here, thus all the questioning and analyzing, and you brought up some excellent points. AS FAR AS MY QUESTIONS AND SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF GO, I'M ALL WITH YOU. THE QUESTIONS WEREN'T PROBLEMATIC FOR ME REALLY, JUST QUESTIONS. IT WAS THE GENERIC BITS THAT BOTHERED ME.
AND IF I WAS THAT SMART, I'D HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE THE PROPER QUOTE THINGAMAJIG HERE.
This has La Femme Nikita written all over it. La Femme Nikita is one of my favorite television shows of all time... it is beyond incredible.
Completely ignoring that the hour flew by. It was dark and interesting and although I didn't love it, I did like it a lot. I'll definitely be back next week because it's Whedon, it's Eliza, it's Tohmoh and it was intriguing.
NuVanessa | February 14, 13:03 CET
I thought that Eleanor Penn was made near sighted so that Topher would have an excuse to explain that this download is based on an actual person, with actual strengths and weaknesses. Which of course leads us (later in the episode) to learning that Eleanor had eventually committed suicide, which would seem (to me) to indicate that she was hard-wired for failure. I felt very strongly that the strength that resulted in rescuing the child came from Echo, not from Eleanor Penn. I also felt that there was some kind of karmic redemption of Eleanor Penn's failed life, because Echo had managed to fulfill her purpose and over come her weaknesses. At least this is one of the ideas that I'm finding fascinating about the episode.
Hhhmmmm. I'm not sure. Which is actually a fantastic sign because I'm never initially sure about things I end up loving.
I think Dichen and Enver are both going to be great. Sierra is the most kick ass mindwiped puppet of higher powers ever. Amy also looks like she has potential here although I hope they introduce some kind of subtlety with her. In fact, the lack of subtlety generally was the main problem I had, and I'll happily post that blame to Fox execs.
I also felt like Angel was going to walk on any second and go
"What...? Who...?" (turns to Wesley) "Who the hell are these guys?"
Wesley: "We appear to have been taken over by some kind of illegal and highly secretive yoga class."
Angel: "When did this happen? And where's my office? And who the hell are you?"
Echo-a-la-Buffy-bot "Parts of me are hurt. Will you be doing my special treatment in the shower now?"
Least believable part = that dress.
curlymynci | February 14, 13:13 CET
I'm intrigued that everyone assumes the opening was just inserted into the ep by Fox. I'm sure Fox were happy to hear that they were going to get Eliza and motorbikes and microminis and everything, but I think this was still essentially the same move as the opening scene of Buffy--we get the apparently completely generic (girl and boy in darkened abandoned building / boyish fantasy of "what I would do if I had a billion bucks") and then subverts it. The girl ain't the victim in BtVS, the boyish fantasy of "freedom" turns out to be a creepy scene of mind-control/prostitution.
That is, if you were put off by the scene, you were reacting in exactly the right way. You weren't meant to think "ooh, shiny, that's so cool!"
As for questions like "how come the FBI don't know about this"--well...that's just genre. "How come the Feds haven't closed Sunnydale High, which has a student die every week of the year?" If your response is "that wouldn't happen in real life" then you're not cut out for genre shows.
Best line Wesley never got the chance to deliver.
I don't think the nearsightedness came from the woman who was kidnapped as a child. I think Topher just added it in because he thought she needed some physical weaknesses to counter her clear physical strengths. She's a negotiator in high-stakes situations, and as the conversations between Boyd and Topher and later between the client and Eleanor both emphasize, a gorgeous woman is not the obvious first choice in that kind of situation. Topher was trying to give her believable physical flaws. The asthma was a dumb choice though.
I also think Eleanor Penn is not that woman, but a personality Topher constructed drawing on multiple things, including the real memories of childhood trauma he got from one woman. I think Eleanor Penn was uniquely constructed for the engagement.
It's weird that people seemed to think Boyd had screwed up somehow when the negotiation went south. But maybe no one realizes at that point that it was Topher's programming choices and a twist of fate that put a trauma survivor with asthma face to face with her past abuser during a high-stakes negotiation.
I completely agree embers. And one of the main reasons this worked so well for me was that I felt for both Eleanor Penn and Echo.
I also agree with snot. "Things are not as they appear" and all that. But I kind of wish they had just started with that scene & then jerked us out of it. The beginning scene w/Caroline threw it off for me. I suppose they felt it was clearer this way.
And curlymynci, my husband had no problem suspending disbelief for that dress. :)
I'm watching Dollhouse again on Hulu. While this is a new series, and will take time to mature, I'm becoming more and more impressed.
I like the conceit that the "imprints," the composite personalities, require a driving force to keep them coherent. I'd imagine that the more focused and compelling the character, the more important this drive would be.
Perhaps, then, only certain minds could hold these imprints. Passion would require passionate proclivities, brilliance native intelligence, etc. Why else would they have recruited someone like Caroline as the raw material for Echo? Why not an amnesiac or a mental patient?
I really like Saje's thought that Caroline/Echo's character made the combined persona stronger, allowing her to avenge Eleanor Penn. I also enjoyed the look of peace and satisfaction on Echo's face afterward, as though she knew what she had done.
This is why I think it's fine that Eliza Dushku doesn't quite dissolve into each role (although I found her range more impressive than some.) A pure chameleon wouldn't provide the necessary continuity. I think the show works better if we don't quite forget the person underneath.
I also think it's fine that Echo should be a sleepwalker, not a "My Own Worst Enemy" or Angel Hell Dimension mundane personality. Not only does this make the contrast with her temporary imprints more dramatic, but it implies that a brain flexible enough to import these personalities might need to be kept pacified, that Echo isn't a lack of an imprint, but an imprint herself. (All of which has obvious implications for Alpha, if that subplot is going where it seems...)
So I'm happy to keep watching. Joss Whedon has a talent for building worlds, and I trust that he's thought all of this through. This is the rare sci-fi tv show where exposition isn't the enemy. Unlike Lost or Heroes, each season could be better than the last, if Fox gives it a chance.
britalb | February 14, 14:02 CET
Brett: please don't use upper case like that. It looks like you are shouting your head off.
I have to add that the fact that I am trying to sort out where Eleanor Penn ends and Echo begins shows that Eliza Dushku is very successful in convincing me of her various personas! Otherwise what would I be concerned about?
The best moments were right before Echo was due to be wiped after one of her engagements. It was heartbreaking how excited she was to get back to her date and how determined she was to get back to her rescuing the girl. Asking for her "treatment" was brilliant, and really well done on Eliza's part.
Yeah, I thought that was really creepy, just how naturally the character accepted her treatments.
"We have to do my treatment quickly, okay?"
Before I start my mini-review of the first episode of Dollhouse, I'll say how harsh I've been on new shows in the past. I didn't like 24, Heroes angered me as an X-men rip-off, Lost didn't impress me till well into its second season. Heck, I didn't even get blown away by Firefly till 'Out of Gas'.
Despite being a huge Whedon/Dushku fan I came into Dollhouse with low expections - I didn't like the concept, the trailers didn't interest me and the reviews made me expect the worst.
So what did I think of Dollhouse? It left me smiling, and one of the most enjoyable show premieres I've seen. The lack of action was concerning, but it didn't effect my attention in the show - I was gripped from start to finish. Loving the concept now - I'd carry on watching just to see who Alpha is! Exciting, promising, could be brilliant.
I hate to say I haven't been promoting the show much as I didn't think much of the promotional material, but now I've seen it I'll be telling EVERYONE to watch. I hope everyone else will do the same, as I could watch this every week if it keeps up its potential.
Expected rating - 6/10. Actual rating - 9/10. Cant wait for next week : D
ChromeShark | February 14, 15:13 CET
UnpluggedCrazy, that is sad news! Something tells me I would've enjoyed it better since last night's pilot was the one made to please Fox.
Just watched again for the second time on Hulu, and I enjoyed it SO much more than the first time. The (60 second) commercials every 5 minutes thing on Fox just drove me so nuts I couldn't really enjoy it.
I have to say though, in my opinion I think this is (bar Serenity)the best pilot that Joss has done.
I really enjoyed the pilot ... don't think it's the best pilot Joss has ever done, but it doesn't need to be. (City of... holds that place for me.) I liked Eliza (always have) and it was good to see her streching her acting muscles. She definitly has the range and chops for this role. I thought Topher was appropriately sleazy/good. Hard to tell if he's good or not (and I don't think you're supposed to know yet). I liked the balance between action and dialogue - and Serena kicking a@@ at the end was great. Unfortunately, (and I know I'm in the minority here) I don't like the FBI guy - the actor, not the character (is that Tahmoh???). Just doesn't ring my bell. But it's not enough to keep me from watching.
Just doesn't ring my bell.
You're not the only one, resa. I'm hoping that that will change for me. But I found myself wanting to fast-forward through his scenes.
--Brett: please don't use upper case like that. It looks like you are shouting your head off.
Sorry, Simon. Is that like an understood thing here...or on posting boards in general? I only did it to distinguish between my text and that which I was quoting.
Some day I'll figure out how to quote properly...
It's generally understood that caps is considered the equivalent of shouting. To quote, either wrap what you're quoting in <em> </em> tags
or in <blockquote> </blockquote> tags
and you should be good.
I know people keep mentioning La Femme Nikita here, and yeah, I guess I can see how the set-up is sort of similar...but--and this is just my opinion--you can't get much more "genericy" than La Femme Nikita (awesome word, Brett).
I don't really have anything to contribute here, I just want to say: Comment number 500 ^^!
Wow, this must be the most-commented post ever, or what?
Nope. About 500 left to go for that record.
Fairly depressing. And a depressing amount of exposition as well.
IceHunter | February 14, 17:14 CET
Victor isn't really "Victor" yet, right? I mean, if they make actives in order of name, then Victor won't be a doll until a few episodes from now. If we saw Sierra created in "Ghosts", then he might be further down the line. I guess we probably won't see the first mission of "Uniform", since 99 % of the audience would think that's the oddest name ever.
Oh, in my effort to not spoil anything about "Dollhouse", I wasn't aware that Victor's character is dropped. Too bad, I was hoping for that since it would make the connection clearer of "Alpha" as the first doll.
[ edited by CaptainB on 2009-02-15 02:44 ]
CaptainB | February 14, 17:39 CET
CaptainB - oh! I don't know now... I just assumed he was and that Paul didn't know.
witch_kat | February 14, 17:44 CET
New here - but been a Joss fan since early Buffy in the UK. Annoyed that Dollhouse doesn't seem to be airing over here, and isn't on iTunes. Also, cos I'm not in the US I can't watch it on hulu or amazon - meaning I can't support the show.
Still, I managed to view it - and it's been said, but I really loved it and can't wait for more. Weekly Joss again will be SO awesome.
One final note, it was great to see a nod to The Bard (Shakespeare for you heathens :P) - Thanks Joss!
Sarcyn | February 14, 18:08 CET
I'm still of mixed minds here (no pun intended). What he says is
These personalty imprints? They come from scans of real people. Now, I can create amalgams of those personalities, pieces from here or there, but it's not a greatest hits. It's a whole person. Achievement is balanced by fault, by a lack. Can't have one without the other.
It remains unclear to me whether the flaws come from the same people the skills come from or indeed if Topher specifically constructs those as well. That quote doesn't actually come down either way on that point.
When he says "it's not a greatest hits" and "it's a whole person", I'm taking that to mean that the amalgam is a whole (albeit artificially constructed) person consisting of both achivements and faults, but he's not explaining (yet) whether any given scanned achievement brings along a fault from the same scan, or if Topher gets to pick flaws himself.
All of which is the long-winded way of saying: I was certain of my view on this before, but now because of this thread I have to reset myself to uncertain, and just wait and see what the show tells us. Heh.
ETA that either way, Topher's line in the preview -- "This is art, not an oil change." -- made me giddy.
Wow this is a long thread. I loved the episode. It seems that there are enough good guys mixed in there to outweigh the bad ones. I got the impression that the masseuse (the one played by Amy Acker, I forgot her name) is more on the humane side, but just isn't as outward as Echo's handler. I'm really bad with names when I first start watching a show. I had a little trouble understanding what was going on in the end with Alpha, but it's not the first time a pilot has ended on a cliffhanger.
sarahi | February 14, 18:33 CET
Hey Sarcyn
You actually can support Dollhouse by watching it on Hulu. There's a thread a few above this one explaining how. But this is the gist of it: google Hotspot Shields and download the programme you'll find (it should only take a few minutes) and that programme will trick Hulu into thinking your computer is in America. Then head over to Hulu and watch the show and you will be counted as a viewer (and FOX will receive advertising revenue)
Thanks Let Down! And HotSpot actually works on OS X as well! So many of these free things don't. When will the world learn that Max OS X is superior, or at least not inferior, and thus should have equal or better support than Windows...
/Apple fanboyism
I'm a little surprised that no one's mentioned this: Joss created a strong female character who saved the day in a way completely unlike Buffy's or River's methods.
But yeah, Joss gets to kill a character every week this way. He must be humming with joy.
ManEnoughToAdmitIt | February 14, 18:54 CET
True . This heroine was more ....human , and less of a Rambo .
I loved all the parts , all the seconds . I�m a fairy but I have to say that I loved that Dress from the party . Eliza was smoking hot on that.
Mr Penikett has such fishylips . Kinda cute on the tely . I really liked the fight scene . Not overdone , contextualized and he did it beautifully .
I loved the lines . I�m really in love with this episode . Gonna watch it again .
wonderbruno | February 14, 19:14 CET
Just watched it (TiVo) and I've got very mixed emotions. I wanted to LOVE IT like I loved Firefly from the very first second. I just didn't feel emotionally engaged.
I freely confess that I am blinded by all things Joss; but, this pilot absolutely didn't grab me. If this were just some random TV show, I probably wouldn't watch it again (I don't watch much TV.) Since it is Joss, and since I know he has a plan and I know that his original pilot got crapped all over by FOX, I will certainly stick with it.
I thought this was supposed to be more of an ensemble show? I have very little sense of the other characters and more than enough sense of what Echo looks like in a very short dress. (I realize that is all FOX; but, all the fluff kills so much time that we could have been getting to know the characters and their world.) I hope that FOX gets the heck out of the way and lets Joss tell his story.
ivy | February 14, 19:21 CET
Can I ask an operational question in this thread? I, too, have never been part of watching a Whedon show 'live' so I'm not sure what's to be expected. How do we follow discussions for an episode that has (just) aired without being spoiled for future eps? I un-hid spoilers to read this thread but now I've been spoiled for future Victor developments.
Slipping About | February 14, 19:33 CET
Sorry, Slipping About, I'm guessing that's directed toward what I said above, but I am completely UNspoiled about future eps from that deduction, just based purely on character names and the premiere episode. Speculation. But, since I just found out that "Victor" as a character is not even part of the show now, you can "unhear" my last comment.
Echo of a Buffy story. I don't remember the episode name, but remember the damaged potential who was harmed by being held prisoner and abused by a maniac. That story was evoked in this episode's story of Ms. Penn's background. Even though we saw no visual depiction of her suffering, my mind was filling with memories of that Buffy episode. A kind of Echo...
existentialhere | February 14, 19:49 CET
It was a season five Angel episode called Damage, I think.
No problem, CaptainB. I did choose to read a thread that is Spoilery-red but I would like to know if spoilers for future eps are banned from discussions for already-aired eps.
Victor's been dropped from the show? I did not know that.
I'm pretty sure noone is supposed to reveal any spoilers for any upcoming episodes. I'd be the first to rush out of this thread otherwise
Who are those two dead bodies at the end? Anyone important or just story fodder?
Since we've only had the one episode so far, we don't know yet.
I'm just guessing here, but I betcha they're Echo's ( Caroline's? ) parents.
I have to be honest: I liked the episode fine-enough but it was certainly in my own personal estimation the weakest pilot that Sir Whedon has ever done. I am certainly holding on for more, but I was somewhat-disappointed as it just did not grab me or hold my attention quite as much as any Joss and Co. show usually does so well.
The strength of most of the cast was what ultimately got me through the pilot. Also, I agree with whomever else has expressed some dislike (or, at least general indifference) for the show's theme.
[ edited by J Linc on 2009-02-15 08:25 ]
J Linc | February 14, 23:22 CET
I started actually reading everything, but when I got to the bottom, then reloaded and the amount of posts doubled, I lost the ability to keep up...
We had a fairly large group over last night, there was champagne and we made a toast to Joss's success ^_^ There was major cheering when "Created by" came on the screen, and the GRR ARGH. I was on so much of a high about just being able to watch a new Joss show that I didn't really take in much of what was going on, so we watched it again on Hulu today. Things made much more sense then! I'm so hooked on this show.
I didn't go into it expecting or wanting it to be like Buffy or Firefly, so I wasn't disappointed at all really. I wasn't all that thrilled with the theme song, or the boxing thing, but otherwise I was quite pleased.
I know a lot of people didn't care for the Fox touch of the opening scene, but it played into my base need that combined nicely with the champagne and the general revelry that was going on (and I quite liked the line about ropes...). And the rest of it made me go: holy crap, I love Joss!
fuffybaby18 | February 14, 23:40 CET
After reading this site for years I've finally got an account so this is my first post.
After watching I was actually quite surprised that it got such a mixed response. On a purely superficial level it was great story that moved at a good pace. Before watching, one of my concerns was the extra length of the show, which on Fringe I've often found slows the whole thing down. As though they've written a 45 minute show and just stuck in some unnecessary extra scenes and long takes to make the time up. This wasn't the case here.
But above (or below) that superficial level, I loved the ideas. Specifically the idea that a person could have an emotional resolution to an event which caused them to kill themselves, after their physical death. As soon as it was revealed that the personas were taken from real people (which was information I didn't know before watching) I started thinking about who these people were and if any of them were dead. Then I thought of the Friends gag with Ross talking to Elle McPherson about computers developing to the stage that they could replicate the human brain so we could be downloaded and live for ever as a machine. That Echo's Ellie character was able to make peace with the events which caused her to kill herself I found incredibly profound.
Bring on the next episode.
Andrew | February 15, 00:49 CET
I liked the episode fine-enough but it was certainly in my own personal estimation the weakest pilot that Sir Whedon has ever done.
I have to disagree, and I know this is only opinion vs opinion but, in my estimation the Buffy pilot was the weakest. This is looking back on the four. Angel's pilot was very strong. Firefly's pilot as Joss intended (i.e. the double-episode Serenity) was the strongest. Which leaves Buffy and Dollhouse.
When I was younger, the Buffy pilot did enough to just hook me into the show, but if I was watching it now - I may well dismiss it. Of course, Buffy as a whole I love! :D But I think most fans would agree the show really picked up the quality in season 2.
Now Dollhouse. To me, this pilot did an excellent because it covered all the areas a pilot should, whilst still being interesting as a standalone story. It introduced all of the characters and we have a decent idea of their personalities (obviously Echo is sort of the exception as her's keeps changing). It set up a lot of the other important parts of the show, such as the fact that Echo starts getting flashes of life in the House whilst she is Active. Also, the fact that Boyd is of the 'mission' not 'engagement' mentality which I can see being important.
So, in conclusion, I think this pilot was very strong and set up the rest of the season very well. I can't wait for more and my only frustration is that I don't have a Dollhouse Seasons 1-20 boxset so I can just watch them all :P.
The One True b!X | February 14, 20:10 CET
Haven't read beyond this comment yet, but I'll answer it because it's short.
How many times was Joss forced to do re-writes? That was my point.
All the interviews he did, as much as he tried to put a positive spin on the changes that were demanded by Fox, made it really clear to me that this was the kind of thing that we wouldn't have had to endure, if we'd gotten the "pure Joss, un-tampered with" product.
So no, I don't blame Joss for this.
IMO the Train Job is the weakest pilot (least good that is) Joss has done. I really wasn't sure how much further I would watch after that one, I even missed the next one (Bushwacked) because I had lost my interest. Then ofcourse the rest of the series was excelent. Agree about City of, not only the strongest pilot of Joss' series, but also one of the best episodes in any series). Dollhouse started out pretty badly, even worse than the Train Job, but made a recovery very quickly. In my ranking it's propably just above Welcome to the hellmouth and below Serenity.
Sorry, ... somehow I double posted, well I guess one comment more or less doesn't hurt in here. Still, if someone could delete this, that would be great.
So I watched it again and liked it a lot more. I'm just totally put off by the sexist, exploitative nature of the Summer/Eliza promos, to the point that (in addition to the over-the-top first sequence with the dress that almost wasn't), it colored the entire experience for me in a negative way.
And it isn't just me. In addition to some along the same lines comments on this thread, there are some much stronger comments on the same subject, on the "A Valentines Day Gift from Fox" thread. There's sexy, and there's sexist/exploitative, and the Summer/Eliza promos crossed that line in a big way, IMO. So now I'm waiting to see where it goes from here. But I'm wondering if this wasn't some of what Joss has mentioned being uncomfortable with, in several interviews.
One more comment before getting off this subject .....
I can't help but feel that the people who are getting all hung up on the opening sequence (that dress! the cheesy motorcycle bit! etc) are doing roughly the equivalent of bitching after the opening of the BSG pilot "well, it's all just an excuse to show cliched "hot alien sex."
Not at all, for me. I loved the beginning of the BSG pilot. The "hot alien sex" was an integral part of the plot, that was made clear from the start. And it was a sex scene between a man and a woman, not just a woman dancing in a dress that would embarrass Britney Spears, shortly after a "hot chicks" promo that was so cringe-worthy that a number of others have commented on it, as well.
So for my re-watch impressions (fast forwarding through the sexist promos helped). I still feel that the opening "sexy action" sequence seemed awkwardly cobbled into the rest of the show, which is so not Joss. I would so love to see his original pilot.
Otherwise, I liked it a whole lot more, the second time around. What impressed me most the first time is still the most impressive to me, the acting.
Eliza was simply amazing. I love the way they're handling the "vacant, in-between-imprints" parts. That could so easily come across as cheesy, but I totally bought it. Now I'm impatient to see if the other actors who play actives, will play it as well as Eliza.
Amy Acker was amazing. So little to do and such a strong impression. The casting so far seems to be vintage Joss, that is, pretty much perfect.
Hoping for more Tahmon, soon. He has an amazing presence and I didn't once think of Helo, although I'd just watched BSG a couple of hours before (weird satellite channel time-zone issues, on Hawaii time, I get BSG an hour before T:TSCC starts).
The seeds of an intricate, multi-layered plot are definitely there. I just hope we get to see it unfold.
Three things I loved the most about this episode (lots of spoilers):
1. References. When Topher says "The New Moon has made her virgin again" he refers to the legend of Persephone, who upon leaving the underworld bathes with her mother in order to become virgin again (a word which, for the ancient Greeks, meant to be in control one's body).
Then he references Hamlet, in the scene where Hamlet talks about Denmark as a prison. So from those two allusions, we get some crazy "girl coming out of an underworld into a prison" system going on. Also: Rambo reference later in the show? Gold.
2. Language. All the dialogue relates to memory and forgetting, but I especially loved three of Echo's lines: "She's not asleep," "Forget it," and "We were coming out." The first was said when Echo entered Sierra's room, the second when Echo had a flashback to 'her' rape/her initial torture at the Dollhouse, and the third when Sierra barges into the kidnappers' lair. All three can be read as Echo talking about herself and her own condition at the time, which is just a fantastic (River-like way) to have a character repressing memories talk about those memories.
3. 'Cutting' Shots. These are shots that use cuts between two characters to cut up their bodies for fabulous effect. One great instance of this is the 'Sierra gets needles into her scene'. In the former, the cuts between Echo and Sierra make us only see her body in pieces, showing us an objectified image of a woman (legs, breasts), and then the view Joss wants us to use to reevaluate this position of women (Sierra's face, looking back at us in pain, begging for help). I'm really excited to see other ways this show will subvert traditional views of women in film.
Overall, I'd say this is a great first episode that is doing everything I wish Joss had time to do with Inara in Firefly.
(sorry for the longish first post, I'm new. hi!)
ebb_of_laughter | February 15, 03:22 CET
Some very great points, ebb_of_laughter! And welcome! :)
Adding to the references, we have a strong undercurrent of fairy tales, in line with the general idea of exploring childhood. We have the "carriage-pumpkin"-monologue in the beginning (and I still wonder, why people dismiss the beginning as completely foxified standard-mainstream-TV-fare... I can't imagine another writer capping that scene off with such a weird but hilarious dialog...), the FBI mentioning the Dollhouse is a fairy tale, and we have Jane Espenson writing episode 11, titled "Briar Rose".
I also liked the dialog between Divina and Gabriel, talking about TV, and how "that reality crap" is helping melting brains. Oh, that reality crap really is. Very nice layers of meta-text (TV/Media is imprinting us), but at the same time, fiction equals sanity. Connect it back to the Dollhouse, you get Joss/Topher saving us. Or is he?
I think the scene I liked most (after repeated viewings, not initially) was the balcony scene with Ellie and Gabriel. This is just neat, how he ties up the whole premise of the show to the case-of-the-week, letting him talk on both levels, mildly disobeying Adelle and thus proving her right, since Echo really did become confused. It's also nice to see the pilot taking off where "Serenity" stopped: Hidden transcripts. Like there was a signal, a message that triggered the weakening of the Alliance, there is a message, a topic, a discussion that triggers the weakening of the grip the Dollhouse has on Echo.
I totally agree about the cutting shots and how he fragmented the whole experience. The episode constantly thinks about the camera which is an aspect I always saw Joss being very ambivalent about. On the one hand, he likes a silent camera that doesn't demand much attention (and the visual brilliance of Firefly is, imo, proving how good this can work), on the other hand, he is a nerd, even as a director, and loves to do stuff like "The Body", where the camera basically becomes a character in the plot. "Ghost" seemed to play nicely on both levels, keeping it low when it should (motorcycle race, dancing, Sierra's big entrance, the docks), but amping it up where there is a point to be made about viewing, looking and observing. I am still amazed about the very first second of the new Joss Whedon show being the weirdest unexplained someone-is-watching-you trope I have ever seen someone pull off. He comes right out of the gate saying: This show is about watching, observing, closed spaces with cameras, and B-cameras. We never get a sense of who is actually watching Caroline and Adelle (except us, of course). We start with the impression of someone watching Caroline on TV. And we end up with someone watching Caroline on a TV. Scary, very.
Excellent comments,ebb_of_laughter. Greetings and welcome.
And wisengrund, that was pure gold and made me thing from a different perspective, on a couple of levels. Also love the technical comments on how Joss uses the camera and 'space'. This is stuff I've noticed and never been able to articulate nearly as well as you. Do I detect some professional experience? ;)
Not at all, just a fanboy trying to pick, pick, pick it apart. ;)
There was an interview with Joss in my favorite German pop-magazine (Spex) back when Serenity was released, and in that interview he talked about his approach to camera-work and acting, and that interview basically sold me to this man I had never heard of before. :) I'll try to find it, so that I can translate some quotes about the camera-work.
Dollhouse started out pretty badly - the Groosalugg
See, I disagree. Yes there was the cold open, and then the overly-cheesy/actiony-crap motorcycle race and dancing but, unfortunately, this was necessary as the show is airing on F*X. Can you imagine a Brothers & Sisters (fantastic family drama series) style episode ever airing on F*X? It just wouldn't happen. But that's not something that Joss et al have any real control over, now that they've signed the show to F*X...
And even in the opening section, we had some good moments, especially the
Echo: "You're good people"
Boyd: "Right" looks dejected
and the following introduction to the House and it's staffers. In fact, I'd say the whole thing picked up after that. So you had a non-great seven minutes or so and then what I consider to be a pretty awesome pilot.
In my own personal rankings, this is up there with Serenity (not living in the US means I never saw The Train Job as the Firefly pilot). And Serenity was a 2h/1h20m episode.
As for the exposition, although there's no denying it was there I thought generally it was fairly well handled. At no point did I think to myself "Bored now." And that goes for the whole episode.
Think that's all I wanted to say, but I'll probably think of more, especially as I watch it more (done one complete viewing and a partial so far).
Oh, the theme. Although I'm not a big fan of the 'non-song' I like the tinkering at the end and generally think it fits the mood of the show fairly well. Sort of childlike and vaguely psychedelic. As for the score in general: A+
I already see the potential of this show, which is what I didn't get from the Buffy pilot.
Hi all! I've been lurking here for years, but I just got a log in pretty recently and this is my first post. It's good to finally talk to you all (even if I'm really late for this party!)
I just wanted to comment on this post of Shay's:
"And it isn't just me. In addition to some along the same lines comments on this thread, there are some much stronger comments on the same subject, on the "A Valentines Day Gift from Fox" thread. There's sexy, and there's sexist/exploitative, and the Summer/Eliza promos crossed that line in a big way, IMO."
I didn't watch this promo (thank god b/c i think it REALLY would have pissed me off) but I'll have to say I'm really intrigued about where all of this seeming totally sexest/exploitation of Eliza stuff if going. B/c on Buffy the whole point of the show (at least initially) was about putting this cute little vulnerable blond girl in an ally with some threatening baddies and then watching her completely defy the expectations for what a cute, blond, valley girl can be.
I wonder (hope, expect) that something similar is going to be going on in Dollhouse.
That we'll start with Eliza as some type of a cross between Sidney Bristow and the Buffybot. Someone who can dance around in a not!dress and look hot while kicking ass but has no control over her own actions. No power of her own. But then over time will completely reinvent what it means to be an ass kicking female action star in a way that allows her to regain power. B/c really it's all about power- who has it and how you get it.
That's what I think (hope) will separate this show from all the other "post-buffy" shows that show women as tough but never really break out of sexy/sexist charlie's angels type stereotypes (I'm definitely thinking Alias here).
In other words, I almost like that it starts from such a low point b/c it gives you somewhere to go. It's gonna be a long journey- which is what makes all of Joss's shows so great. : )
Now I can't believe I have to wait another week for the next episode. This watching a Joss thing on actual TV is going to be really hard!
maybebaby78 | February 15, 08:11 CET
The commercials annoyed me---I barely got a chance to get a snack or go to the washroom!!
If Joss Whedon gives me a bladder infection, so help me God, he'll hear about it!
I wasn't sure how I felt about the theme song at first. But it is definitely growing on me/getting stuck in my head. Same thing happened with the firefly theme song. I think I actually started to laugh the first time I heard the firefly theme song.. but now I can't imagine a more perfect theme.
i'm reading none too positive comments at Alan Sepinwall's blog and I'm reminded, when the little girl (who is the only character other than Echo and Sierra whose name I actually remember) was being kidnapped, at first I though it was a flashback.
Welcome maybebaby78 and ebb_of_laughter and unrecognizedlongtimelurkersfirsttimeposters!
Man, the Whedonhate is heavy at Alan Sepinwall's blog, even with them saying oh, we'll give it a chance. I'm seeing I planned on hating this going in to it and I hate it, so I proved my point.
I just posted this in the chat, but want to put it out here too: Is there a video anywhere of what Joss shot as the original pilot? Because in light of all the criticism of Fri's show, not just here, I would be very interesting in seeing what he intended (even though someone just said on the chat that the re-shooting was his idea).
I don't believe video has ever surfaced, just the script.
Don't have much to add other than joining in on the "liked/loved it" chorus. It easily surpassed my somewhat low expectations. So did Eliza. I'm in.
shambleau | February 15, 13:12 CET
I'm in too. I've watched it twice already and went through the full gamit of emotions. Hate Topher - in a good way. Again, I didn't have high expectations. I'm going to get pissed off with the wiped personalities that are in the dollhouse. The only thing I didn't like was the "she hurts" moment.
The thing that I really got me was the set up and that moment after Ms Penn is wiped. To have that moment of the anxiety and all the badness is just gone now - I wanted to be a doll - even though logically that's insane - the fact that I had the moment, gripped me.
In terms of a rogue doll - there is soooo much scope. A botched up "wiping" could leave a doll with an intake of personalities & memories. Their own capabilities could be incorporated with a those of a assissin or a frikkin ice skater or anything. I'm definitly sticking around for more.
Dear Joss
If you could include a Battlestar reference in every episode I'd be ever so greateful ;)
I promise to eat all my vegatables and will donate to equality now every time you do it.
Yvonne. x
missyu | February 15, 13:38 CET
Something else I love... From my work life I've learned that you can learn a lot about an adult by the way they interact with a small child. Echo is "childlike" when she is wiped and you learn a lot about Dr. Saunders and Topher by their different ways of interacting with echo. Can't wait to see Adelle in a scene with a wiped echo.
Complaints about the fact that Dollhouse is 50 minutes rather than the normal 42/43? Really? That is the strangest/most ridiculous thing I have read all day.
IrrationaliTV | February 15, 15:08 CET
I am so in love with the idea that Adelle has no contact whatsoever with the Actives till now. I mean, we see here interact with Caroline, with Clients, with her little proxys, but never with an Active.
Oh, this is "Never Let Me Go"-inspired, and rightly and wonderfully so.
That's also why I can make sense of that shot of Boyd running towards Echo through the Dollhouse. They do have phones in that house. There is no point in doing that scene that way, no point in building up the tension, except to show that he is willing to go that distance, to bridge that gap that Adelle is unwilling to bridge.
And on fourth viewing: The worst dramaturgic cop-out was that roadblock. I mean, Joss has to know some better ways to end a phone conversation. But it's so minor I really don't bother. :)
And I love the 50 minutes. The pacing was wonderful and it had such a great, un-rushed breathing space.
Maybe the roadblock was a fake cop. We only saw three of the four kidnappers actually take Davina.
They would send a recognizable part of the team to stop Gabriel on the road which requires presumably a lot of work... to do what? To tell him the ransom?
Coming in late to the party so I'm sure a lot of my observations have already been stated much more eloquently but my thoughts on the episode...
Not great, but good. The first ten or so minutes really didn't grab me. I've always thought that Joss is brilliant at that pre-credits teaser that gives a hint of the plot while also being humorous and working by itself. The strange scene with Caroline (though probably very important) felt out of place this early on and wasn't as good as the gang having a bar fight, Angel staking vamps but being tempted by blood or the little blond girl turning into a vampire. The first assignment was pretty dull but perhaps if I knew nothing about the show it might have been okay as the twists were there (i.e. scary motorcycle chase becomes dates becomes girl leaving mysteriously in black van). It became more interesting from then but still didn�t really grab me until Echo walked in on Sierra getting mind-wiped. That pretty much hooked me and the rest of the episode I found quite enjoyable.
I was semi-unspoilt for the first episode but I knew who the characters from reading about it when people were getting cast. I was expecting to really love Adelle but Olivia was really given the hard job in this episode and didn�t get a chance to display much individuality. The character who actually grabbed me more than any of the others (and who was actually the character I thought I�d be least interested in) was Boyd, Echo�s handler. When he was quizzing Ms Penn in the van and when he barged in on Adelle I was riveted. I�m sure the other characters will grow on me soon enough but he�s the one after finishing the episode that I liked the most. (I also have an irrational love for Sierra and Enver�s character but as we only saw a few moments of those I have to assume I am either being pre-judgey, predictive or very shallow ;)) I thought the performance evaluation scene/boxing with Paul worked even if it was perhaps a little heavy handed (plus shirtless Tahmoh and cool marshal arts moves!), I had expected something much worse from various reviews.
In brief other stuff I liked:
1. The bathroom scene with Enver and Tahmoh. There was precious little humour in this episode but this scene was probably the one that felt the most Jossian out of the lot.
2. The Edward James Olmos reference!
3. When the girl was rescued from the fridge was anyone else getting huge River flashbacks? Brunette girl in foetal position saved from white box?
4. Arc stuff. For something that is supposedly stand alone there was a lot of stuff there.
5. Already some interesting stuff about imprinted memories (the asthma etc.) and I found the whole Ms Penn storyline compelling and well acted by Eliza.
6. A nice amount of Shakespeare.
Other stuff I didn�t like:
1. Lack of humour. There was some of it there but not enough to distract from some of the dull expositiony scenes or make some of the characters more likeable.
My rating: B. Iffy start and not enough humour but a much better finish. Potential is the word. No way as bad as some reviews would have it seem.
Now I want more!
[ edited by Leaf on 2009-02-16 02:06 ]
Leaf | February 15, 16:56 CET
Um, no. To help delay his arrival back home. I'm not saying it's what happened. I was just spitballing explanations for anyone who might need one.
I'm looking forward to watching this ep at least a couple more times, beginning with an airing tonight. My only comment on it so far in this thread has been the "LOVED IT!" variety. And I do. Oh yes. (My husband, too, which is not a given - at all. I breathed a big sigh of relief when he gave his thumbs' up. Agreeing on everything is boring in marriage, but agreeing on things near and dear to the heart is muy gratifying.)
Here's what's been percolating in my brainpan aside from "LOVED IT":
1. I was surprised, after all the reviews, how convincing I found Eliza to be as the hostage negotiator. Her "Yo!" persona was totally gone. (Thankfully, too, the bun and glasses were humorously explained away. Otherwise that beaten-to-death trope would have niggled.) I also found Eliza convincing in her other personas, including her blank slate Echo. One key point was when she had to signal to us that she was still Ms. Penn. She nailed it.
2. I loved seeing Amy Acker. It's thrilling to contemplate what her deal is and what her relationship with Topher is. Seems...complicated.
3. Topher: the actor was great. I didn't find him at all Xanderian apart from some superficial similarities. I don't know where people are getting that impression. Where Xander was all about heart, Topher appears to be about everything else - a careless, breezy, self-satisfied approach to other peoples' souls! Shudder. I found him terrifying, funny, and compelling.
4. Loved the Handler. His relationship with Echo and with Dollhouse was humanizing and sad.
5. Adelle is indeed "cold as an alp." Knowing Joss's stories, she'll become more complexly not-cold as time passes. I'm not sure yet what to make of her blond assistant.
6. Two things I absolutely loved because they made me uncomfortable and sad: One, when Echo had her breakdown over a memory that wasn't even hers. It belonged to a composite "Ms. Penn." That killed me. The idea of these composite, created personalities is freakish and troubling. She was devastated and it wasn't real. Or was it? What is real here? Two, the other thing that slayed me was that the two clients both remarked on the fact that she wasn't "real" - their focusing on that made a good proxy for me for feeling the weirdness of Echo's situation. Oh, and three (can't resist) how sad was it when she was eagerly returning to her "treatments" while still in character?
7. Finally, this isn't necessarily good or bad, just different: This is the first time in a Whedon show where I don't feel straight off that cozy "found" or "created" family vibe. There's no Scooby gang, no Fang Gang, no crew and passengers banding around Mal as they make their collective way through space. Sure, there were always interesting fissures in these groups, but groups - bands of "brothers" - they were. Nothing like that yet in "Dollhouse." I suspect that will shift as some of the Dolls form into groups, or Echo develops a tighter relationship with her handler or with Amy's doc character...or...we shall see.
[ edited by phlebotinin on 2009-02-16 03:37 ]
I'm not sure if anyone is still in this thread but I need somewhere to unload a few more thoughts.
Did 'Ghost' remind anyone else of 'Conviction' (the Angel season 5 premiere)?
Why is Topher so well read?
And, also, Amy Acker is really beautiful in Dollhouse. Her look never really worked for me in Angel but she's pretty much wow now. I guess that's just my scar fetish coming through
Weirdo ;-).
Why wouldn't Topher be well read ? He's clearly hella smart.
(also, wasn't it mostly Shakespeare ? So kinda on the obvious end of the 'well-read' spectrum)
5. Adelle is indeed "cold as an alp."
Y'know, i'm not sure about this. Olivia Williams does something brilliant when Boyd is reasoning with her about "what she likes to tell herself", there's genuine human warmth behind her eyes, just for a fraction of a second, and then her face changes subtly and suddenly she's the ice queen again and it's all business.
So I guess i'm saying there're already 'cracks' in her facade IMO. Reed Diamond's security guy is still just a cut and dried baddie though (even then though, he threw Adelle a couple of "looks" that might suggest some human feelings for her).
Yeah, Shakespeare, plus the 'new moon' reference to the Persephone story
Actually, I think his references to literature fit in quite nicely with the possible theme of Topher as artist
Reed Diamond's security guy is still just a cut and dried baddie though (even then though, he threw Adelle a couple of "looks" that might suggest some human feelings for her).
When Boyd said Adelle likes to think she's doing good work Reed Diamond's character shot Adelle a very quick look that showed he knew Boyd had hit the mark and that he thought Adelle might have some (small) reaction. I suspect those two know each other pretty well and have some history.
At the moment, his security character is the one I think I'll have the most trouble getting invested in but I'll need a few more episodes to see
As excited as I am by a new Joss show to watch, love, dissect I'd forgotten how many anti-Joss people there were out there - reading through message boards/blogs has thrown me back about six years and I'm not sure I like it all that much.
I'm glad someone noticed that this shot seemed to be very specifically there.
I'm so geeked for a new Joss show, like others, wasn't expecting the world when watching this pilot. Especially with the monkeying around by the network that was so obvious. I do remember having a small "EEK!" moment when I first saw Amy Acker on screen, followed by a slight disappointment that she again is in a lab coat and holding a clip board. Scars and all, it's a little too Fred-ish for me.
The "Grr Argh" just made me smile. *sigh* I can't wait to see what will happen next.
edenrivers | February 16, 12:09 CET
I just...I dunno.
People have heard me say this: We as a species are hardwired to want stories about us. The best writers do just that -- tell us who we are. And in the past, Whedon has done just that.
And, 'swelp me, I'm just not getting that out of Dollhouse. I found it cold and distant. Even as we start to see who Echo was before she became a Doll, she really only came across to me as just that -- a doll. Not Eliza Dushku's fault -- she did a good job with what she was given -- which really does make it a writer's issue.
Nevertheless, I find myself really on the fence about this show. The concept is intriguing, I will give it that. But I wanted a story about me...a story about who we are as humans. And it just didn't get there.
Which, if that is the point -- who ARE we actually, if our identities can be erased with the push of a button -- I guess that's what Whedon is getting at.
But for me, it just did not connect as I hoped it would.
On a meta-level...No, I really was not set to hate this show. I was set for Whedon to prove himself, as I think all good writers should do. Prove yourself to me and challenge me and DARE me each and every time you have something new. Because that tells me that you are pushing your creative envelope.
So far, I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude.
BetNoir | February 16, 13:15 CET
I wanted to like it and tried to go in with no expectations.
I did not like it. If it were not Joss, I would probably not have made it through the episode.
I have been surprised that the issue of this being about coerced body and mind prostitution is not bothering people. i am surprised that no one here seems concerned that the moral issues here are not ambiguous. I saw nothing that gave what they were doing any positive moral spin. It may as well be set in any number of real places where people are prostituted against their wills. The people in charge are evil and the people who pay for it are supporting evil.
I had gotten the impression that we were supposed to think these people were volunteers and then have doubt come into it about whether they were truly volunteers. It was made clear in the first moments that Echo does not want to do this. She is being coerced.
Joss asked in an interview if prostitution was necessarily wrong? If that question is being raised in this series, it would be is coerced prostitution necessarily wrong? i can't believe that that is Joss's intent. If it is supposed to be exploring identity, he is going the long way around the exploitivness trail to get there.
Anyway, I will watch it because it is Joss, even though I saw no Joss in it.
newcj | February 16, 13:59 CET
I have been surprised that the issue of this being about coerced body and mind prostitution is not bothering people.
Who's not bothered? Joss has said all along that people would find this situation very upsetting. We're clearly meant to be extremely bothered by all of this. Do you think that that pleading, distraught look on Dichner's face as she's getting wiped was meant to make us think "oh, good, as long as this is all being handled professionally then there's no ethical problems here?
My point is that I am not seeing much mention of it at all on Whedonesque in the context of whether it is successful in making a point at all rather than being flatly evil to no purpose. Maybe I missed it in all the comments, but mostly people are talking about the characters being intriguing and whether they liked specific scenes.
I saw nothing that gave what they were doing any positive moral spin.
They saved Davina's life.
Which they did only because the woman in charge was convinced to follow through even though she was apparently not smart enough to understand the problem that word of mouth might cause if she allowed a client's child to be lost, due to their own error after also allowing the client to be shot. Meanwhile, what was the added value of having an active do the job rather than a trained professional who actually does it for a living? I have not seen them do anything that could not be done by people who actually signed up for the real job of their own free will.
I'm not used to plot depending on people who are supposed to be smart being stupid in Whedon shows. That bothered me a lot too.
[ edited by newcj on 2009-02-16 23:49 ]
The only complaint I have on Dollhouse is the set. Or the set directors Joss hires. All I can think about while watching Dollhouse is - "Why can't Joss hire a more environmentally friendly set director for his shows". Was a whole forest cut down just to make that ugly set! I hated it when they used endangered Redwood on the W&H set during the filming of the 5th season of Angel. I have seen first hand what is happening to our North American Forests. I'ts not a pretty picture.
Is it only the independent studios, and WB the only large studio, in showbiz that recycle their sets?
Little Green Kid | February 16, 15:14 CET
Which they did only because the woman in charge was convinced to follow through even though she was apparently not smart enough to understand the problem that word of mouth might cause if she allowed a client's child to be lost, due to their own error after also allowing the client to be shot.
Of course, bad plotting (if it is that) has nothing to do with the ethical questions you raise. That is, saving the child was a "moral good" that resulted from the actions of the "Actives" whether or not you believe that those actions were plausibly motivated.
As to whether this was bad plotting: they made it clear that they thought that the guy who hired them was probably going to die. It would have been a plausible decision to decide to cut your losses at that point. His death wouldn't go unnoticed by the authorities, it would be bad news for the Actives to still be out in the field if the cops started nosing about. If he's dead he can't badmouth them (and, after all, how much "word of mouth" can there be about an operation which is so completely underground. He's not going to write a bad review on Yelp, after all). All things considered, I don't see that as a one-sided "smart people doing stupid things to keep the plot moving." (And I agree, by the way, that that is something I hate.
Meanwhile, what was the added value of having an active do the job rather than a trained professional who actually does it for a living? I have not seen them do anything that could not be done by people who actually signed up for the real job of their own free will.
I agree that that wasn't adequately explained. I'm thinking that this might just be one of those things they choose to leave unexplained (like "how come those Firefly people are all obviously not very rich, but can afford to pay for interstellar travel?" or "Why don't the authorities close down Sunnydale High when it has such an appalling death rate?"). Genre shows ALWAYS require some key suspension of disbelief. Either you can get on board with that, or genre fiction ain't for you.
That said, we can fanwank some not-bad explanations. He could have been worried that a legit organization would have notified the authorities. Also, he's obviously used the Dollhouse's services before--perhaps he has a very high opinion of their abilities--and would rather go with an organization he trusts than a legit one he doesn't know about. I mean, after all, once you've decided that you don't want the police involved, what are the legitimate freelance hostage negotiator companies that you would turn to?
I don't think Adelle was being stupid, just risk-averse. It seems like she accepted the job because a frequent client had a dire need. It seems like no one except the client (who at that point seemed unlikely to survive) and the Dollhouse would know of the connection, and immediately pulling out to make sure it remained that way was the smartest, least risky thing to do.
It wasn't the best thing to do. For that insight there's Boyd, whose decision-making is very different from Adelle's.
I think it's worth taking into consideration what Agent Mulder Ballard said about why crazy-rich people would bother with Actives. The client here went to the Dollhouse because he knew them and trusted their discretion, he couldn't go through law enforcement channels (and that's where experienced hostage negotiators are), and he wanted a large degree of control over this. He wanted the best, and he wanted it all handled like clockwork. It's a reasonable choice given his position and his character as a rich control freak. Did you see his house? See his parenting style? He seems like a decent guy, but one who really values control. Which makes it darkly funny when Active who shows up is the last person he'd have asked for.
And people thought it wasn't funny.
[ edited by Sunfire on 2009-02-17 01:04 ]
one who really values control. Which makes it darkly funny when Active who shows up is the last person he'd have asked for.
I agree with this, but to me this was actually much more of a "how does that work, again" than the mere fact of him going to the Dollhouse for his negotiator. I mean, why wouldn't the Dollhouse simply give him the negotiator of his dreams? They're not in it, after all, to save little girls, they're in it to satisfy rich people's fantasies/desires. If he comes to them and says "I want a Morgan Freeman type" (which seems to be what he had in mind), why don't they give him a Morgan Freeman type--even if they disagree with him that that is the most effective negotiator?
Maybe sometimes clients think they know what they want, but whatever they "enter ... into the Confessional" reveals to the Dollhouse what they really want.
ETA: Or, in a case such as this, the client might think they know what "the best" is supposed to be, but the Dollhouse actually knows what "the best" for the situation is, and since the client asked for "the best", that's what the client was given, regardless of the client's preconceptions on that count.
He just wants it to go like clockwork. That's not the same thing as knowing what to ask for to make that happen. It just happens that what he thinks he needs and what the Dollhouse thinks he needs are different. That's probably a reflection of Topher knowing a truckload more about personalities than the client. Although as we see what Topher comes up with still has a lot of unknowns once it's out in the real world.
Or what bix said. Hey so what is this confessional thing? That line puzzled me.
Hey so what is this confessional thing? That line puzzled me.
I'm wondering if there's a price beyond money for the services of the Dollhouse. Like, perhaps a client needs to give up something about themselves -- either just informationally (which amounts to having something to keep clients in check) or maybe so far as to have some part of the client's personalities scanned for use by the Dollhouse.
Hmmm interesting. I do wonder how they get those personalities. It seems given the Actives' pained reactions to various procedures in Topher's chair that giving them your memories would be painful.
He just wants it to go like clockwork. That's not the same thing as knowing what to ask for to make that happen.
Well, yes and no. Obviously he wants it to go like clockwork. But he is pretty bluntly skeptical that Echo is the right person for the job--in fact, IIRC, he comes close to calling up the Dollhouse and sending her back. He does have a specific idea of the kind of negotiator that he thinks would be best for the job.
Now, if I'm in the Dollhouse business, how much do I care about the outcome, how much do I care about giving the client what he says he wants? You might say "well, as long as he gets the child, he'll be happy and that's a potential repeat customer." Well, perhaps that's right--on the other hand, with the scene as it played out, he got shot, the girl got kidnapped and that much more traumatized...I'm not sure how thrilled he'll be about the Dollhouse's judgment.
If, on the other hand, they'd given him a Morgan Freeman type, there's no reason to think that that means destroying the possibility of a successful outcome (after all, what screws up the case as it is is something that no negotiator could have foreseen, and which Echo is actually singularly badly placed to prevent). And if the case does go wrong, then at least their client will say "well, they gave me exactly what I asked for."
There's a ROM/RW difference in there which might be crucial. The painful process is the memory wipe (preparing the mind to be imprinted), it might be that merely copying chunks of the client's personality/memories isn't so bad.
Mind you, I'd find it pretty hard to imagine billionaire clients being willing to let the Dollhouse people roam around in their memories unless they were really, really, really life-and-death desperate.
I'm just spitballing theories of the Confessional. And it would help (although, so would simply "share a secret with us") give more explanation to why clients don't seem to out the existence of the Dollhouse to the authorities.
They gave him exactly what he asked for. He didn't say "I want a hostage negotiator who is a fatherly figure just like Edward James Olmos." He said "I want the best person to do this" and pictured what that person would be like. His expectation didn't match what the Dollhouse delivered, but they delivered what was in their judgment the best person for the job. Not what he had in mind, but what he needed.
"how much "word of mouth" can there be about an operation which is so completely underground."
If they are not known through word of mouth, how are they known? Word of mouth as in people who know each other recommending services, not annoucing something over the internet.
As far as Adelle's actions. Admittedly the amateurish way they handled things when the plan went wrong, indicates that this might be an unusual job for them. if so, making that clearer might have been a good idea.
That said, usually businesses have a general default way of doing things. This company's only plan seemed to be, we mess up, we grab our person and get out. To hell with the client. The stupidity comes in with that being bad business and her not seeing it. The bad ethics and morals are inherent in that apparently being their default.
They don't have a hospital set up for the actives that they could have quietly whisked the client to while they did damage control? They don't have a clean-up plan for if things go wrong? What kind operation is this? Are they evil bunglers? If they are just a high priced whorehouse that got out of their league, it would have been nice to have a sense of that. Otherwise, it just seems like a pretty normal unthoughtout trashy show, and that does not match with what we all know of Joss Whedon.
What kind operation is this?
Seems precisely like the sort of question an entire series, rather than merely just the series pilot, might answer.
:-D True, if it is something interesting and not just a group of pimps with high tech toys who are unable to manage anything else. That would just be a drag.
They gave him exactly what he asked for. He didn't say "I want a hostage negotiator who is a fatherly figure just like Edward James Olmos." He said "I want the best person to do this" and pictured what that person would be like
I must be forgetting a scene. We know exactly what he asked for?
They don't have a hospital set up for the actives that they could have quietly whisked the client to while they did damage control?
Do we know they didn't do this? I don't remember that being made clear. They certainly seemed up to date on his condition.
I think the assumption is that he was in a public hospital, given "this is becoming news". Presumably it wouldn't be becoming news if he were in some private Dollhouse hospital.
I imagine they make the initial approach to many of their clients. I'm sure they would prefer that their clients are extremely discreet about who they talk to about the Dollhouse.
All in all, though, that is simply going to be one of the areas that won't hold up to too much scrutiny. There's a reason that a place like this can't exist in the real world (not, at least, operating out of a basement in Los Angeles). Again, that's the nature of genre fiction. If you're going to say "but there's no such thing as vampires" or "you can't exceed the speed of light" then, again, it just ain't your genre.
this is becoming news
Maybe--but if a billionaire is in a public hospital with gunshot wounds isn't that just "news" not "becoming news"? I'd have though "this is becoming news" could mean "one way or another this is going to generate publicity." I mean, if he dies, then it's news. Even if he lives, he's suddenly appearing all covered in bandages etc.
snot, he tells Adelle what he wants, and then goes off to the confessional-whatsit. We don't know the specifics after that but the general need we hear him tell Adelle is pretty plain. The only specific thing he says there is that it should be a negotiator, "not Rambo." It's also pretty clear when he's talking to Eleanor that she isn't at all what he expected, but he doesn't quite have the attitude of someone who didn't get what he asked for, either. It's a subtle difference but it's there. Plus she and Topher in different scenes are more or less feeding back lines that emphasize how she's the expert and the best person for the job. It's echoed enough between the client, Topher, and Eleanor in 3 different scenes that we don't need to have overheard while the client told them what he wanted.
I find it interesting that there was no wrap-up scene with Gabriel. I mean, I actually cared about his story.
It's kinda like jumping straight to "Eternity" in S1 of Angel.
They say he's stable and they've obviously rescued the wee girl so i'd say his is a happy ending, even if we don't explicitly see it (I liked his story too though - for an unknown, to me, guest star the guy did a great, emotive job, especially when he was talking on the phone IMO).
If, on the other hand, they'd given him a Morgan Freeman type, there's no reason to think that that means destroying the possibility of a successful outcome (after all, what screws up the case as it is is something that no negotiator could have foreseen, and which Echo is actually singularly badly placed to prevent).
Err, what ? If Echo wasn't there (or Ellie Penn rather) then the boat would have pulled away and the little girl would've been repeatedly raped and then killed. A "Morgan Freeman type" would NOT have been kidnapped by the older guy and would NOT then know that he never intended to give the girl back, no-matter what they paid - the boat then pulls away, the child (and money) never to be seen again. Her asthma was incapacitating but assuming she and the father were both unarmed (as seems reasonable) she wouldn't have been able to stop them anyway (not to mention the possibility that Ellie Penn may never have even held a gun before).
So Echo/Ellie was not only the best person for the job, she was actually the only negotiator (or one of a select - in the worst way - few) that would know what was going to happen and could do anything to prevent it.
As to the rest of the doubts etc. i'd only say that this is episode 1 folks. Who knows, maybe the guy that's always delivered in the past will end up explaining some of these holes in the coming weeks.
I think I can decide what my genre is for myself, thank you.
The suspension of disbelief is necessary in any fiction. That does not mean the author can do anything he/she wants and insist that the audience has to accept it. Something being termed "genre" also does not give the work a free pass to do anything at all with it being the audience's responsibility to make it make sense. It is still the author's responsibility to suck the audience into that world and create a sense of reality in as strange a world as he/she dares to create. Obviously Joss has succeeded for the majority of people on Whedonesque and that is great. He has not succeeded for me at all yet, and I'm afraid most people who are not Whedon fans will not wait around for him to succeed with them.
Wow, I'm surprised to hear such disappoitned sibelief, newcj. I mean, there are a LOT of shows on TV right now that require typical suspensions of disbelief (and not just about typical genre things, but about everyday common sense understandings), like Lost or Chuck. I think even if this were not a Joss show, it would fit relatively well into the current TV landscape (there are a lot of supernatural-y/sci-fi-y shows, a lot of spy/action episodic shows going on right now). I don't see audiences being that unable to suspend their disbelief in order to "get" Dollhouse.
That being said, snot monster, you're totally wrong and saje is totally right about the uniquely qualified nature of Echo/Ellie for this job. It may not have turned out ideally (what with the client getting shot and everything), but this was actually the best-to-be-hoped-for outcome of the kidnapping, and Ellie was the ONLY person who had the insight necessary to make it happen.
[ edited by Septimus on 2009-02-17 16:09 ]
hey Krusher (she says a few days late) I saw 1234567890! Well, I saw the screen flash in front of me as i was trying to explain time servers to my roommate, anyway.
If I had a problem with suspension of disbelief in general, I don't think I would be on this board. I don't have a problem suspending disbelief for the premise. I just had a problem with the things I stated up thread getting in the way of wanting to spend time in this world. Snot Monster indicated that that meant that the genre was not right for me. I am just saying that having a premise that is not realistic does not mean that you can do anything you want. You still need to create the illusion of reasonableness so the audience is encouraged to suspend their disbelief. That was made difficult for me because this group of supposed high level operators seemed amateurish and in some cases stupid. The fact that the actives are shown to be coerced also pulled me out of it, making me have little desire to spend a hour in a world with no redeeming qualities I could see.
But the boat does leave with the girl on board. All Echo/Ellie's warning achieves is to get the client shot. Had she not seen the rapist guy, they'd still have handed over the money and had the bad guys drive off in the boat with the money and the girl. At that point I would think they'd have moved to pretty much the same Plan B that they went to in this case. There's clearly no point in continuing ransom negotiations with people who won't act in good faith.
Even Echo/Ellie's use of her private information to get the bad guys to neutralize the rapist guy turns out not to have mattered. It actually would have been less traumatic for the girl if the commandos had just gone in and shot everyone while she was still safely in the fridge.
Admittedly, I've only watched the episode once so I could be forgetting something crucial here. Is there something about what Echo/Ellie remembers that allows them to figure out where the bad guys have holed up? I remember some discussion about the range of the motorboat (it was "riding high" so presumed not to have much fuel)...but I can't now recall exactly how they pinpointed the hideout. Although--seeing as the rapist guy wasn't the "boss" of the kidnappers, I'm not sure how he would have determined which hideout they'd go to.
Wasn't it that the guy in the mask was the girl's teacher? I don't remember if the house belonged to him or what, but once Echo figured out who he was she knew where to go.
That's actually a good point, snot monster. The hideout was the cabin of the sister (I think) of the school-teacher/kidnapper. So, I don't think that Ellie's particular backstory clued them in on that.
Arguably, at least, Ellie's knowledge about the baddest bad guy gave them some insight as to the real motivation and the futility of continuing to deal with them. And it caused the kidnappers to turn on each other which made the rescue go the way it did.
I think one thing we should learn from this is that the Dollhouse does NOT necessarily provide the absolute best person conceivable for the job. They provide the best person that they can. In this case, for instance, the super-duper negotiator was also a traumatized former victim.
I am just saying that having a premise that is not realistic does not mean that you can do anything you want. You still need to create the illusion of reasonableness so the audience is encouraged to suspend their disbelief. That was made difficult for me because this group of supposed high level operators seemed amateurish and in some cases stupid. The fact that the actives are shown to be coerced also pulled me out of it, making me have little desire to spend a hour in a world with no redeeming qualities I could see.
Actually, newcj, it was a propos of two specific questions that you raised that I said "that's the nature of genre." The "amateurish" one wasn't one of them and nor was the "no redeeming qualities" one. Please, go back and look at what I wrote. I was responding A) to the complaint that there was no "added value of having an active do the job rather than a trained professional" and B) to the question you raised about "If they are not known through word of mouth, how are they known?"
I agree entirely that genre fiction doesn't give you a license to do anything at all. What I said was that all genre fiction entails some fundamental suspensions of disbelief. I think that the mere existence of an institution like the Dollhouse is not a real-world possibility (for all sorts of reasons). If you are going to object to the premise of the show on these specific kinds of "how would that work in the real world?" ways, then the show simply isn't ever going to be able to satisfy you.
Obviously, though, that doesn't apply to objections like "why would he hire such an obviously amateurish crew to do this." My disagreement with you there was that I didn't think that the job they did was so self-evidently "amateurish." As for the moral bleakness of the setting, we agree about that. You find that it makes the show unappealing to you, and I don't. That would just be a case of de gustibus non est disputandem (sp??).
The hideout was the cabin of the sister (I think) of the school-teacher/kidnapper. So, I don't think that Ellie's particular backstory clued them in on that.
Ah, yes, I remember now--thanks Septimus. So it remains unclear to me why Echo/Ellie was the best person for this job. She was the best person for Joss's purposes (she gave the audience vital inside knowledge that ramped up the suspense), but from the girl's father's p.o.v. the only thing she added was getting him shot--no doubt an interesting detour on life's highway, but probably not one he considered overall to be a bonus.
Now, if I'm in the Dollhouse business, how much do I care about the outcome, how much do I care about giving the client what he says he wants?
You have to care about both. You give a customer what he thinks he needs and the "engagement" doesn't have the outcome desired, he isn't going to return and might do what he can to end the Dollhouse. Give a customer what is neccessary for the job and he won't care that the doll wasn't what he was expecting. As I'm sure is the case with the first episode.
As for Echo/Ellie's private information, it did matter. If she didn't have those memories, then they would have wiped her and let the chips fall where they may with the client. Because she had those memories and her handler recognized that, he knew they could find the girl and was able to press that with the higher ups. Without that knowledge, who knows if they would have figured out the rest and found the girl ever.
ETA: people got to it first.
Well, as I think about it more, it's kind of hard to know what would have happened had Ellie not had her breakdown/insight. Would the kidnappers have driven off in the boat with the girl and the money? Probably. How exactly would that work, since the other three guys were expecting to give back the girl at that point? I don't know. Would they have left the father alive? That's unclear. Maybe the baddest bad guy would have killed them all right away (no need to keep them around once the illusion of returning the girl is gone?)? This sort of counter-fictional guessing is usually pretty unclear.
I do think that if it had not been for Ellie's past, Boyd and Ellie would not have been as determined to get her back - and maybe would not have been as convincing in getting the Dollhouse not to follow procedure. It seems like the modus operandi wouldhave been to take the more cautious route and continue trying to negotiate...
Honestly, I don't really think the people at the Dollhouse are any better at deciding who is the best person for the job as the client is. In this case, they got lucky actually. And as it turned out, the best person for the job wasn't Ellie. It was Boyd.
They get hired to create a personality to complete a particular task and do that to the best of their ability, with the bonus of the person who does the job won't be around later to cause problems for the client. How it turns out is as up in the air as anything in life.
And as it turned out, the best person for the job wasn't Ellie. It was Boyd.
Well, I agree that you have to care about both. My question was "how much" each factor would be weighed. Oddly enough, you seem to go on to say that you should really only care about the outcome and not care at all about how the client thinks that outcome would best be reached ("give a customer what is necessary, and he won't care about the rest").
Well, it varies with each engagement. In the case of the abduction, the outcome was more important. And as was stated, he wasn't really that specific in who he wanted, just what he wanted. He wanted it to go smooth. But there is no guarantee of that no matter who they sent.
And in the first engagement that we see Echo, as the perfect date, the clients expectations had to be met and the outcome is less a priority. (Him getting a crush.)
Ex-cop heroics saved the day! He even convinced Adelle to change her decision which, you know, doesn't seem like a normal thing. I'm guessing.
She's a little scary.
As for Echo/Ellie's private information, it did matter. If she didn't have those memories, then they would have wiped her and let the chips fall where they may with the client.
Well, maybe. I mean, if what Joss set out to write was a story in which the Active's implanted memories are essential to saving the client, then you'd have to say that he failed. It would, after all, have been a piece of cake to make something in all of this absolutely depend upon Ellie's memories (have the rapist guy be the gang leader, have her remember his fondness for a particular kind of hideout and have that be the clue that leads them to find the gang--whatever).
Me, I don't think that that was the story he was trying to tell. The story we got was one in which Ellie's memories allowed us to understand A) that the Actives get implanted with surprisingly 'whole' personalities, B) that the little girl was facing a specific (rather than a generalized) threat, C) that the threat facing the girl (abduction/rape) was eerily similar to the fate Echo is undergoing D) that, in a sick and morally-disturbing twist, Echo-as-brainwashing-victim could get to act out the cathartic/redemptive act of standing up to Ellie's oppressor that Ellie herself had never been able to do.
As to what the girl's father would have asked the Dollhouse team to do once the kidnappers had absconded with his daughter AND his money: I, myself, would find a "well, let's just renew negotiations" approach utterly unbelievable. I think the "well, we tried negotiations, let's go for the commandos" approach would be the obvious next step. Now, clearly we're into the realm of speculation about possible fictional worlds, here, so nothing is provable, but what is clearly true is that there is nothing in this case that depended upon Ellie's memories. The sequence of events could have played out pretty much as they did with or without Ellie.
Oh, and as regards the specific rejoinder that "it was the--otherwise unknowable--threat to the little girl that made DeWitt stay in the case": that may or may not be true, but it was Echo getting the client shot that made her want to drop the case in the first place. And although Ellie's memories give us a very concrete sense of the threat the little girl faces, I don't think that anybody faced with a situation in which kidnappers have absconded with the ransom money thinks that the kidnappee is sitting pretty.
And as was stated, he wasn't really that specific in who he wanted
I thought the upshot of that discussion was "we don't know how specific he was."
Echo-as-brainwashing-victim could get to act out the cathartic/redemptive act of standing up to Ellie's oppressor that Ellie herself had never been able to do.
Hey: I'm sure this has been commented on before, but aren't we getting deep into the territory of "I Only Have Eyes For You" here?
I'm sure I'm mostly preaching to the choir by this point, but if anyone's only seen the episode once, I highly recommend re-watching it. I watched it for the second time today and enjoyed it so much more.
NotaViking | February 17, 11:15 CET
FWIW, there is no "Ellie". Eleanor Penn was a construct. We don't know who the abuse victim was, or what she was named.
I actually did not have a problem with them being known by word of mouth. I had assumed that that would be the case, you in fact were the one who assumed they could not do business through word of mouth. See below:
If he's dead he can't badmouth them (and, after all, how much "word of mouth" can there be about an operation which is so completely underground.
So you created the question, not me.
I do not understand why there being no added value in the use of an active would be something that one would have to accept as part of the genre, however. Things usually exist for a reason.Vampires in the world mean vampire slayers make sense. A group of developing worlds means that low cost transport ships make sense. I am hopeful that this Dollhouse will somehow make sense.
Is that right, b!x? I honestly don't remember. I know that the "Ellie" that we saw was an amalgamation of personalities/memories. But, what does Topher say about the woman who killed herself? Does he call her "Ellie?" I thought he did, but may very well be mistaken.
All in all, I didn't think there was as much emphasis on the amalgamation/art of combining personalites in this episode as on the personalities-have-inherent-flaws issue, so they may not have been emphasizing the details.
Newcj, obviously one person's reasonable question is another person's moment of required suspension of disbelief. In a world with vampires, vampire slayers make sense, but a world with vampires and demons that (aside form the existence of vampires) seems to look a lot like our world and in which most people are ignorant of their very existence kind of doesn't. that being said, I do hope that it all comes together more coherently than we have seen it do so far.
Vampires in the world mean vampire slayers make sense
Not really. One slayer to fight a world full of vampires? That makes the kind of sense that's...not. Armed squads of highly trained humans (look how well Riley can do, how well Principal Wood can do, how well Giles and even Xander can do) would make far more "sense." You're just willing to swallow that particular enabling fiction (as am I)--presumably because we just don't have to care about the havoc the vampires are wreaking unopposed in Bucharest, Paris, Lagos, Sydney, New York, Birmingham, Beijing (etc. etc. etc.) because it doesn't get into the storyworld of the series.
As for the "low cost transport ships"--no, none of that makes the slightest lick of sense. Transporting a ship from one star to another takes an ENORMOUS amount of energy. And yet energy is clearly not "cheap" in the Firefly universe (people ride around on horses, employ slave-like laborers to quarry "mud" etc.).
Again--for the purposes of enjoying the story we need to just bleep over what we know to be fixed truths about physics and economics.
Now, you say you're happy to do that in Dollhouse's case, so my comments about "if you're not willing to do this then this isn't the genre for you" clearly don't apply to you, do they? But surely you'd agree that they do apply to anyone who isn't willing to suspend disbelief in that way?
But, what does Topher say about the woman who killed herself? Does he call her "Ellie?" I thought he did, but may very well be mistaken.
Yeah, that was my memory too--but obviously I could have just applied the "composite character" name to the real woman that Topher left nameless.
He says something like "Ellie, or the people we made her out of." Ellie's the personality he gave Echo. We don't know the name of the woman who killed herself.
And as was stated, he wasn't really that specific in who he wanted.
But we know this: when Echo showed up he wasn't surprised because she wasn't what he ordered, he was surprised because she wasn't what he was expecting. If he had specifically requested a fatherly type negotiator he would have said that. He didn't. So we know based on what he states is his only objective, that it go witout a hitch, and his reaction to mean he only asked for a doll to do what he needed without being specific enough to ask for a particular sex or age.
I think Eleanor Penn/Ellie was the best person for the job because on top of being implanted with all the necessary expert training (possibly from multiple sources) she had the single minded motivation to succeed in the 'engagement' no matter what the cost. She was specifically constructed for this to be not just a job but her life's mission. That's combination of dedication and expertise that only the Dollhouse can provide. As for providing a fatherly type do any of the actives look EJO-like? They all seem to be very pretty young things.
hayes62 | February 17, 11:52 CET
Admiral Adama is the Ultimate Active secretly held in wait for the Ultimate Engagement. Which I hear involves a battle with killer robots. Sweet!
I'm sure one of the final five actives is fatherly looking...
Ellie, or the people we made her out of.
But does he give a name to the one specific one who was raped by the hostage taker and who subsequently killed herself? I assume there was only one with that story?
I think Eleanor Penn/Ellie was the best person for the job because on top of being implanted with all the necessary expert training (possibly from multiple sources) she had the single minded motivation to succeed in the 'engagement' no matter what the cost.
Topher didn't know that the personality he dropped into Echo had been raped by one of the client's daughter's kidnappers. Yes, she had, in general, motivation to make sure that little girls get sprung from hostage situations, but "motivation to complete the job," would, one thinks, be a characteristic given to any possible kind of Active.
As for providing a fatherly type do any of the actives look EJO-like? They all seem to be very pretty young things.
Yeah, I wondered about that. Leaving aside the question of whether he was "surprised" or "disappointed" that Echo rather than EJO showed up at the door (which seems to me to require a lot of reading between the lines), I wonder what improvement he hoped to get if he did call the Dollhouse and say "send me another Active." Are there any older Actives? Not that he, necessarily, would know that there weren't.
ETA: also, I wonder if Topher can just "drop" a name into the Active? I mean, your name goes pretty far down into your personality, doesn't it? It's tied up pretty tight with many of your most powerful memories. Does Topher have the ability to just "write over" the name memories in the personalities he's implanting with a made-up name? Wouldn't it be easier to draw on the name of the "primary" source for the implants?
I'm sure this will be settled in upcoming episodes. Someone will come in wanting to hire an Active called "Ermintrude" or something.
We don't know the name of the woman who killed herself. Topher never says it.
Topher: "The persona we developed?"
Boyd: "Bunch of different people."
Topher: "Yeah. And one of them was abused by the guy she ran into."
Boyd: "I know."
Topher: "I looked her up. She killed herself."
FWIW, we don't know whether or not Topher knew one of the persona's component people had been abused (although even if he did he obviously wouldn't have known it was by one of Davina's kidnappers). All we know is he didn't know that person had killed herself until he looked it up.
Which for me was as much about Topher being short-sighted and a bit callous as it was about moving the plot or potential themes forward.
Maybe, as it turns out. Then again, without her insight into the older guy's MO, they wouldn't even know she was probably in a fridge (even Morgan Freeman doesn't come with that knowledge built in ;) so even the "commando" approach would've been pretty hit and miss. And by the time "SWAT" arrived the bad guys had had a gun fight with one dead, maybe it goes down differently without that. It's certainly true that we don't know another negotiator wouldn't have been just as successful and just as able to make the deductions that Miss Penn makes but then she made the deductions right in front of us, for me that's worth more as evidence than the possibility that someone else might have.
Fair points though, it's not cut and dried and we're not given an incontrovertible fact to tie it all up in a watertight logical bundle and make it definitive that without Ellie Penn it definitely would've gone pear shaped. Again though, as with previous discussions we've had along these lines, we're given the overall impression that that's the case IMO (as i've said before, in fiction - especially Whedonian fiction IMO - it's not about putting it beyond nit-picking or beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's about the balance of evidence and whether it carries the viewer with it - for me it did).
Well again, though, as in that other argument, if it really was important to Joss that we understand that Ellie/Echo's imprinting was crucial to the outcome of the episode, they why not write it that way? It would have been absurdly easy, after all as I've shown--it only takes a change in dialogue: hell, they could do it in post.
As for the fridge: you think if they'd just sent the commandos in to kill the guys they'd have poked around the house a bit and said "hey, we can't find her: there is this large boxlike thing with the door roped shut lying on the floor in the kitchen, but we decided it wasn't worth looking in there"? The only purpose the fridge-thing served was to prove to the less-evil kidnappers that Ellie/Echo knew what she was talking about when she accused the other kidnapper of being a perv.
This isn't "nit picking" or wanting things to be proven "beyond a shadow of a doubt." What we see is Ellie/Echo getting a monster-attack of asthma and telling the client "Don't let them leave," thereby getting him shot to no purpose whatsoever--because the kidnappers do get away with both the money and the girl. The one neat thing she does manage to do as a result of her special knowledge is to get the less-evil kidnappers to turn on the ultra-evil kidnapper. Now, again, if Joss wanted us to go away thinking "aha, special implanted memory saved the day!!" why write the scene that follows, where the commandos come in and render that neat bit of negotiating pointless? Again--I felt the irony of that moment was very deliberate and it's right there on the screen, not some vague hypothetical alternative.
And, in this case (unlike the other) I actually think the story is better for this ambiguity. It would have just been absurdly deus ex machina for the successful outcome of the mission to depend on the bizarre fluke that Ellie/Echo has memories that happened to come from someone who had been a victim of one of the villains-of-the-week. That would be cheesy improbability, in my view. I think the think that's cool about what Joss did is to tease us with that cheesy plot line, and then negate it. The memories don't actually help solve the case--the only thing they do do is allow Echo to bring "closure" to a ghost. It's a niftily disturbing moment, really, where the audience gets to think "yay, the once victimized girl is standing up and fighting back against the monster that oppressed her" and then does a series of double-triple-quadruple takes ("no wait--the only thing that makes this possible is that this girl is a victim of evil brainwashers; no wait again--the girl getting 'closure' is dead anyway, what good does it do her?; no wait again--not even Echo gets to enjoy this vicarious 'closure' because she's about to be wiped..." etc.).
In other words, I think that clinging to the idea that "Ellie's special knowledge allowed her to save Davina" is trying to force the show into a less morally problematic space than the one Joss is exploring. I think that's the attempt to seek a "watertight logical bundle"--what I'm looking for is (interesting) moral ambiguity.
We remember and Boyd remembers. That's not the same as the abused woman living on or Echo remembering she saved someone like she always wanted or Ellie being real and her closure lasting beyond the mission, but it is something that we walk away with.
And yeah, it's immediately countered by the mind-wiping hey kids Echo's this guy's dream date and won't remember it stuff. Whedony.
I think there will always be a need for the Active to convince the client that she is the right person for the job. Of course. Eliza has said that one of the things that they got rid of in the later episodes are these "convincing"-monologues where she tells a bunch of guys that she's right for the job. But for me the satisfaction of Gabriel is achieved in the balcony-scene. There he gets it.
What happened on the dock is the crazy random happenstance that noone could have predicted. Bad luck, sure, but it has nothing to do with whether Ellie was "perfect" for the job. (Also, that "bad luck"/"cheese improbability" reminds me of Fringe. I don't like it there. But I think it's okay here.)
And "Amen!" to that.
Which is all I meant to convey. Topher didn't know that one of the kidnappers was the guy who raped part of his Miss Penn personality but that rape was *how* he gave her character the motivation to complete whatever the job turned out to be. Topher sounds rather like a writer creating a backstory here, which is maybe the point.
Yes, we do. And to some degree that is uplifting. On the other hand it's also kinda hollowed out by the knowledge that the girl didn't actually face her demons and triumph--she committed suicide. And Echo isn't sadder/wiser, she's back to square one--and so on. This, to me, is what's fascinating about the terrain that the Dollhouse storyspace opens up. In many ways, of course, it's a meditation on the nature of genre fiction (you keep telling the stories, but they never get resolved--it's one of the points about 'haunting,' of course, that's alluded to in the pilot's title: genre storyspace is a haunted space--all the stories are there, all waiting to be embodied by your characters, never getting finally put to bed).
Anyway, it's all the ways in which Joss is working to undermine our conventional story-payoffs that I find so intriguing here.
You just know Paul's gonna get to punch a bad guy though. It's not meandering so far away from the usual storytelling techniques that we lose a great bad guy punching. Or Boyd heroics. The day will be saved somehow, someway. But yeah things going back to the usual at the end means things going back to a very creepy place where Adelle and Topher create zombie slaves.
What we see is Ellie/Echo getting a monster-attack of asthma and telling the client "Don't let them leave," thereby getting him shot to no purpose whatsoever--
The purpose is simple. To point out that manufactured people are about as reliable as real people. The father didn't go to the Dollhouse because they are the only ones that could produce a negotiator. They are the ones that could produce a negotiator that wouldn't exsist after it was done. It gives the clients the (false, really) sense that their deeds don't exsist if the other person culpable in those deeds can't recall the action anymore.
I did question how successful the engagement actually was at first, since the client asked for someone to make it go "like clockwork" which it very much didn't. But in the end, they got the job done. Just not the way anyone would've preferred. I think it goes along with what Topher talked about with making a complete personality, flaws and all. The perfect person may not be perfect as one would perceive. It's because of the flaws that things worked out as they did. Doesn't mean there could only be on solution to the problem. People are complicated and sometimes they just get things right. Sometimes they don't. I wonder if the Dollhouse has a refund policy.
Also it gives true control freaks a made-to-order person. I'm surprised people aren't talking about the guy in the first scene more. I mean sure it's a common fantasy to have a whirlwind sexy fun weekend with a total stranger who falls in love with you. It's another thing entirely to order it off a menu. That dude's Warren if the mind control thing hadn't worn off.
The purpose is simple. To point out that manufactured people are about as reliable as real people.
Oh, it serves a purpose on the level of "why did Joss include it"--you're misreading me if you think that my point is to criticize the episode. I loved it. I think almost all the choices Joss made for this pilot were the right ones--including the creation of asthmatic, nearsighted, possibly-suicidal Ellie. I meant solely "within the world of the episode, this didn't do anything to make the recovery of Davina any more likely."
The father didn't go to the Dollhouse because they are the only ones that could produce a negotiator. They are the ones that could produce a negotiator that wouldn't exsist after it was done. It gives the clients the (false, really) sense that their deeds don't exsist if the other person culpable in those deeds can't recall the action anymore.
The "wouldn't exist after it was done" thing is entirely unknowable as yet. I mean, not that Ellie will carry on existing as a character (although we don't yet know if Active characters can be recreated to pick up from where they left off), but that this is the client's motive. It's possible you've seen more than the first episode, and if so, don't give me any spoilers, but from what we currently know, there's no way of knowing if the client's motivation is primarily (or even in part) the Dollhouse's discretion.
I took it from the scene in which Topher "wipes" Echo after the first engagement of the episode that he was "storing" her memories of the engagement in that disc/hard-drive thingy that he picks up (hot hot!) from out of the imprint-relaxy-chair thingy. If the Dollhouse stores the Actives' memories from each engagement, then clients who think they're buying "erasure" are barking up the wrong tree.
In this particular case, of course, the guy's doing nothing illegal (other than hiring the Dollhouse)--so it's hard to see why he would care what his negotiator does or doesn't remember of the case.
That dude's Warren if the mind control thing hadn't worn off.
Did anybody else get a strong Warren-vibe off Topher? I was very surprised to see Topher getting compared to Xander and to Andrew in various review threads. He struck me as far closer to the Warren end of the nerd spectrum, and even seemed to have some of his mannerisms.
I think not reporting a crime is illegal. But don't quote me on that.
No, it isn't. (ETA: I know this because it got discussed to death in political circles when the Blagojevich thing first broke. Those on the right were very keen on the prospect of some member of the Obama circle or Obama himself being guilty of 'misprision of felony' (as it is technically known). Turns out, though, that you have to have actively worked to conceal the crime from the federal authorities to get charged (more like being an accomplice after the fact)--simple non-reportage is neither here nor there).
And even if it were, can you imagine the DA who'd bring the charge? "Yeah, sure you were raped and we're all sorry about that, but as soon as you decided not to bring charges, you turned from victim to villain. Book 'er, Dano!"
Or that sometimes, a flaw is just a flaw. Or that sometimes, Topher is too clever for everyone's own good. Or to point out explicitly (and visually) that there's a concrete link between mind and body (surely one of the issues at the heart of the show).
Yeah, I don't hate the idea that it's deliberately ambiguous either, that also works. Maybe when I rewatch it that's more how i'll feel (it's just not now). How about though, you make an effort to avoid words that imbue me with thoughts or intent that you can't possibly know I have snot monster, ta ;).
(i.e. i'm not forcing the show anywhere or clinging to anything, anymore than you are, this is just how I see it. It's not like I was sitting on the fence because the writing was so muddled and then to make myself happy - or conversely to make things less happy/clear-cut - I consciously decided to adopt the "Ellie was the right person at the right time" mindset, anymore than i'm assuming you did the opposite)
As for the fridge: you think if they'd just sent the commandos in to kill the guys they'd have poked around the house a bit and said "hey, we can't find her: there is this large boxlike thing with the door roped shut lying on the floor in the kitchen, but we decided it wasn't worth looking in there"?
I brought up the fridge thing to make the point that going in blind (as they appeared to) would've endangered the girl i.e. if they didn't know she was in the fridge then she could've been anywhere, including places where she might get shot by one side or the other. Course, maybe they didn't know she was in the fridge, maybe Echo didn't tell anyone and Sierra was adopting a semi-scorched Earth approach, just "cleaning" the situation in the way best for the dollhouse. Or maybe they had e.g. thermal imaging that we weren't shown *shrugs*.
I commented elsewhere on Topher's creepy character. I think Is aid he seems to be a mix of Xander (geeky, funny), Andrew (geeky, well-intentioned), and Warren (geeky, downright creepy).
Let's face it, Joss keeps revisiting the character of the geek with at least as much regularity as he visits the strong-female-character. And, I think it's pretty clear why: the geek is Joss and he is working through what that means. (Did anyone listen to the Fresh Air interview where he said that when he was taking women's studies courses he found it much easier to grasp things like misogyny and objectification than the female students because it was all right there in his head? I'm not saying he's a misogynist, but he knows about those tendencies in even the most feminist and enlightened man.) This all goes back to my latest hangup: the Topher-is-a-figure-for-Joss-the-guy-who-writes-and-directs-these-fantasy-(female)-characters thesis.
This all goes back to my latest hangup: the Topher-is-a-figure-for-Joss-the-guy-who-writes-and-directs-these-fantasy-(female)-characters thesis.
Yeah--I think there's a lot of that going on. The Dollhouse IS a genre-fiction story-generator. (That, again, is why I think the criticism of the bike-dance-minidress sequence as being cheesy and Fox-y is so off the mark. It's precisely the point: what would jerks with billions of dollars do if given access to something like the Dollhouse? They'd act out braindead fantasy sequences like that. It's as if people are somehow upset at the program suggesting that billionaires can be jerks: "Why doesn't he pay them to provide him with someone who can discuss Shakespeare with him while teaching him calligraphy?").
Because those of us who can discuss Shakespeare with him while teaching calligraphy sadly command a far lower price tag... ;)
I don't see the Xander in Topher. It is to his credit that he was clearly disturbed by what was going on with Echo once he realized it, but he's got a whole new kind of creepy going on. I sort of think he could make Warren look amateur (which, let's face it, Warren is) by the time this is over.
I dunno, i'm still more on the "unthinking" side with Topher. He's a dick but I suspect when he works that out he'll feel bad and try to change, rather than, y'know, throw a temper tantrum and shoot someone to death or try to rape his ex-girlfriend.
But then "not evil people that make bad decisions and so do evil things" isn't exactly a brand new idea in Whedonia.
I think Topher is exactly like a writer,with some deep understanding of human nature .He understands the dynamics of mind,how shortcoming can become a person's greatest motivation.He also works with great material,the only mistake he made is that he did not look deep enough into those specifics .The memories are what Ellie was running into and running away from,not the nearsightedness.
He's creative ,more an artist than a computer geek.he builds people from different scraps,he also has a sense of humor.He's handsome, and EVIL!
Handsome and evil writer?...well,that really sounds like someone familiar...
Ningjing | February 18, 06:22 CET
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Northeast India In A Nutshell
Join Ahom on a Journey to Explore the Roots of Tribal Life
Can You Hear the Clarion Call of the Northeast?
Northeast India is a kaleidoscope of a myriad cultures, geographies and people. The eight states form the farthest frontiers of the subcontinent sharing international borders with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Kingdom of Bhutan. The northeast region is one of the richest bio-diversity zones in the world. Here the One-Horned Rhino roams freely in the forests of Kaziranga, rhododendron blooms create a riot of colour in Yumthang Valley, sprawling tea estates echo the unhurried languor of their colonial past and the mighty Himalayas provide a fitting backdrop to rolling hills and glacial streams. Here, Buddhist monks sit in quiet genuflection inside the 400-year old Tawang Monastery while the last surviving headhunters roam the hinterlands of Nagaland. In spite of such a wealth of anthropological treasures, the Northeast remains an enigma, largely unexplored. Ahom aims to introduce you to the Northeast. We want you to discover the treasure trove of gems hidden in its remote corners.
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For us at Ahom, travel involves so much more than just visiting places. It’s a journey to discover new cultures, languages, foods, traditions and people. Northeast India is such a rich reserve of diversities. You could be cruising down the Brahmaputra, enjoying exotic Assamese dishes while taking in the enchanting views of the surrounding landscape. Or, make the arduous trek up to the Kanchenjunga base camp crossing virgin forests and pristine glacial lakes on your way. Meet ancient tribesfolk living in remote villages in the Himalayan valley and hear their stories. Visit the cleanest village in Asia and discover the ethos of conservation practised by the villagers. We partner with the best guides and local partners with proven expertise of the northeast region. Together, we take you to the places and let you live the stories for an unforgettable experience.
River Rafting Expeditions
8 Nights 9 Days
Kameng River Rafting Tour
Book a Kameng River Rafting Tour in Arunachal Pradesh with Ahom to experience a grand river rafting adventure. The Kameng River, also known as the Jia Bhoreli River in Assam, emerges from a glacier below the Gori Chen Mountain in Tawang district in the Eastern Himalayas. From the Indo-Tibetan border, the river flows through Bhalukpong in the West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh and moves to Sonitpur District in Assam. The Kameng is one of the most important tributaries of the Brahmaputra and covers a beautiful mountainous landscape in its upper stretch in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It forms a natural divider between the West and the East Kameng Districts and serves as a boundary between the Pakke Tiger Reserve and the Sessa and the Eaglenest Sanctuaries. It is flanked by the Dafla Hills in the east and the Aka Hills in the West. The Kameng, along with some of the other mighty tributaries of the Brahmaputra, offers a delightful rafting adventures for experts and beginners alike. It is a medium-large volume river with challenging rapids at regular intervals, beautiful gorges, and pristine forest-covered hill landscapes. The trip is guaranteed to an experience of a lifetime.
12 Nights 13 Days
Brahmaputra River Rafting
The Brahmaputra River Rafting tour by Ahom offers an unforgettable rafting experience in Arunachal Pradesh. Rafting on the Brahmaputra is an experience of a lifetime. One of the greatest and the most important rivers in Asia, the Brahmaputra flows across three countries. Emerging from the Angsi Glacier in the North of The Himalayas, the river flows through Tibet to cut through the Gyala Peri and the Namche Barwa mountain chains to enter Arunachal Pradesh in India. A great adventure awaits you right here. Enjoy the exquisite natural beauty of Assam as you drive through the tea gardens and reach the banks of the massive river. Visit Pasighat, the oldest town of Arunachal Pradesh and learn about its culture and cuisine by exploring the local market. Drive to remote hillside villages surrounded by pristine cloud forests, where you will spend the night in quaint rest houses. Drive along rocky terrains and deep valleys with overnight camps in between. Your rafting experience will begin from Purung. Encounter challenging rapids on your journey, as well as float sections that give you ample opportunity to enjoy the pristine beauty of the surrounding valleys. This rafting adventure also offers you warm campfires on the beach, refreshing hikes, and the chance to explore some of the remotest natural spaces in the world. It negotiates the most beautiful big volume whitewater in an area, which is also undoubtedly one of the most inaccessible in the world. Brahmaputra River Rafting is not for the faint-hearted; take a deep breath and plunge into an epic rafting adventure that is worth all the toil!
Subansiri River Rafting Tour
Book an 11-Day Subansiri River Rafting Tour with Ahom to enjoy a rafting experience of a lifetime. Translated as the ‘Golden River’, the Subansiri is the largest tributary of the River Brahmaputra. The transboundary tributary flows from Tibet and enters India through Arunachal Pradesh. It continues to flow through the planes of Assam before joining the Great Brahmaputra in the Lakhimpur District, at the confluence in Majuli. The Subansiri is known for its surrounding rocky terrains and lush green forests. The steep, rugged mountains in the upper course of the river make the landscape nearly isolated and extremely difficult to access. The river presents exciting challenges with its enormous rapids and powerful current. The surrounding landscapes of forests, mountains and picturesque tribal villages in the Siang Valley are exquisitely beautiful. The few inhabitants of this side of the Eastern Himalayas have been living in the hills for over a thousand years, and are friendly and welcoming to the adventurers who come their way. On this short but intense trip, you will experience the riverine valleys of Arunachal Pradesh like never before. Get ready for an exciting, adrenaline-powered rafting experience along the upper-course of the Golden River; we promise it’s worth all your efforts!
Brahmaputra Short Rafting Tour
The Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh is a hot spot for adventure junkies, offering a wide range of water sports like rafting, angling and kayaking. The river originates in Tibet as the Tsang-po and then flows into Arunachal as the Siang to finally join the Lohit River in Assam. This union of the two rivers forms the mighty Brahmaputra. The Siang is mild in places with some sudden turbulent stretches and includes several Grade IV and V rapids that provide the most thrilling river rafting expeditions. A tour of the Siang valley also introduces you to the Adis, an old indigenous tribe who live in the adjoining hills and forests, in perfect harmony with nature.
2N/3D Brahmaputra Downstream Cruise
The Brahmaputra is the only river in the world that flows through three countries. It originates in the icy slopes of Tibetan glaciers before meandering into India and finally flows into Bangladesh. Our Brahmaputra river cruise gives you an unforgettable experience of travelling on the mighty river. We offer 5-star accommodation on board our luxury cruise ship. Feel like royalty in the land of the Ahom kings and discover the many charms of Assam in style. From visiting the ancient Kamakhya Temple, to exploring a tribal village cut off from modern amenities- do all this and more while enjoying top class comfort. Best time to visit: February to April
2N/3D Brahmaputra Upstream Cruise
The Brahmaputra is the only river in the world that flows through three countries. It originates in the icy slopes of Tibetan glaciers before meandering into India and finally flows into Bangladesh. Our Brahmaputra river cruise gives you an unforgettable experience of travelling on the mighty river. We offer 5-star accommodation on board our luxury cruise ship. Feel like royalty in the land of the Ahoms and discover the many charms of Assam in style. From trying your hand at tea picking at a plantation, to visiting a tribal village cut off from modern amenities- do all this and more while enjoying top class comfort. Best time to visit: February to April
5N/6D Sail Brahmaputra in Style
The Brahmaputra is the only river in the world that flows through three countries. It originates in the icy slopes of Tibetan glaciers before meandering into India and finally flows into Bangladesh. Our Brahmaputra river cruise gives you an unforgettable experience of travelling on the mighty river. We offer 5-star accommodation on board our luxury cruise ship. Feel like royalty in the land of the Ahoms and discover the many charms of Assam in style. From elephant-back safaris in Kaziranga to trying your hand at tea picking at a plantation, to visiting the relics of the Ahom dynasty at Shibsagar- do all this and more while enjoying top class comfort. Best time to visit: February to April
5N/6D Luxury Brahmaputra Cruise
7N/8D Cruise the Brahmaputra
Our river Brahmaputra upstream cruise gives you an unforgettable experience of travelling on the mighty river. The cruise begins from the Pandu Port by the bustling city of Guwahati to steadily move through the varied landscapes of Assam to end at Neamati Ghat in Jorhat. We offer 5-star accommodation on board the luxury cruise ship. Feel like royalty in the land of the Ahoms and discover the many charms of Assam in style. From elephant-back safaris in Kaziranga to trying your hand at tea picking at a plantation, to visiting the relics of the Ahom dynasty at Sivasagar - do all this and more while enjoying top class comfort. Best time to visit: February to April
7N/8D Sail the Brahmaputra
Our downstream adventure begins at Neamati Ghat in Jorhat, the ancient capital of the Ahom Kingdom. Sail the Brahmaputra for an unforgettable experience of travelling on the mighty river. Our Brahmaputra river cruise gives you access to unparalled experiences with nature, wildlife, culture, luxury and life adjacent to the river. Feel like royalty in the land of the Ahoms and discover the many charms of Assam in style. From elephant-back safaris in Kaziranga to trying your hand at tea picking at a plantation, to visiting the relics of the Ahom dynasty at Sivasagar - do all this and more while enjoying top class comfort. Best time to visit: February to April
Kaziranga National Park + Majuli Island Tour
Kaziranga National Park is a UNESCO conferred World Heritage Site with the world’s highest population density of tigers and home to the endangered one-horned rhinoceros. Experience the thrill of spending a night inside the park surrounded by the nocturnal cries of wild animals. Visit the neighbouring tea estate of Addabarie with the echoes of colonialism still ringing in the ancient British bungalows. Kaziranga National Park also has the largest orchid garden in India with several hundred varieties of rare and exquisite orchids. Make a trip to Majuli island to visit some of the ancient satras (neo- Vaishnavite monasteries) and discover the traditional art of mask making practised by the Mishing tribe. Stop at the town of Jorhat for a visit to the oldest burning oil lamp in the world and discover relics of the ancient Ahom dynasty in Sivasagar. Best time to visit: November to April Please Note: Any changes to safari timings or park closures are at the sole discretion of the Forest Department. Ahom is not responsible for the cancellation of any safaris made by the park authorities and will be unable to provide any compensation for the same.
Tea Tasting and Golfing Tour in Assam
Assam accounts for more than half of India’s total tea production. The state is home to thousands of big and small tea estates which provide a livelihood to a sizeable percentage of Assam’s workforce. For a tea lover, a tour of the colonial bungalows and rolling plantations is the perfect holiday. Get a chance to see the process of tea making up, close and personal. Experience the serenity of living on a tea estate. Enjoy a game of golf at one of the tea-tees and explore the many attractions surrounding the plantations on this tea tasting tour of Assam. Best time to visit: October to April
Manas National Park - Guwahati tour
Manas National Park is one of the largest among the seven national parks in Assam and like Kaziranga, has been a UNESCO conferred World Heritage Site since 1985. Manas National Park is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas in western Assam and is spread across seven districts. Discover varied species of exotic flora and fauna on elephant-back, jeep safari or from a raft on a tour of Manas. Visit neighbouring tribal villages for an insight into the lives of the indigenous Bodo people. In Guwahati, discover ancient temples of the Ahom dynasty dating back to the 18th century as well as the sacred Kamakhya temple. Soak in the beauty of the landscape on a cruise on the Brahmaputra River. Best time to visit: November to March Please Note: Any changes to safari timings or park closures are at the sole discretion of the Forest Department. Ahom is not responsible for the cancellation of any safaris made by the park authorities and will be unable to provide any compensation for the same.
Live the Life of the Colonial Tea Planter
Make a journey back in time as you step into a 100-year old tea estate with ancient bungalows replete with all the paraphernalia of the colonial era. This tour is a pursuit of the British planter’s life as it was on tea estates at the turn of the last century. While the trip includes several interesting activities like river rafting, wildlife safaris and interacting with local tribes, there are no fixed schedules and to-do lists. The idea is for you to sit back and relax and savour the languid pace of life on a plantation. Our guides can give you a tour of the local market where you can interact with villagers for an authentic taste of Assamese life. Or, you could just as easily relax on the veranda of the estate and enjoy a freshly brewed cup of the estate’s tea. The tour celebrates the joie de vivre of unhurried days and quiet self-reflection that have now become the relics of a bygone era. Best time to visit: September to February
Namdhapa - Saikhaowa - Kaziranga Birding Tour
Are you an avid birdwatcher? Do you travel to remote locales in search of that elusive bird that flew in for the winter? Do you enjoy roughing it out for a week or two, trekking in forests by day and camping out in tents at night? If your answer to all three questions is an emphatic ‘Yes!’ then this Tour is just the thing for you. Ahom’s intensive 14-day Namdhapa- Saikhaowa- Kaziranga Birding Tour takes you on a journey into the three national forests of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Over the course of two weeks we explore the forests on foot, by jeep, by boat and even on elephant-back to find as many species of birds as we can. Our tour begins in Dibrugarh from where we drive to Namdhapa National Park in Arunachal Pradesh. After spending the first six days here, our tour continues to Dibru- Saikhaowa and finally to Kaziranga. Our guides are experienced bird watchers determined to get you the maximum number of sightings. The White-cheeked Hill Partridge, Pale- headed Woodpecker, Blue- Naped Pitta, Snowy- throated Babbler, Grey Peacock Pheasant, Slaty-backed Flycatcher, Crested Kingfisher, Beautiful Nuthatch, Northern Lapwing, Black-hooded Oriole, Great Egret, Smoky Warbler, Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, Spot-billed Duck are just some of the feathered friends you will be meeting on this tour. So pack your bags and let’s go birding! Best time to visit: November to March
Alluring Arunachal Pradesh
Tawang Monastery Tour
Arunachal Pradesh is steeped in spirituality and ancient history. Being the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, Arunachal is a sacred place for Buddhist devotees who come on pilgrimage to the many monasteries across the state. Each of these has a fascinating history. Our Tawang tour takes you to some of the most famous monasteries in the region. The tour includes a visit to some of the other attractions like the famous orchid garden in Dirang and a trip to a tribal Monpa village. Best time to visit: Around the year
Ziro Valley Tour
Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh is one of the remotest and most beautiful landscapes in India. The valley is home to the famous Apatani tribe, recognised by their trademark facial tattoos and traditional nose pins. Visit a traditional Apatani village and get a close perspective into the rustic lives of these indigenous people. This pristine valley nestled within the mighty Himalayas is home to an exquisite variety of flora and fauna. Our Ziro tour includes a visit to the Talley Wildlife Sanctuary. In addition to its natural beauty, Ziro Valley is noted for its annual music festival, touted as the largest outdoor music fest in India. Stay in tents and enjoy a diverse range of music in an idyllic setting amidst snow-capped peaks and pristine lakes. Ziro Music Festival is like no other- with performers from across the world flocking to this remote hinterland of Arunachal. Meet lots of interesting people as you set up camp at the festival, swing to the beats of the live music and have an unforgettable experience that you’ll want to relive every year Best time to visit: Around the year/ Last week of September for Ziro Music Fest
Bird Watcher’s Delight Tour (Assam - Arunachal Pradesh)
Northeast India is an ornithologist’s paradise. The abundant forest cover and the many pristine lakes in the region make it a popular choice for migratory birds that come to nest here for the winter before flying back to their native lands of Siberia or Southern China. Every year, groups of avid bird watchers travel to the northeast in search of some rare and exotic birds that can be spotted here. Some of these birds are local and exclusive to their natural habitat. The Bugun Liocichla was discovered and christened at Eagle Nest Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh and is not found anywhere else in the world. Our 11- day Bird Watcher’s Delight tour takes to you Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on a quest to find some of these spectacular bird species. Our journey begins in Guwahati and takes you to Kaziranga, Nameri, Dirang, Sela Pass and Eagle Nest Sanctuary. Get a taste of life in the wild and spend the night in tents with just basic amenities at Lama Camp. Drive to Sela Pass and be mesmerised by the beauty of the land of 101 lakes. This is an intensive trip into the hinterlands of the northeast with the promise of great sightings, enchanting locales and an unforgettable adventure. Best time to visit: November to March
North Sikkim Tour
North Sikkim offers a diverse topography of meandering forestland, gushing waterfalls and steep mountain slopes. Our north Sikkim tour takes you across all the major tourist attractions of the region like the Yumthang Valley and the Gurudongmar Lake in addition to several remote and beautiful spots that remain largely undiscovered. Explore the scenic countryside as you drive from one destination to the next and soak in the tranquillity of the surroundings. Best time to visit: April to October
Daring Dzongri Trek
Daring Dzongri Trek - Sikkim Adventure Tours A tour of Sikkim goes hand in hand with exploring its trekking trails. With so many fantastic treks to choose from, it’s difficult to zero in on a favourite. Still, the Dzongri trek in Gangtok vies for the top spot on the list of the best treks in Sikkim. Situated at an altitude of 4200m, the Dzongri trek offers a mix of thrill and love of nature. It is part of the longer Goechala Trek that stretches across a 50- kilometre trail usually covered in 7 days. The Dzongri trek is a condensed route that is favoured by trekkers from across the country because of its challenging terrain. Yuksom is the starting point of the trek and continues across Tsokha to finally reach Dzongri. The Dzongri view point offers spectacular views of some of the most famous peaks in the Himalayan range including Mt. Kanchenjunga, Mt. Pandim, Mt. Kumbhakarna, and Mt. Rathong among others. If you love adventure and love the mountains then this tour is for you. Best time to visit: March to May / September to November Please Note: This trek is recommended for seasoned trekkers and those who are physically fit. It is a fairly strenuous trek and not recommended for children below 16 years of age and those with any physical impediments like arthritis.
Ravangla-Namchi Tour Package
South Sikkim is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. There is much to do and see here. From an imposing 130 ft statue of Buddha to the spectacular sunrise seen from Rayong hill, south Sikkim offers a rich catalogue of things to do to suit all interests. Our tour takes you across Ravangla and Namchi over six days and offers flexibility in terms of itinerary. There’s high altitude trekking for those who love adventure, while a trip to a wildlife sanctuary provides a less exertive option. Best time to visit: March to May, September to January
Green Lake Trek
One of the best kept secrets of Sikkim, the Green Lake Trek is a beautiful yet challenging trek that takes you into the heart of the Himalayas. If you love trekking on untrodden trails, crossing glacial streams and rhododendron forests, surrounded by the solitude of the mountains, this trek is for you. The trek begins in Lachen and takes you to the ethereal Green Lake (4935m) via Tallem, Jakthang and Yabuk. Enjoy unrivalled views of Kanchenjunga as you make your way up the rugged terrain of the Himalayan slopes. This is an arduous trek in Zemu glacier that we complete in 14 days with a couple of rest days in between to let you acclimatise to the changing altitude. There are some steep uphill ascents and challenging treks over uneven terrain of boulders and rocky pebbles. You must be mindful of your steps to avoid slipping. One of the highpoints of any trekking trip is setting up camp at the end of the day. After a full day’s exertions, there is nothing better than to retire to the comfort of your tents and spend the night under the stars, by the warmth of a campfire. Best time to visit: April and October Please Note: Due to the strenuous nature of this trek, it is recommended for seasoned trekkers only. Children below 18 years of age are not permitted on this trek.
Pelling Tour Package
Our Pelling tour package takes you to Sikkim’s capital city Gangtok and its surrounding areas before advancing to the final stop. The tour offers an extensive trip across west Sikkim with visits to some famous monasteries and waterfalls along the way. The piece de resistance of course is the view of the Kanchenjunga on reaching Pelling. This trip is deal for trekkers and photography enthusiasts as it takes you over rugged terrain, across lesser-known trails to offer stunning views of the landscape. Best time to visit: Around the year
Borjhar, Assam
Handloom And Handicraft Village Tour
Northeast India is a region of great cultural and evolved artistic capabilities. Skills of the indigenous people combined with available natural resources have opened up unique possibilities of artistry and craftsmanship. The distinct design and aesthetics of each community, the rich culture, the fervor to live in close proximity of nature, and the urge to be self-reliant has created this exceptional land of promise. The village lifestyle involves handloom and handicraft for most native tribes making it an integral occupation for many and a fringe activity for few. Cane, bamboo, silk, cotton, metal, wood, seed, stone, clay and many more available resources are used to craft goods and magic weaves. It is also a livelihood for several artisans who have made northeast proud by showcasing to the world its rich traditions. The priceless skills and ethnic practices need conservation and expansion to withstand the impact of modern age. Best time to visit: September to March
Cultural tour of Nagaland
Nagaland is one of Northeast India’s most beautiful destinations, brimming with culture. Various tribes have claimed this part of the land as their home. Your tour will include visits to incredibly beautiful places as Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang, and Mon. Witnessing the tribes’ lifestyles up close, steeped in their own unique traditions, will be of particular interest. You will likely never forget the experience of interacting with the various tribes of Nagaland. Please note: The following itinerary is only our suggestion, indicating one of several possibilities. We cater to your needs when arranging holidays. If you would like to modify or tailor a particular tour, just contact us; we are here to make your Northeast India tour among the very best.
Hornbill Festival Tour
Hornbill Festival is the biggest and most widely celebrated festival in Nagaland. Witness the festivities up, close and personal as ethnic Naga people come together to celebrate their cultural legacy through traditional music, dance, clothes and food. Our tour takes you to the heart of the festival and gives you an intimate insight into the lives of the tribal people. Visit the first Green Village in India, spend a night in tents at a local village and get a true feel of the Nagaland countryside. Trip dates: December
Mini Cultural tour of Nagaland
Nagaland is one of Northeast India’s most beautiful destinations, brimming with culture. Various tribes have claimed this part of the land as their home. Your tour will include visits to places like Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang and Mon. Witnessing the tribes’ lifestyles up close, steeped in their own unique traditions, will be of particular interest. This is an experience like no other with an introduction to Nagaland’s history and an intriguing study in anthropology. Best time to visit: Around the year Please note: The following itinerary is only suggestive, indicating one of several possibilities. We cater to your needs when arranging holidays. If you would like to modify or tailor a particular tour, just contact us. We are here to make your India tour among the very best.
Dzukou Valley Trek
Dzukou Valley bordering Manipur and Nagaland is one of the most pristine spots in the northeast not least because of the remoteness of the location; but also because of the low hanging clouds that cover the valley in fresh due every morning. The valley is replete with wild flowers cascading rivers and verdant forest with some excellent trails for trekking. our five-day tour of Dzukou Valley takes you to the heart of the valley through Vismewa village and gives you a true taste of the outdoors with overnight stay in tents. Best time to visit: September to April Please Note: All travellers must be over 18 years of age to be eligible for this trek. Previous trekking experience will be an advantage, although not mandatory. For first time trekkers, it is advisable to practice stamina- building exercises and undergo a fitness programme prior to the trip. This trek is not advisable for those with any chronic ailments like heart diseases and for pregnant women.
Arunachal’s beauty is truly incomparable. I visited Tawang Monastery and was mesmerised by its serenity. It was a deeply spiritual feeling- one that I’ll never forget. A big Thanks to Ahom for arranging it all.
Eddie Baker
We booked a luxury Brahmaputra cruise for our anniversary. We got to try amazing food, visited some great places and enjoyed a truly luxurious getaway. I highly recommend it.
Julie Kricfalusi
My wife and I are both tea lovers. We visited Assam in December and stayed at an amazing heritage bungalow. Kudos to Ahom for such a great trip! Can’t wait to go back!
Nicholas Fiennes
My recent trip to Ravangla was just what the doctor ordered. Enjoyed the fresh mountain air, leisurely walks down pretty woods and a great sense of peace and well-being. Thank you Ahom.
Ann Fey
Queens, USA
The kids had a blast on the elephant safari at Kaziranga! We were lucky enough to see a lot of animals including the famous one-horned rhino. Great trip. Thanks Ahom.
Gene Joyner
Me and my friends finally made it to Ziro Music Festival after months of planning. It was so worth it! We stayed in tents and saw some awesome gigs. Going back next year again. Cheers Ahom!
Aline Kelly
Arunachal Pradesh was heaven for a photographer like me. The guys at Ahom knew the best spots. I’ve never got so many good shots with so little effort before! Thanks!
Terry Donato
The food in the northeast is unlike anything I’ve ever tried before! I love the different ways people cook pork. Thanks Ahom for introducing me to this delicious cuisine!
Samuel Girouard
My friends and I are hardcore trekkers. We’ve trekked around the world. But nothing compares to the thrill of trekking to the Kanchenjunga base camp. It was challenging but worth it when we finished the trek.
Matsui Hideki
Visiting northeast India was a revelation to me. I had no idea such virgin forests existed in India! Definitely going back again. Highly recommend Ahom. Hotels, transfers, everything was so smooth.
Natasha Beadell
This was my second trip to the northeast and my first with Ahom. You guys are doing a great job. Our guide in Nathula was very efficient and gave us a detailed history of the pass and the old silk route.
Klaus Delorme
We couldn’t initially find a tour that worked for our family. I was travelling with elderly parents. Ahom customised a trip that suited us perfectly with enough rest stops in between.
Hamish Sutton
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Eight Elusive States
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Bill & Laws
SB 115: "An Act relating to the motor fuel tax; and providing for an effective date."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 115
01 "An Act relating to the motor fuel tax; and providing for an effective date."
02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
03 * Section 1. AS 43.40.010(a) is amended to read:
04 (a) In addition to the surcharge levied under AS 43.40.005, there is levied a
05 tax of 16 [EIGHT] cents a gallon on all motor fuel sold or otherwise transferred within
06 the state, except that
07 (1) the tax on aviation gasoline is four and seven-tenths cents a gallon;
08 (2) the tax on motor fuel used in and on watercraft of all descriptions is
09 10 [FIVE] cents a gallon;
10 (3) the tax on all aviation fuel other than gasoline is three and two-
11 tenths cents a gallon; and
12 (4) the tax rate on motor fuel that is blended with alcohol is the same
13 tax rate a gallon as other motor fuel; however, in an area and during the months in
14 which fuel containing alcohol is required to be sold, transferred, or used in an effort to
15 attain air quality standards for carbon monoxide as required by federal or state law or
01 regulation, the tax rate on motor fuel that is blended with alcohol is six cents a gallon
02 less than the tax on other motor fuel not described in (1) - (3) of this subsection.
03 * Sec. 2. AS 43.40.010(b) is amended to read:
04 (b) In addition to the surcharge levied under AS 43.40.005, there is levied a
05 tax of 16 [EIGHT] cents a gallon on all motor fuel consumed by a user, except that
06 (1) the tax on aviation gasoline consumed is four and seven-tenths
07 cents a gallon;
10 (3) the tax on all aviation fuel other than gasoline is three and two-
16 regulation, the tax rate on motor fuel that is blended with alcohol is six cents a gallon
18 * Sec. 3. AS 43.40.030(a) is amended to read:
19 (a) Except as specified in AS 43.40.010(j), a person who uses motor fuel to
20 operate an internal combustion engine is entitled to a motor fuel tax refund of 12 [SIX]
21 cents a gallon if
22 (1) the tax on the motor fuel has been paid;
23 (2) the motor fuel is not aviation fuel, or motor fuel used in or on
24 watercraft; and
25 (3) the internal combustion engine is not used in or in conjunction with
26 a motor vehicle licensed to be operated on public ways.
27 * Sec. 4. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to
28 read:
29 TRANSITION: REGULATIONS. The Department of Revenue may adopt regulations
30 necessary to implement the changes made by this Act. The regulations take effect under
31 AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act), but not before the effective date of the law
01 implemented by the regulation.
02 * Sec. 5. Section 4 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).
03 * Sec. 6. Except as provided in sec. 5 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 2019.
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<<< See All Properties
Fiber to the Unit: Deer Ridge Apartments,
Jamestown, North Dakota
This month, Broadband Communities showcases Deer Ridge Apartments in Jamestown, N.D. This new apartment complex is one of the first fiber-to-the-unit deployments in the Upper Midwest – but others are sure to follow soon. Thanks to Rod Wolters of Dakota Central Telecom, Tom Warren of Clearfield and Steven Paul of IRET Properties for their help in gathering the information for this profile.
By Masha Zager ■ Broadband Communities
Jamestown (aka “The Buffalo City”) is a thriving city in North Dakota with a diverse economic base – the kind of place people want to move to. IRET Properties, a midwestern real estate investment trust, had already built rental properties there, but rental vacancy rates were still below 2 percent. As Steven Paul, IRET’s regional manager, says, “This showed the need for quality housing in that market,” so IRET decided to build another multifamily property.
Deer Ridge Apartments, which opened in fall 2015 with 163 units in three buildings, is now the largest apartment community in Jamestown. It’s targeted to a broad range of middle- to upper-income residents – anyone from University of Jamestown students to empty nesters – and offers such amenities as a heated underground garage, a game room and a fitness center. “The entire project is the amenities,” Paul says. “That’s what has differentiated us.”
Once the plans for Deer Ridge Apartments got underway, the opportunity for a new type of amenity presented itself. Jamestown is a CLEC community for
Dakota Central Telecom (DCT), a telephone cooperative based in Carrington, N.D., about 40 miles from Jamestown. Over the last few years, DCT has been upgrading all its facilities, both in its home territory and its CLEC territory, and it is now 100 percent fiber-based.
Because DCT’s service area is mostly rural, multiple-dwelling-unit (MDU) buildings are relatively rare. DCT does serve another Jamestown MDU with fiber, but that building has copper cabling from the comm room to the individual apartments. As Deer Ridge was new construction, DCT saw it as a great opportunity to try out some new fiber-to-the-home technology that it hadn’t had a chance to use before. IRET saw a great new amenity for its residents – an amenity that no other service provider in Jamestown was offering.
And the residents? After some initial puzzlement about where to plug in their computers, “they’re excited about it,” Paul says.
Property Description: Deer Ridge Apartments consists of three three-story buildings in a U-shaped configuration, connected by corner units on the ground floor. The community area features a fitness center, a full kitchen, a pizza oven, an indoor grill, a pool table and shuffleboard; unit amenities include stainless appliances, central air and heating, and washer/dryers. There is an underground parking garage beneath the entire structure.
Demographics: Middle- to upper-income, all ages
Greenfield or retrofit? Greenfield
Style: Mid-rise
Time to deploy: About seven months during the construction period, most of it waiting for other trades.
Date services started being delivered: September 1 (first building) to October 15, 2015 (final building)
Special requirements: The underground parking garage needed a connection to two garage door openers.
Services offered or planned on the network: High-speed Internet access with a top speed of 200 Mbps (higher speeds can be provisioned if needed); video; voice; common-area wireless; fiber-connected controllers for two garage door openers.
Provider choice: Residents have the option of using satellite TV with individual antennas.
PROPERTY OF THE MONTH HIGHLIGHTS
~ Deer Ridge Apartments, Jamestown, N.D. ~
One of the only fiber-to-the-unit deployments in the Upper Midwest
New apartment community in a growing market
Triple play plus managed Wi-Fi services
Equipment vendors include Clearfield, Calix and Amino
Which parts of the network are owned by the service provider, and which parts are owned by the property owner? The property owner owns everything in the building beyond the demarcation point.
How do the service provider and owner market the services? Steven Paul, IRET Properties: Fiber hasn’t been the No. 1 thing we’re pushing in our marketing, but it is once we get prospective tenants to the property.
Rod Wolters, Central Office Technician, DCT: In our quarterly newsletter, we did a business spotlight on Deer Ridge. I helped [IRET] get technical materials together to explain to residents the benefits and reasons for FTTH. The 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps tiers are going over very well, but TV is getting to be a harder sell; we’re getting to the point where people are mostly looking at broadband speeds. We charge $3.95 per month for managed Wi-Fi, and we market it by saying, “There’s no reason for you to purchase a router every two years; let us manage it for you and keep it upgraded when we do software upgrades.” We operate a 24/7 help desk, so if a connection issue arises, customers can call in, and the help desk will help them. Most people are going completely wireless, except for a wired connection to the DVR.
What is the take rate for services? Rod Wolters: All the tenants take some services. Some take triple play; others take data only or TV and data. About 75 to 80 percent are taking managed Wi-Fi services.
Network benefits: Steven Paul: It’s too soon to tell, but we expect it to have some value.
Broadband architecture: Fiber to the unit.
Where are ONTs placed? Inside each unit.
Technology used: GPON
Methods for running cables inside buildings: Indoor riser-rated microduct and a 3mm pushable/pullable fiber spliced at each ONT and on the main floor near a splitter wall box.
Vendors/products: Calix supplied the FTTH electronics, including the new 844G GigaCenter indoor ONT, which allows managed Wi-Fi services with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi channels. Clearfield supplied the microduct, pushable fiber and other connectivity equipment. Set-top boxes are from Amino, and the IPTV platform is from Innovative Systems.
Rod Wolters: Using Wi-Fi in an MDU will work, but it requires planning. We were a Calix test site for managed Wi-Fi. Two of their staff came out to help us; we fired up one building with 57 ONTs, did predictive analysis and set up the system to their requirements. Then we did Wi-Fi mapping and speed tests to see if there was overlap between apartments. We tweaked the platform about four times. If everyone is using the 5 GHz spectrum, there are no issues. The more you can keep off the 2.4 GHz spectrum, the better off you are. Each apartment has a specific 5 GHz channel, and with the right power level settings you can get good coverage in the apartment and not too much bleed-over into other apartments. Most smartphones will move over automatically to 5 GHz, but for now, a lot of other devices are still on 2.4 GHz. But we’re running pretty clean, the data throughputs are fine, and no one is complaining.
The tools that Calix has in place to manage Wi-Fi let our customer service reps help customers over the phone and save on truck rolls. I’d like to work with building owners to do more of this in the future.
Clearfield FieldSmart fiber entrance cabinet (top) loaded with fiber splice trays and FieldSmart Wallbox with 1x32 splitters (bottom)
For the microduct inside the building, the distributor Border States Electric got me in touch with Clearfield. They were willing to help set up the network, and they had all the materials: the right boxes, the microduct, the pushable fiber, the enclosures, the patch panel, optical splitters, media centers for the electronics, everything we needed in one stop. The electricians had bid on pulling cable from the comm room to the apartments, so Tom Warren from Clearfield came out and went through the proper installation procedures with them. The electricians were a little hesitant at first, but after they pulled the duct, they were done – there was no coax and no Cat 5 to worry about – so they liked it. They said, “We wish we could do this all the time.” Then we pulled the fiber through the duct, and it pulled through beautifully.
The beauty of microduct is that you always have a repairable path for the fiber. If it weren’t available, we would have pulled two Cat 5 cables and coax to each apartment. Those wires could easily get nicked [by other trades during construction], and you don’t find out because it’s behind the Sheetrock.
Tom Warren, Applications Engineer, Clearfield: Instead of using a large conduit inside the building, such as metal or plastic pipe, which is hard to bend, DCT decided to use indoor riser-rated microduct, which is 10 mm on the outside. It’s about the size of coaxial cable, so it’s easy for electricians to install at the same time as other products. They use the same attachment methods as they would for coax.
The advantage of microduct is that if, for some reason, the fiber were to become damaged, they could pull or push a new piece of fiber into it. This repairable pathway is much smaller and easier to install than conventional products. It also gives them an upgradable pathway if they need more fibers in the future. They wouldn’t have to open up the walls. Rod put in a single fiber, but the microduct can take up to 24 bundled fibers.
The inside of the microduct is very smooth, and fiber is very slippery, so it’s easy to install, even with a 6-inch bend radius.
Fiber-fed structured wire deployment (Calix ONT on top, Ethernet distribution patch panel below it and power supply at the bottom)
What was the biggest challenge? Steven Paul: The main challenge is informing the residents and educating them about what fiber to the apartment means. We’re having to learn that, too.
What was the biggest success? Rod Wolters: The ease of installation of fiber through microduct.
What feedback does the leasing office get from residents? Steven Paul: Residents are initially puzzled when they see only a Cat 5 jack and no telephone or coax jack. We have to explain how to get set up. Once they know about the fiber connection, they’re excited about it.
What should other owners consider before they get started on a similar deployment? Rod Wolters: Get a list of service providers, give them a call, and ask, “What can you do for me? What can you offer?” It pays to shop around and to do research on the community.
Steven Paul: Educate yourselves and your customers. Have all the information on hand about what benefits FTTH will provide, and put it into the marketing package. ❖
Masha Zager is the editor of Broadband Communities. You can reach her at masha@bbcmag.com.
© Broadband Properties, LLC
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Yorktown Battlefield
Visitors in Period Clothing
Military Clothing Guidelines
Civilian Clothing Guidelines
Improvised Shelters
Documentary Extracts
NPS Safety Rules
Heat Kills
Before the Siege: The British Army in Yorktown is an invitational event happening on the weekend of 28 - 29 September at Colonial National Historic Park.
Do you see that map segment up there at the top of the page? The street with all the houses next to the letters “Y O R” and “T O”?
That's where we are going to be!
That is Main Street in Yorktown. It will be our pleasure and privilege to interpret the British forces under Lt.- General Cornwallis as it digs in and fortifies Yorktown in the weeks before the Continentals arrive and the siege begins - on the exact same historic ground where it really happened 238 years ago to the day.
Right next to the “T” is the Nelson House, one of the signature historic buildings that has survived since the time of the Siege:
Yes, it's a survivor!
Before the Siege will place heavy emphasis on both the military and civilian aspects of life with the British Army during the latter days of the American War for Independence. The forces under Cornwallis are confident but wary - a few weeks ago a French fleet of 26 ships showed up in the Chesapeake! We are keying the program around the actual daily events of September as recorded in the 43rd and 80th Regiment Orderly Books, as well as diaries and journals of officers and people who were present at Yorktown.
Main Street will be the centerpiece of our activity as we present to the public a sample of what life was like in Yorktown in early September of 1781. Soldiers will camp, do picket duty, drill, and patrols, the Royal Artillery will prepare and do maintenance on the guns, the Royal Navy will continue to establish the waterfront defenses and maintain communications with Gloucester, artificers will repair arms and equipment, and the remaining Yorktown inhabitants and Loyalist refugees will do what they can to support the military effort.
Before the Siege will be an excellent venue for units, small groups, and individuals who are strong on interpretation and have a solid grounding in the material and social culture of the American War for Independence.
Participation in this event is by invitation only. For information on how you or your unit may receive an invitation to participate in this event, please write to fortifyyorktown@att.net
Copyright © 2018 by Colonial National Historic Park. All Rights Reserved.
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Beth Croft – Rule in My Heart
July 28, 2014 Jonathan Andre 2 Comments
Release Date: July 29th 2014
Beth Croft– Rule in my Heart (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Love Takes Over
Rule in my Heart
Boldly I Approach (The Art of Celebration)
Arms of Grace
Make the World Dance
Kingdom Come (Live)
Worship leader. Artist. Part of Soul Survivor, one of, if not, the biggest, worship ministry in the U.K. (similar to how Hillsong is to Australia, and Passion, Bethel and Jesus Culture are to the U.S.A.). Enter in British artist Beth Croft, one of the worship leaders at Soul Survivor’s annual events, leading worship fervently year after year. An event also birthed the music careers of artists like Matt Redman and Tim Hughes, as well as former worship leader now turned blogger, social activist and newscaster Vicky Beeching; Beth’s first album, releasing on July 29th, is a gem to listen to if you love British music, her work from Soul Survivor, or even just worship music in general.
With a musical landscape of acoustic worship/anthemic pop being the emphasis for much of her songs on this 10 track album; Rule in My Heart is a reminder that God rules in our hearts as we make a way for Him to move through the people He has placed in our paths on this journey we call life. From the familiar “Boldly I Approach (The Art of Celebration)” (previously recorded and on Rend Collective’s The Art of Celebration), to the upbeat “Love Takes Over” and the reflective title track, Beth’s first album is certainly one that’ll standout amongst British worship albums in 2014, and hopefully compete on a larger scale internationally, as people discover that some of the best worship songs and albums come from the people across the Pacific Ocean.
One of the worship leaders at annual Soul Survivor events, Beth’s vocals still shine in studio format, and with the acoustic-electronic first song “Love Takes Over”, you’d know you’re in for a treat with this U.K. singer/songwriter. Singing about how love takes us over and all we can do (and hopefully ought to do) is just respond in awe, reverence, and honour; Beth’s powerful vocals carry such emotion and hope as we hear the theme of surrender sung with celebration in the powerful words of how ‘…when love takes over, I can feel You here with me, as love takes over, there’s no place I’d rather be…’ With eclectic acoustics, synths and a steady guitar strum; it is when we feel God’s love in us and through us that we can show good works out of the love given to us.
An excellent song to start off the album with, this upbeat melody flows into a variety of musical styles- one of which is “Boldly I Approach”, a co-write with Rend Collective (and as also on Rend Collective’s The Art of Celebration). A song that encourages us to approach the throne of God with boldness, yet also knowing the fullness of who He is and what He can do in whatever situation we find ourselves in; Beth fervently sings the melody with the same passion as Rend Collective, and in all seriousness, makes this rendition of the song much more enjoyable and impacting. With much more strings, powerful guitars and impacting drums throughout the crescendo of the song from the bridge onward compared to Rend’s; Beth gives us great highlights in both “Boldly I Approach” and “Love Takes Over”; 2 of the anchors and standouts on Rule In My Heart.
“Say the Word”, a song that encourages us all to trust that God will say the word and we will be free to do His work and will; is one of Beth’s most famous melodies of late- recently being a fan favourite at Soul Survivor concerts and a standout track on the Soul Survivor 2013 album. A light electronic introduction that rouses up into an epic anthem that brings the fullness and life of the live version right into the studio, Beth’s fervent passion, not only evident in this track but throughout the album as a whole, brings the poignancy of this melody to light. Strong drums, powerful guitar strums and Beth’s passion all continue to make this melody usurp many others on Rule in My Heart as my favourite Beth Croft ballad ever.
Reflecting on how ‘…at Your Word, mountains are moved, seas that are raging will calm when You say the word…’; “Say the Word” leads us onto a plethora of great music by Beth, one such being the topic of surrender that is brought to light in “Rule In My Heart”, a piano prominent track that reminds us all to ponder the lyric of how Beth wants God to ‘…rule in my heart forever, high above any other, come and take Your place…’. “Arms of Grace”, recorded for Soul Survivor 2011, is another melody that translates well in a studio setting. Starting with a stirring electric guitar introduction reminiscent of something electronic mixed together with Indian or Middle-East music; Beth continues the theme of surrender- with the song firmly standing on the notion of unending grace that is showered to us by God our Father. Singing the words ‘…I’m running into Your arms of grace, with no reason to hide away…’ can seem worrisome and daunting, yet we should know that we are already children of God- clean and transformed into the godly men and women ready to influence the world we are in.
“Purify”, sung by Jamie Rodwell on Soul Survivor 2013’s Momentum album, is sung powerfully and flawlessly by Beth, and with the layered vocals, light keyboards, ethereal background vocals, and drums and percussion that form the musical backbone of the song; “Purify” is one of the most ingenious melodies on the album, reminding us of the theme of purification in the sight of God, and that ‘…I am waiting, Holy Spirit move, do what You want to do…’ “Hold On” is an aspiring drum and bass prominent ballad that presses into the theme of holding onto the cross and the promises of God in all circumstances and trials, while “Make the World Dance” is a dance melody through and through- along the lines of the vibrancy and power of Christy Nockels’s “You Came to My Rescue” and the theme of dancing as we fully understand that ‘…it’s Your grace, You make the world dance…and with Your grace…You make me come alive…’
Ending the album with a live version of “Kingdom Come” (the title track of Soul Survivor’s annual 2012 album) and the electronic vocal distorted “Lectio Divina” (a song which I thought would be sung in a language like Latin, but nevertheless was a song very much sung in English with a theme of trusting in God our Father); Beth’s first album is a powerful worship album, and one of my favourite worship records of 2014 so far. Alongside other standout worship albums by artists like Crowder, Bellarive, All Sons and Daughters, Michael W. Smith, Rend Collective, Cadence and Kim Dexter; Rule In My Heart stands with some of the best, and continues to assert my assumption that sometimes the best worship albums come from artists that are not necessarily American. Well done Beth for such honesty, vulnerability and encouragement in one of my favourite albums in July 2014!
3 songs to listen to: Say the Word, Boldly I Approach, Arms of Grace
RIYL: Rend Collective, Delirious?, Tim Hughes, Soul Survivor
acousticbeth croftbritish worshipccmintegrity musicpoppraiserule in my heartsoul survivor
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2 thoughts on “Beth Croft – Rule in My Heart”
Jonathan Andre says:
You can check out the lyric video for ‘Rule In My Heart’ here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSWMJhyEsy4
You can also listen to some of Beth’s tracks that were previously on Soul Survivor albums of the past- songs like ‘Purify’, ‘Arms of Grace’ and ‘Kingdom Come’. You can also stream Rend Collective’s version of ‘Boldly I Approach’ on Spotify as well.
Stay tuned to the release of Beth’s album in a few days. Certainly one of my highlight worship albums of 2014 so far!
Now that Beth’s music has released, you can stream songs on youtube so you all can listen to and enjoy the album before you purchase it on iTunes-
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVDBkMOidZU3RgtrNG-445lvRnAFfNJYw- album lyric videos
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVDBkMOidZU2D2cYXVaF8MrzcdPEGYo4A- album audio slides
Enjoy listening!
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UnRulyRecursion
Rampant Recursion of Projects into Projects
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Here is the text of an interesting article on story telling. I’ll be using these concepts to craft arcs for videos in the near future, stay tuned!
source: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/
How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point Arc
by Ali Hale
One of my favourite “how to write” books is Nigel Watts’ Writing A Novel and Getting Published.
My battered, torn and heavily-pencil-marked copy is a testament to how useful I’ve found it over the years. Although the cover appears to be on the verge of falling off altogether, I’ve risked opening the book once more to bring you Watts’ very useful “Eight-Point Story Arc” – a fool-proof, fail-safe and time-honoured way to structure a story.
(Even if you’re a short story writer or flash fiction writer rather than a novelist, this structure still applies, so don’t be put off by the title of Watts’ book.)
The eight points which Watts lists are, in order:
Critical choice
He explains that every classic plot passes through these stages and that he doesn’t tend to use them to plan a story, but instead uses the points during the writing process:
I find [the eight-point arc] most useful as a checklist against which to measure a work in progress. If I sense a story is going wrong, I see if I’ve unwittingly missed out a stage of the eight-point arc. It may not guarantee you write a brilliant story, but it will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of a brilliant idea gone wrong.
So, what do the eight points mean?
This is the “every day life” in which the story is set. Think of Cinderella sweeping the ashes, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) living in poverty with his mum and a cow, or Harry Potter living with the Dursley’s.
Something beyond the control of the protagonist (hero/heroine) is the trigger which sparks off the story. A fairy godmother appears, someone pays in magic beans not gold, a mysterious letter arrives … you get the picture.
The trigger results in a quest – an unpleasant trigger (e.g. a protagonist losing his job) might involve a quest to return to the status quo; a pleasant trigger (e.g. finding a treasure map) means a quest to maintain or increase the new pleasant state.
This stage involves not one but several elements, and takes up most of the middle part of the story. “Surprise” includes pleasant events, but more often means obstacles, complications, conflict and trouble for the protagonist.
Watts emphasises that surprises shouldn’t be too random or too predictable – they need to be unexpected, but plausible. The reader has to think “I should have seen that coming!”
At some stage, your protagonist needs to make a crucial decision; a critical choice. This is often when we find out exactly who a character is, as real personalities are revealed at moments of high stress. Watts stresses that this has to be a decision by the character to take a particular path – not just something that happens by chance.
In many classic stories, the “critical choice” involves choosing between a good, but hard, path and a bad, but easy, one.
In tragedies, the unhappy ending often stems from a character making the wrong choice at this point – Romeo poisoning himself on seeing Juliet supposedly dead, for example.
The critical choice(s) made by your protagonist need to result in the climax, the highest peak of tension, in your story.
For some stories, this could be the firing squad levelling their guns to shoot, a battle commencing, a high-speed chase or something equally dramatic. In other stories, the climax could be a huge argument between a husband and wife, or a playground fight between children, or Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters trying on the glass slipper.
The reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax, and it should change the status of the characters – especially your protagonist. For example, a downtrodden wife might leave her husband after a row; a bullied child might stand up for a fellow victim and realise that the bully no longer has any power over him; Cinderella might be recognised by the prince.
Your story reversals should be inevitable and probable. Nothing should happen for no reason, changes in status should not fall out of the sky. The story should unfold as life unfolds: relentlessly, implacably, and plausibly.
The resolution is a return to a fresh stasis – one where the characters should be changed, wiser and enlightened, but where the story being told is complete.
(You can always start off a new story, a sequel, with another trigger…)
I’ve only covered Watts’ eight-point arc in brief here. In the book, he gives several examples of how the eight-point arc applies to various stories. He also explains how a longer story (such as a novel) should include arcs-within-arcs – subplots and scenes where the same eight-point structure is followed, but at a more minor level than for the arc of the entire story.
You can buy Writing a Novel from Amazon.com – and I highly recommend that you do, as it’s an excellent book for any writer of fiction, and deals with all aspects of the craft (not just eight-point arcs!)
Posted by Taylor Peet at 11:37 am Tagged with: literature, Project, story arcs, storytelling, video
Taylor Peet
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Oscar Murillo: Casting Off The White Gloves
MFA Visual Studies candidate reviews Oscar Murillo's exhibition Forever Now: Painting in an Atemporal Age at MoMA
The walls and floor of the Museum of Modern Art’s show Forever Now: Painting in an Atemporal Age are vitalized by Oscar Murillo, 29-year-old Colombian-born artist based in London. On view December 14, 2014–April 5, 2015.
The selection of Murillo’s work at MoMA includes eight unstretched canvases in a heap on the floor. At first glance, the haphazard pile appears to be a specific and intentional arrangement—a sculpture built from paintings. However, the wall didactic discloses that these floor pieces are touchable, moveable, and interactive. In an environment where standing close to a work results in buzzers or reprimand, the impulse to ask a docent for permission might remain, and the opportunity to touch brings both hesitation and delight. Visitors pull and unfold each piece, run their fingers along the crudely applied paint, feel the canvas bend and flex, study both sides of the work, and even wear the canvases, wrapping up in a Murillo and snapping a selfie. After finishing their investigation, visitors re-pile the pieces in a new configuration—a new composition on the floor. Murillo activates visitors, literally pulling them into the work as both performers and exhibit designers, and the pile of paintings transforms into a participatory installation.
The didactic states: “by allowing his work to be touched by all, Murillo challenges—not without humor—the fact that contemporary paintings by some artists have become so valuable and so sought after that they cannot be touched or even closely examined by the average viewer.” This transgressive act has a tongue-in-cheek quality as the Murillo paintings hanging on the walls surrounding the pile of unstretched canvases remain relegated to the tradition of untouchability. Are we to assume that these works are any different than those on the floor? The text also nods to the recent explosion in market value of his work. Paintings that were purchased for four figures are being flipped at auction for six. By achieving this level of success in the art market, Murillo is able to permeate the upper class. Buyers believe they’re taking home a status symbol, but the work insinuates otherwise. He incorporates dust and dirt, walks on his work while making, folds and cuts his canvases, and paints with blunt implements, such as a broomstick. These acts question notions of preciousness, and in turn are critical of the very mechanisms and people through which they are being purchased.
Murillo’s work, similar to his life, has revolved around ideas not only of class, but of displacement, movement, and culture. In his paintings, words such as “yoga” and “milk” seem to take on more of a sense of cultural nostalgia or style than serving as explicit signifiers. They are removed from any context, displaced into singularity not unlike a sort of cultural logo. A sense of displacement is also evident in his construction of the final compositions. Canvases are cut into sections, laid on the floor, moved around and reconfigured, and then sewn together. The stitches and seams are left visible, as evidence of the process of restructuring. The dirt and dust also relate to the idea of displacement and global movement, and because dirt is ubiquitous, he describes it as a democratizing agent in the work. Touching Murillo’s paintings, there’s a mixed bag of sensation—they feel gritty, dirty, unctuous, thick, rough, sensual, and known. They don’t feel opulent, they feel familiar.
Murillo has been written off by some as a derivative Basquiat copycat whose fame was cultivated by collectors rather than critics and curators. After spending time with his work, and reading interviews with the painter, this appears to be a shallow discernment at best. Looking beyond his skin color and hair style, one finds a painter questioning classist access to art, carving out a place for performativity and visitor interaction within the walls of the institution, and redefining preciousness. It is extremely rare for work at MoMA to permit engagement on more than a passive level. Here instead is an exhibit that is tactile, kinetic, and thoroughly active. For those heavily indoctrinated with museum etiquette, simply put: the exhibit is a hell of a lot of fun.
installation view, Oscar Murillo, Forever Now: Painting in an Atemporal World, Museum of Modern Art, 2015. Eight works installed on the floor; oil, oil stick, dirt, graphite, and thread on linen and canvas, 2012-2014. photo: Rebecca Mackay Rosen Carlisle
by Rebecca Mackay Rosen Carlisle
Carlisle is a candidate in PNCA's MFA in Visual Studies program
Selections from Grace Sanders at the writer's retreat at Lee Kelly's studio Read more →
PNCA faculty member Pete McCracken talks about the future of design with typographer, designer and visiting artist Jonathan Barnbrook. Read more →
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C 9501 MEDITATION MUSIC: 1000 YEARS OF MEDITATIVE MUSIC (only available as digital download and streaming)
Smooth away physical or emotional distress with this arresting Meditation CD! Music is the language and the sound of the soul. It can convey from the inner-most-self a state of heart and mind, touching the soul and the very essence of being directly. The music on this Meditation CD transmits a deep and profound beauty that invites a state of meditation and contemplation, only then revealing its purest secrets. Beyond cultural, social or religious boundaries, this music communicates in the universal language of the heart, which does not need the mind nor the intellect to be understood and appreciated.
This is the only Meditation CD that is entirely built around early music, considered by many to be the “healing music” of our century. It contains pieces from the 10th to the 19th century, truly meditative music chronologically ordered so that, when listening to it, you can free your senses and concentrate your attention on the magical atmosphere that these pieces help to evoke and feel. The almost miraculous way in which in the first piece of our CD the Gregorian melody adapts to the text’s inflexions and nuances is a reflection of the tranquility and peace desired by monastic life. From the remote times of Gregorian tunes (10th century) up to the 19th century, represented here by a mesmerizing duet for two cellos by the German, almost forgotten composer, F.A. Kummer, this deeply beautiful music will help you to adjust your breath, focus your mind on the quite melting beauty of these repertoires and achieve the concentration needed for a fully satisfactory state of meditative relaxation.
The musical selection of our CD is absolutely ravishing: from anonymous fascinating medieval pieces to irresistible tunes by Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Purcell or Telemann, all of them performed by some of the world-wide early music stars that record for Cantus. This CD contains a number of tracks never previously released by Cantus, with music by Hildegard von Bingen, Francesco Maria Veracini, Jacques Duphly, Friedrich August Kummer, François Couperin or Antonio Vivaldi, to name but a few examples.
Our Meditation CD has been recorded entirely in naturally atmospheric venues such as churches, cathedrals, palaces and ancient castles, often at midnight for ambient sound conditions and in many occasions using only candlelight. No obstrusive recording systems have been used. In most cases a single source sound system based on a stereo microphone has been employed using no mixers at all. As a result, the music on this CD possesses an extraordinarily authentic quality that suits the persons who seeks a sophisticated musical experience. To heighten the experience, listen to the music at night when there are no foreign sounds disrupting your pleasure. Embark on a wholly satisfying journey into the world of meditation music: from celestial liturgical music to outer-wordly secular sounds.
Please note that Meditation is not available as a physical CD. You can only purchase a digital download from iTunes, Qobuz, Emusic or any other legal platform, or listen to it using streaming services like Spotify or Deezer.
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Buy this CD
Digital download mp3/flac
Meditation: meditative music across ten centuries
Meditation contains 24 tracks performed by some of the greatest early music stars world-wide, such as Ensemble Gilles Binchois, La Reverdie, Les Flamboyants, Pierre Hamon, Currende, Núria Rial, Gérard Lesne & Il Seminario Musicale, Sergio Ciomei, Fabrizio Cipriani, La Venexiana, Maurizio Naddeo, Antonio Fantinuoli, Susanne Norin and many more.
Most of the pieces selected for this Meditation CD come from some of the best recordings published by Cantus Records, but this release also contains a good number of pieces never published by us before: works by Hildegard von Bingen (O frondens virga), François Couperin (the beginning of the 3ème leçon de ténèbres), Vivaldi (the Eja Mater from the Stabat Mater), Veracini (the Largo from his sonata op. 1 no. 7), Jacques Duphly (two beautiful Rondeaux) and Friedrich August Kummer (his allegreto melancolico, op. 105 no. 2).
Total time total 77:00
Booklet Including a very informative article in English written by José Carlos Cabello, artistic director of Cantus, who prepared this magnificient compilation.
Recordings Our Meditation CD has been recorded entirely in naturally atmospheric venues such as churches, cathedrals, palaces and ancient castles in different countries: France, Holland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium or Switzerland.
Engineering, editing and production Our different engineers have used no obstrusive recording systems. In most cases a single source sound system has been employed, using no mixers at all.
Executive production José Carlos Cabello (from Cantus Records, Spain) and Stefan Mager (from Dynamo House, Australia)
Cover Created from different illuminated medieval manuscripts by Stefan Mager (Australia), resized by José Carlos Cabello.
“***** Perfect for those nights with someone special when you want to just sit on the floor and stare at each other. The performances are glorious” (The Eye Magazine, Classical, Australia)
“CD of the Month” (3MBS Radio Station, Australia)
[2] Hildegard von Bingen : O frondens virga (12th c.)
[13] F. Couperin: Troisième leçon (beginning) (17-18th c.)
[20] F. Veracini: Largo from sonata op. 1 no. 1 (18th c.)
[16] A. Vivaldi: Eja Mater from Stabat Mater (18th c.)
[21] J. Duphly: 2 Rondeaux (18th c.)
[24] F.A. Kummer: Alegretto melancolico, op. 105 no. 2 (19th c.)
Please note that Meditation is not available as a physical CD. You can only purchase a digital download from iTunes, Qobuz, Emusic or any other legal platform, or listen to it using streaming services like Spotify or Deezer. Please refer to the Digital Download section.
The present CD is available in most digital platforms both in lossy (mp3) and lossless formats, and always including the complete ebooklet. If you want to purchase it in a not supported format by the mentioned platforms, or you experience any problem, please contact us at shop@cantus-records.com and we shall send you instructions on how to get it immediately.
VERY SOON: NEW ARTISTS, NEW RELEASES!
NEW WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION
THREE NEW RELEASES !
JAVIER NÚÑEZ ON CANTUS
© 2012 Cantus Records ::::::::::::: Diseño web: David Morales
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Welcome to the world of Clarus, the flagship brand from Safa Group.
The story of Clarus is the story of the coming of age of the trusted jewellery brand Safa, whose growth over 28 years includes EIGHT state-of-the-art, ultra-modern showrooms across Kerala, India, and a retail outlet in KSA.
Safa’s retail offering is bolstered by their own jewellery manufacturing units in India and the UAE, as well as a center for jewellery design, the Institute of Gems and Jewellery (IGJ).
The CLARUS is an elegant representation of symmetry and asymmetry, closeness and openness, softness and hardness, the feminine and the masculine. The C icon is complemented by a luxe logotype developed exclusively for Clarus, true to the brand’s own emphasis on uniqueness and custom-made products.
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Any fashionista will tell you that your jewelry can make or break an outfit. We love our customers!
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Brand Clarus is a bold leap forward for the Safa Group. We are pouring a quarter century of experience in the jewellery industry into this move, which we hope will open two doors at once: one, for the company to become a player in bigger markets, and two, for customers in the rapidly growing regions to experience the unique combination of quality and warm service that has hitherto been the hallmark of the parent company, Safa.
We have solid plans to market brand clarus, the premium jewellery in to major metro cities in India as well as US, Europe, and other potential countries at the earliest .
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After 30 years in the Jewellery retail business our team SAFA explored the possibility of setting up a modern wholesale and manufacturing unit. The momentum of these ideas resulted in the birth of institute of Gems and Jewellery and a state of the art manufacturing unit at Inkel Educity, Malappuram. This helped the company to feed its own retail outlets as well as our own outlets in UAE and KSA. The institute helps in providing high quality designers and gem experts in the field.
In order to capitalize on the situation, the board has decided to promote and develop a mono brand Jewellery -CLARUS
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October 3, 2016 Tracy Walker Faith, Write31days 4
The letter arrived in a hand-addressed envelope from the Travis County Corrections Center. While I didn’t know the author her words cut deep to my core.
On the outside of the folded letter she had written in bold letters “I praise God for you”. My heart was pricked by her words. I thought how could a woman who has been behind bars for almost a decade say she is blessed by a radio station? I had a hard time getting my head around her sentiments.
“J” the inmate, wrote that she listens faithfully to the Christian music radio station that I work for from her cell room. She said the the songs we play speak to her at just the right time and that the words of the DJ’s encourage her everyday.
Oh what it must be like I thought. So desperate, so desolate it must be to live out such a sentence. But J had something else in mind.
When she’s given access to a radio she tunes in to the station and said that the music IS her church.
J wrote heartfelt words and expressed how she has found great hope and joy through Jesus and that the lyrics to the songs she hears releases her out of fear, anxiety, and worry.
Thankfulness poured out on to the Travis County Correction Center letterhead as she thanked us for lifting her broken soul.
She pressed on and said it’s the music that reminds her that the Holy Spirit is with her and she praises God and worships in her cell along with the music.
Like a grenade to my heart she said she’s quite alone in the world and I wondered to myself how one can have faith and gratitude this big being behind bars.
When I look at my world, my emotions can hang on everything going my way and when it doesn’t I’m out of sorts.
J’s letter quickly shifted my perspective. Her words were inspiring. But above all her faithfulness spoke so loud. When all is lost and your future is dim how do you muster this kind of faith?
She closed her note by saying that she knows Christ died for us here on the bottom shelf of life as much as He did for those who are easily seen on the top shelf of life’s store.
Her letter left me wanting to fight like crazy to fan the flames of life with my faith, just like J.
michelle October 7, 2016 at 11:51 am
Sweetness! We never know who our words or actions will encourage. Thanks for sharing this precious woman’s letter.
Tracy Walker October 18, 2016 at 9:25 pm
So true Michelle, thank you for taking time to come by. Tracy
Elizabeth October 11, 2016 at 6:33 am
Tracey, this is beautiful. The story of Js faith in jail is yet another reminder of how Jesus sustains us through seasons of trials and suffering. Thank you for sharing!
Amen Elizabeth! Thank you for stopping by. Tracy
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T-2 Buckeye Trainer
Historical Snapshot
First flown in 1958, T-2 Buckeye (its original designation was T2J-1) jet trainer aircraft were produced for the U.S. Navy by North American Aviation at Columbus, Ohio. T-2 trainers were used by the Naval Air Training Command to conduct basic jet flight training for future Navy and Marine Corps aviators. The trainer established an outstanding record of safety and reliability while providing training for more than 11,000 students to pilot 18 different models of Navy jet aircraft. Buckeyes also were purchased by Venezuela (T-2D) and Greece (T-2E).
The two-place, high-performance T-2 Buckeye was used for a wide variety of pilot training, from the student’s first jet flight to fully qualified flight. The aircraft was used for teaching a wide range of skills, including high-altitude, high-speed formation and aerobatic flights; basic and radio instruments; night and day navigation; and gunnery, bombing and carrier operations.
The Buckeye had a tandem seating arrangement with the rear seat elevated to provide student and instructor pilot with excellent visibility. The front and rear cockpits had duplicate controls, allowing control of the aircraft from either cockpit. The rocket-catapult ejection seats provided emergency escape capabilities from ground level to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) at speeds from 63 mph (101 kph) to 604 mph (972 kph).
The flying characteristics, control response, low stall speed and good stability of the T-2 combined to provide the qualities required of a good training aircraft. In addition, the T-2 was a rugged, versatile and forgiving aircraft. The wide-tread tricycle landing gear provided excellent control during takeoff and landing. The thrust-to-weight ratio and high limit load factor provided performance capabilities equal to many jet tactical aircraft. The airframe was constructed to withstand carrier landings, inadvertent high g-loads and rough landings encountered during student training.
Ground-level maintenance was emphasized throughout the design of the Buckeye. Convenient access to installed components, grouped at waist level or lower, eliminated the need for workstands and ladders for most maintenance. Large quick-opening doors provided ready access to equipment.
Engine access was direct and simple. Two forward clamshell doors could be quickly opened to expose engine accessories. Opening three doors on one side permitted complete removal and installation of an engine. The engines were suspended from the primary fuselage structure, thereby eliminating the need for a fuselage field break. All primary servicing procedures, including single-point refueling, could be performed from ground level.
The versatility of the T-2 as a weapons trainer was demonstrated by the capability to install many types of practice stores and packages on the wing store stations. These stores and packages included bombs, air-to-air and air-to-ground rockets, gun pods, and aerial tow targets. An armament accessory kit was available that provided six store stations instead of two, thus making the Buckeye an excellent light-attack aircraft in addition to its training role.
First flight Jan. 31, 1958
Span 38.13 feet (11.6 meters)
Length 38.70 feet (11.8 meters)
Height 14.80 feet (4.5 meters)
Weight Empty: 8,115 pounds (3,681 kilograms); take-off gross weight: 13,179 pounds (5,978 kilograms)
Power plant Two J85-GE-4 engines, each rated at 2,950 pounds (1,338 kilograms) maximum thrust (standard day at sea level)
Max. speed at sea level 465 knots (862 kilometers/hour)
Range 930 nmi (1,723 kilometers) (10% reserve)
Service ceiling 45,200 feet (13,777 meters)
Crew Instructor pilot, student pilot
Fuselage tank: 387 gallons (1,465 liters)
Wing tip tanks: 102 gallons (386 liters) each tank
Wing leading edge: 50 gallons (189 liters) each wing
Two 320-pound (145 kilograms) capacity underwing store stations
50-caliber gun package
Bomb racks
Tow target containers
Fire control package (baggage compartment)
An armament accessory kit was available that provided six store stations
Landing gear Tricycle; hydraulic retracted; conventional air/oil shock strut
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Watching Telly: DOND On Tour
By Brig Bother | October 24, 2016
Well we all know what Deal Or No Deal is so I won’t furnish you with those details. You’re probably aware that the show has been axed but it’s being allowed a two-week farewell tour series to cap the show off.
Now in the show’s 11-year history I never got to the Dream Factory to see an episode being filmed live, so when I heard last week that they were filming an episode in London at Alexandra Palace I leapt at the chance. In a joke on Facebook I compared going to see it at this late stage the TV equivalent of going to see Hear’Say after one of them had left but I’m really glad I went. The whole thing feels like the sort of thing they should have done years ago, especially as the live ones did so well.
It sounds like the idea behind this is that the game is so simple you can take the game anywhere, and so far I gather that they’ve filmed an episode in a biodome at The Eden Project, the Trafford Centre, on board The Flying Scotsman and coming soon in an apparent television first (except a gameshow in mid-air has actually been done before) during a flight on a Boeing 747.
As such the sets are rather more minimalist – each box opener gets a perspex plinth to rest their box on. The board is hysterically low tech – the cash amounts are written on paddles which a member of the audience collared into doing it spins round to remove them, looking not unlike a sort of jackpot game you used to get on quiz TV channels. Atop that is a large-ish monitor for close ups of the contestant’s photos and the like, it would have been nice if it showed the boxes being opened but never mind.
The contestants on this tour are people who were waiting on the wings the last time the show was filmed 18 months ago. They bring along friends and family to open the boxes, a few of the boxes are given over to people who work at the place Deal has decended upon.
The game is Classic DOND – no button, no Box 23. We always thought Box 23 was rubbish anyway. The show is all about finding a contestant’s pain point and watching them agonising over a decision (this was a great game today incidentally, gripping stuff), Box 23 rarely provided this.
The audience were in the round. There were about 400 people packed in the Palm Court.
Today’s recording was about three hours and for most of us we were standing throughout. They did put a limited number of seats in for the older folk (of which there were many), I did wonder if we were going to have a Pensioner Rebellion when the audience guy announced it was going to be a standing show (they probably should have made this clearer on the application). There wasn’t much stopping once they started. I have newfound respect for contestants who were filming three or four episodes a day back in the day, that’s a lot of time on your feet!
Mark Olver’s a really good warm-up. To be honest it’s quite nice going to see a warm-up and not know exactly what jokes are about to come out.
Props to the sound guy who spent the first twenty minutes of the recording panicking behind me when he couldn’t get some clip mics on the pre-selected board turners working properly only for Noel to go and choose somebody completely different and already stood near the board anyway. Who probably hadn’t yet signed a release form.
Noel’s brilliant. Regardless of some of his nuttier opinions in real life, there really are few people who can sell a show like this, who can build up the drama and just react and go along with wherever the game happens to go. I’d be fascinated to know how much is pre-prepared, the contestant today picked her brother who suggested he could do a better job than Noel. So Noel lets him do it for about five minutes whilst coaching him, but after the break makes him wear a Noel-esque wig that just happened to be in his suit. I want to believe someone on the production was quick thinking enough to arrange that during a break.
Anyway I think the show’s definitely going out with a bang. Doing the show in unusual never-been-done-before places is such a Noel Edmonds way of going about it, as such the campaign for the titles for these shows to be a shot for shot recreation of The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow begins here:
Category: Main Watching Telly
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26 thoughts on “Watching Telly: DOND On Tour”
Brig Bother Post author October 24, 2016
Oh, and they made a gag that they hoped the quarter mill wouldn’t be won as there was no confetti cannon. Noel did follow it up with “we do have a contingency, though.”
Mister Al October 24, 2016
As somebody who sat in the Bristol audience for 322 games, I find this statement ironic.
Oh dear! I’ve only seen him a handful of times before (certainly compared to the regular London ones whose jokes I can list). It’s mainly shouting at people but he does it with a certain charm.
I wasn’t having a go at Mr Olver there. I even enjoyed it when I was the person he was shouting at. He was always the best of the warm-ups I saw in Bristol, but when he’s standing in front of ten different audiences every week he’s going to repeat the odd routine now and then. Like calling me a sad nerd, for example (in a friendly way, of course).
I’m not sure I can imagine him being *actually* nasty about someone.
Although he’s the only warm-up I’ve seen to actively tell people off if they’ve got their phone out. They just leave that to security at The London Studios.
Simon October 24, 2016
DOND always told audiences their phones had to be switched off before filming (because it interfered with their cameras).
Every show says this.
Unless you’re Dara O Briain’s Go 8 Bit. I’ve largely suspected it to be rubbish and they just don’t want the set design to get out.
Actually another thing I noticed that I didn’t know was usual or not, each box had an LED strip light underneath the number. Has this always been the case?
Daniel H October 24, 2016
The boxes on the show are lit by lights in the desk so maybe to mimic that but if you mean they’re stuck to the box then I think that’s new.
I presume they box openers didn’t operate the lights at all as they do have lights on the front of the desks these days to indicate whether the wingers would have dealt.
Yes, stuck to the box. Some of them weren’t working. I can’t imagine them being strong enough as uplights by the looks of them but I’m not a cameraman.
No Deal buttons today, although Noel did do a sweep down the wings like it was 2005. All we were missing was a speed round.
John R October 24, 2016
How did they decide on which ten of the remaining ‘wingers’ got to play the On Tour shows?
Similarly whether there’s something special planned for the other contestants on the very last show I don’t know.
Tom H October 25, 2016
I suspect they may be doing 10 specials so they all get a go – as Brig mentioned, Noel mentioned about four or five filming locations and the blurb in the press release when the tour was announced talked about taking the show the length and breadth of the country.
I’m not sure the numbers work unless they fiddle something, they’d still be 21 people on the wings at the end of the last recording session.
I should add this in the main body but I’m in bed now: the contestant has a free pick of all 22 boxes. It looks like the box openers still draw to see which boxes they get. Swaps still offered.
John R November 3, 2016
How long do SRO generally take to get back to you? Applied for a ticket for Blackpool yesterday evening and not heard anything yet (Show is on Monday so not much of a window!)
Brig Bother Post author November 3, 2016
Depends how subscribed they are. You may yet hear back this evening, but a day or two sounds about right.
In my experience re: Ally Pally: applied Wednesday afternoon, got ticket drop through Thursday at 1am, but I also had a priority note on my file. I would imagine if you don’t hear by tomorrow afternoon you’ve been unlucky.
According to my email client, the ticket came through at 3:54am so there you go
Simon November 4, 2016
Same here. Just trying to work how early I need to be there before the time they say they will be there from (I don’t have a priority ticket).
Mind you if I get there too early, there are certainly more boring places to be hanging around that Blackpool promenade.
We will still be there from 2.15pm but the studio doors will now open at 4.15pm and close at 4.45pm. We expect the recording to finish by 8.00pm.
Please reply to confirm that you have received this email and we will email a replacement ticket with the updated times.
…That’s annoying really, as it is cutting my last train a bit fine! Although I suppose it is Blackpool so worst case scenario is you can get a bed for the night for about 99p anyway
Just on the way back from Blackpool
The pilgrims sat in the ballroom (about 600!) but all the actual gameplay was taking place at the top of the tower in a very narrow space so we got a video link and Mark Olver. Noel did pop down to say hello!
Other than that it was basically just standard Deal, lots of retakes as it is very hard to move around Noel the contestant and a camera at the top of Blackpool Tower!
Anyway the plan is the ballroom pilgrims get asked for advice on the offers so Mark Olver may be about to make a rare Deal on screen appearance
Sadly I had to leave just before 2 box due to last train constraints so even I’m a bit in the dark until December / January
Interesting! At least you got to sit down.
How could I miss the most important bit – one of the advantages to being in the Tower ballroom was the well placed bar (and toilets) at the back, sadly the beer wasn’t paid for courtesy of The Banker but apparently the teas and coffees might have been on the house
Also I now have a stick of Deal rock to munch on as The Banker did one of his little ‘games’ in the first round. I can’t help wondering what would have happened to all the rock otherwise though?!
The funniest part of the whole thing was *minor spoiler warning* after the contestant dealt for the proveout he went straight for the box he said they were keeping until the end cue Noel having to explain the whole ‘play on as if you were in live play’ crazy how after 11 years a contestant doesn’t grasp that idea!
Apparently they had rigged the lights up on the actual tower so they turned red or blue depending on each box contents, be nice to see that on the actual TV. Some very funny banter with Noel and The Banker too, it really does work quite well outside of Bristol but is quite a pain to set up and record, unlike the well oiled machine of 3 shows a day in the dream factory!
I did up my count of missing my train because a DOND filming overran to 2 (the first was Dale’s £100k win). Thankfully I had an inkling that a 30 minute gap between the stated end of filming and my last train was cutting it a bit fine, so had stuck a few overnight things in my bag) – plus if you can’t find a spare hotel room in Blackpool on a Monday night the day after the Illuminations finish, you’re not really looking.
Chris M. Dickson December 3, 2016
For the sake of organisation, I’ll scroll back to the last DoND-themed post…
Today I went for a birthday dinner featuring, as another guest, a prominent University Challenger and a current collaborator of the estimable Mr. B. We discussed said guest’s quiz show involvement in his university quiz days. He was on one of the first dozen or so episodes of The Weakest Link and said that, when they were auditioning long before the show began, he asked the production staff who the host would be. They said “At the moment we think it might be Noel Edmonds”.
A thought-experiment we pondered: what would a world be like where Noel Edmonds “got” The Weakest Link… and Anne Robinson hosted Deal or No Deal?
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Boynton Beach Historical Society » Tag » ford motor company
Tag Archives: ford motor company
Palm Beach County’s First Automobiles
By Janet DeVries Naughton | February 22, 2016 - 3:13 pm | February 22, 2016 roads, Uncategorized
1905 – Florida requires automobile registration
In 2015, the State Archives of Florida digitized the first two volumes of motor vehicle registrations recorded by the Florida Department of State. These ledger pages, found online at Florida Memory, Found Here contain detailed information recorded between 1905 and 1917 about our earliest vehicles, including the registered owner, city, county, make, model and horsepower of each automobile and motorcycle.
George W. Potter was the first person in this part of the state (Palm Beach County) to legally register his automobile with the state.
George Potter, courtesy Potter Collection, Historical Society of Palm Beach County
Other horseless carriages were dotting the sandy roads, but Potter’s registration of a lightweight, four-horsepower Orient Buckboard, recorded November 20, 1905, was the 80th registered vehicle in the entire state of Florida. Before moving to Florida, Potter studied art and engineering in Cincinnati. His great grandson, David Willson, cartoonist for the Palm Beach Daily News, recounts how you could tell Potter had a fascination with all things mechanical as his sketches were filled with bridges and steam boats.
Record #80
Geo. W. Potter Nov. 20, 1905 vehicle registration
Waltham Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts, including the Orient Buckboard, between 1902 and 1908
Henry M. Flagler
Henry M. Flagler, courtesy Library of Congress
Henry Morrison Flagler registered his vehicle on December 6, 1905, a few weeks after Potter. Local history sources contend that Flagler did not allow motorized vehicles on his luxury island resort at Palm Beach, instead preferring guests to traverse through the gardens and jungle trials via wicker rickshaw bicycles, powered by Negro guides.
White Auto Co. 1905
Flagler’s vehicle, listed as a Touring Car manufactured by White Sew’g Mch. Co. (White Sewing Machine Co./White Motor Co.) operated on steam, hence the vehicle was not a noisy as other autos of the time. Presidents William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt also owned White Motor Company automobiles during this time period.
Florida East Coast Hotel Automobile Registrations
Florida East Coast Hotel System
The vehicle must have served Flagler well, for in the next few months his Florida East Coast Hotel system purchased and registered five additional identical touring cars.
1907 White Touring Steam Car, courtesy Henry Ford Museum
Boynton Hotel Company President A.E. Parker
A. E. Parker Touring Car Record
In January 1908, Albert Edward Parker, manager of the Boynton oceanfront hotel and son-in-law of hotel owner Maj. Nathan Smith Boynton, registered his 30-horsepower Winton M.C. Co. Touring Car. Parker conducted business in both West Palm Beach and Miami, and likely used the old, bumpy sand trail to traverse the county for business purposes and to take hotel guests on sight-seeing tours.
Winton Motor Carriage Car
1908 – 500 registered vehicles in Florida
By 1908, 500 vehicles were registered in the state of Florida.
2016 – Over 20,000,000 registered vehicles in Florida
Currently, there are over twenty million vehicles registered in Florida, with 1.2 million in Palm Beach County.
Vehicles registered in the State of Florida as of February 5, 2016
DRIVE SAFE!
Tagged adventure, automobiles, boynton, Boynton History, dixie highway, Florida, florida memory, ford motor company, george potter, Henry Flagler, History, palm beach county, research old cars, roads, roadster, sand road, south florida, travel, West Palm Beach
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calories in sweet potato
sweet potato nutrition facts
protein in sweet potato
carbs in sweet potato
fat in sweet potato
sugar in sweet potato
sodium in sweet potato
potassium in sweet potato
saturated fat in sweet potato
cholesterol in sweet potato
magnesium in sweet potato
iron in sweet potato
fiber in sweet potato
calcium in sweet potato
zinc in sweet potato
vitamin a in sweet potato
vitamin d in sweet potato
vitamin k in sweet potato
vitamin b12 in sweet potato
vitamin b6 in sweet potato
folic acid in sweet potato
riboflavin in sweet potato
phosphorus in sweet potato
niacin in sweet potato
thiamine in sweet potato
Home / Nutrition / Vitamin C / sweet potato
Amount of Vitamin C in Sweet potato
Welcome to the nutritional vitamin c content in 16 different types of sweet potato, ranging from 26.4 mg to 1.5 mg per 100g. The basic type of sweet potato is Sweet potato leaves, raw, where the amount of vitamin c in 100g is 11 mg.
11 mg of vitamin c per 100g, from Sweet potato leaves, raw corresponds to 18% of the vitamin c RDA. For a typical serving size of 1 cup, chopped (or 35 g) the amount of Vitamin C is 3.85 mg. This corresponds to an RDA percentage of 6%.
The percentage of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin c is based on a 60 mg RDA level for a mature adult.
Top ten sweet potato products high in vitamin c
Below is a summary list for the top ten sweet potato items ranked by the amount or level of vitamin c in 100g.
1. Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack : 26.4mg (44%RDA)
2. Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, without salt : 19.6mg (33%RDA)
3. Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, with salt : 19.6mg (33%RDA)
4. Sweet potato, frozen, unprepared : 13.3mg (22%RDA)
5. Sweet potato, cooked, boiled, without skin : 12.8mg (21%RDA)
6. Sweet potato, cooked, boiled, without skin, with salt : 12.8mg (21%RDA)
7. Sweet potato leaves, raw : 11mg (18%RDA)
8. Sweet potato, canned, syrup pack, drained solids : 10.8mg (18%RDA)
9. Sweet potato, canned, syrup pack, solids and liquids : 10.5mg (18%RDA)
10. Sweet potato, frozen, cooked, baked, without salt : 9.1mg (15%RDA)
Following on from the ten top sweet potato items or products containing vitamin c we have a more comprehensive break down of Sweet potato leaves, raw, and the highest item containing vitamin c which is Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack. We also give a comparison of average values, median values and lowest values along with a comparison with other food groups and assess the effects of storage and preparation on the 16 types of sweet potato.
At the bottom of the page is the full list for the 16 different types of sweet potato based on the content in different servings in grams and oz (and other serving sizes), providing a comprehensive analysis of the vitamin c content in sweet potato.
Sweet potato leaves, raw - Nutritional Content and Chart
The full nutrition content, RDA percentages and levels for Sweet potato leaves, raw should be considered along with the vitamin c content. This food profile is part of our list of food and drinks under the general group Vegetables and Vegetable Products.Other important and vitamin c related nutrients are Calories, Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate. For this 100g serving in your diet, the amount of Calories is 42 kcal (2% RDA), the amount of Protein is 2.49 g (4% RDA), the amount of Fat is 0.51 g (1% RDA) and the amount of Carbohydrate is 8.82 g (7% RDA). The nutritional content and facts for 100g, which includes Calories, Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate is shown in the RDA chart below as percentages of the recommended daily allowance along with the vitamin c levels in sweet potato.
Our proprietary nutritional density score gives a nutritional value out of 100 based on 9 different vitamins, minerals and macro nutrients. Sweet potato leaves, raw has a nutritional value score of 31 out of 100.Comparing the vitamin c content and the nutritional density in 100g for Sweet potato leaves, raw; We class this as a high vitamin c content item.In terms of overall nutritional value we class this as an item with a high nutritional density value.
Comparing vitamin c in sweet potato vs an orange
The amount of vitamin c in an orange is 53.2 mg per 100g.As vitamin c percentage of the RDA this is 89 %. Comparing with Sweet potato leaves, raw, in 100g contains 11 mg of vitamin c. As a percentage of the RDA this is 18 %. Therefore, an orange has 42.2 mg more vitamin c than Sweet potato leaves, raw. In terms of vitamin c percentage this is 384 % more vitamin c. An orange has an overall nutritional value score of 27 out of 100, whereas Sweet potato leaves, raw has a nutritional value score of 31 out of 100.
The highest content of vitamin c in the food items under the general description or type of sweet potato, is Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack with 26.4 mg of vitamin c per 100g. Comparing an orange with Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack; an orange has 26.8 mg more vitamin c than Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack. In terms of vitamin c percentage this is 102 % more vitamin c.
Amount of vitamin c per 100 Calories
100 calories of sweet potato leaves, raw is a serving size of 2.38 g, and the amount of Vitamin C is 26.19 mg (42.86% RDA). Other important and related nutrients and macronutrients such as Fat, in 100 Calories are as follows; Protein 5.93 g (9.52% RDA), Fat 1.21 g (2.38% RDA), Carbohydrate 21 g (16.67% RDA). This is shown in the vitamin c RDA percentage chart below, based on 100 Calories, along with the other important nutrients and macro nutrients.
Content per Typical Serving Size 1 cup, chopped (or 35 g)
For the food Sweet potato leaves, raw the typical serving size is 1 cup, chopped (or 35 g) which contains 3.85 mg of Vitamin C. The vitamin c percentage of the recommended daily value for this serving is 6 %.
To give 100% of the RDA, 16.7 servings of the typical serving size 1 cup, chopped (or 35 g) give the complete RDA. In terms of the gram weight and total content for this serving the Calories content is 14.7 kcal, the Protein content is 0.87 g, the Fat content is 0.18 g and the Carbohydrate content is 3.09 g. The percentages are shown below in the vitamin c chart, for the typical serving of vitamin c and the related and important nutritional values.
Macronutrients in Sweet potato leaves, raw
The amount of protein, fat and carbs from this food described above is measured in grams per 100g and grams in a typical serving size (in this case 1 cup, chopped or 35 g), although it is also useful to give the number of calories from protein, fat and carbohydrate which are the most important macronutrients. For this serving in your diet here are the macronutrient calories. From protein the number of calories is 2.1 (kcal).The number of calories from Fat is 1.5 (kcal).The total calories from carbohydrate is 11.0 (kcal).
Milligrams of vitamin c in sweet potato (per 100g)
This list of 16 types of sweet potato, is brought to you by www.dietandfitnesstoday.com and ranges from Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack through to Sweet potato leaves, cooked, steamed, with salt where all food items are ranked by the content or amount per 100g. The nutritional vitamin c content can be scaled by the amount in grams, oz or typical serving sizes. Simply click on a food item or beverage from the list at the bottom of the page to give a full dietary nutritional breakdown to answer the question how much vitamin c in sweet potato.
The list below gives the total vitamin c content in the 16 items from the general description 'sweet potato' each of which show the vitamin c amount as well as Calories, Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate. Below, is the top 16 food items shown in the vitamin c chart. This gives a quick and easy dietary comparison for the different items, where each item is listed at the bottom of the page with a nutritional summary.
The corresponding nutritional value for sweet potato based on our density score out of 100 (ranked by the amount of vitamin c per 100g) is shown in the below nutritional density chart.
The corresponding Calories for sweet potato ranked by the amount of vitamin c per 100g is shown below in the sweet potato calories chart.
Effect of Preparation and Storage on vitamin c
The level of vitamin c can be affected by the method of storage for example canned or frozen and also by the method of preparation for example either raw, cooked or fried. The total number of frozen food items is 3. The highest amount of vitamin c from the 3 frozen items is in Sweet potato, frozen, unprepared where the vitamin c content is 13.3 mg per 100g. The number of food items classified as canned is 4 items. The highest amount of vitamin c from the 4 canned items is in Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack where the level is 26.4 mg per 100g.The total food items which are raw is 2 items. The highest amount of vitamin c from the 2 raw items is in Sweet potato leaves, raw where the content is 11 mg per 100g. The number of food items which are cooked are 9 items. The highest amount of vitamin c from the 9 cooked items is in Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, without salt where the amount is 19.6 mg per 100g. Comparing raw and cooked sweet potato shows that cooking can change the levels of vitamin c by 8.6 mg in a 100g serving.
Average Content for sweet potato
The average (or more correctly the arithmetic mean) amount of vitamin c contained in 100g of sweet potato, based on the list below of 16 different items under the general description of sweet potato, is 10.91 mg of vitamin c. This average value corresponds to 18.18 % of the recommended dietary allowance (or RDA) in your diet. The averages for the different nutrients are as follows; the average amount of Calories is 86.69 kcal, the average amount of Protein is 1.69 g, the average amount of Fat is 0.42 g and the average amount of Carbohydrate is g.
The median value of Vitamin C is found in Sweet potato, canned, syrup pack, drained solids which in 100g contains 10.8 mg of Vitamin C. This corresponds to 18 % of the recommended daily allowance. For this serving the amount of Calories is 108 kcal, the amount of Protein is 1.28 g, the amount of Fat is 0.32 g and the amount of Carbohydrate is 25.36 g.
Highest vitamin c Content per 100g
Using the list below for the 16 different sweet potato nutrition entries in our database, the highest amount of vitamin c is found in Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack which contains 26.4 mg of vitamin c per 100g. The associated percentage of RDA is 44 %. For this 100g serving the Calories content is 91 kcal, the Protein content is 1.65 g, the Fat content is 0.2 g, the Carbohydrate content is 21.12 g.
The lowest amount of vitamin c in 100g is in Sweet potato leaves, cooked, steamed, with salt which contains 1.5 mg. This gives as percentage of the recommended daily allowance 3 % of the RDA. For this 100g serving the amount of Calories is 35 kcal, the amount of Protein is 2.18 g, the amount of Fat is 0.34 g, the amount of Carbohydrate is 7.38 g.
The difference between the highest and lowest values gives a vitamin c range of 24.9 mg per 100g. The range for the other nutrients are as follows; 56 kcal for Calories, 0.53 g for Protein, 0.14 g for Fat, 0 g for Carbohydrate.
Highest Amount of vitamin c per Serving
Please remember that the above gives an accurate value in 100g for high vitamin c foods in your diet. For example 100g of Sweet potato leaves, raw contains 11 mg of vitamin c. However, there are other factors to consider when you are assessing your nutritional requirements. You should also take into account portion sizes when you are considering the vitamin c nutritional content.
The food with the highest vitamin c content per typical serving is Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack which contains 67.32 mg in 1 cup, mashed (or 255 g). The percentage of the recommended daily value for this serving is 112 %. For this serving the Calories content is 232.05 kcal, the Protein content is 4.21 g, the Fat content is 0.51 g and the Carbohydrate content is 53.86 g.
From the list below you can find a full nutrition facts breakdown for all foods containing vitamin c which can be scaled for different servings and quantities. We have also sorted our complete nutritional information and vitamin database of over 7000 foods, to give a list of vitamin c rich foods.
Sweet potato List, vitamin c Content per 100g
1. Sweet potato, canned, vacuum pack - Vitamin C
Nutritional Value : 24 / 100 food group - Vegetables and Vegetable Products
26.4 mg (44%) 91 kcal (5%) 21.12 g (16%) 0.2 g (0%) 1.65 g (3%)
Typical Serving size of 1 cup and mashed (or 255g):
67.32 mg (112%) 232.05 kcal (12%) 53.86 g (41%) 0.51 g (1%) 4.21 g (8%)
Other serving sizes 1 cup pieces (or 200g):
52.8 mg (88%) 182 kcal (9%) 42.24 g (32%) 0.4 g (1%) 3.3 g (6%)
2. Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, without salt - Vitamin C
Vitamin C Calories Carbohydrate Fat Protein
19.6 mg (33%) 90 kcal (5%) 20.71 g (16%) 0.15 g (0%) 2.01 g (4%)
39.2 mg (65%) 180 kcal (9%) 41.42 g (32%) 0.3 g (0%) 4.02 g (7%)
Other serving sizes 1 large (or 180g):
35.28 mg (59%) 162 kcal (8%) 37.28 g (29%) 0.27 g (0%) 3.62 g (6%)
Other serving sizes 1 medium (2 dia, 5 long and raw) (or 114g):
22.34 mg (37%) 102.6 kcal (5%) 23.61 g (18%) 0.17 g (0%) 2.29 g (4%)
Other serving sizes 1 small (or 60g):
11.76 mg (20%) 54 kcal (3%) 12.43 g (10%) 0.09 g (0%) 1.21 g (2%)
3. Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, with salt - Vitamin C
Typical Serving size of 1 medium (2 dia, 5 long and raw) (or 114g):
22.34 mg (37%) 104.88 kcal (5%) 23.61 g (18%) 0.17 g (0%) 2.29 g (4%)
Other serving sizes .5 cup and mashed (or 100g):
4. Sweet potato, frozen, unprepared - Vitamin C
Typical Serving size of 1 cup and cubes (or 176g):
5. Sweet potato, cooked, boiled, without skin - Vitamin C
41.98 mg (70%) 249.28 kcal (12%) 58.12 g (45%) 0.46 g (1%) 4.49 g (8%)
Other serving sizes 1 medium (or 151g):
6. Sweet potato, cooked, boiled, without skin, with salt - Vitamin C
7. Sweet potato leaves, raw - Vitamin C
11 mg (18%) 42 kcal (2%) 8.82 g (7%) 0.51 g (1%) 2.49 g (4%)
Typical Serving size of 1 cup and chopped (or 35g):
Other serving sizes 1 leaf (12-1/4 long) (or 16g):
1.76 mg (3%) 6.72 kcal (0%) 1.41 g (1%) 0.08 g (0%) 0.4 g (1%)
8. Sweet potato, canned, syrup pack, drained solids - Vitamin C
10.8 mg (18%) 108 kcal (5%) 25.36 g (20%) 0.32 g (0%) 1.28 g (2%)
9. Sweet potato, canned, syrup pack, solids and liquids - Vitamin C
Other serving sizes 1 can (404 x 307) (or 638g):
66.99 mg (112%) 567.82 kcal (28%) 133.53 g (103%) 1.28 g (2%) 6.25 g (11%)
10. Sweet potato, frozen, cooked, baked, without salt - Vitamin C
9.1 mg (15%) 100 kcal (5%) 23.4 g (18%) 0.12 g (0%) 1.71 g (3%)
11. Sweet potato, frozen, cooked, baked, with salt - Vitamin C
12. Sweet potato, cooked, candied, home-prepared - Vitamin C
9 mg (15%) 164 kcal (8%) 32.12 g (25%) 3.54 g (5%) 0.89 g (2%)
Typical Serving size of 1 piece (2-1/2 x 2 dia) (or 105g):
9.45 mg (16%) 172.2 kcal (9%) 33.73 g (26%) 3.72 g (6%) 0.93 g (2%)
13. Sweet potato, canned, mashed - Vitamin C
5.2 mg (9%) 101 kcal (5%) 23.19 g (18%) 0.2 g (0%) 1.98 g (4%)
25.79 mg (43%) 500.96 kcal (25%) 115.02 g (88%) 0.99 g (2%) 9.82 g (18%)
14. Sweet potato, raw, unprepared - Vitamin C
2.4 mg (4%) 86 kcal (4%) 20.12 g (15%) 0.05 g (0%) 1.57 g (3%)
Other serving sizes 1 sweetpotato and 5 long (or 130g):
3.12 mg (5%) 111.8 kcal (6%) 26.16 g (20%) 0.07 g (0%) 2.04 g (4%)
15. Sweet potato leaves, cooked, steamed, without salt - Vitamin C
1.5 mg (3%) 41 kcal (2%) 7.38 g (6%) 0.34 g (1%) 2.18 g (4%)
Typical Serving size of 1 cup (or 64g):
vitamin c and Nutritional Values - Top 221 Foods
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Dix Mille Tours of Castellet 2019
WEC Technical Analysis: 2019 24 hours of Le Mans news
24 hours of Le Mans 2019 - Race
24 hours Le Mans 2019 - Practices
ELMS - 4 hours of Monza 2019
WEC Technical Analysis: 2019 6 hours of Spa news
WEC - 6 hours os Spa 2019
ELMS - 4 hours of Castellet 2019
Technical Analysis: Skid Block
WEC - 6 hours of Silverstone 2018
ELMS - 4 hours of Silverstone 2018
Historical Racing Car :
To hold three trump cards
"Inspiration is the impact of an event on an open mind". Thus Louis Pasteur provided the needed condition for new important scientific discoveries and for the progress deriving from it. Of course, the world that was moving round Formula one in the 70's was not so noble as the scientific one, but it was permeated by the same philosophy of a continuous search for a change. It's not by chance that it was one of the most creative period in the history of this sport, also in virtue of regulations that were not so strictly restrictive and detailed as the present-day ones. Making a comparison between periods we discover that today's the technician has a wider range of materials and implements at his disposal for the work, but he is often to be satisfied with micro revolutions involving single sectors, even when he is not obliged to conform his product to the average. At that time there was much more empiricism, but revolution really deserved the name and involved the concept of the racing car. Obviously, not every time that we cried to revolution, this one has brought to a convincing success, such as to push the competition to same technical choices: this is the case of the Tyrrell P34, the only car having four front wheel steer in the Formula 1 story. However. it is an attempt that deserves to go along it again in its entirety, not only for the originality of proposed solutions but also for the competitive career characterized by a fairly good success, at least as far as its first season is concerning, the 76's, when it really seemed that six-wheelers should make part by force of the technical background of the top formula and generally specking of the motor racing.
"The Event", first of all mentioned by Pasteur in his famous sentence. We instinctively wonder what stirring up event pushed Derek Gardner, the Tyrrell's successful designer, the inventor of the single-seater cars that led Jackie Stewart to win, to turn his back on his sound reputation of expert, rather conservative, to follow an original as well as risky idea like the four-wheel steer one. Not to mention the task to persuade a man, keeping both feet on the ground like Ken Tyrrell, to pay 34,000 pounds in 1975 to build the first prototype of the car and follow what, in every respect, seemed to be really foolish. Unfortunately, history did not leave any trace of such event, but we are in a position to reconstruct the line of reasoning that made Gardner conceive his creature. In September 1975, when his new car was presented to the press, the English designer had wide space to explain his ideas, just starting from the problems intended to be solved and which were mainly two. The first one was derived by the lack of an effective alternative to the eight cylinder Cosworth on the market of racing car engines, in common with almost any English race team: "Today, on F1 cars mounting the Cosworth engine, the problem is given by aerodynamics, as now the rating that this engine can offer (480 hp against 500 hp approx. of the 12-cylinder Ferrari) is well known by all of us and what's more it will be difficult to get a higher power". "Therefore, aerodynamics like a necessary field where to look for a performing advantage over competitors, but also second source of troubles. In particular, Gardner had concentrated his analysis on the drag produced by uncovered wheels: the English designer reckoned that the only front wheel trim of the Tyrrell 007 ( the 1975 single-seater) was responsible for the 12% of the total drag. The possible solution studied by Gardner envisaged the front wheels to be tucked completely behind a front fairing or a "chisel shaped" nose, reducing the track, the contact patch and diameter of the tyres so as to remain inside the sizes foreseen by regulations. This solution opened the door to new troubles due to the lack of adhesion and handling qualities because of the reduced size of the front wheels. Hence the need of doubling the front wheels to recover lost values. Thanks to the new front configuration, that permitted the airflow to rush without disruption up to the standard rear wheels, Gardner reckoned to gain additional 40 hp of the engine and to improve 20% of aerodynamics. By the terms of performance they counted on a higher peak speed and thanks to the doubling of tyres, on a consequent major road adhesion, efficient braking, besides an increased cornering ability when entering and going out of curves.
From the thought to the shape
To reproduce ideas and calculation on a prototype was an expensive and hard task: the car was shown to the press at a downtown London hotel, on 22 September 1975, the car took advantage of back wheels of a crashed 007 car, combined with an aluminium closed monocoque. The bodywork on its frontal area was dominated by a great chisel shaped nose (full-width prescribed: 1500 mm) that folded the two front axes featured by a track of only 1260 mm. It seems that it wasn't a big problem to convince Goodyear to produce a 7.5/16/10 front tyre in addition to the 13" standard one. The true troublesome problem was to design a suspension and a steer able to make the two wheels working correctly, besides the need of some miniaturized components like the brakes. As for the suspension diagram they chose to match the two wheels on tandem with the aluminium upper arms, angled by tubular bars. Each wheel was equipped with shock absorber spring, small coaxial units, purposely built by the Koni co. The antirolling bar was instead in common with the two axes. Rack-and-pinion steering gear directly acted on the first axis and by means of an intermediate control system on the second one. At first, at least, there was not a different steering ratio between the two matches. As for the braking system, the Tyrrell company worked in close touch with the Lockheed, by that time the main supplier on the market: they built particular 8 inch.Ø disks, cooled by a single ramming intake on the nose, while for callipers they started with small standard Mini Cooper callipers built in the hub holders. To obtain a balanced braking the callipers were positioned before the disk on the first axle and behind it on the second one. That way they tried to avoid the differentiated locking of the two wheel trim with a repercussion on the length of the wheelbase: if the first axle jammed the car should have been longer, if, on the contrary, the second axle jammed the wheelbase should have been shorter. Tanks, made by rubber coated cells of Marston type, were placed behind the driver and on the car sides. The engine was a conventional 8 cylinder Cosworth DFV 90° angled among the cylinder heads, that at the time produced 480 hp at 10500 rpm. Mounted with supporting function, was matched with a five gear, plus reverse, Hewland FG 400 geabox, while Borg & Beck clutch was of the dry two-disk type (7.4"ø) hydraulically controlled. Water cooling was assured by Serk radiators, lengthwise level positioned with the engine so as to concentrate the load around the barycentre, while the small oil radiator was secured to the rear wing support. The bodywork was made in fibre-glass, reinforced and separated in many elements: nose, cockpit, side panels and the generous oval airscope that left the cylinder heads uncovered. There were two windows in Plexiglas on the cockpit sides to favour the driver to locate the front obstructions of the car.
Doubts and prejudices
"I am convinced that it will be a revolutionary car, that will make the opponents spend a lot of money and they will have to conform to, whether practice is favourable to theory. That was Derek Gardner's trustful statement to the P34 introduction. Trustful but not enough to convince the F1 world of the excellence of a so daring project as to raise inevitable doubts. First step at that time for specialized magazines was to learn the opinions of the most popular Gardner's colleagues, finding out a rather conspicuous and common scepticism: Keith Duckworth, one of the two partners of Cosworth company, appeared not very convinced. Harvey Postlethwaite, a young and talented technical director of the Hesketh, understood the grounds of the project but did not believe that advantages got on paper were confirmed on track: first there was an objective difficulty in the set up, secondly he recalled the inevitable troubles of overheating due the higher speed of the small front tires rotation. Same position on this problem was taken by Gordon Murray of Brabham, who glossed: "On the contrary it will be a good car on the snow " . Peter Warr was substantially neutral to those comments: on the other hand Lotus had already other fish to fry with the same innovative but fragile JPS 77. Ray Brimble (Embassy-Hill) was sure of the troubles for steering adjustment besides the handling difficulty, evoking the memories of the tight and tortuous circuit of Monaco. As for Teddy Mayer, the boss of McLaren, the idea was good as a concept, but the difficulties for its development seemed huge. On the contrary, before scepticism Frank Williams placed the hope that such idea did not work, because, otherwise, for competitors a six months'delay at least would have occurred. The press also made the greatest possible use of articles, comments and gossips: it's worth summing up the logical analysis that Mario Coppini made to Autosprint readers, a few weeks before the presentation. First of all Coppini refused the word revolution, preferring evolution as a much less resounding expression: the continuous widening of tyre section, the prescribed limit established on the track, fixed in 2150 mm, caused designers to be faced by less and less zone where to arrange suspensions. Gardner, even with opposing points of view with respect the general trend to widen the track, did nothing but stress the increasing importance of tyres. Getting to the heart of the matter, in Coppini's opinion, the track reduction made by Gardner offered a substantial advantage for aerodynamics without doing negative effects on the attitude and the resistance to roll when cornering, since the minor distance between the wheels and a more reduced contact patch of tyres was compensated by the double axles. Practically, as a car corners there are two opposite forces acting: centrifugal force engages barycentre, while centripetal force acts on the contact area between tyre and roadbed. The wider is the track the greater is centripetal force and therefore the offset with centrifugal force, that causes the performance of the single-seater when cornering. With double axis, the values of the track and of the contact patch may be accumulated, Gardner had recovered and restored that offset. Rather than that, the trouble seemed caused by the adhesion increase: advantages offered by doubling the surface in contact with asphalt was conditioned by the ratio between the steering angles of the twin front wheels. Coppini was amazed by the fact that on P34 wheels steered with same ratio, when theory (already widely applied to industrial vehicles) prescribed a major steering angle on the first axis. Another doubt concerned the operative temperatures of small front tyres, submitted to major flexures for time unit and subject to the interaction between the two sets of tyres and the effects of fairing. Moreover, to have obtained a clean aerodynamic flow on the front wheels did not solve the problem completely, because on the rear the conventional 19-inch big wheels were left : now it sounded quite natural to Coppini to wonder whether next step should not be to reduce the size of rear tyres and to double the rear wheels.
Let's get to the point, everybody started waiting for the only true reliable response: the track. In October 1975, the new creature ran first laps in the small racing circuit of Silverstone driven by Patrick Depailler, the French driver at once declared himself for the new creature. Car didn't seem to give any particular trouble, least of all the fearful overheating of front tyres. Silence till November, when Jackie Stewart got into the cockpit of the P34 at the circuit of Le Castellet: for the first time after his retire, the Scottish driver got into a F1 car, but it was not a return to races, but only on the occasion of a filmstrip shot for the Elf, main Tyrrell sponsor. After four slow laps, he got out from the single-seater showing an irrepressible enthusiasm: the car was very easy to handle and didn't give any particular trouble. Great Jacky stated that P34 was ready to win the 1976 Championship. However, the Scottish driver was above all an image man, everybody knew that, and as he was such a man nobody could speak ill of the company that sponsored him so generously. The truth was that the car was "whipped" in neither of the two tests. From that time on P34 have become a Cinderella, to the point that we were entitled to believe all that a colossal bluff for publicity given by Elf, the giant oil industry. Actually Tyrrell started championship with the old 007, that even though making a good impression, by now showed all its limits. Everybody knew only that the P34 was under developing, but its debut continued to be delayed. Then on the eve of the Spanish G.P. at last a P34 was finally entered but for Depailler only, while Jody Scheckter would have run with the old single-seater. The car transported to Jarama showed the signs of a hard work of development and tuning made during winter, so much as to deserve to be dubbed P34/2 . The new single-seater was not a hybrid as the former: The frame had been completely redesigned by using new titanium alloys, metal also used to build suspensions. Moreover, sizes had been changed: the wheelbase was reduced from 2453 to 2333 mm on the first axle and from 1933 to 1890 mm on the second one. The front track was slightly lifted from 1160 to 1200 mm, while the rear one remained at 1500 mm. After all, the car was now shorter (4070 against 4320 mm) and lighter (575 against 601 kg). They worked hard to increase security, getting new absorbing areas on the front side. The chisel shaped nose, main section of the project, had been deeply changed: first of all was wider, shorter and more shaped than the former. Secondly it held also the oil radiator, moved from the front wing support in order to improve the load distribution. Two small symmetric NACA intakes delivered fresh air to all four front brakes, equipped with new self-ventilated discs. Finally a big work has been made to adjust the twin-axles, that during early performances had caused understeering troubles, in particular a more correct ratio of the steering angles had been found, by increasing the ratio of the first axle slightly. For the future, it was envisaged a new rear suspension, not yet used so as not to add too many unknown variable values in the analysis of data on track, just in a so particular step as the entry into competition. All the same, the rear chassis had been redesigned according to the new chassis. As for the front tyres, at that time the Tyrrell's designers didn't pointed out any problem in the developing stage, but later on some mishaps had happened: overheating and too much tread ovalization because of centrifugal force, which followed as a result the rubber coming out of the rim. Everything was in order for the race, but when arrived at Jarama they realized to their great surprise that Tyrrell was not in line with the new regulation, that just in Spain had to come in force. In particular, the nose had to be rebuilt, by shortening it and recovering the load by the use of a splitter, while the oil radiator necessarily returned to its original position, on the rear wing support. Comparative practices had then pointed out the airscope short efficiency, which, therefore, had been eliminated, leaving completely uncovered the V8 Cosworth. After making these last changes the P34 car was finally ready to join the fight.
1976: Year "zero"?
The 1976 season was started with scarce certainty and many doubts for Tyrrell. On one hand 007 had became mature, but we didn't expect too much of it. On the other hand a new single-seater that was developed late. On one hand, again Patrick Depailler, plucky sufficiently, regular, but above all gifted with an exceptional sensitivity to the car tuning, in opposition to young Jody Scheckter, without any doubt, gifted with talent but not yet so steady in performance and being in friction with Ken Tyrrell, to the point that there was a rumour of his possible replacement since the beginning of the season. Up to Jarama Depailler had accumulated victories, second (Brazil), ninth (South Africa) and third placed (West USA), while Scheckter had scraped up a fifth, a fourth place and a track leave. Ferrari cars dominated with Ragazzoni and Lauda and the new season seemed featured by the dominium of the red cars of Maranello, just as it had occurred in the previous year. A possible inconvenience could come from Hunt at the wheel of McLaren M23, still with a good performance, in spite of age, Lotus was still going through a complete crisis with a JPS 11 that did not want to hear about being together: this time Colin Chapman, with his mania to lighten and find odd solutions, seemed he had gone beyond objective limits and had already paid for the controversial dropping out of Ronnie Peterson from Interlagos, the first GP season. Thus the Swedish driver had put the market of drivers in motion since the beginning, and there was some talk of his possible passage to Tyrrell, in Scheckter's place. At the end Ronnie got married with his early team, March, leaving Lella Lombardi. As said before, at Jarama they lined up a single P34/2 for Depailler and the checks, made on track, appeared to be immediately positive for the new single-seater: on starting grid the French driver succeeded in gaining the third position stopping chronometer at 1'19"11 against 1'18"52 of Hunt pole. In race McLaren flew away, but Depailler succeeded in keeping the fourth place till when, after leaving the track, was prematurely eliminated before the end of the race. Scheckter at the wheel of the 007 didn't get much more, because very soon the engine left him in the lurch. The victory was gained by Hunt, followed by Lauda, Nilsson and Reutemann, but the racetrack verdict was resumed by sporting regulations that disqualified Hunt and Laffite (Ligier) on account of the irregular sizes of their single-seaters. Finally, from Zolder also Scheckter had his P34, but he paid for his major inexperience compared with his team-mate: his time of 1'19"27 (the pole went to Lauda with 1'18"55) won him the seventh grid position. In race he made an ingresing comeback to the fourth place, tailed by Amon, who, probably obstructed by the South African driver, overturned with his Ensign. Last laps were a real torment to Jody, who had some troubles for the cracked chassis. Depailler. started from the fourth grid position, held out to the 28th lap before his engine failed. Now it's worth reporting Jody Scheckter's feeling after his first GP at the wheel of P34: the South African driver did not conceal difficulties met in finding the apex of corners and a correct perception of dimensions. However, Jody was fully conscious of the minor space needed by his car to corner and the possibility to step on the gas going out of the corner. Besides, the P34 needed to be gently driven on the straights; after all, Scheckter seemed to move on ….. ROLLER SKATES! In Monaco everybody expected a poor performance: it was difficult to think of a six-wheeler to run skilfully between the narrow walls and the winding track of Monaco circuit. Conversely, from practices the Tyrrell two drivers appeared to be at their full ease: Scheckter finished fifth at 1'30"55, while Depailler was fourth at 1'30"33 (Lauda on pole at 1'29"65). On starting Patrick and Jody held their position, but after few laps the French driver found himself with a seriously damaged wheel; he went on with his race but he had to content himself with the control of the situation, he let his team mate go on and gave up to Ferrari driven by Ragazzoni. Ahead, Hunt freed the second place on account of the engine failure, while Rega, never satisfied, put Scheckter under pressure who resisted splendidly. Finally it was the Swiss driver ho paid, going against the wall at Rascasse. The score: Lauda was first, Scheckter second and Depailler third. The escalation of P34 performance began by worrying competitors. In fact, on the following race also taboo of victory was shattered; small front tyres of P34 awfully well suited for the low temperatures of the Anderstop Swedish circuit. Scheckter was at once more skilled in taking advantage of the situation, gaining the pole position at 1'25"659, while Depailler came fourth on grid at 1'26"362. In race the leader role seemed to be assigned to Andretti, then the penalization for starting before the time, relegated him to lower places and the first place newly fell into Scheckter's steady hands up to the finishing line, followed by Depailler and Lauda. Ferrari cars' dominium was finally interrupted and the most serious competitor seemed to be just Tyrrell, while Hunt was in trouble at a distance driving a McLaren in crisis. At Paul Ricard we were prepared to another dominium of Ferrari cars, while Depailler was placed third and Scheckter, scarcely at ease on the French racing circuit, was left behind placing ninth. In race Ferrari cars both found themselves no longer competing for their engine failure after making the impression, above all on Lauda, of being in a position to dominate the race. Hunt won, followed by Depailler, who had got to work to restrain a completely wild Peterson, providentially stopped by the petrol pump of his March. On the contrary Scheckter finished sixth. In July the bomb exploded for the cancellation of Hunt disqualification occurred in Spain, which had deprived him of win: score had a stir letting Lauda be in the lead with 52 points, followed by Depailler 26, Scheckter and Hunt tied with 25. The right moment for Tyrrell to attack, but who knows the dark reasons why things were slowly taking another turn. In Great Britain, on Brands Hatch circuit, still fog for Scheckter, only eighth in practice, while Depailler had ten seconds' lead over him and was placed sixth. Ferrari with Lauda was alone, there in the lead, followed by the McLaren driven by Hunt. In race cards shuffled: Lauda bumped into Ragazzoni and the Swiss driver's car took off and ended up by throwing the competitors behind him into confusion. Therefore, there was a second start, but Lauda was still left on foot because of the engine and Hunt took quickly advantage of it to gain the race. Scheckter, found the key to the skein to get a decent position, moved successfully up to the second place. On the contrary, for his team mate was an ordeal: bothered by the engine troubles, he went down to the thirteenth place, when his Cosworth decided to say him good bye definitively. Hunt's win was then cancelled because the McLaren's driver, who had seen his car crumbling because of Ragazzoni's flight, for the second start he got into the spare car instead of his repaired single-seater. Next German GP went down in history mainly for Niki Lauda's awful accident, Scheckter got the eighth place on grid and Depailler, more efficient, the third one. In race, after a wet start and one only lap, they all were obliged to rush to pit stop to mount the tyres for the dry ground. Afterwards there was the tragic crash of the Ferrari number one, that compelled the race direction to stop the motor race. After the second start it was Hunt's turn to fly away, followed by Jody Scheckter, both clever under the stress of that dramatic event. Depailler, less clear minded, ended by leaving the track. In Austria on the very fast circuit of Zeltweg, Ferrari cars were absent from the race, Hunt was the leader of the qualification, while Scheckter and Depailler were respectively placed tenth and thirteenth. If in practice they were not successful, in race they ran even worse: Scheckter, after dominating for the most of the first part and taking also the lead of the race, wasted everything by leaving the track disastrously and tearing his car suspensions into pieces. Conversely, Depailler tried to survive the mid group fight where he found himself caught, but he got a violent blow on the frontal part by crashing into the Surtees driven by Brambilla, and his race was also stopped by a broken suspension. Watson, at the wheel of his Penske, won unexpectedly, followed by Laffite, in a more and more efficient Ligier-Matra, and by Gunnar Nilsson. Hunt was only the fourth arrived. At that moment the drivers' market was newly put in motion and the man, who was the centre of attention, seemed to be Ronnie Peterson, once again: there was some talk of him to be engaged by the Ferrari and by Tyrrell companies, for the former it was the replacement of the injured Lauda, who energetically denied every rumour, from his bed in hospital, about his possible dropout of races; for the latter it was a matter of relieving Scheckter's seat, driver who was judged a man of changeable character by Ken Tyrrell. The Dutch GP was another occasion for a P34 dull performance: the team seemed to lose the key of reading to promote the development and after a promising start, the performance climbing was stopped. Depailler, fourteenth in practice, at the race end succeeded in being classified seventh; Scheckter was little better, placed eighth in practice and fifth in race. The win was gained by Hunt, who was free, as Ferrari cars were absent, to run far and wide. The two Tyrrell's drivers could give up all hopes of winning the World Championship. Monza was a rather lively GP for different reasons: first of all Lauda returned to races after the accident, while his team was obliged to line up a third car also for Reuteman, at the beginning recruited for Niki's replacement and then kept to "flunk" Ragazzoni. Meanwhile, Scheckter's contractual situation was by then clear, next year he would have passed to the newborn Wolf to leave his place to Peterson at Tyrrell's. Practices were characterized by the rain and by the McLaren and the Penske of Watson, disqualified for petrol not in accordance with the regulations. Pole position was gained by Laffite, while Scheckter found himself second and Depailler fourth. At the GP start the driver who scored the fastest time was just the South African driver, who led the race for ten laps, when he was overtaken by an irresistible Peterson. Therefore Jody had also to let his team mate pass, and finally they both had to yield to Ragazzoni, Laffite and Lauda. Score: Scheckter fifth and Depailler sixth. In Canada Scheckter was placed seventh on grid and on the following day he finished fourth, while Depailler missed his career opportunity : placed fourth from practices, he was the author of a very good race that saw him driving behind Hunt. If only the French driver had had more self-confidence he might have overtaken the McLaren's driver, stricken by exhaust poisoning gas, and win his first GP. In the GP of the States he was still second, but this time the leader of the performance was Jody Scheckter, behind Hunt. On the contrary, Depailler was left without car because a fuel pipe failure. At last they landed in Japan, the last race of Championship, above all it was the decisive one to be a world champion: Hunt or Lauda? The pole position went to Lauda, while our two heroes in their six-wheel cars were getting by: Scheckter was placed fifth, while Depailler was swimming behind with the thirteenth time. Then, at the race starting, there was a mess due to a flood of biblical dimensions, Lauda drove only for a few laps, then he dropped out of the race giving rise to many polemics. Andretti won, followed by a very effective Depailler and by Hunt, who became world champion with one point's lead over the Austrian opponent. Scheckter, conversely, dropped out of the race because of overheating problems. By the end of season, the P34 had found a higher competitiveness, but it was always too late to move in to the attack of championship. Gardner and his team, however, had not too much to complain about: to have driven a car, so radically new and in need of development, to win was not a trifle, as well as to gain the third place in the constructors' title, after Ferrari and McLaren.
Sceptical and half convinced people
On the occasion of Monza GP, Autosprint, the weekly magazine, repeated the opinion round on the P34, already made after its introduction. First it is necessary to point out that inside the team early enthusiasms were gradually fading away, even if confidence was still alive in a further possibility of working out a project. For the first time drivers put down their rose-coloured glasses to underline that the car had certainly an advantage in the entering speed on cornering, but then the drag was missing on going out of the corner, when the car did not tend even to understeer. Derek Gardner again went along the main problems dealt with in the development stage of the car that, in any case, had no had radical changes. At the beginning they met several difficulties in finding a small nose in accordance with the regulations in force and at the same time an effective one from the aerodynamic point of view. However, a lack of negative lift on the front wheel trim had been noticed to which they had tried to avoid with a longer nose (Belgium), then rejected because on braking it scraped off on the asphalt. Therefore they returned to a shorter configuration, recovering the load by various devices, such as a lower splitter that was adjustable in length to change negative lift. But, in Gardner's opinion, the real problem was the lack of previous data and experience in order to immediately find the ideal attitude in every racetrack and under any condition. Gardner colleagues and competitors' opinions are also interesting: according to Gordon Coppuck, McLaren manager, the advantage of the P34 project was more in contact patch than in handling qualities. As far as the aerodynamic advantage obtained on the front wheels, he observed that it was cancelled by the aerodynamic brake made by the rear wheels, left unchanged. Eventually, the P34 was nothing else but a way to obtain the same results from a traditional single-seater. Mauro Forghieri was very prudent in his judgement: from the technical point of view he thought that Gardner had found a good solution to improve front aerodynamics, but nevertheless it was always a car to be hardly suited for all tracks and it had to require a remarkable setting up. Forghieri did not even neglect the commercial aspect, so beloved by his boss: "How could we build a six-wheel car and say to our customers that four-wheels are sufficient?" Gordon Murray persevered in his scepticism: "From aerodynamic aspect there is a slight advantage as for penetration, although they benefit much more from handling quality than from higher speed and I think that they are so surprised about that as well as all the others. Tony Southgate (Lotus team) stressed that the advantage was not so much in aerodynamics, as everybody was thinking, but in other factors which had to be still searched. Besides, it should be considered the heavier weight of the two supplementary wheels, countertendency in respect of the others that favoured lightness. Harvey Postlethwaite (Wolf) remarked project originality and effectiveness of the obtained results, but at the end he liked to think of other simpler ways to get a higher performance. In effect, the '77 season would have proposed a set of novelties to distract everybody's attention from the P34.
1977: Counter-revolution
For the Tyrrell team in 1977 the first novelty was Ronnie Peterson' s arrival to substitute Jody Scheckter. The very fast Swedish driver, a real artist of racing circuits and very skilful in the technique of braking with his left foot, by now in common with most of F1 leaders. After a controversial divorce from Lotus at the beginning of the '76 championship, he had run an excellent race season at the wheel of March, driving a paltry single-seater to the first place in the Italian GP. After so many delusions, Ronnie hoped to find in Tyrrell P34 a racing car that was up to his ability. Derek Gardner tried to satisfy Ronni's wishes developing P34, above all its streamlined profile, by studying a neat and rounded bodywork covering all mechanic parts and the chassis. The study of airflows had caused the bodywork to be built oversized with respect to the real car dimensions and to secure it to the chassis they were obliged to use some rubber spacers. The V8 Cosworth, moreover, hidden under a fibreglass skin, breathed through two Naca air ducts located on the cockpit sides, while cooling was assured by longitudinal twin packed radiators on both sides of the single-seater. There was also a novelty as far as sponsors were concerned: dark blue of the Elf was reduced to leave room to the white colour of the First National City Bank. The funny thing is that P34 is more known to the public in the last version than in the previous one. The new car was developed by Patrick Depailler, the tough driver, who at Le Castellet, during winter practice, stopped chronometer at the extraordinary time of 1'46"6, lower than 1"2 of Lauda's record broken during the '75 GP. Well, everything couldn't be better, but of course competitors did not stay there twiddling their thumbs and in Argentine, first season GP, things turned for the worse. As Depailler was placed third on grid, Peterson was fourteenth in great straits, having difficulty in finding the right feeling with the new single-seater. At the start signal Brabham driven by Watson flashed past Hunt, the pole man, while Depailler was taken by the group, and his single-seater began suffering an overheating of mechanical parts. As for Peterson things changed also for the worse, because his car ended by spinning right round. Scheckter won at the wheel of his up-to- date Wolf, followed by Brabham driven by Pace and Ferrari by Reuteman. In Brazil Depailler was still before Peterson on the starting grid (placed sixth against eighth), but in race a double retire was reported: under heat conditions the very fast curve 3 was changed into a cemetery of single-seaters. They ended there in the following order: Pace who was in the lead of the race, Mass (McLaren) involving the Einsign driven by Ragazzoni, and the P34 of Peterson. Then it was the turn of Depailler, Brambilla and Laffite, finally followed by Watson, who ended the awful pileup by crashing. Ferrari won driven by Reuteman, followed by Hunt and Lauda. In South Africa they tried to turn their back to bad luck: Depailler third on grid, confirmed his position on the finishing line, behind Lauda, who was again the leader, and usual Hunt. Peterson seventh in practice, suffered the umpteenth retire because of troubles to the feeding of his Cosworth. Same trouble obliged his car to drop out of the race on next Long Beach GP, while constant Depailler was placed fourth, in a race dominated by an exceptional trio: Scheckter at the wheel of a Wolf, Andretti in the Lotus JPS 78 and Lauda at the wheel of a Ferrari. The Ital-American driver got the better of his opponents and the press began writing down the mysterious mazes of the ground effect, Colin Chapman's last bright idea, neglecting the less and less competitive P34. In fact at Jarama, where only a year before the first and promising six wheel single-seater made its debut, the members of Tyrrell team declared that they were passing through a crisis, but also their incapacity for finding any solutions to difficulties: for the single-seater they complained the lack of small front tyres working out, but Good Year had no resources to go on with that work, choosing to concentrate its efforts on standard types and to get ready for next debut of Michelin tyres. Tyrrell's designers were therefore obliged to look for solutions in other fields, without really knowing where to get started on that job: suspensions or aerodynamics? Meanwhile Depailler and Peterson were racking their brains on an unstable single-seater when braking, that did not consent to accelerate and go faster coming out of corner, In practice the French driver was placed 10th and the Swedish driver 15th , in race Ronnie finished eighth, while Patrick was obliged to abandon because his engine broke down: meanwhile there was more and more ground effect, with Andretti and Lotus still first to cross the finishing line. In Monaco Peterson succeeded in placing fourth on grid, but in race he had to retire because of troubles to brakes and transmission. This latter also caused Depailler to drop out of the race, who was eighth at the start of the race. Scheckter won at the wheel of a Wolf in Belgium, on the very fast Zolder circuit, finally a Swedish driver went up to the top of the podium, but his name wasn't Peterson, but Gunnar Nilson, Andretti's team mate at the Lotus. All the same. Ronnie did not go bad: eighth in practice, he survived the change of tyres after the first laps in a heavy shower and then to go up to the third place. Things came to a bad end for Depailler, only eighth on the finishing line after placing fifth on the grid on Saturday. In Sweden, where in 1976 the P34 had run up his only success, Depailler had to be content with the fourth place, while Peterson was left again without his car because of troubles for ignition system. It was Laffite who won in a Ligier. Having to run in France, it might be the case to pop over to Lourdes, as for Tyrrell P34 safety could only come from a supernatural power. On the contrary, they went to Dijon and they were given a good hiding: Peterson 17th during practice, succeeded in placing 12th in race, thanks to propitiatory rites. Depailler, 12th in practice, didn't get even the consolation to cross the finishing line because he went off the track beforehand. Andretti won, mocking Waston at the last lap, who ran out of petrol. At Silverstone another massacre: Peterson, 10th in practice, was betrayed by the engine, while Depailler 15th place on grid, retired for troubles to brakes. It was just on the occasion of the Great Britain GP that turbo engine Renault RS01 made its debut fitted with Michelin radial carcass tyres: years after it was said that if P34 had mounted this type of tyre, things might have been better, as they would have shown less the effect of tread ovalization at high rotation speeds. At that moment, however, it was not only a failure of performance, given that also reliability failed. In any case a last attempt was made to provide a remedy for P34: oil radiators were moved from rear wing support, setting them in the nose and tread was widened to improve road-holding.But in this way, all theory involving the creation of a single-seater was basically failed. In Germany, on the up-to-date circuit of Hockenheim, intended for the old Nurburgring replacement among the holy temples of speed, Peterson was ninth, while his team mate Depailler had the engine broken as well as Laffite, Andretti and Nilson. Lauda won followed by Scheckter and Watson. In Austria, two Tyrrell cars crossed again the finishing line, thanks also to Cosworth engines that on this occasion did not breathe their last for the strain: Peterson pluckily gained the fifth place, collecting a score that came to nothing. Less effective Depailler, only 13th. In the tulip land, on the Zandvoort circuit, things went on badly. In a race rather full of events for the skirmishes between Hunt and Andretti that caused the English driver to drop out the race, and a splendid Lauda overtaking Laffite, who was already looking forward to the cup of victory, the two Tyrrell cars collected a double retire: Peterson for troubles to the ignition system and Depailler for the engine failure. Well, tet's come to Monza with the driver market in a state of full ferment: the divorce between Ferrari and Lauda was now certain and the most reliable driver for his substitution was Mario Andretti. Covered by the red storm, another personage was breaking off his obligations from a racing team with much more discretion: Derek Gardner, the P34's father, left Tyrrell definitely. The race was led by Andretti, followed by Lauda, one point only from his second world title. Peterson gained an honest sixth place on the racing circuit that could be more in agreement with his nature, while Depailler remained in the zone behind the front, crossing the finishing line 14th. The circus moved to the other continent to land in the States, at Watkins Glen : there were gleams of vitality with Peterson who got the 5th time in practice, while Depailler was placed eighth, The race, for the first part in the rain, saw two Tyrrell cars be on troubled waters at the bottom of score, but it gave to Ronny the satisfaction of the fastest lap. Thanks to an honest and strategic fourth place, Lauda won the world championship and divorced from Ferrari abruptly. The substitute's name was not popular, but he would have caused a stir in the years to come: Gilles Villeneuve. In Canada, at Mosport, last P34 tail stroke: Peterson, excellent in practice placed third, had to abandon because of fuel leakage, but Depailler, started from the back positions, succeeded in gaining the second place, in a "rocambolesque" performance, where only seven single-seaters crossed the finishing line. However, the P34 fate was by that time settled: the future Tyrrell 008 would have had four conventional wheels. The story only needs a final bang, and in fact the bang came really up in Japan, the man who came up from nothing, Gilles Villeneuve, took off for first tragic flight of his. During the sixth lap in taking the Devil Curve, Gilles ran violently into the P34 driven by Peterson, to whom the Canadian driver tried to steal the position, after soaring and heavily falling to the ground then he ran over the public that crowded the track sides: two dead and twelve injured. As a matter of fact, we like to think that the true end of the P34 was the third place gained by Depailler.
Tyrrell P34 and the others
It is rather a hard task to draw up a balance on the P34 car. It's difficult to pass the car with full marks and to fail it as well. Probably it represented a complicated answer to a problem that perhaps cannot be considered among the main ones. Besides, other solutions were knocking with force at the door of Formula One: the turbo engine extension would have stirred up a pack of horses, allowing many racing teams to free themselves from the unavoidable choice of V8 Cosworth engine. Ground effect would have highly increased the negative lift of single-seaters, moving aerodynamic research onto other fields. However it deserved a reward for touching a taboo: that a car must have four wheels. The P34 appearance excited imagination of journalists, humorists, technicians and fans: at that time special magazines were full of cartoons, photographs, photomontages, exploded diagrams of mass production and racing cars having six and even eight wheels. Somebody was joking and somebody was serious about it: the Ferrari company, for instance, in 1976 gave Lauda and Ragazzoni a car 312 T2 to test with twin covers on the rear wheels, solution used in the 30's. Driving tests gave good results but the project was put away. In 1977, March presented the 240 (two wheel steering, four rear wheels on tandem, zero differential). After testing on track, Ian Scheckter and Alex Riberio reckoned there was nothing to be gained from that solution, to the point that the car was converted to a traditional four wheels. On the other hand, the project roused the suspicion that, on account of the March finance troubles, Robin Herd and Max Mosley, the team owners, had tried to cause a sensation with the purpose only to amaze and draw new potential investors' attention. The exploded diagram proposed by March 240, was later on taken again into consideration by Williams FW 08B at the end of 1982, but once again the resulting tests on track were not successful and that was the reason why they decided to stop the adventure. However, Williams was still mounting V8 Cosworth: it would have been much more interesting to have two rear axles matched with the absurd and great power of turbo engines and see if it could be a good system to unload such a great power to ground. Certainly somebody would have tried it if FIA had not decided to stop any further experiments, outlawing single-seater construction with more than four wheels.
In particular we are grateful to the Centre of Documents at the Museum of Automobile "Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffa" in Torino for the material of research.
A.A.V.V., Autosprint, annate 1975-1976-1977, Conti Editore, Bologna.
Coppini M., A quando le otto?, Autosprint, 1975, Conti Editore, Bologna.
Montagna P., Il leggendario Gran Premio d’Italia, 1989, A.C. Promotion, Milano.
Guzzardi G., Rizzo E., Cento anni di automobilismo sportivo, 2001, Edizioni White Star, Vercelli.
article by Stefano Costantino
Photo Giacomo Zanello
Photogallery " Tyrrel P34 "
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Wildest Restaurant + Bar is slated to celebrate its grand opening on Dec. 26. Wildest Restaurant + Bar Facebook
New to El Paseo: Chef Eric Wadlund’s Wildest Restaurant + Bar
Wildest Restaurant + Bar, the latest project from chef Eric Wadlund, was slated to celebrate its grand opening on Dec. 26 at 72990 El Paseo, No. 3, in the space that used to house the late Denise DuBarry Hay’s Wildest Greens.
An announcement, posted on Nov. 30 at the Wildest Restaurant + Bar website, compared the effort to the restaurants of the great Joel Robuchon, who passed away in 2018. (The announcement didn’t quite spell Robuchon’s name right, but, hey, mistakes happen.)
“Following in the footsteps of French ‘Chef of the Century’ and restaurateur Joel Rubichon (sic), who believed healthy food was the future of fine dining, one of the most celebrated chefs in the desert, Eric Wadlund, with his partners Bill Hay and Charissa Farley, are introducing the first restaurant in the valley committed to continuing this vision,” the announcement said. “Old World style fine dining upon which Robuchon built his legacy and trained the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Eric Ripert with caviar and truffle-studded cuisine is facing the difficult challenge of taste versus health: adapt or die.”
Wildest’s Facebook page includes photos of some downright-delicious-looking dishes, including turmeric-glazed roasted cauliflower, water melon “ahi” poke, and pan-roasted wild white bass.
“Wildest’s dynamic food originates in wild-caught fish, (and) local pasture-raised and grass-fed poultry and beef, as well as plant-based meals that promise to be flavorful options to those who choose to eat meat-free,” the website explains. “There are zero hormones and steroids in their proteins, as the restaurant strives to be cruelty-free and supports local organic, biodynamic and sustainable farms. Provisions not made in house will be sourced from the coolest epicureans.”
Given the restaurant’s pedigree, we’re looking forward to checking it out. We’re also happy to see the tribute to Denise DuBarry Hay in the name, as well as her husband’s involvement.
For more information, call 760-636-0441; head to WildestRestaurant.com; or visit www.facebook.com/wildestrestaurant.
Coming on Jan. 18: The Palm Springs Pinot Noir Festival
It seems like every other month or so, there’s a new wine festival popping up in the Coachella Valley … and this is a very good thing.
The latest: The Palm Springs Pinot Noir Festival, which will take place on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Ritz-Carlton (which is in Rancho Mirage, not Palm Springs, but whatever). It’s a project of David Fraschetti, who for two years has put on the Rancho Mirage Wine and Food Festival (which will return for year No. 3 on Feb. 28 and 29—yep, it’s a leap year!), and for many years has produced the VinDiego Wine and Food Festival.
Of course, at this new fest, pinot noir is the star. On Friday, Jan. 17, the Ritz-Carlton will host two seminars—“Exploring the Neighborhoods of the Russian River Valley” and “Anderson Valley Pinot Noir: Under the Radar and a Cut Above.” Those cost $55 each, or $90 for both. As for the main event, the “A Passion 4 Pinot” festival: Doors open at 2:30 p.m. for general admission, and tickets are $95; if you want to get in at 1:30, you can pay $125. The festivities go until 5 p.m.
The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage, is located at 68900 Frank Sinatra Drive. For tickets and more information, visit palmspringspinotfest.com.
Congrats to La Perlita Mexican Food, at 901 Crossley Road, in Palm Springs, on the restaurant’s expansion! The good folks there are expanding into the space next door; watch the restaurant’s Facebook page for updates. … New to La Quinta: RD RNNR Libations, Pints and Plates (you can pronounce that “roadrunner”), at 78075 Main St. What is RD RNNR? It’s “a craft American restaurant using local farm-to-table ingredients, (offering) refreshing craft cocktails and a well-balanced selection of hops and rotating craft taps, all set in a casual and hip vibe right in the heart of Old Town La Quinta,” so says the website. As if that’s not cool enough, the restaurant also features the work of local artists! RD RNNR is open for lunch and dinner daily; visit roadrunnerlq.com for more info, including the menu and a look at those aforementioned artists. … New to Cathedral City: Barrel District Pizza, Bar and Kitchen, at 35939 Date Palm Drive, in Cathedral City. The menu includes tasty-sounding starters (like house-made hummus), salads, tacos, a handful of entrées and, of course, intriguing pizza choices. To check out the menu and learn more, visit barreldistrictpizza.com.
wildest restaurant + bar
eric wadlund
bill hay
charissa farley
denise dubarry hay
david fraschetti
rancho mirage wine and food festival
la perlita mexican food
la perlita
rd rnnr libations, pints and plates
barrel district pizza, bar and kitchen
Restaurant News Bites: The Rancho Mirage Wine and Food Fest Is Back: Enzo's Comes to Rancho Mirage; and a Whole Lot More!
Restaurant News Bites: The Rancho Mirage Food and Wine Fest Debuts; the Palm Desert Greek Fest Returns; Openings and Closings—and Lots More!
Restaurant News Bites: Luna Grill Opens With Mediterranean Fare in Palm Desert; Roc's Protests the Protests; and a Lot More!
The Indy Endorsement: The Barbacoa at La Perlita
More in this category: « Restaurant News Bites: Desert VegFest Is Back; It's Tamale Time; and a Whole Lot More!
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Published on Department Of Arts and Culture (http://www.dac.gov.za)
Home > Arts and Culture Affairs
Arts and Culture Affairs
Social Cohesion and Nation-Building
Defining social cohesion
The department defines social cohesion as the degree of social integration and inclusion in communities and society at large, and the extent to which mutual solidarity finds expression among individuals and communities.
In terms of this definition, a community or society is cohesive to the extent that the inequalities, exclusions and disparities based on ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, age, disability or any other distinctions which engender divisions distrust and conflict are reduced and/or eliminated in a planned and sustained manner - this with community members and citizens as active participants, working together for the attainment of shared goals, designed and agreed upon to improve the living conditions for all.
Defining Nation-Building
Nation-building is the process whereby a society with diverse origins, histories, languages, cultures and religions come together within the boundaries of a sovereign state with a unified constitutional and legal dispensation, a national public education system, an integrated national economy, shared symbols and values, as equals, to work towards eradicating the divisions and injustices of the past; to foster unity; and promote a countrywide conscious sense of being proudly South African, committed to the country and open to the continent and the world.
Nation-building in this sense, and in the context of South Africa, cannot be the perpetuation of hierarchies of the past, based on pre-given or ethnically engineered and imposed divisions of people rooted in prejudice, discrimination and exclusion. It calls for something else; that is, a rethinking, in South African terms, of what social cohesion, linked to nation-building, should be. It should, no doubt and in essence, be directed towards the practical actualisation of democracy in South Africa.
Accordingly, a nation is conceived as a social formation based on the unity and equality of its members consisting of the following shared and recognised attributes:
Shared Origin and history, internationally recognised territory, unitary sovereign state, single judicial system, Single public education system, Nationally recognised languages, Nationally recognised cultures, Nationally recognised religions, shared values, shared symbols, and shared national consciousness.
In South Africa, the diverse cultures, languages and religions should not be seen as impediments to national unity given the statutory equality accorded to all citizens.
Read more [1]
Source URL: http://www.dac.gov.za/content/arts-and-culture-affairs?amp%3Bqt-heritage=2&%3Bamp%3Bqt-world_heritage=8&%3Bamp%3Bqt-multimedia=2&%3Bamp%3Bqt-cultural_development_sectors=2&%3Bqt-arts_and_culture_organisations=2&qt-performing_arts=2&qt-arts_and_culture_affairs=5
[1] http://www.dac.gov.za/taxonomy/term/380
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HR trends for mastering technology and change
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Home Uncategorized Volvo reveals its all-new XC90
Volvo reveals its all-new XC90
Posted By: Malesela Mahapaon: August 27, 2014 In: UncategorizedNo Comments
Last night marked the unveiling of the all-new Volvo XC90 that scripted the beginning of a new chapter in Volvo’s history. The new Volvo XC90 and will be the first to carry the Volvo’s new iron mark which has the iconic arrow elegantly aligned with the diagonal slash across the grille.
The car was unveiled in Stockholm, Sweden. The South African launch is projected in the second half of 2015 and the car is expect to cost R800 000 – minimum.
South Africa will get the top of the range, the XC90 T8 Twin Engine. This model combines a two-litre, four-cylinder supercharged and turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor, offering an unrivalled combination of power and clean operation.
The all-new Volvo XC90’s interior is the most luxurious to date. The most striking feature is a tablet-like touch screen control console, which forms the heart of an all-new in-car control system. This system is virtually button free and represents an entirely new way for drivers to control their car and access a range of Internet-based products and services.
Theinterior combines soft leather and wood material with handcrafted details, including a gear lever made of crystal glass from Orrefors, the famous Swedish glassmaker, and diamond-cut controls for the start/stop button and volume control.
The car features one of the top audio systems available in the automotive world after Volvo Cars audio experts joined forces with their counterparts at the renowned British audio equipment company Bowers & Wilkins.
The top-of-the-line system in the all-new Volvo XC90 features a 1,400 Watt Class D amplifier and 19 Bowers & Wilkins speakers. It also includes one of the first air-ventilated subwoofers in a car. Integrated into the car body, it turns the whole interior space into a giant subwoofer.
The all-new Volvo XC90’s large bonnet with its new topography, the beltline and the sharpened shoulders connecting with the tattoo-like new rear lights are important design signatures that will be mirrored across the range.
To add more visual muscle from the sides, the all-new Volvo XC90 comes with a range of wheel sizes up to 22 inches.
The all-new Volvo XC90 is firm evidence of the company’s ‘Volvo-by-Volvo strategy’. Its outstanding combination of luxury, space, versatility, efficiency and safety will bring the SUV segment into a new dimension, just as the original Volvo XC90 achieved in 2002. Volvo-by-Volvo means that the Swedish company is fully independent – all R&D is done entirely for Volvo, by Volvo – with no external financial support.
The car offers the most comprehensive and technologically sophisticated standard safety package available in the automotive industry. It includes two world first safety technologies: a run-off road protection package and auto brake at intersection capability.
It is the first car in the world with technology that features automatic braking if the driver turns in front of an oncoming car. This is a common scenario at busy city crossings as well as on highways, where the speed limits are higher.
Three focus areas will help Volvo Cars to reach Vision 2020: safety, connectivity and autonomous drive.
Tags: Bowers & WilkinsSouth AfricaStockholmSwedenVolvoVolvo Cars
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Lungfish
Title: Lungfish
Subject: Fish anatomy, Coelacanth, Evolution of fish, Osteichthyes, Actinistia
Collection: Articles Which Contain Graphical Timelines, Early Devonian First Appearances, Fish Common Names, Living Fossils, Lungfish
Lungfishes
Temporal range: Early Devonian–Recent
Queensland lungfish
Class: Sarcopterygii
Clade: Dipnomorpha
Subclass: Dipnoi
J. P. Müller, 1844
Ceratodontiformes
Lepidosireniformes
Lungfish (also known as salamanderfish[1]) are freshwater fish belonging to the subclass Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining characteristics primitive within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and structures primitive within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed internal skeleton.
Today, lungfish live only in Africa, South America and Australia. While vicariance would suggest this represents an ancient distribution limited to the Mesozoic supercontinent Gondwana, the fossil record suggests advanced lungfish had a widespread freshwater distribution and the current distribution of modern lungfish species reflects extinction of many lineages subsequent to the breakup of Pangaea, Gondwana and Laurasia.
Anatomy and morphology 1
Lungs 2
Perfusion of water 2.1
Perfusion of air 2.2
Ecology and life history 3
Extant lungfish 4
Timeline of genera 6
Anatomy and morphology
All lungfish demonstrate an uninterrupted cartilaginous notochord and an extensively developed palatal dentition. Basal ("primitive") lungfish groups may retain marginal teeth and an ossified braincase, but derived lungfish groups, including all modern species, show a significant reduction in the marginal bones and a cartilaginous braincase. The bones of the skull roof in primitive lungfish are covered in a mineralized tissue called cosmine, but in post-Devonian lungfishes, the skull roof lies beneath the skin and the cosmine covering is lost. All modern lungfish show significant reductions and fusions of the bones of the skull roof, and the specific bones of the skull roof show no homology to the skull roof bones of ray-finned fishes or tetrapods. During the breeding season, the South American lungfish develops a pair of feathery appendages that are actually highly modified pelvic fins. These fins are thought to improve gas exchange around the fish's eggs in its nest.[2]
Through convergent evolution, lungfishes have evolved internal nostrils similar to the tetrapods' choana.[3]
The dentition of lungfish is different from that of any other vertebrate group. "Odontodes" on the palate and lower jaws develop in a series of rows to form a fan-shaped occlusion surface. These odontodes then wear to form a uniform crushing surface. In several groups, including the modern lepidosireniformes, these ridges have been modified to form occluding blades.
The modern lungfishes have a number of larval features, which suggest paedomorphosis. They also demonstrate the largest genome among the vertebrates.
Modern lungfish all have an elongate body with fleshy, paired pectoral and pelvic fins and a single unpaired caudal fin replacing the dorsal, caudal and anal fins of most fishes.
Lateral view of lungs of a dissected Protopterus dolloi
Most extant lungfish species have two lungs, with the exception of the Australian lungfish, which only has one. The lungs connect to the pharynx. The lungs of lungfish are homologous to the lungs of tetrapods. As in tetrapods and bichirs, the lungs extend from the ventral surface of the esophagus and gut.[4][5]
While other species of fish can breathe air via modified, vascularized gas bladders,[6] these bladders are usually simple sacs, devoid of complex internal structure. In contrast, the lungs of lungfish are subdivided into numerous smaller air sacs, maximizing the surface area available for gas exchange.
Perfusion of water
Of extant lungfish, only the Australian lungfish can respire through its gills. In other species, the gills are too atrophied to allow for adequate gas exchange. When a lungfish is obtaining oxygen from its gills, its circulatory system is configured similarly to the common fish. The spiral valve of the conus arteriosus is open, the bypass arterioles of the third and fourth gill arches (which do not actually have gills) are shut, the second, fifth and sixth gill arch arterioles are open, the ductus arteriosus branching off the sixth arteriole is open, and the pulmonary arteries are closed. As the water passes through the gills, the lungfish uses a buccal pump. Flow through the mouth and gills is unidirectional. Blood flow through the secondary lamellae is countercurrent to the water, maintaining a more constant concentration gradient.
Perfusion of air
When breathing air, the spiral valve of the conus arteriosus closes (minimizing the mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood), the third and fourth gill arches open, the second and fifth gill arches close (minimizing the possible loss of the oxygen obtained in the lungs through the gills), the sixth arteriole's ductus arteriosus is closed, and the pulmonary arteries open. Importantly, during air breathing, the sixth gill is still used in respiration; deoxygenated blood loses some of its carbon dioxide as it passes though the gill before reaching the lung. This is because carbon dioxide is more soluble in water. Air flow through the mouth is tidal, and through the lungs it is bidirectional and observes "uniform pool" diffusion of oxygen.
Ecology and life history
Lungfish are omnivorous, feeding on fish, insects, crustaceans, worms, molluscs, amphibians and plant matter. They have an intestinal spiral valve rather than a true stomach.[7]
African and South American lungfish are capable of surviving seasonal drying out of their habitats by burrowing into mud and estivating throughout the dry season. Changes in physiology allow it to slow its metabolism to as little as 1/60th of the normal metabolic rate, and protein waste is converted from ammonia to less-toxic urea (normally, lungfish excrete nitrogenous waste as ammonia directly into the water).
Burrowing is seen in at least one group of fossil lungfish, the Gnathorhizidae. It has been proposed both that burrowing is plesiomorphic for lungfish, and that gnathorhizids are directly ancestral to modern Lepidosireniformes, but the similarity possibly is simply due to convergent or parallel evolution.
Lungfish can be extremely long-lived. A Queensland lungfish at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has been part of the permanent live collection since 1933.[8]
Extant lungfish
Extant lungfishes
Ceratodonti-
Cerato-
dontidae
Queensland lungfish The Queensland lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, is endemic to Australia.[9] Fossil records of this group date back 380 million years, around the time when the higher vertebrate classes were beginning to evolve.[10] Fossils of lungfish almost identical to this species have been uncovered in northern New South Wales, indicating that the Queensland lungfish has remained virtually unchanged for well over 100 million years, making it a living fossil and one of the oldest living vertebrate genera on the planet.[10] It is the most primitive surviving member of the ancient air-breathing lungfish (Dipnoi) lineages.[10][11] The five other freshwater lungfish species, four in Africa and one in South America, are very different morphologically to N. forsteri.[10] The Queensland lungfish can live for several days out of the water if it is kept moist, but will not survive total water depletion, unlike its African counterparts.[9]
Lepidosireni-
Lepido-
sirenidae
South American lungfish The South American lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa, is the single species of lungfish found in swamps and slow-moving waters of the Amazon, Paraguay, and lower Paraná River basins in South America. Notable as an obligate air-breather, it is the sole member of its family Lepidosirenidae. Relatively little is known about the South American lungfish.[1] and scaly salamander-fish.[12] When immature it is spotted with gold on a black background. In the adult this fades to a brown or gray color.[13] Its tooth-bearing premaxillary and maxillary bones are fused like other lungfish. South American lungfishes also share an autostylic jaw suspension (where the palatoquadrate is fused to the cranium) and powerful adductor jaw muscles with the extant lungfish (Dipnoi). Like the African lungfishes, this species has an elongate, almost eel-like body. It may reach a length of 125 centimetres (4.10 ft). The pectoral fins are thin and threadlike, while the pelvic fins are somewhat larger, and set far back. The fins are connected to the shoulder by a single bone, which is a marked difference from most fish, whose fins usually have at least four bones at their base; and a marked similarity with nearly all land-dwelling vertebrates.[14] The gills are greatly reduced and essentially non-functional in the adults.[15]
Proto-
pteridae
Marbled lungfish The Polychaos dubium and Paris japonica at 670 billion and 150 billion, respectively.[18]
Gilled African lungfish The gilled African lungfish, Protopterus amphibius is a species of lungfish found in East Africa.[19][20] It generally reaches only of 44 cm (2 ft.) long, making it the smallest extant lungfish in the world.[21] This lungfish is uniform blue, or slate grey in colour. It has small or inconspicuous black spots, and a pale grey belly.[22]
West African lungfish
The West African lungfish Protopterus annectens is a species of lungfish found in West Africa.[23][24][25] It has a prominent snout and small eyes. Its body is long and eel-like, some 9-15 times the length of the head. It has two pairs of long, filamentous fins. The pectoral fins have a basal fringe and are about three times the head length, while its pelvic fins are about twice the head length. In general, three external gills are inserted posterior to the gill slits and above the pectoral fins. It has cycloid scales embedded in the skin. There are 40-50 scales between the operculum and the anus and 36-40 around the body before the origin of the dorsal fin. It has 34-37 pairs of ribs. The dorsal side is olive or brown in color and the ventral side is lighter, with great blackish or brownish spots on the body and fins except on its belly.[26] They reach a length of about 100 cm in the wild .[27]
Spotted African lungfish
The [28]
Illustration of Ceratodus by Heinrich Harder
Ectosteorhachis
The relationship of lungfishes to the rest of the bony fish is well understood:
Lungfishes are most closely related to Powichthyes, and then to the Porolepiformes.
Together, these taxa form the Dipnomorpha, the sister group to the Tetrapodomorpha.
Together, these form the Rhipidistia, the sister group to the Coelacanths.
Recent molecular genetic analyses strongly support a sister relationship of lungfishes and tetrapods (Rhipidistia), with Coelacanths branching slightly earlier.[31]
The relationships among lungfishes are significantly more difficult to resolve. While Devonian lungfish had enough bone in the skull to determine relationships, post-Devonian lungfish are represented entirely by skull roofs and teeth, as the rest of the skull is cartilaginous. Additionally, many of the taxa already identified may not be monophyletic.
Current phylogenetic studies support the following relationships of major lungfish taxa: Class Osteichthyes, subclass Sarcopterygii, order Dipnoi.
Dipnoi
Diabolichthyidae†
Uranolophidae†
Speonesydrionidae†
Dipnorhynchidae†
Stomiahykidae†
Chirodipteridae†
Holodontidae†
Dipteridae†
Fleurantiidae†
Rhynchodipteridae†
Phaneropleuridae†
Ctenodontidae†
Sagenodontidae†
Gnathorhizidae†
Asiatoceratodontidae†
Ptychoceratodontidae†
Ceratodontidae
Ceratodus†
Metaceratodus†
Neoceratodontidae
Mioceratodus†
Neoceratodus - Queensland lungfish
Lepidosirenidae - South American lungfish
Protopteridae - African lungfish
Timeline of genera
Ceratodus
Lepidogalaxias salamandroides
^ a b page 289
^ Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
^ Evolution: On the evolution of internal nostrils (choanae)
^ Chapter 24: The Respiratory System Evolution Atlas
^ LAB 2 - GNATHOSTOME FORM & FUNCTION
^ Electron microscopy of the intestine of the african lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus
^ a b c d
^ page 275
^ "Your Inner Fish" Neil Shubin, 2008,2009,Vintage, p.33
^ Fishbase.org
^ EOL.org (Retrieved Feb. 19, 2010.)
^ Fishbase.org (Retrieved Feb. 19, 2010.)
^ Primitive Fishes.com Retrieved 19 February 2010.
^ Fishbase.org (Retrieved Sep. 25, 2010.)
^ EOL.org (Retrieved May 13, 2010.)
^ Fishbase.org (Retrieved May 13, 2010.)
^ Primitivefishes.com (Retrieved May 13, 2010.)
^ a b Fishbase.org
^ Brien, P. (1959). Ethologie du Protopterus dolloi(Boulenger) et de ses larves. Signification des sacs pulmonaires des Dipneustes. Ann. Soc. R. Zool. Belg. 89, 9-48.
^ Poll, M. (1961). Révision systématique et raciation géographique des Protopteridae de l’Afrique centrale. Ann. Mus. R. Afr. Centr. Sér. 8. Sci. Zool. 103, 3-50.
Ahlberg, PE, Smith, MM and Johanson, Z, (2006). Developmental plasticity and disparity in early dipnoan (lungfish) dentitions. Evolution and Development 8(4):331-349.
Palmer, Douglas, Ed. The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life. Pg. 45. Great Britain: Marshall Editions Developments Limited. 1999.
Schultze, HP, and Chorn, J., (1997). The Permo-Carboniferous genus Sagenodus and the beginning of modern lungfish. Contributions to Zoology 61(7):9-70.
Dr Anne Kemps - Lungfish Information site
Lungfish information site
Dipnoiformes at Palaeos.com
Dipnoi at the University of California Museum of Paleontology
Tree of life illustration showing lungfish's relation to other organisms
Lungfish video
Extant classes of phylum Chordata
Subkingdom Eumetazoa
(unranked) Bilateria
Superphylum Deuterostomia
Leptocardii (lancelets)
Olfactores
Urochordata (tunicates)
Ascidiacea (sea squirts)
Appendicularia (larvaceans)
Thaliacea (pyrosomes, salps, doliolids)
(Vertebrates + Myxini)
Agnatha (jawless fish)
Cyclostomata
Myxini (hagfish)
Hyperoartia (lampreys)
(jawed vertebrates)
Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish: sharks, rays, chimaeras)
(bony fish)
Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)
(lobe-finned fish)
Actinistia (coelacanths)¹
Rhipidistia
Dipnoi (lungfish)¹
Amphibia (amphibians)
Mammalia (mammals)
Sauropsida
(withal Diapsida)
Lepidosauria
Rhynchocephalia (tuatara)²
Squamata (scaled reptiles)²
Archelosauria
Testudines (turtles)²,³
Crocodilia (crocodilians)²
Aves (birds)
¹subclasses of Sarcopterygii
²orders of class Reptilia (reptiles)
³traditionally placed in Anapsida
italic are paraphyletic groups
Extant Sarcopterygii orders by subclass
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Infraphylum Gnathostomata
Superclass Osteichthyes
Coelacanthimorpha
Coelacanthiformes
Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from March 2009
Living fossils
Fish common names
Articles which contain graphical timelines
Early Devonian first appearances
Devonian, Lungfish, Actinopterygii, Carboniferous, Coelacanth
Cnidaria, Sponge, Bacteria, Fungus, Biological classification
Devonian
Silurian, Carboniferous, Paleogene, Neogene, Cambrian
Actinopterygii, Sarcopterygii, Lungfish, Animal, Digital object identifier
Devonian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous
Fish anatomy
Fish, Shark, Lungfish, Anatomy, Lamprey
Lungfish, Devonian, Cretaceous, Sarcopterygii, Latimeria
Evolution of fish
Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician, Actinopterygii, Fish
Actinistia
Animal, Sarcopterygii, Lungfish, Devonian, Permian
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Earlier primary calendar may have big effect on latecomers
By Ed Hornick, CNN
Will New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie run for president?
Influential Republicans are urging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to jump into 2012 GOP race
In the past, Christie has shot down rumors he is interested in running for president
His closest allies indicate there is a great possibility Christie is open to the idea
But some political observers suggest it's too late for candidates to get into race
Washington (CNN) -- An earlier GOP primary election calendar could complicate efforts by possible latecomers such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie should he decide to join the crowded 2012 presidential field.
"With every passing hour the window is closing," said Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "I still believe you have to have an operation in place on the ground in early states and that all depends on how quickly he (Christie) can put that together -- and whether he can be competitive."
That's because some key states are shifting their primaries and caucuses earlier.
South Carolina Republicans announced Monday that their presidential primary will be held on January 21, a move designed to keep the state's primary ahead of Florida's. Last week, Florida bucked national party rules and decided to hold its primary on January 31.
The updated calendar is likely to push the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, traditionally the first two nominating contests, even earlier into January.
Will Christie jump in?
S.C. GOP announces January primary date
Christie for months has denied he is interested in joining the race. Influential Republicans though have urged him to run. And his closest allies now indicate there is a great possibility he is open to the idea.
"If he really wanted to convince us he wasn't considering it, all he has to do is endorse someone else. It's really very simple," conservative writer S.E. Cupp said in a recent CNN.com commentary.
Read more of Cupp's opinion
But his actions may tell a different story. He recently spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library -- a must stop for any Republican candidate -- and he has been crisscrossing the country to attend fundraisers and taken on President Barack Obama in press conferences.
Still, Republicans are cautioning the first-term governor from a once-solid blue state to be cautious.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the GOP's 2008 presidential candidate, said that while he likes Christie's record, a potential late entry would put him at a political disadvantage.
"I think he's done a great job as governor. I think he'd be a very viable candidate," McCain said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." But "let's remember he's starting from way behind in fundraising and organization and other areas."
McCain added, "I think that there is a bit of a caution. ... The swimming pool looks a lot better until you jump right in. The water may not be quite as warm as you think."
Read more of McCain's take
Cupp wrote that it's time for Christie or even former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- McCain's 2008 running mate -- to get in the race or stay home. The reason? It's hurting the party.
"And now, the will-they-or-won't-they game has flipped from fun and energizing to damaging to the party," she wrote. "Christie and Palin now do conservatives more harm than good. ... As formidable and admirable as both Christie and Palin are, it's reached the point where they've both become more than just a distraction. They're now a detriment."
Ari Fleischer, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush and a CNN contributor, said that while he's a Christie fan, it's already too late for the New Jersey governor to get into the race.
"Unless his intention is to run, lose and learn, he likely is better off keeping his word and then working on behalf of the party's nominee to defeat Obama," Fleischer wrote in a CNN.com opinion piece.
Fleischer pointed out that Christie, at 49, is relatively young.
"He's young and he has a great future in front of him," Fleischer wrote.
Meanwhile, Herman Cain -- who's already in the race and surging ahead at least in the mind of some straw poll voters -- has made no secret that Christie wouldn't be accepted by many conservatives. The governor, he said, is too liberal to win.
Read more of Cain's comments
Christie supports civil unions for same sex-couples and previously said it's not a crime to be in the United States illegally. He has said Americans have a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
"Most of the conservatives believe that we should enforce our borders. They do not believe people should be here without documentation. They do not believe global warming is a crisis or a threat," Cain said on "Fox News Sunday." "As you go right down the line, he's going to turn off a lot of conservatives with those positions."
The Rothenberg Political Report's Gonzales said that being a Republican in New Jersey is a lot different than being one in Iowa, where voters tend to be more conservative. Republicans in the Garden State tend do be more moderate.
"That's going to be a place where he's going to have compete," he said. "I think his record will get more scrutiny if he becomes a candidate. ... He will get more scrutiny because there are other Republicans that would like to be the nominee for president, and so we'll see how he performs if he gets that far."
Still, Gonzales cautioned that many had thought it was too late for Texas Gov. Rick Perry to get into the race, and now that he has done so, he's topping many polls and raising large amounts of campaign cash.
"I honestly thought it was too late for Rick Perry to get in, but he's managed to maintain so I don't want to completely rule out (anyone) ... He's put himself into the top tier so I hesitate to say it's too late for anyone," he said.
CNN's Peter Hamby and Gabriella Schwarz contributed to this report.
Michele Bachmann: All the pieces in place to make presidential run
Michele Bachmann has gained real notoriety in a few short years -- even if, at times, the attention has come for reasons that she may have not wanted.
Herman Cain: Welcoming pundits to underestimate his chances
He does not have the megawatt celebrity status of Sarah Palin, but he doesn't have the political baggage, either.
Newt Gingrich: Controversies key in rise and fall
Newt Gingrich arrived on the political scene when he pushed ethics violations charges against then-Speaker Jim Wright, who later resigned.
Jon Huntsman: Bipartisan resumé a primary concern
He's a motorcycle-riding Mormon who speaks fluent Mandarin, a soft-spoken father of seven with eclectic political connections.
Ron Paul: Long-held policies converge with those of the tea party
Ron Paul's libertarian-leaning stances have cultivated a dedicated following during his 11 terms in the House of Representatives.
Rick Perry: A governor who 'means what he says'
Rick Perry holds two unique titles: the nation's longest-serving governor and perhaps the most powerful in Texas' history.
Mitt Romney: New mission is to change perceptions
Mitt Romney would appear to be the candidate's candidate: a former governor and businessman in an election that could swing on jobs.
Rick Santorum: He 'takes the bullets' for conservative causes
Rick Santorum likes to tout his conservative credentials: "I've been a great, consistent leader of the conservative cause," the former two-term senator says.
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Digital Podcast
Audiobook Store
Audiobook FAQ
Between Me and the River: Living Beyond Cancer: A Memoir (Unabridged)
Written By: Carrie Host
Written By: Renee Raudman
Length:9 hours and 34 min.
Customer Rating :3.7
Get this for $7.49
Audiobook Summary:Carrie Host has given us a book on how to believe in the future---a future Host visualizes as a painting made up of a multitude of tiny dots called "right now." An intensely intimate journey into the unseen and unspoken aspects of catastrophic illness, told from the determined viewpoint of a 40-year-old stay-at-home mother of three. Packed with inspiration, advice, comfort and hope, Between Me and the River is Host's candid and uplifting love story of how she found the strength and fortitude to triumph over adversity. When told at 40, with her youngest child only ten months old, that she had a carcinoid tumor, Host felt she had been hurled into a raging river, stripped of all forms of potential rescue. The voyage of this strong-minded, open-hearted woman out of that river and onto safe shores is told with uncompromising honesty and respect for the miracles that medicine and love can work. While dealing with practical issues such as how to find the best medical team and what to tell her children, Host experienced many spiritual and eye-opening lessons: How to forgive and how to cherish. How to see what is available rather than what is absent. How to free up energy to heal by letting go of anger and fear. Host's unquenchable sense of humor in the midst of suffering creates poignant moments of laughter through tears. Her book conveys an enormously deep sense of understanding and ultimately delivers acceptance and peace. She offers an "emotional nightlight" for cancer patients in their time of greatest need---perspective for the soul. Bracing, lyrical and deeply moving, Between Me and the River is a tribute to one life and all lives. This is a beautifully written book for survivors, caregivers, family members, and friends.
People who bought this book also bought these books:
Between Me and the River
Life of David Brainerd
Knit with Courage, Live with Hope
Passion for Souls
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Digital TV News: Pace plc
ARRIS to restructure after Pace acquisition
Feb 17, 2016 – In an SEC filing, ARRIS (NASDAQ: ARRS) has said that, as part of the integration activities related to the recently completed acquisition of Pace plc, the company will be restructuring certain operations.
News categories: ARRIS Group, Set Top Box, USA
Google announces additional Android TV partners
Oct 1, 2015 – Google has said that Hisense and TCL have been added as Smart TV partners for Android TV. The company also announced that Pace, Sagemcom and Technicolor will manufacture set-top boxes, and that KDDI and Telecom Italia are planning to provide Pay TV services powered by Android TV.
News categories: Google, Android TV, Digital TV, Italy, Japan, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Worldwide
China’s appetite for broadband fuels growth in CPE market
Sep 23, 2015 – IHS (NYSE: IHS) has raised its outlook for the broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) market. In its September report, the firm has increased its 2019 worldwide broadband CPE forecast by 8%, to US$12.4 billion.
News categories: IHS Inc, Infonetics, Jeff Heynen, 5G, CPE, Gateway, Market Research, Worldwide
BSkyB adds 113,000 TV subscribers in 2Q 2015
Jul 29, 2015 – SKY plc has announced results for the twelve months ended 30 June 2015. In the UK and Ireland quarterly TV growth increased by 49% to 113,000. Sky confirmed that it is planning to deploy a European-wide set-top box.
News categories: Sky plc, Austria, Digital TV, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Middleware, Results, Satellite, Set Top Box, Subscribers, UK
One third of cable subscribers to be passed by DOCSIS 3.1 by April 2017
Jul 28, 2015 – IHS (NYSE: IHS) conducted in-depth interviews with cable operators across the globe that collectively control 87 percent of the world’s cable capex and found that 42 percent of them plan to deploy a distributed access architecture (DAA) by 2017.
News categories: Infonetics, Jeff Heynen, Broadband, Cable TV, Content Distribution, DOCSIS, Market Research, Worldwide
Global STB shipments fell 2% to 275 million units in 2014
Jul 28, 2015 – According to Futuresource Consulting, STB shipments fell 2% to 275 million units in 2014, due to minimal growth or actual cut backs in key emerging markets, caused by economic factors or delays in government cable digitisation programs.
News categories: Futuresource Consulting, Jack Wetherill, Digital TV, Market Research, Set Top Box, Worldwide
Pay TV STB market contracts for the first time in 12 years
Jun 29, 2015 – Pay TV operators purchased $15.3 billion worth of set-top boxes (STBs) in 2014, down from $15.9 billion in 2013. This decline represents the first contraction in the market since 2002, according to IHS (NYSE: IHS).
News categories: IHS Inc, Daniel Simmons, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Market Research, Satellite, Set Top Box, Worldwide
Video infrastructure spending outstrips client hardware and software revenue
Jun 22, 2015 – Q1 data from Synergy Research shows that revenue growth from video infrastructure network hardware and software is far outstripping growth from client hardware and software. While revenue from all video infrastructure grew by 7% Y-o-Y, network hardware and software grew at 10% and 17%.
News categories: Synergy Research, John Dinsdale, Content Distribution, Content Protection, Digital TV, Market Research, Middleware, Set Top Box, Worldwide
Nearly 90 million DOCSIS 3.0 CPE units shipped over last 12 quarters
Jan 6, 2015 – Infonetics has released excerpts from its 3Q14 Broadband CPE and Subscribers report. Connected home and multiscreen services continue to proliferate. As a result, an increasing number of video-capable gateways are being shipped globally.
News categories: Infonetics, Jeff Heynen, Broadband, CPE, DOCSIS, Gateway, Market Research, Worldwide
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MINOR AT HEART
A rural dream world for Edmond Baudoin
By Dominic on December 20, 2018in Recent Reads
At their site, The Paris Review ran Matt Madden’s introduction to the debut English edition of Piero, a graphic memoir by celebrated French comics artist and illustrator Edmond Baudoin. Published by New York Review Comics, the new edition was translated by Madden and hand-lettered by cartoonist Dean Sudarsky. From Piero‘s introduction:
To readers familiar with Baudoin’s work, what’s most unusual about Piero is that it does not feature his trademark virtuosic brush art. Instead, he opts for the busy, scratching, and scribbling lines of a Rotring ArtPen, presumably in order to emulate the ballpoint pens and pencils with which the young protagonists are constantly drawing. Perhaps he also aims to create a sense of intimacy in this smaller-than-usual format (a typical French album is about eight by twelve inches), much the way Art Spiegelman chose to draw the art for his book Maus at the actual size it would be printed, instead of drawing the original art half again or twice as large—a common technique cartoonists use to make their art look better when printed. Personally, I love the pen drawing in Piero, and if it’s not as flashy as Baudoin’s brushwork, it just goes to show that he doesn’t need flashy virtuosity to create an indelible image. Just look at the forlorn Martian above, or admire the graceful simplicity below of the two boys floating in the outer space of their dream world. Furthermore, the choice of pen underscores an important quality of Baudoin as an artist: that above all, he is interested in using drawing to tell stories and to examine life and the nature of art.
Baudoin has been publishing for decades, but his comics aren’t much known to Americans. He’s garnered awards in Europe for his work and is revered for having been one of the first French cartoonists to work in autobiography. First published for a young adult audience in 1998, Piero drops readers immediately into the whimsical universe that Baudoin shared as a child with his brother, for whom this book is named.
Narrative text and dialogue are used sparsely on the black and white pages of Piero, so each word feels as if chosen very carefully, such as Baudoin’s language at the onset. It’s immediately suffused with nostalgia, as the fall season for the grown artist conjures memories of days spent at play. The first page is a wordless single-panel rendering of a modern scene in a southeastern French village called Villars-sur-Var, where Baudoin spent some of his childhood (as well as some of his time today, per Madden’s essay).
The text that follows reads like a poem, with single verses cast out over six panels. It’s a familiar sentiment:
“Today the leaves falling from the Plane Trees are the gray of a sad sky.”
“It seems to me that they used to be much more colorful.”
“Back when my brother Piero and I”
“used to kick the dead leaves”
“and pile them up as high as we could.”
Clusters of leaves in the foreground are splayed across the horizontal gutter on the first of these two pages. They get wiry veins and coarse textures in Baudoin’s hectic line, while the artist’s primary two characters—his brother and himself, who was called “Momo” in those days—come into view. When the backdrops aren’t given over to reproductions of the marvels produced in his childhood sketchbook (scenes of sharp-fanged wolves in darkened forests, a many-tentacled creature emerging from a toilet), representational depictions of nature feature prominently in Piero—it’s a book about children, set partly in rural France, after all.
Tree branches grow long and lanky on these pages. Their knotty ends contort and curl into fanciful forms in Baudoin’s inked linework, and he can think only of the outdoors while drawing at his school desk (“What interested me most in the classroom was the window…and most of all what was happening on the other side”). The young Baudoin carries his sketchbook everywhere (the brothers discuss drawing, they both draw; there’s a lot to do with art here), and he and Piero run freely in the wooded area surrounding the village where they vacationed as a family. They kneel by a stream to admire a snake fighting the current’s stringy diagonal dashes for air. Later, Piero and Momo lounge in the long grass by a pool with bikini-clad girls in the summer heat, and dart on mopeds down mountain roads, where “circadas were chirping like mad.”
There’s a balance to sharing all of this past that Baudoin executes masterfully in Piero. Spacious panels allow the visuals to breathe, such as the minimally adorned gull he sees from his classroom or the spare renderings of he and his pajama-clad brother orbiting planet Earth, but they split real estate on pages with rural exterior settings that are alternatively dense. Hilltops on the horizon get merely a single contour line, but bushy foregrounds, where thick tree trunks are darkened with a sea of inky pen strokes, are busy and rife with detail. And if the presentation in Piero feels more considered than most books you’ve looked at this year, it’s because Baudoin has been obsessed with how these panels were meant to look since he was a kid. He practically admits as much, right here in his exquisite comic.
“Looking out our window, Piero still saw outlines of cars, while I saw only marks and highlights,” writes Baudoin. The boys look closely at the microdots visible in newspaper photography and compare it to the art in their illustrated storybooks or their parents’ medical dictionary. “At that point we were between eleven and thirteen years old and I had a vague intuition that I was going to devote much of my time to the study of marks and lines…without ever managing to understand them…”
Images © Gallimard 2011. Piero was first published by Éditions du Seuil, 1998. The new English edition of Piero is available from New York Review Comics.
Tags autobiographical comics, bandes dessinées, comics, Edmond Baudoin, graphic memoirs
ARTFORUM’s Comics-Heavy Summer Issue
By Dominic on July 10, 2014
Mark Waid’s ‘Potter’s Field’ (and mysterious NYC burial sites)
By Dominic on July 7, 2014
Dominic Umile lives, writes, and drinks in Brooklyn, NY. His criticism and features have recently appeared in The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Reader, Hyperallergic, and more. Send him an email.
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Happy New Year, friends and strangers. You can find long 2019 posts at my site, and my writing for @latimesbooks and @hyperallergic is collected below. Let’s eat great pizza this year you guys http://www.dominicumile.com/portfolio/
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For me, the only redeeming quality of this film 😬
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Herber, Spease draw on contrasting funding sources in race for SMUD Board
http://www.elkgrovenews.net/2018/10/herber-spease-draw-on-contrasting.html
Rosanna Herber (left) and Angela Spease are two of the three candidates seeking the Ward 4 seat on the
SMUD Board of Directors in this November's election. |
When Genevieve Shiroma announced she would not seek re-election to the Ward 4 seat she has occupied for 20 years on the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Board of Directors, the visibility of that race has substantially increased. Along with the increased visibility of that seat, there has been a similar rise in the money being pumped into the campaign coffers of Rosanna Herber and Angela Spease, the two contestants seeking the office.
According to California Form 460 disclosure filed with the Sacramento County Board of Elections, through October 20 Herber and Spease have raised $114,102 and $75,007 respectively. Of those amounts, Herber received non-monetary contributions valued at $855, and Spease brought in $17,987, which was mostly from a donated mailer valued at $15,671.
A third candidate for the Ward 4 seat, Mark Graham, has not filed financial disclosure reports. Typically in that situation, a candidate has decided not to accept campaign contributions.
While both candidates have raised their donations in a relatively short period, the sources of that funding are vastly different. Herber who is known within Democratic circles has drawn much of her money form politicians and political groups while Spease, a small business owner, has drawn most of her support from a single business interest group.
Amount the largest single contributions Herber received were the Rainbow Political Action Committee, Sacramento, $4,500; and the Stonewall Democratic Club of Sacramento, $7,500. Along with this union including Sheet Metal Workers, carpenters, and electricians who collectively have given $7,000 to date.
Among politicians donating were four current SMUD directors and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. As of October 20, Herber had a cash balance of $63,839.
While Herber has tapped political organizations for her funding, Spease has received more than 50 percent of her direct financial support totaling $75,007 from one contributor. That contributor is a group calling itself California For Growing Economy and Safe Streets (CFGESS) which has sent Spease $43,000 as of October 20.
Other business interests giving money or in-kind donations include Committee for Home Ownership of the Northstate Building Association, a so-called recipient committee, and MMS Strategies. The in-kind donation from MMS Strategies was the production and distribution of a mailer valued at $15,671.
According to information posted on the California Secretary of State website, CFGESS has received $135,700 between January 1 and October 20, 2018. Among contributors to CFGESS were MMS Strategies, $3,000; Peter F. Benchen, President & CEO, Pac Trust, Lake Oswego, Oregon, $10,000; Winn Communities, Sacramento, $15,000; Norman Ranch, Colusa,California, $5,000; Canal Farms, Maxwell, California, $15,000; Marion Mathias, farmer, Maxwell, California, $26,000; and A.G. Spanos Companies, Stockton, $2,500.
The CFGESS also received $42,000 of in-kind donations from MMS Strategies. The phone number listed for CFGESS is the same number listed for MMS Strategies.
Separately, CFGESS has also contributed $975 each to Elk Grove city council members Pat Hume, Stephanie Nguyen, and Darren Suen, all of whom are seeking office on this year's ballot. Assemblymember Jim Cooper (D - Elk Grove) returned a contribution of $900.
< http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0; url=https://www.mediapass.com/subscription/noscriptredirect?key=3488&asset=3690&uri=elkgrovenews.net">
D.J. Blutarsky said...
Confucius say, "8,000 acres of new rooftops means big money. Watch the next Super Bowl, SMUD vs. PG&E".
Randy Bekker said...
Now that’s a liberal thought! PG&E is in so much financial problems because of all the fires the last thing they need is an electricity War with SMUD. So it a Local Democratic Party pipe dream to stir campaign rhetoric! How bout we stick with local issues.
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Champion Homes Donates Show House to Injured Vet
There are thousands of show homes built every year, but Champion Homes discovered a way to really set themselves apart from the crowd while doing a wonderful thing.
At the recent International Builders Show in Orlando, their Genesis division unveiled "The Tyler" - a beautiful modular home that was built at Champion's manufacturing facility in Lake City, FL. The home showcased how beautiful accessible design can be. The kitchen and master bath had the necessary clear space radius, and the wider hallways allowed for wheelchair accessibility. the home was filled with lots of innovative products - I especially loved the storage options that were shown.
The home was part of the NextGen Experience and was in the outdoor village at the show. Now that the show is over, Champion is teaming up with the non-profit organization Rebuilding Together and will be delivering the home to a lot in Tampa where it will be reassembled. The home has been donated to Mr. Waldemar Alameda and his family. Mr. Waldemar served our country in multiple tours of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and was severely injured in an IED explosion.
The home is beautiful inside and out, and I love the exterior elevation. The trim and color accents give the home lots of character and allow it to fit into almost any neighborhood in any part of the country.
As the Lifestylist® for Champion Homes of Texas, I couldn't be more proud of Champion and their giving spirit, and I hope that this home serves as an example of what can be accomplished with factory built housing and a company that knows how to give back to the community.
The Official Lifestylist® Channel
Valentines Treats: Citrus Truffles
New Lifestylist® Designed Homes for Champion Homes...
Have You Joined Animal Rescue Corps?
Gifts From The Heart
Staying Warm During Super Bowl XLV: It's Always 72...
A Lifestylist's Food Picks For Super Bowl XLV
Recycling an Older Home
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Sifu
The basic symbol to represent Sifu.
Sifu is a huge, six-armed Goblyn goddess, and she is cursed to stand at the edge of the underworld as a guardian to any mortal who try to enter. She was one of the five Great Goblyns, along with Reth, Skribbit, Neb, and Baulk. These five goblyns were the first born into the world and had strength that rivaled or even exceeded many gods. Sifu was the Queen of a mighty goblyn tribe in ancient times. She is famous for earning the unquestioning loyalty of the mighty goblyn Skribbit. During the Great War with the gods she sought out the goddess Pissran, mother of the goblyns, and took from that goddess control of the innate magic of this goblyns. In this way she became the first Witchdoktor. Sifu trained the first generation of witchdoktors for the final battle according to Reth's grand plan, but was cursed and lost to the goblyns before the final battle was launched.
There are two major variations on how she became cursed:
With the return of the great Witchdoktor Kazi, we now know that Sifu was cursed after defeating the guardian who stand in that place before her, in the time of the Great War. Sifu be trying to find Baulk, to slay him for his betrayal. But der must always be a guardian, an' so she grew in strength an' power, but cannot stray from her post. It is said that she can see Baulk sitting over top of the mouth of the River of Souls, gnawing away on Goblynkind, but she cannot reach him, an' so her anger remains unquenched.
Older lore says that she was once a Goblyn princess from ancient times. Even as a mortal, Sifu was formidable, defying and then soundly crushing many a ruler who foolishly attacked her domain. But under the threat of an enemy she could not defeat, Sifu beseeched the Gods to make her unkillable. They responded by gifting her with the weapons she bears now in the Underworld: the great Axe, Spear, sword, shield and dual scimitars. Sifu then annihilated her foes and became more fearsome than ever before. But not long after, the gods demanded repayment for their gifts, and thus sent her to the edge of the Underworld, where she continues to beat back wandering Goblyn souls for eternity.
Regardless of belief, Sifu is most often venerated by female Goblyns. It is well known that during her mortal life she bore no litters, thus defying goblyn culture's heavy emphasis on continual perpetuation of numbers. This, in combination with her untold strength and loose association with Death, makes Sifu the favorite diety of female warriors. They carry her symbol (see right) to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, and bearing any combination of Sifu's weapons is considered a tribute to her. Foolish, lesser monsters have attempted to master all six styles, but it is folly. Only the Goddess herself may carry them in combination. Skera Nipt is the most renowned tribe for venerating Sifu, and the superiority of female goblyns. They are the few who see Sifu's current state as a blessing, and believe she will be the one to strike Baulk down, and usher in the Age of Restoration.
Retrieved from "http://www.geddon.org/index.php?title=Sifu&oldid=126306"
Deities, Gods and Lore
Monster Lore
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May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month! Given the recent intense spate of conversations about Orientalism, whitewashing, and white saviorism in pop culture, I thought it would be useful to collect the storifies, articles, and other media discussions I’ve done related to these issues. I’m rather proud of these works, and I’m delighted several of these pieces were written/produced with my friend and Raks Geek founder/producer Dawn Xiana Moon (I highly suggest reading her recent essay from Uncanny Magazine, “A Work of Art is a Refuge and Resistance” which explores what it’s like to be a “Third Culture” kid and the importance of art and SF/F). I hope you’ll find them useful.
Also later this month, I’ll have a blog post listing some works by AAPI creators that I’ve particularly enjoyed and would recommend reading!
“I Don’t See Color” from Invisible: An Anthology of Representation in SF/F (edited by Jim C. Hines), February 2014
“Award-winning writers explore Filipino representation in science fiction and fantasy,” with Alyssa Wong, interview by Charles Tan, CNN Philippines, September 2016
“Orientalism, Whitewashing, and the Failure of Imagination in Doctor Strange,” co-written with Dawn Xiana Moon, The Learned Fangirl, November 2016
“Hold the #MartialArtsMayo: A Review of Iron Fist” (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), an audio review mini series co-hosted with Dawn Xiana Moon, The Learned Fangirl, March-April 2017
“Two Asian American Women Discuss the Ghost in the Shell Movie” co-written with Dawn Xiana Moon, The Learned Fangirl, April 2017
“Iron Fist: On False Choices, Whitedudesplaining, and Expecting Gratitude for Doing Diversity (badly)” March 6, 2017
“Asians Who Do Martial Arts Aren’t Always a Stereotype So Hold the #MartialArtsMayo Please” March 6, 2017
“Fun Fact: The Origins of Iron Fist Were Always Problematic” March 8, 2017
“Criticisms of Marvel’s Iron Fist Aren’t Just Because He’s a White Man Billionaire, FFS” March 13, 2017
“Asian Characters Who Do Martial Arts and Aren’t Stereotypes Do Exist” March 13, 2017
“Danny Rand Didn’t Need to be White to Subvert Asian Martial Arts Stereotypes” March 13, 2017
“Being a Fish Out of Water Isn’t Just About Race” March 14, 2017
“Mulan is More Than Just ‘Girly Martial Arts'” March 21, 2017
“We Are More Than Sidekicks,” presentation, UIC Comics, Culture, and Society symposium, April 20, 2017
“More Than a Sidekick: Expanding Visibility for Asian American Creators and Characters in Comics,” panel, C2E2, April 21, 2017, with Gene Ha, Draven Katayama, Mark Martell, Mary Anne Mohanraj, and Natalia Roxas
This entry was posted in Culture, Panel and tagged APAHM, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, comics, Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, Iron Fist, orientalism, pop culture, white savior, whitewashing by Michi Trota. Bookmark the permalink.
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Inmate 84677-012
In 2001, I spent more than a year enduring the empty space of a Segregated Housing Unit (SHU). At the time it was the greatest mental challenge I had ever faced. It was surreal to now find myself back in the SHU. A different prison, a different decade -- but not one thing in that cell felt any different. It had the same cold air, lights that never extinguish and, of course, four walls that slowly close in on you.
I don't care how tough you think you are... the SHU is tougher and you can't fight it. Fighting will get you to break faster. The only thing to do is find your balance--it’s truly an exercise in Zen. I walked the length of the cell then the width and took a mental note of the number of steps -- a little sanity insurance to help ground me in reality when those walls started moving in.
I wondered if I had any company. I got down on the floor and positioned myself near the east vent and called to the cell next door. Nothing. I repositioned myself on the west wall and called out. Again nothing. But I knew someone was there. As the Marshalls positioned me against the wall just prior to my cell entry, I had seen a face in the small window looking out at me. Our eyes met briefly in that quick glance. Maybe he was sleeping. Maybe he was a psych patient. Maybe he was here for his own protection. Whoever it was it didn't really matter. It could wait till morning. Neither one of us was going anywhere.
I felt tired to the bone. A few weeks prior I had gotten a message an indictment was on its way. Anticipation made sleep light and hard to come by. Now that the indictment had been delivered I knew what I was dealing with and it was time to catch up on some much needed rest. As my body searched for a comfortable position on the cold hard mattress I stared up at the many names and dates scraped into the steel bed frame above me. As my eyes searched for meaning or message in the strange hieroglyphics, I wondered if there were any stories from past tenants to decipher. The symbols began to overlap and dance then finally I drifted off into a heavy sleep.
I didn’t sleep long, my rest interrupted by a strange, unfamiliar noise. It was an exercise cadence that would soon become familiar to me. It would take place early every morning, called out in unison from five adjoining cells to the West. Loud Spanish that would echo out of the cells and down the empty hall. I would find out later these guys were from the Nuestra Familia, arch rivals to the Surenos who dominated the downtown facility. These guys were in the SHU for their own protection -- not their choice but administered segregation from the facility. I’ve seen these modern gladiators fight it out in a prison yard -- both sides valiant warriors. It was none of my business but keeping them apart was probably a good idea for everyone involved.
My neighbor never uttered a single word to me. An act of caution -- for all he knew I could be the enemy. So much for passing time through conversation.
The early morning passed and I could hear the wheels of the food cart making its way down the hall. Food slots dropped open and trays were passed into the cells. Breakfast. I picked at the tray -- sticking to the protein and staying away from the sugars. I needed to stay healthy and grounded. What I ate didn't fill me up but I knew it would keep me going till lunch. As the guard picked up the tray he informed me the Lieutenant was making his rounds and to sit tight.
Soon I could hear someone making his way from cell to cell. A long pause at each window for a quick inspection and inventory of each tiny room. The steps I heard were light but firm, centered, grounded, confident and now they were outside my door. After a quick glance through the small window the Lieutenant inserted the oversize brass key into the steel lock keyhole and the door to my cell rolled open.
The Lieutenant was a 6' tall, lean, capable looking black man. A no-nonsense old school guy who had made his way up the ranks with hard work and street smarts. I sensed nothing had scared this man for many years. He pointed at the small steel desk at the far end of my cell and I took a seat on the table top. This cell visit was off to an unusual start. Typically, conversations in the SHU equal you hunching down at the door slot talking to a face you can barely see through the small hole.
"Well, Mr. Christie, I understand you want to talk to me. What's this I hear? You’ve just arrived and already you don't like the accommodations we’ve arranged for you?” The Lieutenant opened the conversation with a deep voice and a hint of humor.
I replied, “Well, there is really no reason for me to be here in the SHU.”
“It wasn't our idea." He explained. "The FBI requested you be housed in the SHU and it is our standard protocol to follow the recommendations made by outside agencies."
I stressed to the Lieutenant it was unnecessary and that I would fight it and, again, reiterated that I wanted to be moved into the general population. This isolation was unwarranted. He told me not to get myself into a twist... that he would talk to the warden and she would make the final decision.
“I guess with your 1986 inmate number you won’t have any problems with the youngsters, no one will bother an old timer like you.” He said and as our conversation had come to a close, he added “I'm here all weekend if you need anything.” Both of us laughed as he exited. The door rolled shut with a loud bang and once again I was alone with my thoughts.
1986. My mind ran back to that year when I was arrested for a murder that never happened and a crime I never committed. I took that case all the way to trial and was declared not guilty. It had cost me a lot including a year of my life in a federal prison. I was in my late thirties then. Now, almost three decades later, in my mid sixties, once again I was inmate 84677-012.
You Just Missed Whitey Bulgur
I watched my co-defendants waiting patiently for their bail paperwork. You could feel their excitement and relief. As for me, the Marshals marched me right back to the holding cells. The older Marshal said "Tough break Christie" - the only words exchanged. As they put me back in the cell the same older Marshal told me he would try to speed things up. I just nodded feeling a little overwhelmed.
A lot of things were running through my mind and I was analyzing the scenario. Clearly I was a target here. On the docket was an unresolved crime from 2007 that hadn’t received much previous attention -- the botched firebombing of two tattoo shops. Oh how I fantasized about telling the Magistrate "Your Honor, it’s obvious I wasn't involved, the job was sloppy and the buildings are still standing!!" I laughed aloud as I gave that thought a moment's play then quickly swept it out of my head. There was no room for humor here. I needed to get mentally organized and manage my thoughts carefully. As a leader you need order then you need vision. My vision was freedom. I could see it but I was still a long way from feeling it.
Footsteps against the cement floor brought me out of my daydream. Not the same rhythm as before, this was a young stride, fast and light in movement. “Christie! Attorney visit!” echoed off the walls. The young Marshal now escorting me was in his prime -- fit, funny and full of conversation. “Your buddies are just about out of here. Maybe your attorney has some good news. Is this one of those million dollar Beverly Hills Attorneys?” I just laughed as we approached the cluster of small glass cubicles. My laugh empty as the many small glass boxes divided by a sheet of clear plexiglas, a phone on either side. I asked the Marshall how long I had. “All night if you want” he replied. One last laugh and he was on his way.
I was now locked in a transparent square--waiting. Waiting is one thing you better get used to quickly in jail. Time is no longer yours. You have absolutely no dominion or control of your physical presence. If you let this affect you and your command of your senses you will quickly find yourself in a downward black spiral from which many never recover.
More footsteps. This time the sounds were street dress shoes. I could hear the leather soles scraping ever so lightly against the cement. It sounded like an old, tired soft shoe dance routine. It was my court-appointed Lawyer. He looked like he was on the far side of seventy. I wondered how many more miles this old warrior had left in him.
I always use a formula I have developed to evaluate attorneys -- for myself or for my clients -- this gentleman was getting high marks. As we moved the conversation forward it drifted into the very limited details about my charges that we had at that point in time. He identified the first collaborator by name and we, for security reasons, tagged him Informant # 1. Sure I knew him, a former member who had been forced to resign under pressure. “Were we close?” was his next question. He pressed on “Do we need to concern ourselves with possible taped conversations?” “Close? No, not by any means” I assured him. "In fact" I told him "I had warned the entire chapter to stand down when the subject of tattoo shops had come up on more than one occasion." He diligently took notes and within the hour his yellow legal pad was filled with fragmented sentences connected by circles and arrows only he would be able to decipher. The time had breezed by and as he looked at his weathered Timex I knew it was time for him go.
He had passed my initial evaluation and I would soon find out he had plenty more miles in him. Together with my daughter, Moriya, they would wage a war against the most powerful government in the world. This was no million dollar attorney but the legal team they put together would have made any million dollar attorney proud. For the next three years we went after the indictment like a Navy Seal team on a search and destroy mission.
Within minutes I was once again being escorted by two very sturdy looking U.S. Marshals as we wound our way through unfamiliar halls that would lead me to my final destination -- the main housing unit for all prisoners. The steel door echoed, metal on metal, as it rolled open. A sound quickly familiar and one you never want to get used to. They marched me to the end of the line -- the SHU (Segregated Housing Unit), more famously known to the outside world as solitary confinement.
If there is a hell on this earth it’s certainly the SHU. I protested this was an unnecessary measure. The Marshals said “Orders are orders but we will tell the Lieutenant you want to be moved to general population.” The door rolled open and I entered. I didn't bother to turn around. I stood in silence as I heard the steel wheels start rolling and waited for the deep clang of metal as the door locks hooked... the sound bouncing off the walls of my inner sanctum. Keys banged against the rectangular door slot and with a quick twist it opened with just enough room for a food tray or for hands cuffed from behind to be squeezed through. “You know the drill Christie” yelled one of the guards. I stooped down to me knees and shoved my hands through the slot, all in one smooth motion. As I presented my wrists to have my cuffs removed I grimly noted my muscle memory was still in place from my last 12 month stint in an SHU unit.
Anyone that's ever had to wear a set of cuffs for an extended length of time knows this feeling. For those of you who have never had this experience, let me take you there. When the cuffs are placed on your wrists you pray they set the double locks. If they don’t, the steel circles continue to close in diameter as you fidget and shift your wrists in an effort to get the steel off your wrist bones. The more you try to manipulate your hands to find comfort, the deeper into the skin they cut. It becomes a real exercise in both mental and physical discipline to keep your hands and wrist stationary. In the end, double locked or not, the cuffs cut deeply into your skin preventing blood flow. Eventually your hands go numb.
The cuffs were removed and I dropped my hands to my sides to return blood flow as I opened and closed both hands in rapid movement -- bringing them back to life. At first they burned as the blood returned. Then the white circles, the imprints of the jaws of the cuffs, began to disappear and feeling began to return to my now free hands.
I turned to protest one last time “I belong in general population”. The Marshall responded it was up to the Lieutenant. As they began to walk away, one of the guards looked back over his shoulder and said “You should have been here last week Christie! You just missed Whitey Bulger”.
Who stole lil Georgie's motorcycle?
There are limits, even in the world of Outlaws. Or so I thought.
Many things have opened my eyes as I journey through this new century. Every mid-September I pause to remember watching the twin towers collapse from acts of cowards. I have seen something else crumbling too -- the outlaw motorcycle culture, a world I had called home since 1966.
As many of you may know, my family has been trying to come to terms with the loss of my son, George Christie III, who passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago. It has hit me and my oldest daughter, Moriya, hard…The depth of the loss is indescribable and, frankly, inconsolable.
In the midst of our grief we have discovered Georgie's FXRS Harley Davidson is missing. The motorcycle was a gift I bought him the day he graduated from high school. Although he would have never said it outright, the fact that he has kept it all these years tells me it held a very special place in his heart. And it held a very special place in mine. I can still see his face and hear his words on the day I gave it to him. "Thanks Pops" he said, as he looked into my eyes and smiled, showing how much he really meant it.
Fast forward, twenty years later -- Georgie dies unexpectedly and the motorcycle has disappeared. I have been asking myself these questions...
What kind of men would steal my dead son’s motorcycle?
What thoughts dwell in their perverse conscious?
How do they justify their dark act?
Are they men with torn moral fiber?
Or have they always been cowards, flying a false flag of brotherhood and honor?
Have they lived in duplicity so long they can no longer distinguish right from wrong?
How do they justify their actions?
How can they live with themselves, their hearts dark and ugly?
How long will it be before they turn on each other?
And now I ask you...
What has happened to the outlaws? Is there no longer honor among thieves?
“I’ll take my chances”
The words I had just spoke reverberated around the room and bounced off the cold hard floor. My cuffs were returned to the back position and my cup of unfinished coffee was tossed in the trash. Clearly this was not the response the agents were looking for.
I was ushered to a waiting van and buckled in, then we were off. I didn't ask where we were headed. I learned long ago too many questions could be interpreted as panic or, worse, fear. I knew in all likelihood we would be at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles in less than a hour. The conversation was dry and lean as we spent the next hour heading south on the 101 freeway, sizing each other up.
I had made this trip back in 1986 and now, almost 3 decades later, it didn't feel much different... or better. Back then, I had not only beat the two agents at their own game with a jury trial and an acquittal but had outlasted them. Hell, they were just retiring and I was just getting started.
This time it was different. I had children older than the agents that had just arrested me. They were both young and fit and they were smart… but they had already made their first mistake... they had made this arrest personal. They were also building the foundation of their case on grand jury testimony from a Hells Angels club member who had been recently forced out of the club -- a man willing to tell them anything to extract him from his judicial responsibility. Before this case would be over the number of informants would grow as the wheels of justice slowly turned.
The sun was now hanging high in the morning sky and as the van dropped into the underground entrance, it felt as if we had entered a giant hungry mouth -- this tunnel into the belly of government. The sun was replaced by artificial light as the government swallowed me whole. One of the agents made a last overture as I was handed over to the US Marshalls -- “You’d better watch your back Christie.”
I didn't respond. It was focus time -- time to lawyer up and dig in. The Marshals threw a sack lunch at me and put me in a single man holding cell. After a short period of time the booking process began -- my number and file had survived from my 1986 arrest -- so things moved quickly. All there was to do was wait for the afternoon court calendar to start.
Anyone who has waited for serious charges against them to be read in an open court understands it’s a lot of pressure. Each second is painfully slow. Eventually time does pass. The sound of boots against a cement floor and a jingle of large brass keys signalled the Marshall’s return - it was time. Soon I was winding my way through the maze of corridors being led to a waiting magistrate.
As I walked in I was surprised to see four individuals in the court area… four faces I was not expecting and who, I would soon discover, would be my co-defendants in a six count indictment that could put me in federal prison for up to 120 years. More about that next time.
We all marched up and were placed inline in front of the magistrate. Reasonable bails were set for each one of my co-defendants -- not a word of opposition from the government. That ended when my name was called. The US Attorney’s approach was clear -- no opposition on the other bails to ensure he could hang it all on me.
My attorneys, one being my oldest daughter Moriya, put up a valiant argument. After both sides fired volley after volley, the judge ruled and bail was set at $200,000. It was the first time my bail had come in under a million dollars. I was ecstatic. I would be out and back to my wife and son by sundown.
The US Attorney would not give up so easily. He pleaded with the court that the judge had no idea what he was releasing back into society. He insisted the government would appeal and he moved for a temporary hold. The judge stated to me that he had no choice under the circumstances and he would rather err on the side of caution. A temporary hold was placed on my bail.
It was a dirty move but not surprising. At this point I had no idea when I would be able to see my family again.
Next week… betrayal rears its ugly head.
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Giant Lady Leg Sundial
Super-Secret Volkswagen Test Track
Monday, 19th March 2007 by James Turnbull
Oh dear, it looks like an articulated lorry has rolled over near Bismark. I hope no-one was hurt.
The lorry in question is owned by Jim Palmer Trucking, and was blown over by winds in excess of 180kph.
If, for some weird reason, you enjoy seeing traffic accidents from above, you’ll love our previous post 9 (Possible) Traffic Accidents.
Thanks: a67
Updated: With thanks to Gary Powell and others in comments.
Truck spillage
Baseball Love
The World’s Largest Dump Truck
28 comments Comments are closed
Monday, 19th March 2007 at 9:42 pm
Looks like it’s Jim Palmer Trucking.
Yep, I think Mark is right.
J Edward Geyer says:
This is a truck from Jim Palmer Trucking, they operate nationwide with offices in TX & AR, and many more I’m sure, but these are the locations I know for sure.
Number1BadBoy says:
Monday, 19th March 2007 at 10:54 pm
I can see how the driver lost control – those American roads are tough to navigate!
Tuesday, 20th March 2007 at 12:14 am
Number1BadBoy…I’m sure your British roundabouts are easy to navigate too…I found it extremely hard to navigate in GB when my GPS told me “Take the third exit on the second roundabout…” XD
Tuesday, 20th March 2007 at 1:02 am
We call those tractor trailers in the States.
mizo says:
It must have been that blind hairpin turn he made. Or perhaps he fell asleep looking at the landscape.
We also call them semis or big-rigs, but I like articulated lorry!
This is definitely Jim Palmer. My buddy’s dad drove for them many years. I could tell it was a Palmer truck from the thumbnail.
Keith T. says:
It’s quite possible it was caused by heavy wind. The Dakotas are incredibly flat and can experience heavy winds. The truck that carried my belongings from Boston to Seattle tipped over in the Dakotas (much of my stuff didn’t make it) due to wind.
Timhogs says:
Tuesday, 20th March 2007 at 12:13 pm
Far more likely that some numbnuts driving his BMW and talking on his cell phone cut him off…
Tuesday, 20th March 2007 at 2:09 pm
I agree with wind – northerly – after the housing taking the driver off guard. No skid, no in the ditch / sleeping drver symptons. BTW not ALL bad drivers are BMW owners….
Talon Lardner says:
Well, I’m calling them “articulated lorry”s From now on… much funner to say!
That’s actually a road just outside the city limits, with a 35mph speed limit.
That would make it fairly unlikely to be that affected by wind. Maybe the driver over corrected after drifting into the ditch.
Now an interesting question is whether anyone with access to traffic records can tell us the exact time and date on which the photo was taken.
you can digg it now.
ChrisW says:
I had also thought it was wind, but the wheels of the cab landing across the center-line of the road doesn’t quite gel with that theory.
infinity says:
Wednesday, 21st March 2007 at 3:49 am
Actually I would think a crosswind would cause much more movement and increase the possibility of tipping at a lower 35 MPH speed then at a highway speed… especially since nobody is going to pull over the wind for speeding
Also I wonder if there was a fence close to the road on the northern side? seems like the big tow truck for righting the trailer and eventually taking it out of the way is on the wrong side of the truck..
Jel says:
Wednesday, 21st March 2007 at 1:24 pm
The rig was probably already swaying from the corner he just took: if you track the road back westwards, it runs out into nothing likely to have been a feeder, therefore he had probably just taken the turn not far back. Fair dos to the guy, then, to have kept it going against a fairish risk of jack-knifing that far. Reminds me of the time someone went over exiting Marble Arch in London – for our cousins on the far side of the ditch, that’s a bit like doing it on Canal and Bowery…
Steve in Abq says:
We also call them “18-wheelers,” “semi trucks,” “rigs,” etc. Check out the song “Mama Hated Diesels” by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
What’s weird is that if you scroll south and go to hybrid view, the road map starts to bear very little relation to the satellite photo: View Placemark
See at the top left where Cheshire and Hampshire Drives just do not exist? OK, that could be an old image, but what about the other roads which seem to fall in between the existing roads on the ground? Maybe a dirt-road neighbourhood that has since been swallowed up by suburbia? 🙁
Gary Powell says:
Saturday, 31st March 2007 at 6:13 am
I drive for Jim Palmer Trucking. We are based in Missoula, Mt. Yes that (sadly) is one of our trucks. It was blown over by winds in excess of 180kph. The driver was not hurt.
varen says:
Thursday, 3rd May 2007 at 4:16 pm
this must be a drunk driver who was driving tha truck
Monday, 14th April 2008 at 9:58 pm
Anti_weasel says:
Thursday, 17th April 2008 at 4:49 am
it must be the road…… that road is very narrow and could be the wind too….. but i dought it.
Dedication says:
Sunday, 11th May 2008 at 1:40 am
If the trailer was empty and the winds were high…well that is a 13 foot 6 inch billboard driving down the road. Shame he could have pulled over rather than have this happen. Regards
Gary B says:
Wednesday, 16th July 2008 at 8:07 pm
For those who’ve never driven a “high profile vehicle” in high winds, they can be blown over while parked to avoid high winds, regardless of amount of load. I seriously doubt that this driver left the roadway and tried to recover at speed, only because the vehicle is on the roadway instead of in the ditch. Had the driver tried to recover after leaving the roadway the rollover would have occurred when overcorrecting and put the truck in a corn field.
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General Interest »
Open Free for All »
Fucking hispanics
Author Topic: Fucking hispanics (Read 3181 times)
There is a difference between "welfare" and not having health insurance. Yes, the illegal immigrants get medical attention even though they will never pay for it (usually). But they do not qualify for food stamps, unemployment, social security, disability, WIC, or any other govt assistance you can think of. And trust me, hospitals aren't "going broke" from illegal immigrants. They are going broke from the millions of LEGAL CITIZENS not being able to afford health insurance. If you want to know about that, ask our lovely "president". I put that in quotes for a reason.
why mess with the hispanics...go after all the illegal sand nigger, camel jockey, towel heads, that are in our country on school visa's, that are lookin at ways to blow somethin else up.
On 2006-05-01 22:09:00, The Liger wrote:
""Illegal immigrants don't qualify for welfare and they don't apply for it for fear of being deported."
An interesting opinion which happens to be totally wrong. The hospitals in Tuscon are going broke from having to care for Mexicans that never pay for anything."
So what do hospitals going broke (which is ridiculous) have to do with WELFARE?
It has to do with the fact illegals do not have medical insurance and come to the ER for their primary medical care. Yes, it is a problem, I've experienced it first hand.
Lets just take some of the lazy bastards on welfare and put them to work in these menial jobs that nobody seems to want, then we will take care of 2 problems, putting deadbeats to work therefore lessening the taxpayer burden, and forcing illegal aliens to look elsewhere for a free ride.
"The FARC is part of the history of Colombia and a historical phenomenon", (President Pastrana) says, "and they must be treated as Colombians". ... They come and ask for bread [aid from Washington], and you give them stones.
Robert White is a former American ambassador to Paraguay and El Salvador, and former No. 2 man with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, is president of the Centre for International Policy in Washington D.C.
http://narconews.com/' target='_new'>Robert White
On 2006-05-02 07:38:00, odie wrote:
"Lets just take some of the lazy bastards on welfare and put them to work in these menial jobs that nobody seems to want, then we will take care of 2 problems, putting deadbeats to work therefore lessening the taxpayer burden, and forcing illegal aliens to look elsewhere for a free ride.
Fucking exactly. But sadly, that will never happen in this lazy, fatass country.
If they got here illegally, they need to fucking leave.
No, an illegal immigrant does not qualify for state "welfare" programs...not until they have a fucking baby on US soil.
The first bill an illegal immigrant racks up is in the delivery room. Average cost: $4000.00 Which is NEVER paid by them or their families. Since they dont have a social security number, the bills are written off. Driving the cost of healthcare/insurance for the rest of us further up. Ever see a fucking mexican bitch who DOESNT have 3 fucking kids?
These illegals usually leave the hospital with welfare checks and a housing voucher in hand.
These people are not ignorant...come to the US, have a baby and you can stay while the american taxpayer foots the bill.
Many come here because they can legitimately work in some seasonal ag jobs, yet many of them stay through the year, living off their womans welfare checks, making more babies to get bigger checks.
The pay for these ag jobs have little or no tax liabilty and are most often paid in cash without any deductions. Which means what?
The immigrants who Do work, make no contribution to the taxes which are dispursed to the welfare and living assistance programs they and their fucking kids live on.
Of course the "fat lazy" americans are not going to do the jobs these people do. The pay in ag jobs is far less than minimum wage.
To live within your means on minimum wage is to live in a tent, and eat ramen noodles. The cost of living far exceeds unskilled labor compensation in this country, yet the welfare system offers enough food stamps to keep them fat and lazy, section 8 housing guidelines allow people to live in apartments for next to nothing.
Come to america, have a child (who is now an american national) get a social security card for you and your child...dont learn a lick of english to limit your job oportunities, get a rent voucher once a month...fill the apartment (the tax payers foot the bill for) with more illegals who will have their own babies and repeat the whole process.
The fed shells out billions of dollars for border patrol that doesnt work. State and local economies are burdened by illegal immigrants that are captured and jailed for months, even years. Anyone care to guess what they average daily cost to house a county jail inmate is in this country? About the same as a home loan payment on a $150,000 dollar fucking house.
As for the cunt with the redneck response to the first post...get a fuckin clue bitch. Racism is alive and well in this country, some of it for very good reason...No chance you or anyone else with your silly fucking attitude is going to change that.
I have a real problem with illegal immigrants from mexico...Maybe they deserve the same oportunities we here in america do, but define the oportunities a mexican looks forward to.
(Hint, read the above post)
Just for shits and giggles, perhaps we should stop FUCKING up other peoples countries. Perhaps then they would not need/want to come here for a freaking job, or to hide from the daily dousing of agent orange.
How can we ever expect people to be happy in their own countries when we knock down governments (including those that are democratic) and setup puppet regimes.
That is not the America I was sold. These are not the actions or intentions of our fore fathers.
There is the old saying, "If you can't beat them join them"
Where the hell else do you expect these aliens to go, MARS?
bandit1978
Many of the illegal immigrants are NOT from Mexico, they are from other countries south of the border.
Here in Dc, most hispanics are NOT Mexican, they are usually from El Salvador, also Nicaragua, Columbia, , ect...
The ones from El Salvador tend to cause a lot of problems. Not all of them, of course. I know several who's parents made them learn English, go to college, ect... But far too many of them go the other route, know what I mean? Gangs, violence, teenage motherhood...you know the routine.
Anyway, most of them take a bus from El Salvador to somewhere in Mexico, then walk the rest of the way.
And yes, they do have a devastating effect on our healthcare system (though they are not the only group who does so).
However, young doctors and nurses who work with them (in maternal medicine, that is) get to learn a whole lot real quickly; it's very "hands on" learning, a sort of "baptism by fire", as these women do not pay and must rely on student and resident doctors to deliver their babies. When I was a nursing student, the first birth I saw was attended only by me and a medical student.
Sure, there was an older doctor present on the floor somewhere, but he can only be in one place at one time, and there were probably 6 other uninsured women in labor at the same time.
egan Flynn
Survivor- Provo Canyon School
... and there were probably 6 other uninsured women in labor at the same time. "
I bet 5 of them didnt speak english.
You know, if you think about it, we are ALL immigrants, well our ancestors were anyway. Unless you're Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquis, Shawnee, Dakota, Apache....etc etc....nobody has a leg to stand on bitchin and moanin about people immigrating to this country. The white man STOLE this land from the Native peoples. I do feel immigration should be in a legal manner, however, to diss immigrants as a whole is just hypocritical plain and simple.
Um yeah, you're right, none of them spoke English.
But in another part of town, the uninsured "clinic" patients would mostly be African-American.
In another state, they would probably be majority Caucasian.
I guess you just have to think about, in which groups have the highest ratio of insured vs. uninsured and the rate of birth per capita of different groups, or something like that.
On 2006-05-12 17:12:00, SHH wrote:
"You know, if you think about it, we are ALL immigrants, well our ancestors were anyway. Unless you're Cherokee, Choctaw, Iroquis, Shawnee, Dakota, Apache....etc etc....nobody has a leg to stand on bitchin and moanin about people immigrating to this country. The white man STOLE this land from the Native peoples. I do feel immigration should be in a legal manner, however, to diss immigrants as a whole is just hypocritical plain and simple. "
Uhh, quite a contrast between a decendant of an 8th generation European immigrant and a first generation illegal alien.
Please try to grasp the contrast in terms too. An immigrant and an illegal alien are two very different things. Im not sure anyone is complaining about immigrants. Its the illegal aliens that need to fuck off.
Please try to grasp the contrast in terms too. An immigrant and an illegal alien are two very different things. Im not sure anyone is complaining about immigrants. Its the illegal aliens that need to fuck off."
I think a history lesson is in order too.
Was there a universal rule that said no Euro settlers could get on a boat bound for North America because the land belonged to a couple hundred thousand natives?
There was no establishment of goverment or military or voters who made laws back then. The natives faught and killed each other for land and resources, who said Europeans were not as justified to stake a claim of thier own by the same means?
Hell that was the rule then, fight and die for what you want.
Things are a little more civil now...apply to our goverment for residency, or stay the hell out.
Re: Fucking hispanics
I had a contract gig in a warehouse. Went to work thre and much to my chagrin only one otherperson employed there spoke english. During my time there I saw employees place products for storage on birdshit laden pallets, then place the products in a puddle of gawd knows what. Sadly in the bathroom there was a sign telling people what to do with used toilet paper( I have a picture) in spanish. Now while this doesent seem like much of a big deal , it is ..... the products were surgical supplies....the name of the company, for whom I no longer work and never gave a confidentiallity agreement to is Medline. The freshly under the fence motherfuckers are USELESS. Like tits on a bull. I did not ask them here. Its not my job to teach them the language of the country, or hygene. Homeland security is a joke ( kinda like the" war on drugs") because America doesn't control it's own borders. As for the whole native american, oh you shouldnt bitch ...blah blah blah.....I didnt do that wasnt here so so sorry that is a moot point. Hippy. Jerry died . Fish sucks. Get a job.
::deadhorse::
It\'d be sad if it wernt so funny,It\'d be funny if it wernt so sad
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Horseshit!!!
The McCain Campain is dedicated to getting Tina Faye back to SNL. Actually, I think they have been hired to write for them. --- And saving Katie Couric's Career.
Team McCain tells me the strategy of having Palin talk to traditional broadcast networks ABC and CBS was designed to allow Palin to reach the maximum number of viewers. "Coming off her tremendous performance at the convention, our goal was to allow as many Americans as possible an opportunity to see her answer questions about her record, her biography and her principles and convictions on as large a stage as possible," one campaign source told me this afternoon. The new CBS interviews, to be done tomorrow, are intended to keep Palin in the public eye as she prepares for Thursday's debate.
Yes. This is TOTALLY the kind of publicity Palin needs! Totally. Otherwise we would forget about Sarah Palin. More Sarah. We need to know MORE about Sarah. Like this:
It's actually a brilliant Strategy for the McCain campaign. At this point... if Sarah remembers her name on Thursday many people will be happy. Sarah has been in the public spotlight for a month now and if I cared to, I would come up with a greatest hits list for her bumbles. (those bumbles, I might add are '1 heartbeat away from a 72 year old heart')
In the meantime, I am still awed by the performance of John McCain Friday night. It wasn't what he said (which has thoroughly and rightfully been discussed) It was his body language... no wait.. it was his Language, that blew me away. He was a man who looked angry, impatient and cranky. He could not look at Obama. He twitched, smirked and mocked. This was not a presidential candidate, this was a truly angry, cranky old man. He could not keep that temper under control. He cursed twice.. There are a lot more video's of this out there, but I like this one best.
This week should be interesting. Sarah and John... Dumb and Angry. I would find it Hard to work for 2 people like this, much less have them in charge of the country, and yet, this is what the GOP is hoping America will elect. Totally inept is this team, and yet, people still think that this is the best America has to offer. John McCain was right. This is Horseshit.
The reality is this... we cannot sit back and relax. The polls are still close, and they will STILL try to steal our votes. We have a lot of work to do before November 4th. I see the finish line but I know that we still have a ways to go.
:peace: and :heart:
250 comments (Latest Comment: 09/30/2008 05:51:45 by livingonli)
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Comment by m-hadley on 09/29/2008 12:47:59
Another Rockin' Post Raine-O
Hope your week is off to a great start - can't wait until Thursday :P
mfaye
:gobama:
Comment by wickedpam on 09/29/2008 12:54:36
Morning :hug:
Comment by TriSec on 09/29/2008 12:58:01
Good Morning, my fellow fundamentals!
(Well, we're still sound, aren't we?)
just heard something on the AP news about a triple murder in Yankton
Comment by Raine on 09/29/2008 13:03:59
BTW, I changed the Youtube video. I was very sleepy this morning. Long weekend.
Quote by wickedpam:
I just heard that too.
Comment by BobR on 09/29/2008 13:04:47
Morning folks... :coffee:
This isn't good. Stevens trial may be in jeopardy...
Quote by Raine:
had something to do with an apartment complex and I believe MGM has a cute house there, it was just weird to hear about Yankton on the news
Barry Peck and the Pecker Family...
Quote by BobR:
I can't see this getting thrown out.
I also sense this may be lawyers posturing.
Comment by Grumpymann on 09/29/2008 13:12:36
Sick, sick, sick ....
Oh yeah hello folks.
I hated that Jim Lehrer did that.
it was Horsesh*t. my friends. Horsesh*t. :P
News from Yankton
YANKTON - Chassidy Bamsey was supposed to get married this afternoon. Instead, family members will be making funeral arrangements.
Bamsey was one of three people gunned down inside an apartment complex Sunday afternoon. She would have been 21 next week, said her stepfather, William Bamsey.
Also killed were her fianc�, Brian Vanwagner, 29, and Robert Riibe, 21, a friend of the couple.
Yankon Police arrested Ernest Benjamin Tupper, 58, in connection with the homicides. He was being held Sunday night in the Yankton County Jail.
Police Chief Duane Heeney said Tupper faces three counts of first-degree murder.
Police received a report at 2:20 p.m. of a shooting at Marne Creek Apartments. When officers arrived, Tupper was in his apartment. A dispatcher talked Tupper out of his home, and officers took him into custody without incident, Heeney said.
Police said they had not established a motive as of Sunday night. But William Bamsey, who lives in the complex with Monica Foxhoven, said Tupper and Riibe, who also has an apartment in the complex, had argued about music.
"He always played his music," William Bamsey said of Riibe. "He might have made (Tupper) angry."
William Bamsey said Tupper ambushed the three after they stepped off an elevator. He was armed with a pistol and fired several shots. He said it appeared that his stepdaughter and Vanwagner had tried to escape. He speculated that they were targeted because they were with Riibe.
Foxhoven heard shooting, looked outside and saw Tupper armed with a pistol.
"I heard he had a mental illness," she said of Tupper.
Both Foxhoven and William Bamsey waited in their apartment, not realizing that Chassidy Bamsey had been shot.
"I didn't know my daughter and her fianc� were shot," he said, still shocked by what had transpired a few hours earlier.
William Bamsey and Foxhoven said they were staying with a sister because they were not allowed to go back into the apartment complex.
Hey! That's Eminem, isn't it? :clap:
hey Grump
Comment by Shane-O on 09/29/2008 13:25:51
Neighbors of the Focker family...
Hey WP
Good to know I'm here!
Quote by Grumpymann:
I read around the innertubes that this happened after a certain DVD made it's appearance in Ohio. This one.
F*ckers.
I was looking up some info about your story there grump.
How are you this fine post debate Monday?
I think he's setting up for an appeal...
DJ! on the Phone!!!
Yeah I got that in the mail not too long ago. I use it for a coaster for a my dog to drag his ass on.
Fine and you?
So that's was DJ sounds like :D
Wow - I guess DJ has been promoted to 's boss...
Ah, that seems to be the newest talking point. My Republican in-laws have been spouting off recently about how bad Islam is and how they want to dominate the world and convert all of us.
(Of course conveniently forgetting that they were all Sephardic Jews until the Spanish Inquisition.)
How, by the way, is this NOT a terror attack on American Soil?
Followers of Mohammed? Come on now, you know that doesn't count...
"In What Respect, Cherlie"
Did you catch that backtrack on Gov. Palin being well-educatedinformed?
I say again, Russia has been sending TU-160s up and down the East Coast to Venezuela; they've also sent a capital ship on a foreign tour through the Caribbean.
Surely, that's near Alaska. But then again, that's not Putin's head; it's his planes and ships, so I guess that's different.
You know, he might have been a right-wing tool, but he was jovial and upbeat about it.
That's actually refreshing.
Quote by TriSec:
Comment by Mondobubba on 09/29/2008 13:48:14
I said that last night when Bobber posted the article to das blog.
Todd seems a little insecure. (or, maybe he doesn't like not being able to have total control over Sarah.)
BTW, morning everybody!
Powerful stuff from the DNC.
Ah, greetings Herr Mondo!
Say, quick question....suppose you and I were heads of our nuclear-armed states. We obviously disagree over whether Florida or Massachusetts is superior.
Let's say that a neutral delegation (maybe in Atlanta) offers to host some diplomatic talks.
Would you be more inclined to sit down and talk with no pre-conditions, or if I insisted that you acknowledge that Massachusetts is the most important state in the union first?
Comment by livingonli on 09/29/2008 14:00:02
Good morning everyone.
So I guess if it's a domestic attack by possibly right-wing thugs it's not terrorism. It was noted that in the waning days of the Wiemar Republic that attacks by the Nazis and other right-wing thugs were treated less harshly than if a similar offense by someone who was on the left which meant Liberals, Socialists, and Communists received harsher sentences.
Quote by Mondobubba:
Good Morning Dahlink!
Personally, I think Virginia is FAR better at being Neutral...
Hey Mondo :)
How Sweden handled it's financial meltdown...
lessons to be learned here.
Heya Mondo, TriSec, Livin, Raine, BobR. Mala, and any other 4Fers that I may have unintentially neglected,
I smell another post on Gamblin' Grampy and his casino cronies :P
Love the ad. My advice to Obama after watching the McShame post-debate ad is that Obama should begin every sentence with "John, you are wrong about that, because..."
I hate how they have turned Obama's natural graciousness into a (false) positive for McCain.
Quote by livingonli:
Do you mind if I connect that dot?
Having thought about this article a little more. Keeping in mind that this is the WSJ, not *page 6*... I think that this is the beginning of McCain/Palin to get her to resign for *Family Issues*
The bill DOES include deregulation - see Section 128 - that moves the effective date of the "Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006" up from 2011 to October 1, 2008...
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GRIN Articles > Gila River Police Department Incident Logs
Certain reports may not be available or are currently under investigation which GRPD holds the right to restrict public release.
Incident Log
August 18 - 24, 2019 Calls for services this week: 794 Arrest made: 33
District One- (Blackwater)
THEFT –Officers were dispatched to a residence in reference to a theft of US currency; investigation revealed the victim stated that a female came to the residence and asked for a ride home. While the victim was preparing to take the female the victim walked into the other room leaving the female alone and then they left together. Once the victim dropped off the female and left to the grocery store, the victim realized the money in the wallet left on the counter was missing. The victim returned to the residence and questioned the female, she denied taking the money. Officers attempted to contacted the female, no answer at the front door while officers knocked, multiple subjects were heard inside and no contact was made. A follow up will be conducted to speak with the female. Nothing further
Status: Pending Follow Up
THEFT –~CAD~ The victim called dispatch requesting an officer to report a theft that occurred the night prior. Upon officer arrival, contact was made with the victim and it was reported that an unknown subject took a chainsaw, weed eater and misc. tools from the residence. Suspect is unknown at this time
District Two – (Sacaton Flats)
ROBBERY –Officers were dispatched to the area in reference to an assault that occurred. While speaking with the victim and the reporting party, investigation the reporting party was passing by and observed the victim in the road who stated they had been assaulted. The victim stated they were assaulted by the suspect/intimate partner after being pulled out of the vehicle by the hair the suspect began to punch the victim multiple times. The suspect then fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle without permission. The victim stated that both the victim and suspect consumed alcohol for quite a while before the incident. The suspect and the vehicle was not located; charges were forwarded to law office for review. Photos were taken of the victim and later downloaded into evidence.com
Status: Charges Forwarded
District Three- (Sacaton)
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to a residence where the reporting party informed officers that their child may have been a part of an assault that took place involving a knife. Contact was made with the reporting party, they believed their daughter was involved in an assault that took place and a knife was involved. Officers were given little information regarding the incident and victim; the victim later contacted dispatch and the investigation revealed the victim was assaulted by a female that had a knife during the altercation. The victim did not know the name of the female but was told the possible name of the suspect; but could identify the suspect if they were seen again. A follow up will be conducted at a later date to possibly identify the suspect. Photos were taken of the victim and the injuries sustained during the altercation. Nothing further
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a juvenile disturbance. Upon officer arrival, contact was made with the reporting party and mother to the victim. The juvenile victim stated that while walking home from the boys and girls club something hit the fence near where the victim was walking. The victim looked and observed the juvenile suspect with a black in color gun in their possession and tried to hide it by placing it behind their back. The victim went home and informed their mother, and officers were called. The reporting party had a photo of the suspect with what appeared to be a handgun in their hand directly across the street. The weapon was located and was found to be a BB gun with seventeen bb’s and a bb gun magazine. The juvenile suspect was arrested and the bb gun was taken and placed into evidence. CPS was notified of the incident.
Status: Juvenile suspect was booked into JDRS
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a possible home invasion and aggravated assault. Contact was made with the victim, who was seated in a chair and had trauma to their head. GREMS arrived and began to treat the victim later being transported to an area hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Investigation revealed three suspects kicked in the door to the victim’s residence and began to assault the victim while one suspect had a handgun and began to assault the victim with the weapon. One suspect was detained and the other two suspects remain outstanding. Charges have been forwarded to law office; photos were taken of the scene and victim later being downloaded into evidence.com
Status: Suspect was booked into DRS
THREATENING – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to threats being made toward a juvenile by a family member. Contact was made and the investigation revealed the juveniles parent was upset over an incident the juvenile was involved in off community and threatened to “kick” the juvenile’s ass and make the juvenile black and blue. The reporting party believed the suspect was under the influence of alcohol but was fearful the suspect would follow through. Officers did not locate the suspect and a follow up will be conducted in attempts to conduct an interview with the suspect.
THREATENING –Officers were dispatched to the lobby of the police department in reference to an intimidation call. Contact was made with the victim/reporting party and it was revealed that the suspect sent a message via facebook and is afraid that the suspect will follow through with the threats. The suspect does not have a permanent address and was not located. The victim requested welfare checks at their residence and was advised of the steps taken in order to obtain an order of protection. A follow up will be conducted at a later date; no charges at this time.
THREATENING – Officers were dispatched to the Sacaton Elementary School in reference to a first grade male student made threatening and intimidating statements to his classmates during class. The student was asked if they understood the severity of the statement that was made, the student advised they understood and just said it to say it. The student was suspended from school and CPS was notified of the incident. No charges were filed and the report was taken for documentation purposes.
District Four-
Stotonic Area –
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched in reference to a delayed stabbing incident. It was revealed the victim had been stabbed and possibly had the identification of the suspect. The victim was gone from the residence prior to officer arrival; being transported by GREMS to an area hospital for further medical treatment. The victim informed officers that it was their intimate partner that stabbed the victim with a piece of broken glass. Officers responded to the location of the suspect’s last known address where they were met by the suspect with red substance consistent with dried blood on their shirt. Miranda rights were read and the suspect admitted to stabbing the victim over relationship issues. Photos were taken of the suspect and the clothing the suspect was wearing and impounded into evidence.com. The suspect was taken into custody and booked into jail.
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to subject at the residence with a firearm. Officers arrived on scene and were advised everyone exited the residence except the suspect, who was inside the residence. A male exited the residence and attempted to walk back inside but could not open the door; the male was detained and later identified. Investigation revealed the suspect arrived at the home and was engaged in a verbal altercation with a female when the suspect pulled out a firearm and pointed it towards an adult family member (victim) at this time the children in the house were escorted outside and officers were dispatched. The children were able to inform officers of what occurred between the suspect and his girlfriend and described the weapon that was used; it was later located and entered into evidence. No ammunition was located. The suspect was booked into jail.
SEXUAL ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to a telephonic traffic in reference to a sexual assault involving a minor. Contact was made with the reporting party and it was said that the minor child informed the parent that another child (juvenile suspect) within the home was touching her privates and performing oral acts while making the victim also perform the same acts on the suspect. The victim was interviewed and CPS was notified of the incident. The reporting party was notified detectives would be contacting the parent and victim for further investigation.
Status: Open Investigation
THEFT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a theft of a rifle. Contact was made with the reporting party; investigation revealed the rifle FN15 M4 was taken from the residence and the suspect is unknown at this time. A stolen affidavit was filled out and the weapon was entered into NCIC.
THREATENING – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a domestic disturbance. The reporting party stated that the suspect was saying “he was going to kill all of us” and believed the suspect to be under the influence of drugs. Contacted was made with the suspect and read Miranda Rights. The suspect admitted to using methamphetamine earlier in the day and did state that he was upset over a message that made him concerned for his kids and believing that they were being molested. The suspect was taken into custody and the family members at the residence stated they were in fear for their lives; believing that the suspect would hurt them. During the booking process the suspect was searched and a clear baggy with a green leafy substance was located in the suspects right side sock. The green leafy substance weighed .3 grams and was entered into evidence lockers and will be sent to AZ DPS lab for analysis.
Lone Butte Area
BURGLARY – Officers were dispatched to the Lone Butte Casino after it was discovered that someone stole landscaping equipment. Investigation revealed two gas powered leaf blowers and a gas powered hedge trimmer were taken. Pry marks were observed on the door and photos were taken. Other items remained in the shed and it is believed that the suspects might have been scared off before they were able to take the rest. A vehicle was observed in the surveillance footage and a follow up will be conducted in attempts to identify the vehicle.
Status: Closed pending suspect identification
SHOPLIFTING – Officers were dispatched to the Phoenix Premium Outlet Tommy Hilfiger Store in reference to a shoplifting. Contact was made with the store manager, who stated the suspect took six items into the fitting room and only left five items in the room. The suspect talks with his girlfriend and takes a white shirt off the rack and placed the shirt in his Guess shopping bag. The suspect attempts to leave the store and the shirts set the alarm off. The suspect is stopped at the door and the suspect asked if he would be able to pay for the items. The manager allowed the suspect to pay cash and leave the store; but stated the store would still like to proceed in pressing charges against the suspect. The suspect was observed leaving the restroom and into the parking lot but was not located. The family of the suspect was advised of the situation and advised to update the suspect of the information. Charges were forwarded to Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
THEFT– Officers were dispatched to Lone Butte Casino in reference to theft of a gaming ticket. Contact was made with security and the victim (heavily intoxicated) it was stated the ticket was taken from the machine while the victim went to the restroom, upon returning his winnings were taken out of the machine. Video surveillance revealed the suspect cashed out the winnings and left the casino premises. The victim returned to the machine and observed the money gone. The suspect was later identified due to using a player’s club card. Charges have been forwarded to Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
THEFT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a theft. Contact was made with the victim/reporting party who advised that an unknown person took an “E” that was affixed on the fence in front of her residence. The victim believed it to be a family member due to on-going issues with family members that resided near-by. There are no known suspects at this time and the case is closed pending further information.
THEFT – Officers were dispatched to the Lone Butte Casino in reference to a theft. Contact was made with the victim and investigation revealed the victim left the cell phone next to the slot machine the victim was playing informing a friend seated at the next machine that the phone was left while going to the restroom. The friend left the area and when the victim returned the phone was gone. Video surveillance revealed an unknown male subject picked up the phone and used the phone while immediately leaving the facility. A copy of the video surveillance was impounded into evidence. The male suspect was not identified.
Status: Pending suspect identification
THEFT – Officers responded to Phoenix Premium Outlet Coach Store where the store manager was contacted and revealed the following: An unknown male entered the store took a backpack and walked past the point of sale; before leaving the store the male stops at the door and took two more bags and the proceeded out the door. The male subject fled on foot in an unknown direction. Video surveillance was reviewed and a copy of the footage was entered into evidence. Nothing further.
THEFT –~CAD~ Officers were dispatched to Phoenix Premium Outlet Tommy Hilfiger Store where an unidentified female subject walked into the store and took three sweaters and a pair of shorts and left the store without paying for the items. Suspect was gone prior to officer arrival; a vehicle was identified the suspect was seen leaving and a follow up will be conducted to assist in the identification of the suspect.
Status: On-going Investigation
District Five- (Casa Blanca)
THREATENING – 190819-04204 Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to threatening. Investigation revealed the suspect was said to have threatened two victims who were also family members. The victims are feared that the suspect would carry through with the threats and requested a report be generated for documentation purposes.
District Six – (Komatke)
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a missing juvenile male. Contact was made with the reporting party/mother of the missing juvenile. An investigation revealed that the juvenile male left the residence without permission and may have left to stay with other family members that reside off community. As the investigation progressed the juvenile male was located with family members and was being seen for injuries the juvenile stated were sustained by being struck with a metal pipe while at home. No charges are being filed at this time and a follow up investigation will be conducted at a later date. CPS was notified of the incident and the juvenile male was left in the care of the family members off community.
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT – Officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to an unknown subject (victim) banging on the front door yelling for help. Contact was made with the victim upon officer arrival. The victim was asked questions but officers could not understand him; when asked again the victim replied “nothing”. The victim had a strong odor of intoxicating beverages emanating from his breath and person. The victim was observed to be bleeding from his nose and mouth and cut marks to his head. GREMS arrived on scene and began to assess the victim; later being transported to the hospital for further medical attention. Contact was made with the victim and no information was provided by the victim regarding the incident or suspects. The victim sustained a fractured nasal bones and a fractured jaw. Due to lack of evidence, suspects and lack of cooperation from the victim, no charges will be filed. Photos taken were downloaded into evidence.
Status: Closed pending further suspect identification
THEFT – While assisting other officers in the area, a GRIC employee was waving to catch the attention of officers. The GRIC employee identified himself and stated that the truck broke down (community vehicle) and was left parked in a dirt lot until it could be towed. At approximately 1300 hours the vehicle was fine and nothing was taken. The employee returned around 1430 hours and noticed the battery compartment opened, wires cut and a battery missing from the white in color truck with loader. Photos were taken and later downloaded into the evidence website. No charges are being filed at this time.
THEFT – Officers were dispatched to Vee Quiva Casino in reference to a theft. Contact was made with the victim and the investigation revealed the victim’s truck was entered by an unknown subject taking a carton of cigarettes, the vehicle registration and a book that contained person information. Video surveillance was reviewed, due to no suspect being identified at the time no charges are being filed.
THEFT – Officers responded to the area in reference to a theft call. Upon officer arrival contact was made with the reporting party and employee of Hunter Contracting Company. The employee revealed that sometime during the night an unknown subject entered the fenced property by cutting a hole in the fence and stole three batteries from their machines (a water truck, a John Deere tractor and cutting the wires of a third tractor (battery was still intact) by cutting the wires. Photos were taken of the scene and uploaded into evidence.com website. Due to no suspects at this time, no charges are being requested.
THEFT – Officers were dispatched to the area in reference to theft of equipment. Contact was made with the reporting party/employee of Huitt-Zollars and it was revealed that a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit was taken from the point is was placed on (near 51st Ave and Komatke Lane) The tri-pod legs were knocked over and the GPS was missing. A photo was taken of an identical GPS unit showing what the description of the unit taken and uploaded into evidence.com.
Status: Closed pending further information
District Seven – (Maricopa)
No Incidents Involving Part 1 Crime
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IPO Reports
IPO Fact Sheets
IPO Tracker
IPO News Round-up, May 1 – 14: Upcoming Listings
Rene Anthony May 15, 2017 No Comments
Our latest roundup covers news from May 1 – 14, detailing upcoming ASX listings via IPO and RTO.
IPO planning
As Quadrant lines up Goldman Sachs and UBS to help Macquarie with a float of the energy business, owners are expected to retain a limited, escrowed stake. UBS and Macquarie have both distanced themselves from any perceived conflicts of interest stemming from their involvement with Lattice Energy.
Secure communications technology provider El-sight was in the news, with the Israeli business spruiking its profitable operations that were previously restricted to the Israeli government. The company is now ramping up efforts to sell internationally by diversifying its offer from a military focus to civil products.
Chartered accountants Kelly Partners is the latest professional services firm to approach an ASX debut, with the business recently conducting a 3 day east coast roadshow. A $1 price has been set for shares in the $8m float, which would see a June 12 listing. Morgans has valued the company at 15.5x and will underwrite the offer, while Ellerston Capital is expected to retain a 15% stake.
In the consumer staples space, Chinese health and nutritional products business Eagle Health spoke about its extensive online operations and a desire to integrate Australian products into its portfolio.
Playing off a related thematic in strong demand from China, Ocean Grown Abalone is banking on a surge in harvest volumes via “wild farming”, from 12t in 2016 to 200t by 2020. Listing plans would see capital raised later this year to fund a processing site and geographic expansion.
Seeking to capitalise on another emerging trend, wholly organic fast-food chain Oliver’s plan to raise $15m at 30c per share. The company is eyeing strong store growth and has even partnered with Tesla at one of its stores. A prospectus has been released to the public and a listing is on the cards for mid-June.
Looking to join a number of other LICs that have listed on the ASX this year, Ausbil is planning an investment fund with a 130/30 long short strategy.
IPO raises
Some of the businesses that formally opened their books for an IPO or RTO include:
Secure live data provider for first responders, El-sight – $4.5m-6.5m
Gold explorer, Caldius Resources – $7.875m (via RTO of PharmaNet Group)
Mineral explorer, Pure Minerals Limited – $4.5m (via RTO of Eagle Nickel Limited)
Base metal & gold explorer, Bryah Resources – $5m-6m
Exploration & development company, Golden Mile Resources – $4.5m
LIC, Contango Global Growth Limited – $55m-330m
Biotech business focussed on the early detection of cancer, Imagion Biosystems – $12m
Trade sale and Private Equity interest
Fund managers received marketing reports for the Officeworks float, with JP Morgan citing a valuation of $1.14bn-1.52bn, compared with Macquarie’s figure of $1.33bn-1.52bn. Among other points emphasised in the pitch were the company’s market leading position, the strength of its management, and its position as a leading online retailer – this was tempered with caution of a slower growth outlook. The retailer also presented its latest Board appointees, which include Geoff Kleemann, David Bortolussi and Mary Devine.
Returning to the energy sector, Lattice Energy is said to have attracted interest from up to a dozen suitors, with trade bids due “around July”. In the meantime, the company appointed Bank of America to join UBS and Macquarie as Joint Lead Managers for a potential IPO. Some analysts are tying this move to the bank’s lending relationship with the company, which may assist with a trade sale.
While Fairfax has yet to signal clear intentions about its Domain subsidiary, the real estate website was the subject of a part-bid from TPG, who signalled they would not list the business.
In other news, previous ASX aspirant and ANZ market leader in water treatment and chemicals, Ixom, appears to be leaning towards a long-term trade sale.
Uncertain IPOs, setbacks and cancellations
After securing multiple anchor investors and setting a price of $2.15 per share, Zip Industries was forced to pull its float after failing to secure sufficient support. A revised, last–ditch effort was being organised by UBS, but the company’s founder and private equity backers turned down the opportunity in favour of trade sale interest.
Meanwhile, former IPO nominee Dixon Hospitality revealed CHAMP private equity was the suitor who emerged when the company was considering a float.
Rounding out this edition of upcoming news, property tech startup Local Agent Finder has expressed it remains open-minded as to its future funding model , with a float, trade sale or the prospect of strategic investments all under consideration.
Join IPO Society to receive invitations to participate in upcoming IPO opportunities, research and news.
The team at
IPO Society
The information contained on this website in no way reflects the opinions of IPO Society. It is provided for informational services only. It does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security or other financial instrument. The information is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a financial adviser. Detailed information may be needed to make an investment decision, for example: financial statements; a business plan; information about ownership of intellectual or industrial property; or expert opinions including valuations or auditors’ reports. The information contained on this website is not intended to be the only information on which an investment decision is made and is not a substitute for a disclosure document, product disclosure statement or any other notice that may be required under the Act, as the Act may apply to the investment.
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Call My Practice
office@paulmontgomery.co.uk
Quality of Clinical Care
About Dizziness
About the Ear
Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD)
March 07, 2019 - by Preview - in Uncategorized
Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD)*
This is an important common cause of “dizziness”.
It has 3 key features: –
i)A long-standing complaint** of non-spinning “dizziness” on most days.
ii)Associated with anxiety and low mood.
iii)Normal clinical examination.
The dizziness is described as with the following features: –
a) Unsteadiness when upright i.e. “Unsteady on walking”, “Unsteady on feet”, “cannot feel the ground properly” “a feeling of toppling over” but not actually falling
b) A feeling of altered conscious level e.g. “Lightheaded” but not fainting
c) A feeling of altered mental state e.g. an “Empty feeling in head’”
d) Difficult to describe dizziness
The sensation of spinning dizziness (“vertigo”) is very rare.
Symptoms are present most days, often increasing throughout the day, and may fluctuate.
The patient complains of diminishes function, such as: –
Poor concentration, work difficulties, loss of confidence, poor motivation, panic attacks, low mood, poor sleep & anxiety.
The dizziness may be triggered visual stimulation such as bridges, driving a car, empty rooms, long corridors, large crowds of people in a store or restaurant cinema, television & computers.
The dizziness may improve or resolves during sport activities (bicycling, tennis) or taking some alcohol.
There may be a history of a significant attack of vertigo in the past.
When the patient is examined there is nothing abnormal.
The cause is not certain, emerging research suggests that it may arise from processing problems in the brain which control posture, multi-sensory information processing, or co integration of spatial orientation and threat assessment.
Treatment is based on a clear positive diagnosis and explanation that the patient can work with. An understanding of how the nervous system has become sensitized can help desensitize it.
Vestibular therapy works by desensitization. As the symptoms of have built up, most people avoid moving their eyes, neck and body as much as they used to. Physiotherapy and specific vestibular physiotherapy can be useful to help desensitize the nervous system and start to overcome ingrained patterns of movement.
Medication – especially so-called antidepressants SSRIs has a role in patients with PPPD who have anxiety or low mood, but more studies are needed to be confident of this.
*This condition has had many previous names such as somatoform dizziness, postural phobic vertigo, psychogenic dizziness & functional dizziness.
**for at least 3 months.
To learn more about dizziness and its causes click here. If you are experiencing dizziness or related symptoms, contact us to arrange an appointment.
Ear Related Dizziness
What is Central Positional Vertigo (CPV) and what causes it? What is Vestibular Migraine?
Superior Canal Dehiscence
Make an appointment and we’ll contact you.
Harley Street Dizzy Doctor is the private practice of Mr Paul Montgomery, Consultant Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeon with a sub-specialty interest in vertigo, dizziness and balance problems. Mr Montgomery offers consultation and treatment from various clinics in Central London, including 150 Harley Street, The London Clinic at 5 Devonshire Place and The Bupa Cromwell Hospital, Kensington.
150 Harley Street, Marylebone, London W1G 7LQ
The London Clinic at 5 Devonshire Place, Marylebone, London W1G 6HL
The Bupa Cromwell Hospital, Cromwell Road, Kensington, London SW5 OTU
© 2019 Harley Street Dizzy Doctor All Rights Reserved.
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Background & Experience
Anthony (Tony) has practiced labour and workplace law since his call to the BC Bar in 1994. He became a partner in 1997 and remained with the same firm which ultimately became Glavin Gordon Clements and now Koskie Glavin Gordon. Chambers and Partners ranks both the firm and Anthony in its top echelon (Band 1) for employment and labour relations in BC. In addition, Lexpert has “repeatedly recommended” Anthony since 2004 as one of the leading labour relations practitioners in the province.
Anthony’s practice includes representing unions in both the private and public sectors. His private sector clients represent workers in industries ranging from airlines, brewery and winery, longshore and newspapers to camera, technicians and performers in film and television. In the public sector he represents firefighters, resident doctors, ferry workers and unions in the health care, post-secondary education, transportation and municipal sectors. Anthony has also developed a significant health and welfare trust practice, having concluded two large public sector joint trust agreements affecting over 50,000 employees and their dependents. Anthony continues to be involved on behalf of unions in the creation and implementation of new health benefit joint trusts.
Anthony’s practice routinely involves appearing before a range of administrative bodies including labour arbitrators, labour relations boards, pension standards tribunals, financial services tribunals, privacy commissioners, workers’ compensation boards and human rights tribunals. As well, he pursues his clients’ interests at every level of the courts in British Columbia and in the federal jurisdiction. Anthony also participates in negotiations with several of his clients, including resident doctors and on behalf of the BC Council of Film Unions in industry bargaining with the film and television producers in Los Angeles.
As part of the firm providing full services to its clients, Anthony is involved in teaching a variety of labour law courses and, each year, puts on a week-long arbitration law course with three arbitrators for the Canadian Labour Congress Winter School in Harrison Hot Springs, BC. Anthony also carries on a small sports law practice in which he serves as regional counsel to the Professional Lacrosse Players’ Association and acts as a player agent to professional lacrosse players under contract with National Lacrosse League clubs.
Representative Matters
International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 500 -and- BC Maritime Employers’ Association (Guardrail Safe Work Procedures case) – this case involved 3 grievances brought by Local 500 and, over the course of 28 days of hearing that included evidence from competing expert witnesses, the Union succeeded in all aspects of its case requiring the employers to implement new safe work procedures using guardrails when shipping grain in inclement weather.
Joint Health Science Benefits Trust; Joint Facilities Benefits Trust – successfully negotiated the joint trust agreements on behalf of two large public sector bargaining associations covering over 50,000 health sector employees and their dependents.
Unifor Local 2000 -and- Pacific Newspaper Group (Re: Job Guarantees) – successfully persuaded an arbitrator that Lifetime Job Guarantee agreements affecting Pressmen and a Mailer were applicable in the context of a contracting out of the employer’s presses.
Brewery Winery & Distillery Workers, Local 300 –and- Brewers Distributor Ltd. (Defined Benefit Pension Case) involved successfully litigating pension rights for hundreds of members of the pension plan before the Pension Standards Branch, Financial Services Tribunal, and ultimately BC Supreme Court.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 247 –and- Westfair Foods Ltd. (Statutory Holiday Pay), upheld by the Labour Relations Board on appeal, involved successfully obtaining a remedy for a large bargaining unit of employees who were underpaid in respect to statutory holiday pay.
Interior Brewery Workers, Local 308 –and- Labatt Brewery (Surveillance Case) involved successfully striking out all surveillance and related evidence obtained by a private investigator in support of a termination by the company.
The Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University – LLB
Simon Fraser University – BA (Honours, Pol Sci; Minor Cmns)
Law Society of British Columbia
Canadian Bar Association – Labour Law Subsection
Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers (CALL)
International Foundation, Employee Benefits
Chambers Canada- and L’expert-recognized union-side specialist in labour relations in British Columbia.
Recipient of Canadian Bar Association Lawyer Referral 10 year Recognition
Clyde W. Sperry Property Law Award – Dalhousie Law School
“Employer Investigations” – Continuing Legal Education – Glavin, A.
“Arbitration: To Go or Not to Go” – Canadian Labour Congress Winter School – Glavin, A., Nichols, J., McPhillips, D. & Moore, W.
T 604. 734. 8001
F 604. 734. 8004
glavin@koskieglavin.com
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Traumatic aortic dissection associated with riding a roller coaster
Andrew N Springer1, Maribeth A Guletz2, Chittoor B Sai-Sudhakar1, Thomas J Papadimos2
1 Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA
2 Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Critical Care, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Thomas J Papadimos
Department of Anesthesiology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 410 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Springer AN, Guletz MA, Sai-Sudhakar CB, Papadimos TJ. Traumatic aortic dissection associated with riding a roller coaster. Int J Crit Illn Inj Sci 2013;3:95
Springer AN, Guletz MA, Sai-Sudhakar CB, Papadimos TJ. Traumatic aortic dissection associated with riding a roller coaster. Int J Crit Illn Inj Sci [serial online] 2013 [cited 2020 Jan 17];3:95. Available from: http://www.ijciis.org/text.asp?2013/3/1/95/109434
We report a case of traumatic aortic dissection in a patient immediately after riding a roller coaster in which there were periods of rapid acceleration and deceleration over a short time span. A 34-year-oldmale with a history of poorly controlled hypertension and diabetes mellitus, complicated by chronic renal disease, developed suddenonset chest pain promptly following a ride on a roller coaster at a popular amusement park.The roller coaster had a top speed of 120 miles per hour with an initial rapid acceleration followed 17s later by an abrupt deceleration. He went home immediately afterward and treated himself with over-the-counter pain medications. His chest pain worsened over the next 2 days, and he subsequently presented to a local emergency department for evaluation. A computed tomographic scan of his chest identified a dissection of his ascending aorta extending into the arch with an accompanying dissection flap in the descending aorta [Figure 1]. He was transferred to our institution, expeditiously evaluated, and emergently taken to surgery. He underwent replacement of the ascending aorta and hemiarch with a 26-mm Hemashield (Maquet Corporation, Rastatt, Germany) tube graft under general anesthesia with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. The surgical time was 5 h. Total blood products transfused consisted of only one unit of pooled platelets. His post-operative course was uncomplicated, aside from issues with blood pressure control. He was discharged home after operationon day 12 and remains well.
Figure 1: Arrows indicate dissection flaps in ascending and descending aorta
Althoughtraumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta is a relatively common injury, [1] traumatic aortic dissection is a relatively rare occurrence. [2],[3] A thorough literature review identified a number of cases ofdissection secondary to deceleration from motor vehicle accidents. However, other mechanisms of dissection secondary to deceleration appear to be very rare, and we found none associated with an amusement park ride. In our patient, it appears that the mechanism of injury was related to the rapid acceleration/deceleration of the 17-s roller coaster ride. Although this acceleration/deceleration may have been smaller in magnitude than some motor vehicle collisions, it was nonetheless much greater than many other passengers may experience. His risk was likely compounded by his pre-existing diabetes and poorly controlled hypertension. Indeed, it should be noted that the amusement park where this injury occurred has posted signs in plain view indicating that rides are unsafe for riders with certain health conditions.Its published Rider Safety Guide lists this roller coaster as unsafe for riders with heart conditions or high blood pressure. [4] This case illustrates the validity of these warnings and shows that, despite high levels of safety controls, cardiovascular injuries may still occur on these rides.
1. Newman RJ, Rastogi S. Rupture of the thoracic aorta and its relationship to road traffic accident characteristics. Injury 1984;15:296-9.
2. Rogers FB, Osler TM, Shackford SR. Aortic dissection after trauma: Case report and review of the literature. J Trauma 1996;41:906-8.
3. Torossov M, Singh A, Fein SA. Clinical presentation, diagnosis, and hospital outcome of patients with documented aortic dissection: The Albany Medical Center experience, 1986 to 1996. Am Heart J 1999;137:154-61.
4. Cedar Point 2011 Rider Safety Guide.Available from: http://www.cp.media.cfnslb1.cedarfair.com/_upload/pdf/2011Rider_SafetyGuide.pdf. [Last Accessed on 2012 Aug 14].
Springer AN
Guletz MA
Sai-Sudhakar CB
Papadimos TJ
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Online since Saturday, June 29, 2013
What's New in Critical Illness and Injury Science? The challenge of verifying tracheal airway placement: Solving the puzzle one piece at a time p. 105
David P Bahner, David C Evans, David E Lindsey, Stanislaw P Stawicki
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Intubation of patients with angioedema: A retrospective study of different methods over three year period p. 108
Aaron Wood, Dominik Choromanski, Marc Orlewicz
Background: Angioedema (AE) is edema of the skin, subcutaneous tissue and/or submucosal tissues, resulting from extravasation of intravascular fluid. Swelling of the supraglottic mucosa can lead to airway obstruction with consequent hypoxia, brain damage and death. To date, fiberoptic bronchoscope (FOB) intubation of the spontaneously breathing patient is the preferred method for an anticipated difficult intubation. However, other alternative devices can be utilized to intubate angioedema successfully. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed over a three-year period (2008-2010) of all patients with angioedema that required airway intervention. We hypothesized that fiberoptic intubation would have a higher success rate for intubation attempts; however, would take longer to perform when compared to videolaryngoscopic (VL) intubation. Outcomes for FOB versus VL intubations were reviewed, along with alternative miscellaneous methods of tracheal intubation in the setting of angioedema. Results: Thirty-three patients were grouped, according to the chosen method of intubation into FOB (n=12), VL (n=11), and miscellaneous (n=10) groups. No significant difference was found in first intubation attempts or number of intubation attempts between the three groups. Duration of time to perform successful intubation revealed a significantly shorter intubation time (P<0.05) in the VL group (6.9±0.9 min) and miscellaneous group (9.1±2.0 min) than that of the FOB group (10.4±0.7 min). Conclusion: This retrospective review of intubation methods showed that VL could be performed faster than FOB without an increase in adverse events.
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Secondary confirmation of endotracheal tube position by diaphragm motion in right subcostal ultrasound view p. 113
Javad Seyed Hosseini, Mohammad Taghi Talebian, Mohammad Hassan Ghafari, Vahid Eslami
Aims : To assess the sensitivity and specificity of right subcostal ultrasound view to confirm correct endotracheal tube intubation (ETT). Materials and Methods : In this prospective study, apneic or paralyzed patients who had an indication of intubation were selected. Intubation and ventilation with bag were performed by the skilled third-year emergency medicine residents. The residents, following a brief training course of ultrasonography, interpreted the diaphragm motion, and identified either esophageal or tracheal intubation. The confirmation of ETT placement was done by the sonographer. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy were calculated for tracheal versus esophageal intubation. Results : A total of 57 patients aged 59 ± 5 who underwent ETT insertion were studied. Thirty-four of them were male (60%). Ultrasound correctly identified 11 out of 12 esophageal intubations for a sensitivity of 92% (95% CI = 62-100), but misidentified one esophageal intubation as tracheal. Sonographers correctly identified 43 out of 45 (96%) tracheal intubations for a specificity of 96% (95% CI = 85-99), but misdiagnosed two tracheal intubations as esophageal. Conclusions: This study suggests that diaphragm motion in right subcostal ultrasound view is an effective adjunct to diagnose ETT place in patients undergoing intubation in emergency department.
Non-operative management of blunt liver trauma in a level II trauma hospital in Saudi Arabia p. 118
Wagih Mommtaz Ghnnam, Hosam Nabil Almasry, Mona Abd El-Fatah Ghanem
Background: To evaluate our experience with non-operative management of blunt liver trauma at a level II trauma hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: We prospectively evaluated 56 patients treated for blunt liver trauma at our hospital over a 4-year period (April 2008 to April 2012). Patients who were hemodynamically stable [non-operative group I (NOP)] were treated conservatively in the intensive or intermediate care unit (ICU or IMCU). Patients who were hemodynamically unstable or needed laparotomy for other injuries were treated by urgent laparotomy [operative group II (OP)]. All NOP group patients had computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen with oral and intravenous contrast. Injuries grades were classified according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST). Follow-up CT of the abdomen was performed after 2 weeks in some cases. Results: A total of 56 patients were treated over a 4-year period. Twenty patients (35.7%) were treated by immediate surgery. NOP group of 36 patients (64.3%) were managed in the ICU by close monitoring. Surgically treated group had more patients with complex liver injury (90% versus 58.3%), required more units of blood (6.05 versus 1.5), but had a longer hospital stay (16.6 days versus 15.1 days). None of the patients from the non-operated group developed complications nor did they need operation. The only mortality (in two patients) was in the operated group. Conclusion: The NOP treatment is a safe and effective method in the management of hemodynamically stable patients with blunt liver trauma. The NOP treatment should be the treatment of choice in such patients whenever CT and ICU facilities are available.
Frequency of hypoxic events in patients on a mechanical ventilator p. 124
Nader A Mahmood, Fawad A Chaudry, Hamad Azam, M Imran Ali, M Anees Khan
Background: Mechanical ventilation is an important tool in the management of respiratory failure in the critically ill patient. Although mechanical ventilation can be a life-saving intervention, it is also known to carry several side-effects and risks. Adequate oxygenation is one of the primary goals of mechanical ventilation. However, while on mechanical ventilation, patients frequently experience hypoxic events resulting from various causes, which need to be properly evaluated and treated. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained by prospectively reviewing all intensive care admissions during the period from March 2009 to March 2010 at a 651-bed urban medical center. Patients who developed hypoxemia (oxygen saturation ≤88% and a PaO 2 ≤ 60 torrs) while on mechanical ventilation were investigated for the cause of hypoxic event. Results: During the study period, 955 patients required mechanical ventilation from which 79 developed acute hypoxia. The causes of acute hypoxia in decreasing order of occurrences were pulmonary edema, atelectasis, pneumothorax, pneumonia, ARDS, endotracheal tube malfunction, airway bleeding, and pulmonary embolism. Conclusions: Appropriate evaluation of all hypoxic events must begin at the bedside. A step-by-step approach must include a thorough physical examination. Evaluation of the endotracheal tube can immediately reveal dislodgement, bleeding, and secretions. Correlation of physical examination findings with those on chest radiograph is essential. Each hypoxic event requires a different intervention depending on its etiology. Instead of simply increasing the fraction of oxygen in the inspired air to overcome hypoxia, a concerted effort in appropriate problem solving can reduce the likelihood of an incorrect diagnosis and management response.
Wind disasters: A comprehensive review of current management strategies p. 130
Raffaele Marchigiani, Stephanie Gordy, James Cipolla, Raeanna C Adams, David C Evans, Christy Stehly, Sagar Galwankar, Sarah Russell, Alan P Marco, Nicholas Kman, Sanjeev Bhoi, Stanislaw P A Stawicki, Thomas J Papadimos
Wind disasters are responsible for tremendous physical destruction, injury, loss of life and economic damage. In this review, we discuss disaster preparedness and effective medical response to wind disasters. The epidemiology of disease and injury patterns observed in the early and late phases of wind disasters are reviewed. The authors highlight the importance of advance planning and adequate preparation as well as prompt and well-organized response to potential damage involving healthcare infrastructure and the associated consequences to the medical response system. Ways to minimize both the extent of infrastructure damage and its effects on the healthcare system are discussed, focusing on lessons learned from recent major wind disasters around the globe. Finally, aspects of healthcare delivery in disaster zones are reviewed.
Prophylaxis and treatment of venous thromboembolism in the critically ill p. 143
Sarah M Adriance, Claire V Murphy
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a frequent complication in critically ill patients and is associated with increased rates of morbidity and mortality. The use of thromboprophylaxis to reduce the risk of VTE in this patient population is the standard of care. This review will summarize the recommendations set forth in consensus guidelines for the prevention and treatment of VTE across subgroups within the critically ill patient population. In addition, the drug properties of the recommended pharmacologic agents for thromboprophylaxis will be highlighted including their pharmacokinetics, dosing and complications. The critical care practitioner may also encounter novel oral anticoagulants with increasing frequency. These agents will be briefly reviewed in terms of their approved and investigational indications and the clinical concerns related to their use will also be discussed.
Anaphylaxis due to spontaneous rupture of primary isolated splenic hydatid cyst p. 152
Fuat Ozkan, Yakup Yesilkaya, Onur Peker, Murvet Yuksel
Echinococcosis is a helminthic zoonosis mainly caused by Echinococcus granulosus and commonly encountered in endemic areas. The liver and lung are the most frequently involved organs. A primary isolated hydatid cyst of spleen is an extremely rare disease even in endemic areas. Anaphylactic reaction is a known complication of cystic hydatid disease, a parasitic infestation caused by the larval/cyst stage of E. granulosus that usually occurs after trauma or during interventions. To the best of our knowledge, anaphylaxis with spontaneous rupture of primary isolated splenic hydatidoses had not been reported previously. The main purpose of this report is to highlight life-threatening complications such as anaphylactic shock that should be considered due to primary isolated splenic cyst hydatid rupture in especially endemic regions.
Traumatic pulmonary pseudocyst p. 155
Neeraj Gupta, Jacob George, Rakesh C Gupta, Ramakant Dixit
Blunt thoracic trauma manifests in various ways, depending on the structures injured and type of injury. Commonly manifested as parenchymal contusion, at times, pseudacavitation may also been seen on the chest X ray. They are to be differentiated from other causes of pulmonary cavitations which are often done based on history. The so called pulmonary pseudo cysts usually have a benign course and needs only observation.
Polyuria following an overdose p. 159
Angela Collins, Nigel A White
Case report detailing the occurrence of diabetes insipidus in a 42-year-old man admitted to the intensive treatment unit (ITU) following an overdose. Whilst on ITU, he was sedated with propofol. Cessation of treatment with propofol coincided with resolution of the polyuria. Animal studies suggest a theoretical mechanism for propofol as the causative agent, but this phenomenon is not commonly seen in humans.
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Is normal saline really 'normal'? p. 161
Sumit Jha, Dhanashree Prabhu
Intrapulmonary malposition of a chest drain p. 162
Luciano Santana-Cabrera, Néstor Alemán-Pérez, Miguel Galante-Miliqua, Manuel Sánchez-Palacios
Considering multidrug resistant nosocomial sinusitis in intensive care unit patients as a cause of pyrexia p. 163
Sushil K Aggarwal, Afzal Azim, Saurabh Sehgal, Armin Ahmed
Critical issues in a parturient with pre-existing neurological deficits with severe anaemia: A clinical challenge to anaesthesiologist and intensivist! p. 164
Ashish Kulshrestha, Sukhwinder K Bajwa, Sukminderjit S Bajwa, Megha Mathur, Jatinder Kaur
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Published on February 15th, 2018 | by admin
Jade of Death Interview – Producer Taylor Litton-Strain
Jade of Death is an award winning supernatural thriller series. Jade has a powerful ability. She can hear when and how people are going to die. She ran away from her hometown and gets by working at a seedy freak show carnival as the “Fortune-Teller of Death”, but now people are after her. The series follows Jade as she fights the man hunting her, struggles to keep those she cares about safe and unlocks the potential of her powers. Boasting an exceptional cast led by rising star Bernie Van Tiel, Sydney Arts Guide described Jade of Death as “…fantastically creepy and atmospheric”.
We catch-up with Producer Taylor Litton-Strain to chat about this new series.
1. How did you become involved in Jade of Death?
I had produced over ten short films and after doing some television producers attachments I decided instead of making another short film I wanted my next project to be a high quality web series. I was keen to create a web series as it felt more comparable to television to me. Shortly after this Erin approached me for feedback on the first drafts of Jade of Death – I fell in love with the concept immediately and asked her right away if it would be something she would be keen for me to work with her on.
2. As a producer, what’s been your biggest challenge in the creation of this series?
The biggest challenge of course was producing the series for a low budget. We needed to keep the budget low because we didn’t have any money! But it was always important to me that we weren’t ever sacrificing the story in order to have a low budget. My attitude was if the series doesn’t have the full scope of story or action that it needs then why would people want to watch it, and if people won’t want to watch it then why spend any money at all.
I came up with strategies to keep the budget low and there were times when we needed to raise more finance as the project grew. But we took production one-step at a time and where we didn’t have money we gave time.
3. Most rewarding?
Because the series was so ambitious and it had a longer schedule due to its low budget there were honestly times when I wondered if we would ever be able to finish it. So sitting watching the final check of the DCP of the series was hugely rewarding.
Another moment was when we were part way through production and we screened a teaser at the last Queer Screen Film Festival. Listening to the audience react and then have them come say how excited they were to see it after the screening was great to have in the middle of production – it reaffirmed what we thought that this was a series people would want to see.
Producer Taylor Litton-Strain and Writer/Director Erin Good
4. Okay… you filmed this series over 18 days, how did you make this happen?
Through a lot of sleepless nights! And from the tireless work of a really talented and generous group of cast and crew. The 18 days were actually spread across a year rather than in one go, which would be more standard. In fact our whole production was pretty atypical. A typical schedule you would write the film, raise the money, then prepare to shoot, then shoot – in that order. Instead we did everything all at the same time! This was for a few reasons all of which had to do with keeping our budget low.
5. What’s your favourite aspect of Jade of Death?
I love all of it! But I will say one aspect of the series which is really cool is the music. All of the music in the series is original and features film score from Melbourne based composers Darren Middleton and Simon Walbrook from Sonaire and songs written by Sydney musicians Chris Hogben and Yoshi Hausler which feature indie Sydney singers and musicians.
We actually began working with Chris and Yoshi at the very beginning of the project and they provided music sketches which we would sometimes play on set to set the mood and tone of the filming. The music has been getting lots of nominations for awards so we decided to release the soundtrack as an album (available on Spotify and through CDBaby).
6. Tell us a little about the main character?
I love Jade. She was part of the reason I was so attracted to the series in the first place. She’s a really powerful character and she’s complex which really excited me about her. I was sick of seeing one dimensional women characters in genre films and Jade just felt so real even in this heightened supernatural world. Plus she’s the one saving the day, not being the damsel in distress.
7. What was it like working with Bernie Van Tiel who plays the lead character Jade and how did she come into the role?
When we found Bernie she was actually studying acting. We were in development for the series and Erin told me about a student of hers who she could tell had something really special and could be perfect for Jade. So we invited her to audition in our open casting call and Erin’s instincts were right – she was perfect for the role. Bernie is an incredible new talent and she’s wonderful to work with, I have no doubt she will soon be cast in many many more roles.
8. Lastly, what does the future of Jade of Death hold?
At the moment a second season of the series is in development with the ABC and Screen Australia – so we’ll definitely be bringing more Jade of Death to the world! The concept for Jade of Death was also originally a TV series idea of Erins – so we’re also developing a longer television adaptation as well!
Award-winning teen supernatural thriller series JADE OF DEATH is set to premiere at the Mardi Gras Film Festival on Feb 23. This will be the first chance the public will be able to watch the highly acclaimed series from writer / director Erin Good and producer Taylor Litton-Strain. Tickets are on sale now at: http://tix.queerscreen.org.au/session_mgff.asp?sn=Jade%20of%20Death
JADE OF DEATH is also being developed into a second season with the ABC and Screen Australia.
Mark Brijeski Interview (FUTWIZ_Marko) →
Impulse Gamer: Ben Williams Interview →
Raymond Seubelan Interview (Founder of EXYRA) →
LINDA BALLANTYNE INTERVIEW (SUPANOVA 2019) →
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[Boycott - Economic - World]
Why Boycott Strauss?
Vacy Vlazna
The Palestinian Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement was given an unlikely boost last month with strident calls in Israel to boycott the Strauss Group after two months of protests outside the homes of its company's executives including its chairman, Ofra Strauss.
BDS activists looked on bemused by the sweet irony of a 'solidarity' that committed the cardinal sin of anti-semitism - boycotting Jewish businesses which has long raised the false spectre of Nazi comparisons. When Australian BDS activists targeted Strauss' Max Brenner outlets last year, Australia's now ex-prime-minister-ex-foreign-minister joined the anti-boycott fray with a politically motivated sanctimonious statement, ''As an individual citizen - that is me, K. Rudd - I am here because I object to the boycotting of Jewish businesses''.
Picketing Strauss's Max Brenner outlet in Australia (Sept 2011)
So why were angry Israelis calling for boycott against the Jewish Strauss company?
Well, not because the Strauss Group, Israel's second largest food company with a turnover $1.8 billion, is complicit in Israel's illegal occupation by its close links to the most brutal high-tech military in the world that controls, in collusion with secret police, Mossad and Shin Bet, the indigenous Palestinians under a system of rule by terror at checkpoints, by arbitrary arrests, (100,000 administrative detention orders since 1967), by extrajudicial killings, the ruthless dispossession of homes and land for colonial expansion, harsh apartheid policies including Jews-only roads and the illegal Annexation Wall, massive bombardments by drones, Apaches and F16s. The suffering, torment and trauma that is the Palestinian tragedy, has, since the Nakba, redefined the humanity of the Israel and its military regime.
Strauss proudly broadcasts its corporate responsibility to a mission that provides "our soldiers with support, to enhance their quality of life and service conditions, and sweeten their special moments. We have adopted the Golani reconnaissance platoon for over 30 years and provide them with an ongoing variety of food products for their training or missions, and provide personal care packages for each soldier that completes the path. We have also adopted the Southern Shualei Shimshon troops from the Givati platoon with the goal of improving their service conditions and being there at the front to spoil them with our best products."
Even the Knesset attacked Strauss but...
Not because the elite Golani and Givati brigades committed war crimes and/or crimes against humanity to the dishonour of Israel. In the 1982 Lebanon War, Golani soldier lit flares to assist the Phalangist death squads to massacre Palestinian men women and children in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps deemed an act of genocide by the UN. Or that the Golani Brigade led a vicious offensive against the Jenin refugee camp in 2002 demolishing hundreds of homes while burying some Palestinians alive and killing terrified residents. Or that in 2004 a Givati commander callously murdered 13 year old Iman Darweesh Al Hams by firing two bullets at her head from close range while she was lying wounded on the ground. The commander returned to her body again and emptied his entire magazine into her body. He was charged, exonerated and promoted. Or that the Givati Brigade led the ground offensive against unarmed Gazan families in the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead for which the UN accused Israel of war crimes in the Goldstone Report.
Nor because of a report in February that stated "since the arrival of the Golani Brigade in Hebron on December 27th, international accompaniment organizations (Christian Peacemaker Teams, International Solidarity Movement, and others) have documented an increase in the number of serious human rights violations against the Palestinian people, particularly youth and children in the Old City and Tel Rumeida"[1]
Neither was the public uproar calling for the Strauss boycott because..
Ofra Strauss (rumoured mistress of 'impartial' Quartet member, Tony Blair) sits on the board of HESEG along with high-ranking Israeli military and intelligence personnel. HESEG, an organization that provides scholarships and support for 'lone soldiers' who joined the IDF from outside Israel was founded by Canadian Zionist billionaires, Heather Reisman (Indigo Books) and husband Gerry Swartz (ONEX). On the board, alongside Ofra are General (Res.) Yitzhak Eitan: Chief Commander of the Israeli military in Gaza and the West Bank, and Head (GOC) of the IDF Central Command during the years 2000-2003; Shabtai Shavit: Head of Mossad (the Israeli foreign intelligence) 1989-96 and the controversial Major General (Res.) Doron Almog who was Commander of the IDF's Southern Command from 2000-2003. In 2005, he evaded a warrant issued in the UK for his arrest on suspicion of war crimes for ordering the demolition of 59 houses in Rafah, occupied Gaza, an act of illegal collective punishment under international law and on 22 July 2002, for ordering a one-ton bomb to be dropped on a home in Gaza to assassinate Salah Shehadeh killing 15 people, including 9 children.
Doron Almog is also Executive Chairman and Member of Investment Committee of Athlone Global Security Ltd. which he co-founded in 2007 providing specialized military and surveillance training equipment and services for the Annexation wall and checkpoints "with its sensors, trenches, security roads, mine fields, checkpoints, terminals, watchtowers, surveillance cameras, electronic sensory devices and military patrols using killer dogs. It entraps 50,000 Palestinians, steals their land, and has nothing to do with purported security. It's a plain and simple land grab combined with enclosing Palestinians inside disconnected cantons." (Jeff Halper)
The Athlone team includes Lt. General (Ret.) Jay Garner, who served in the U.S. military for 35 years, including command of Air Missile Defense Units in the Gulf War. In 2003 he was appointed by President Bush to lead the post-war reconstruction effort in Iraq. Oliver "Buck" Revell, a former Deputy Director of the FBI. Ephraim Halevy, former director of Mossad and Chairman of the National Security Council of Israel and special advisor to the Prime Minister on National security and Moshe Horev, who headed the Israel Ministry of Defense R&D Division, the Avionics and Armament Division and the Guided Weapon system program office of the Israeli Air force. He is a former CEO of Hewlett Packard and is currently the CEO of Oracle Systems Israel Ltd which has a longstanding strategic partnership with the IDF as one of the IDF's main suppliers of computer solutions.
The public outrage leading to the extreme boycott action was not because Strauss is aligned with a shadowy cabal of Israeli business elites that services Zionist goals and profits from the illegal military occupation...
Poster from DePaul University (Chicago) student campaign
to boycott Strauss's Sabra Hummus
Former president and CEO of Strauss Group Ltd, Erez Vigodman joined Makhteshim Agan Group in January 2010 which is 40% owned by Nochi Danker's Koor Industries. Maketish Agan is a pesticide factory located in the Ramat Hovav industrial zone that pollutes its environs with hazardous waste including Wadi el-Na'am, a village of more than 5,000 Bedouins. "In a 2004 study commissioned by the Israeli Ministry of Health found a high rate of birth defects among children living in the vicinity. In August 2006, Ben Gurion University epidemiologist Batya Sarov, formerly a specialist at Chernobyl, compared the environmental monitoring and health risks to Chernobyl."
Dankner is also a director of Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises, Israel's sole cement producer, which supplies construction materials to Israeli companies building the illegal Annexation Wall and 'products of Nesher were seen in construction sites in West Bank settlements and in the construction of the light rail project in Jerusalem, which connects the settlement neighbourhoods of the city with the city center.'
In 2007 Jonathan Kolber, former director of Makhteshim, Elbit (Israel's largest defence firm specialising in drones ad surveillance), and Koor Industries chairman invested in Eyeblaster along with BRM Capital managing director Eli Barkat. Eli's bother, Nir was a founder of BRM. Nir Barkat, as mayor of Jerusalem drives the judaisation of occupied Jerusalem through ethnic cleansing, home demolitions and illegal colony construction. Also investing in Eyeblaster was Shlomo Dovrat, the founder of the Viola Group of which Carmel Ventures is an affiliate. Carmel Ventures has been implicated in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mahbhouh in the Dubai Mossad scandal. "In March, Dubai police identified 13 US-issued debit-card accounts used by the suspects. These pre-paid debit cards were distributed by Payoneer Inc.,...Payoneer is a small, private company. Most of their stock is held by three venture capital firms: Crossbar Capital, Greylock Partners, and Carmel Ventures...Crossbar Partners is run by Charlie Federman, another dual-Israeli citizen living in New Jersey. Before founding Crossbar, he served as the Managing Director of the BRM Group, a venture capital firm located in Herzliya, Israel." [2]
The explosion of Israeli fury that threw down the boycott gauntlet was not because of Strauss' connections with illegal colonies and their cancerous expansion by way of land and water theft and the destruction of olive groves, farmland and livelihoods as well as the daily colonist terrorism against Palestinians -all sanctioned by the Israeli Occupation Forces...
Ofra Stauss sits on the executive of The Jewish Agency which was established by the World Zionist Organization (WZO) in 1929 founded on the commitment to warrant "The unity of the Jewish people, its bond to its historic homeland Eretz Yisrael, and the centrality of the State of Israel and Jerusalem, its capital." It acts as agent of the government in assigning land to illegal Jewish colonists in the Israeli-occupied territories. Chairperson of the Board of Governors is American billionaire James S Tisch who is also president of the Jewish Communal Fund which channels donations to right wing groups in West Bank colonies such as "Amitz, which funds settler militias; Magen Yehuda, which assists with military training for settlers; and Women in Green, a right-wing group which opposes the return of land captured during the Six Day War of 1967 and promotes the "transfer" of Arabs to neighbouring countries."
So what woke up the Israeli public? What ignited the fierce fire in Israeli bellies to battle Strauss with the boycott weapon?
It wasn't a profound human empathy with Palestinian suffering. It wasn't a righteous contempt for the state's implacable military occupation. It wasn't a principled action to end Israeli profiteering of and complicity in the illegal occupation. It wasn't the noble demand that Israel comply with international law and exit its illegal colonies on stolen Palestinian land.
No, it was the injustice that the price of Strauss candy is higher in Israel than in the US!
- Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters www.palestinematters.com She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 and was coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001. She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
[1] February Report Golani Brigades war on the Palestinian Population of Al Khalil (Hebron)
[2] Mossad Assassins Were Financed by U.S. Banks.
Source: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19155
With Ramadan rapidly approaching we need your help to get the message out to our people - Do Not Buy Israeli Dates. We need your help to distribute 'Boycott Israeli Dates' leaflets in your communities.
Boycott Israeli Dates Campaign - Help Us Distribute Leaflets
Boycott Israeli Dates This Ramadan - Checking The Label Is Not Enough
We launch our annual Boycott Israeli Dates Campaign. Israel is the world's 3rd largest exporter of dates worth $151 million in 2014, and the UK is its 3rd largest market. Please help us raise awareness by helping distribute leaflets in your community for Ramadan..
Palestinians call for a boycott of Israeli diamonds
Over 50 Palestinian civil society organisations call for a boycott of Israeli diamonds - "Jewellers worldwide to immediately end the trade in diamonds processed in Israel.. women and men of conscience the world over to reject diamonds from Israel."
During the holy month of Ramadan, as we move towards the Eid, I was going around Muslim shops in Tower Hamlets and elsewhere telling them that although they had collection boxes for the Mosque, although they had religious imagery in their shops, although they were selling dates to the faithful people to break their fast - the dates were made in Israel! They were stained with the blood of the Palestinian people! And Muslim shop keepers were selling them!
Respect MP for Tower Hamlets
Respect Youth Tower Hamlets, Feb 2008 [21min / 11Mb]
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美國之音 > VOA Special English > AS IT IS
An Ethiopian ‘Hero’ Works to Rebuild Girls’ Dignity
By Susan Shand
Freweini Mebrahtu remembers when she returned to her home village in northern Ethiopia. She saw women bending down and sitting over holes in the ground. Without any cotton padding to use during their monthly period, the women had to stay in this position.
"How is that possible? And they were telling me that they don't even use underwear," Freweini told VOA. "And that was the turning point for me... And that's when I said, ‘You know, I've gotta do something. Why is this thing bothering me over and over again?' So that was it."
Girls attend school in Ethiopia. (Photo: Courtesy of Joni Kabana with Dignity Period)
The more she thought about the problem, the bigger it appeared. Two out of every five girls have been forced to miss school during their periods, with many eventually leaving school. Older women were using old cloth or grass because they had no padding. Women and girls, she found, were being shamed by their community during their menstruation.
"We're talking about ...equality and all that stuff. But when the basic necessity of a young girl is not fulfilled, how is that possible?" she said.
In 2009, Freweini founded the Mariam Seba Products Factory in the city of Mekelle in northern Ethiopia. The factory makes reusable pads that can last up to 18 months. They cost 90 percent less than pads that are thrown away each month. Freweini joined up with an aid group called Dignity Period, and together they have given away more than 150,000 free menstrual kits made by the factory.
The work is having an effect. Dignity Period has recorded a 24 percent increase in attendance by girls in schools where they offer services.
This month, the American broadcaster CNN recognized Freweini as its Hero of the Year. The CNN award includes a prize of $100,000 to support her work. She said the award was an affirmation of a decision she made many years ago to move from the United States back to Ethiopia to make the pads.
"People thought that I was crying because of the whole event. But it's the whole timing issue," Freweini told VOA. "It must have been God's willing it to happen, the way it happened."
Her work, she says, is not done. She noted that there are 30 million women who menstruate in Ethiopia and most cannot get cotton pads. Additionally, there is a 15 percent value added tax on many menstrual health products.
"It's not just Ethiopia...even in the U.S. there is a tax issue... we hope that everyone will make a sensible solution and a sensible change in making this a reality for all," she said.
I'm Susan Shand.
VOA's Salem Solomon reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on huihaozc.com.
padding – n. clothe sewn together to take up liquid
menstruation - n. to have blood flow from your body as part of a process that happens each month
shamed - v. to feel dishonor
fulfilled – adj. feeling satisfaction or happiness
kit – n. a collection of tools or other objects for personal use
affirmation – n. to show a strong belief in something
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admin 6 days ago 2 min read
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Iggy Azalea Poses For New Bonds Underwear Shoot, Is Bringing Nick Young Home To Meet The Parents
Mike Wass @mikewassmusic | July 20, 2015 1:05 pm
Iggy Azalea Models Bonds Underwear: 6 Pics
Iggy Azalea is the new face and body of iconic Aussie underwear brand Bonds. 6 pics.
Iggy Azalea is flying to Australia in August to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bonds underwear — and she’s bringing fiance Nick Young to meet the family! “My entire family besides my mother live in Sydney so we are going to get to see everybody and have a nice meal with my grandma and I’m going to make Nick go to Luna Park and do all those kinds of things,” she told Sydney Confidential.
The 25-year-old has even posed for a new, floral-themed shoot to celebrate Bonds’ milestone. I-G-G-Y looks incredible, but reveals that she felt insecure about her body. “I felt really big and then I’d look in the camera and be like, ‘actually I look totally fine’,” the “Black Widow” hitmaker says. “I think that’s what it is like with all women though right?”
The rapper also opened up about her difficult relationship with her homeland. (She left when she was 16). “It is something that has come full circle for me,” Iggy admits. “For a long time I kind of felt like I don’t think Australia gets me and I think Australia does get me actually — I think they get me maybe better than anybody else gets me.” How so? “I feel like [Australians] have my back and I really like that… it is a good feeling and makes me feel really proud of where I’m from and makes me want to wear an Australian flag around all day.”
See pics from Iggy’s new Bonds shoot below:
Do you love the new shoot? Let us know below, or by hitting us up on Facebook and Twitter!
Iggy Azalea's Sexiest Swimsuit Pics
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Huang Wanqing, Director of the Bureau of Retired Military Affairs of Tongren City, visited Yuping County to supervise the construction of the pilot unit of the retired military service center (station)
Tongren City Government Website http://ldushu.com/
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On December 26, Huang Wanqing, secretary of the party group and director of the Bureau of Retired Military Affairs of Tongren City, and his party went to Yuping County to supervise the construction of the pilot unit of the retired military service center (station). Yao Maorong, director of the Bureau of Veterans Affairs of Yuping County, accompanied by Luo Kangmin, director of the Dalong Sub-district Office, and Yan Min, deputy director.
Huang Wanqing and his entourage successively went to the Yuping County Veterans Service Center, Dalong Street, and the Delong Community Veterans Service Station in the community under their jurisdiction. Through field inspections and on-site inquiries, they learned more about the service center (station) agency settings, office locations, The construction of the service system for retired military personnel, such as staffing and institutional walls, as well as existing problems and difficulties.
Huang Wanqing affirmed the progress of the construction of the pilot units. He emphasized that veterans' affairs departments at all levels must fully understand the significance of establishing and perfecting a service system for veterans, and effectively strengthen the political role of serving veterans. They must continue to improve the work system, optimize service processes, and achieve a "one-stop shop." "Services," window-style "handling, and vigorously promote the substantive, institutionalized, and standardized operation of the service organization for retired soldiers; it is necessary to do a good job in serving the retired soldiers with heart and heart, so that the retired soldiers can fully feel the care and warmth of the government; all pilot units It is necessary to make full use of the advantages of resources, make a good start in the city, ensure the victory of the province's acceptance, and find a way and lay a solid foundation for the city's retired service centers (stations) to fully realize the substantive, institutionalized, and standardized operation.
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Huang Wanqing, Director of the Bureau of Retired Military Affairs of Tongren City, visited Yuping County to supervise the construction of the pilot service unit for the retired military service (station) 2019-12-27
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Photo by Daniel Boud
Bell Shakespeare presents, OTHELLO, by William Shakespeare, in the Playhouse, at the Sydney Opera House, 24 October - 4 December.
OTHELLO is a riveting play. A play concerning the plot of a man who outwardly seems a charming man - a flower external that has a serpent beneath. Of a man who has no conscience at all. A man who takes the witnessing audience into his confidence and shows us a duplicity so heinous, wicked and clever that we cannot look away. It is Iago and we step willingly onto the roller-coaster of his doings and as we do with the character of Richard III we are beguiled by his cruel skills. Maybe there is a vicarious admiration at the sheer boldness of it all? No-one but he and we can see the web of catastrophe he weaves around the others in the world of the play and he, a master conjuror, knows that we are helpless in our viewing, for we cannot stop the action even as he shows his sleights-of-hand with his victims. The play's visceral hold is unique - a sado-masochistic fascination. The reason, the motivation of Iago for his deeds not the least of the fascination that enthrals us.
At the end of the play:
Othello: Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he has thus ensnared my soul and body?
Iago: Demand me nothing: what you know, you know;
From this time forth I never will speak word.
Fascinating frustration!
This play is not about lofty figures of kings and queens, this play's tragedy is a domestic family one, and so, relatively, relatable to our own lives. It is hard for us to dismiss the fate of Othello as too preposterous, because it stems from sexual jealousy, an emotion that has touched a nerve in almost everyone of us and we suspect, know, if not from startling first-hand experiences then from closely witnessed second-hand ones, that it is a powerful propellant for outrageous behaviour that can lead to actions of tremendous extreme, to that of even murderous revenge. Shakespeare in this play presents a relentless mono-focus on this green-eyed jealousy, there is no relief from the main concern with subplot or comic character to divert us from its inevitable climax. We careen alongside Iago, our 'host', as his tricks ensnare the innocent and create a rising horror around him. The climax is terrible to watch.
This Bell Shakespeare company of players, under the Direction of Peter Evans, have been able to sustain the narrative cataclysm of this play. One can leave the theatre with a great admiration of the work, of the playwright, even if this production does not match its emotional potential. Mr Evans has constructed a solid production of straight-forward storytelling with some conceptual flourishes of staging, that bristles with determined discipline from all the actors - school audiences should be well pleased with this production. Clarity of story, character and language is available for the attentive. Set in a claustrophobic green velvet columned cavern, Design by Michael Hankin, enhanced in its growing malevolence by the lighting of Paul Jackson, nine actors in a nondescript but contemporary dress, with a slightly edited script, relate the drama with a competent ease. This showing in Sydney is the last of a 5 month tour.
Yalin Ozucelik, as Iago, is the driving force of this production. Clear, clean and focused with an ease and steady grasp of the unfolding machinations of his man, Mr Ozucelik makes a villain of Iago of cool precision. His textual intelligence is served vocally with wit and a nimble body response that speaks accurately the language to support what is going on. Action suiting word, word suiting action. It is the integrity of this actor's choices and his brisk seemingly effortless contribution that is the spine of this production. What keeps it afloat.
Bell has chosen one of their Players, who has toured to schools, particularly, for them, Ray Chong Nee, as Othello. He has a physical presence and masculinity of some confidence (although, perhaps too young considering the information in the text - of his soldierly campaigns and of 'an old black ram ... tupping your white ewe") and has a distinguishing sound in the delivery of his speeches that sets him aside from the others on the stage - a kind of deliberate enunciation with not much emotional colour - a soldier's, a warrior-general's sound of pragmatic control and separation. This Othello humanising, in the first half, only in the presence and especially when in physical contact with his Desdemona - it always seemed as he took her by the hand to lead her from the stage to 'bed', that he showed his 'boyish' delight of his fortunate chance of another kind of 'life'. Of a romantic idealist with a trusting nature, with little knowledge of sin, placing all his faith in his Desdemona and so that when she falls in his eyes (he deceived by Iago), his entire world falls with her. Mr Nee's characterisation serves the first half of the production well. Unfortunately, as Othello falls into an oblivion of jealous passion, when the heightened language of the writer demands an emotional identification and expression of deep tragedy, Mr Chong Nee, either through inexperience or lack of courage, or both, plays at demonstrating, indicating, the 'journey' that Othello is suffering rather than experiencing what is happening as explored in the language of Shakespeare. Failing to express it with the requisite belief that can give the audience the full cathartic tragedy of the man and the play, this production cooled in the second half and one was able to sit outside the happenings on the stage in an objective state - relatively, emotionally, disengaged. The impact of the treacherous machinations of Iago diminished by an Othello, tentative to embrace the demands of the writing and the wherewithal to own what he must do.
Elizabeth Nabben gives a well spoken and intelligent reading of Desdemona as a 'good woman' but has little of the firmness of purpose, the strength of courage that Shakespeare has given her textually - rebuffing her father's rights, for instance - her sexuality relatively unexplored. Michael Wahr, as Cassio, mostly, fulfils the function of character, but not create one. Edmund Lempke-Hogan gives us a one dimensional wealthy village oaf as Roderigo - function but not arresting motivation. James Lugton in two small but vital roles as Brabantio and Lodovico does what he can to flesh out his men. While Alice Keohavong playing Bianca and other supporting ensemble drew some attention to her potential.
This Bell Shakespeare production cannot lift into the passionate poetics of the writing principally because of the unevenness of the casting in the production. They, generally, speak well, they have a sense of the story and language but show little interrogatory flair for the expression of the complexity of their characters. The characters lack the variety of human traits. The efficiency of the storytelling does not compensate for the lack of character motivation that a modern audience expects, or, the emotional poetics that the playwright demands.
It seems Mr Evans has the capacity of intellectualised conception and the skill of arrangement for staging but not the skill in casting. After the choice of play it is surely in the gift of the Director, his responsibility, to be able to choose the actors that can achieve the potential of the play and production. This is not evident here. With a reduced cast of nine for this play and some editing to accommodate that decision, this company of actors do not consistently demonstrate the skills to deliver the 'goods'. Is it that a tour of 5 months prohibits a more open casting? That that time demand is the inhibition for Bell's major showcase productions? This production should serve a need for school audiences to see and hear the text but as adult theatre this production fails to impress against comparison with the league of the leading international companies. One cannot help but recall the National Theatre Broadcast of the National Theatre production of Othello with Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear (2013) to comprehend the glaring gap of achievement of this Bell Shakespeare. It is significant. Very significant.
Labels: Bell Shakespeare, Elizabeth Nabben, Michael Hankin, Peter Evans, Ray Chong Nee, Sydney Opera House, William Shakespeare, Yalin Ozucelik
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Tag: CH-53K
Sikorsky And Rheinmetall Submit Proposal For Germany’s New Heavy Lift Helicopter, The CH-53K
Koblenz, Germany Jan. 13, 2020 – Today, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT), and Rheinmetall representing the German industry team, submitted the bid for the production and operation of the Sikorsky CH-53K ("King Stallion") as the Bundeswehr's new heavy-lift transport helicopter for its "Schwerer Transporthubschrauber" (STH) program.
Tags: CH-53K King Stallion Lockheed Martin Sikorsky
Sikorsky And Rheinmetall Plan Construction Of CH-53K Helicopter Logistics And Fleet Management Center At Leipzig/Halle Airport
LEIPZIG, Germany, Oct. 29, 2019 -- To support Germany’s "Schwerer Transporthubschrauber" (STH) heavy lift helicopter program, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and Rheinmetall announced today that they intend to set up a logistics and fleet management center at Leipzig/Halle Airport if the Bundeswehr selects the CH-53K as its next heavy-lift transport helicopter. This would establish numerous high-tech jobs and strengthen Leipzig and the local airport as a prime business location in the long term.
Tags: CH-53K Lockheed Martin Sikorsky
Sikorsky Receives Contract To Build 12 CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopters
STRATFORD, Conn., -- Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT) will build 12 production CH-53K King Stallion helicopters under a new $1.13 billion contract from the U.S. Navy. These advanced helicopters are part of the 200 program of record aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Tags: CH-53K King Stallion Lockheed Martin Sikorksy US Navy
SIKORSKY ANNOUNCES ITS GERMAN INDUSTRIALIZATION FOR THE COUNTRY'S NEW HEAVY LIFT HELICOPTER COMPETITION
BERLIN, PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Company, announced its German industrialization plan for competing in the German Air Force "Schwerer Transporthubschrauber" (STH) Program with the world class heavy lift helicopter, the CH-53K King Stallion. Rheinmetall Group, which has entered into an exclusive arrangement with Sikorsky, will lead in-service support for the CH-53K.
Tags: CH-53K German Air Force Lockheed Martin Rheinmetall Group Sikorsky
Strengthening Partnerships: Sikorsky's CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter Makes Historic First Flight in Germany
HOLZDORF, Germany, April 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) company, and the U.S. Marine Corps' CH-53K heavy lift helicopter reached another historic first. The CH-53K, which recently arrived in Germany, flew its first flight on foreign soil at Holzdorf Air Base, Germany. The aircraft executed a flawless flight around the air base, as the Sikorsky team continues preparation for the King Stallion's public international debut at the ILA Berlin Air Show, April 25 - 29.
A King Has Arrived: Sikorsky CH-53 King Stallion Heavy Lift Helicopter Arrives in Germany for International Debut
HOLZDORF, Germany, March 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A CH-53K heavy lift helicopter built by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT), arrived in Holzdorf, Germany, ahead of its international debut at the ILA Berlin Air Show next month.
Tags: Berlin Air Show CH-53K Lockheed Martin Sikorsky
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Crises, International
Indian role in Baluchistan unrest?
November 27, 2010 wpms Leave a comment
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has hit out at Indian Intelligence agencies saying that the RAW or Research and Analysis Wing is inciting violence in the Balochistan province of South-West Pakistan and is actively trying to foster anti-Pakistan sentiments in Afghanistan.
Musharraf, currently living in self-exile in Britain, repeated his claims that the involvement of India and Afghanistan in Balochistan is creating unrest in the Pakistani province. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has levelled similar allegations against India in the past but has never backed up his claims with proof.
Musharraf said Aug 26, 2006 military operation against 79-year-old tribal leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in Balochistan was justified as he had been creating trouble in the province. The operation resulted in the death of Bugti and several of his aides.
He alleged that Bugtis men of firing rockets on Sui, of occupying the hill features and firing rockets and weapons on the Frontier Corps. He also alleged that Bugtis men are blowing up the gas pipeline, the electric pylon, the railway line. Bugti’s grandson, Bramdagh Bugti, is currently living in Kabul and is received by agents of Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, when he goes to India. Indians finance him, give him weapons to create trouble.
India’s conduct on Balochistan was like an open book and that Pakistan had never provided any evidence on preposterous allegations. Sources also claimed that India desired peaceful & cordial relations with Pakistan all throughout.
Sources: NDTV Economictimes
AfghanistanBaluchistanIndiaPakistan
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Photo: Courtesy of PORSCHE
BY Editor One
Two legendary icons, Porsche and Star Wars, joined forces at the Porsche Asia Pacific premiere of the new all-electric Taycan in Singapore last night, ahead of its regional market launch in 2020. A spectacular drone show was orchestrated during the premiere of the Taycan, themed ‘Soul, electrified’ to highlight the features of the latest Porsche model.
"The Taycan links our heritage to the future. It is a fascinating sports car with exciting driving dynamics, performance and technology – and like every Porsche ever built, it comes with a soul. Something you will feel immediately, once you get behind the steering wheel,” said Arthur Willmann, Managing Director of Porsche Asia Pacific.
"Asia Pacific is an important sales region for Porsche – with a continuously growing customer and fan base. With the Taycan, we are entering a new era and this spirit fits perfectly with the iconic Star Wars brand and the joint event here in Singapore,” says Matthias Becker, Vice President Region Overseas and Emerging Markets of Porsche AG.
Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche at Porsche AG, who was present at the event, shared the design philosophy behind the vehicle. “Designing the Taycan was one of the most exciting tasks, because the only certainty was that it had to be recognisable as a Porsche at first glance. And by pursuing the strategy of making it the sportiest in the segment, we have defined a new architecture for purely electric vehicles. Just like what the 911 has achieved, my vision is that the Taycan will become an icon of this new era, a synonym for a purely electric sports car,” he said.
As part of the unprecedented collaboration, the design teams at Porsche and Lucasfilm collaborated to design a fantasy starship in support of the upcoming Star Wars film, the final episode of the Skywalker saga. Mauer, together with Doug Chiang, VP Executive Creative Director, Lucasfilm, explained the design process and presented design sketches of the spacecraft highlighting the combined Porsche and Star Wars design DNA.
Chiang said, “Although one brand is placed in a fantasy universe and one in the real world, it’s interesting that both are defined very much by their iconic design principle. The basic challenge of the design brief was to design a starship that would both be true to the Star Wars universe and Porsche design DNA.”
TAGS • Toys • AutoMotive • Star Wars • PORSCHE •
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Thailand
Porsche is extending its Cayenne family. An even sportier vehicle has been added to the third generation of this highly successful SUV range – the Cayenne Coupé.
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AC Milan Forums - Unofficial > AC MILAN > Discussions > Current squad - what work is needed?
Full Version: Current squad - what work is needed?
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
This is more of a discussion thread than the speculation-based transfer thread, so bear with me.
It's been an intriguing season - starting miserably but ending, the odd blip aside, very strongly indeed.
The question is what direction does the squad need to go in? Who has served their time and is replaceable now and who do we want to build the team round?
Let's start with the goalie. Abbiati has had, honestly, an excellent season. Quite possibly Europe's most under rated goalkeeper, Abbiati has had such a quiet career - only ever gained a handful of caps and never really made a huge impression anywhere. 3 years out on loan before returning to basically become our first choice. And he's been very, very good this year. However QPR confirm Cesar is moving and there's been strong speculation linking the Brazilian with a return to Italy. If I had to choose between both, I'd choose the former Nerazzurri. World class goalkeeper. But it's not a problem position at all.
Defence kind of is. Our full backs are not by any manner of means the strongest area - DS still has growing and improving to do before he can truly be called a first choice and worthy. Constant has been ok at the back but rather hit and miss going forward and definitely lost form in the latter part of the campaign. Abate is a speed machine down the right but not the most intelligent and very poor in defensive work. We could use one really, really good full back - but they cost.
In central defence Zapata is fine - very good player and had an excellent season - he's one to stick with and word is we're buying him. Mexes less so - wrong side of 30 he's done well enough at the club but is one of these players who never truly made the grade anywhere - very good on his day but something off being truly great. His personal medals list is underwhelming. IMO he is dispensable and could be replaced with a top quality defender to partner Zapata long-term.
Midfield is actually quite good. Chock-full of decent players, it is one good-quality CM or AM away from the finished article. We've got the classy but no-holds-barred enforcer in De Jong and the cultivated playmaker with grit in Montolivo. Add the apparent signing of Poli (an AM) and it's one area looking pretty decent. And if we do buy Bojan as reports suggest, that could sow up the AM/trequartista position fully if the young Spaniard could just finally realise his potential. And bulk a bit up!
Attack - well it's good, and bad. El-Sha was sensation till January but has been dire since then. Zero confidence - and there's been stories linking him with a move to England. Balo is Balo, a monster - been remarkable since joining. No problems there. Pazzini is an impact sub, and very good at what he does, while Niang has a LOT of work to do to realise his potential. Boateng is a great player on his day - more creative than many give him credit for, and has goals in him. He's worth holding onto because when he's good, he's very, very good.
I've also heard of long-term links to Kevin Strootman. Another one, if we secured him, for midfield.
For me though, defence needs a lot of attention. And the only name linked so far (that I've seen) is Kolo Toure. Older than Mexes it's not an inspired choice if he joins.
I think the defence is ok actually. Yes, of course, if we can add a class CB I wouldn't say no but for me....that is not 1st on the list to fix.
I have actually been very pleased with the fullbacks and I don't think they are high up on the list of purchases this summer. Again, don't get me wrong, if we can improve our squad at ANY position, then yes by all means. But with the limited resources we have, I doubt we can get players that are better then the current ones we have in these positions...yet still improve our squad in the most needed areas.
Which brings me to my next point, which is the midfield - in my mind the number 1 priority for this summer. Time and time again we come up short (and perform like crap at times) because we don't have a midfield to create and run the game. For me that's the number one priority. A player that can create.
The next on the list for me is a RW.
After that, comes everything else that we can get our hands on (within our budget) to be an improvement over the current players.
So if we manage to get a creative CM player; a RW; PLUS replace some of the useless squad players with young talents (or solid experienced players in some cases) then this will be a great summer IMO.
1. Splash on a creative CM
2. Get a true RW
3. Improve any other area with a better player then the current one (this can be a CB, RB, etc, etc, etc............but the only problem is that after we spend money on 1 and 2, chances are we won't have much left to get players that are better then the current ones with the budget left...........and that's OK, AS LONG as we do #1 and #2)
So http://www.football-italia.net/34419/ber...an-changes ?
Quote: Milan President Silvio Berlusconi announced in a letter that “there will a complete change in the coaching staff and the club structure.”
This effectively has fired Coach Massimiliano Allegri and could have profound repercussions for Vice-President Adriano Galliani, who always defended this tactician.
The patron was originally meant to have a phone interview with Il Processo di Biscardi on live television, but instead sent a message that was read out.
“There will be a complete change in the coaching staff. We will also, if necessary, re-organise the club structure,” wrote Berlusconi.
The President also implied he ordered Allegri to switch to a 4-3-3 system and credits himself with turning the season around.
“After the disastrous start to the season, I met with the Coach and directors to tell everyone this situation had to be overturned.
“I also specified that the team had to step on to the field with a different tactical set-up, as I have a lot of experience in this area.
“The results were seen straight away, modesty aside, starting from the comeback to draw 2-2 with Napoli. From the relegation zone we climbed to third place, earned yesterday by the skin of our teeth.
“I have already called for tomorrow a complete revamp of the coaching staff and, if it were needed, a more efficient and complete re-organisation of the club structure.”
Biscardi says he has it on tape, the club denied it ... silly mess.
Berlu got to be kidding about him being the mastermind in changing to 4-3-3.
After stuff like that, which high profile coach/manager would want to come in and lead Milan?
ACMILAN1983
We need reiforcement this summer, but we need to clear out areas where we've currently got too many players.
Amongst the keepers, I wouldn't change anything. Abbiati's still reliable and he can provide another year of leadership for us.
Amongst the fullbacks, I'd stick with pretty much what we have with Constant, Abate, De Sciglio and Antonini. Should Antonini leave, he'll need replacing.
With the CBs, I'd make some changes, though nothing too drastic. I'd keep Mexes, Salamon, Zapata, Zaccardo and add one new quality CB (maybe Ogbonna). After seeing Zapata and Mexes showing their reliability this season, I wouldn't rush the transition in defence.
Midfield is where we need a lot of work. Those I'd keep are Montolivo, De Jong, Muntari, Flamini, Cristante and Saponara. In addition to these guys, I'd like to see us draft in good ball playing midfielders. Poli would be a nice addition if rumours are true, with maybe another big signing (at the expense of Boateng), someone like Strootman being quite interesting.
In attack, I think we have most pieces already in place. Balotelli, El Shaarawy, Pazzini, Niang and Petagna are or should all be confirmed for next season. I'd add 1-2 new players here, with Cerci being a nice option as he can play RW very well and another who can add depth to our attack.
In total, this gives us 26-27 players in the first team squad, a pretty good number imo.
As for outgoing players, I'd say:
- Bonera: Zaccardo's with us now and has effectively the same role.
- Yepes: Probably retiring.
- Didac: Clearly has no space in Milan.
- Ambro: I think he could go West Ham with Montolivo becoming a new captain.
- Nocerino: Under performed this season and will want to play.
- Traore: Almost never played, seems pointless keeping him.
- Urby: He lost any space he had at Milan and it would be best to move on.
- Boateng: He's a tactical problem for us, as while versatile he seems unable to excel in any particular role at Milan. He'll bring in a substantial sum of money to invest in our needs.
- Robinho: Clearly wants his return to Brazil and lacks motivation at Milan.
- Bojan: Whilst a decent player, he doesn't justify spending 15m on him. If we can get a cut price for him (say 5m), plus still make a decent addition like Cerci, I'd reconsider.
I thought I'd resurrect this thread as given our start to this season and our performances in general, I think the club have to seriously look at where we're headed in the long term and as always I would like to read opinions. This isn't just the current squad, or the development of our youth, but things that we need to do in general in order to proceed into the future. The key areas of focus for me are:
I think the management have the biggest responsibility to steer the club in the right direction. Imo, this stems from running the club from a business perspective, but also being strongly involved in the footballing aspect.
From this, I want to see a strong culture being built at Milan. I've said this numerous times in other threads, but for me this is critical to the development of our play. Take Ajax (the system we're using as an example), who for around 40 years have now focused on highly technical football developed on pressing and the concept of total football. They may not be the power they were, but they still develop youth talents on these fundamental principles.
Barca are the same, building from La Masia for 30 years and having a very distinct culture at the club. Even Roma, who have been building since they were taken over haven't enjoyed much success, but have stuck to focusing on playing attacking and enterprising football with coaches like Zeman, Luis Enrique and now Garcia, all of who have reputations for attacking football. I have no doubt that this streamlined focus on attacking football (both in player purchases and choice of coaches) is something that they're finally starting to see some results from.
Our history, from the time Berlu took over was to focus on attacking/dominant technical football developed from various concepts of pressing football. It started out from Sacchi, but then continued throughout our success all the way until the end of the Ancelotti era. Since then I feel we've somewhat lost our identity and while I hoped Allegri might be able to give some identity to our football, I feel he's not succeeded and it's up to the management to rebuild/regain our culture.
I also think we need more focus on development of other areas, particularly the technology we use at the club. Physical preparation, injury prevention and general focus on getting the most out of the players must be invested in. This imo means exploring the latest technology in physiotherapy (something I'm not convinced we've done in a while) to looking to going into minute detail, like Barca who prepare tablets with vitamins and minerals catered to each individual player.
I won't go into the development of the business side of things, I think most already know some of the things we need here, particularly regarding the stadium.
The coaching staff, from the senior squad right down to the lowest level of the youth must have a consistent approach. This imo comes with the development of the culture at the club, but also in terms of sharing information and training methods. I'm sure this must happen to some extent, but I must say questions must be raised when hearing coaching staff (Inzaghi and Allegri) simply don't get on and fight.
I also think there should be a focus on individuals development in training. I've noticed during Allegri's time at Milan that young players breakthrough at the club, but then very rarely after making the jump do they actually progress and mature, sometimes falling into obscurity (e.g. Merkel and Strasser). Based on the idea that El Shaarawy and Niang haven't matured much over the past year, seemingly learning little to develop their game to be more complete players, in addition to the infamous Pato interview a couple of years ago criticising the lack of direction from Allegri, I think we need to place more emphasis on teaching our young players more in the game.
This isn't a slight on Allegri, who I think has done well to bring through youngsters over the years and has definitely improved from the other years since Berlu took over, but I think this comes to the focus at the club. Basically, I think the club want to focus on young talent, but at the same time want to be competitive, leaving coaches in the awkward position of trying to bring through youngsters, but trying to rely on older players to keep us competitive with the other big teams. Right now, I'd say lets focus almost solely developing these young players we have, teaching them to become the best. This might mean accepting obscurity for a year or two, as they almost certainly will struggle to be consistent, but the potential reward is far greater. It also gives us a far more focused goal to work towards.
Upon hiring coaching staff, I think the management must ensure they are in tune with our culture. As I said, I think from the top our goal in approaching games should be to dominate opponents with attacking football founded on a pressing game. Roma are the example I used earlier who I think express this well, as they focus on hiring coaches with an attacking philosophy. Barca, who I regularly return to as examples given their success also do this. They built foundations based on Cruyff's influence developed from Total Football. Guardiola played under Cruyff and developed a similar philosophy, while learning a lot from others, notably Bielsa who he's got huge admiration for. Vilanova worked with Guardiola to develop their game and took over when he left, while Martino now is a "disciple" of Bielsa's. It's evident that Barca focus on getting coaches who are all not just linked to each other, but also share similar philosophies in football.
Finally, I think player training and preparation needs to be looked at from our coaches. Currently, Italy is still a little behind other countries in Europe imo as there's still a huge focus on muscle growth and strength. Problem is that while this made sense in the past, when referees would let a lot more go in matches and attackers had to deal with rough manhandling all the time, now the game has shifted to an almost "non-contact" sport. Essentially, there seems little reason to focus on muscles and strength when there's little room for physicality. Instead, we should look at what teams in Europe are doing, which I think is far more focused on short quick movements and stamina development. Barca and Dortmund are two of the best examples I can think of in this regard.
In the short term I don't think we'll find much success. We need players who are technically gifted, mentally strong and professionals. To get these players, you need money as most top clubs will want them.
Our focus should be twofold therefore imo. I think the first focus should be on youth. We have some technically very gifted youngsters, who are serious about reaching great heights with Milan and seem to have the right mental approach to succeeding. This means giving opportunities to these youngsters in the first team, even at the expense of more experienced and potentially more consistent players. This focus should be to help them learn what's necessary to reach the top.
This leads to another point, which is strict guidelines (note, not necessarily rules) should be given to players about their attitude when working and their lifestyle. I recently rewatched the Maldini movie and Sacchi mentioned that on his return to the club in 1996, he would regularly see players going to restaurants at 11:30pm the night before a match. Over the years, I'm certain this has only got worse. The club have the make sure the players who they bring in have the character and professionalism to live lifestyles which are necessary as athletes. If players are regularly found to fail in this regard, they shouldn't be at the club.
The second focus we should have is prioritising how we buy players for immediate success. Players shouldn't be brought on reputation or ability alone. I'd say their attitude and mental strength are more valuable, even at the cost of ability. Our current squad on paper is one of the best in Serie A, many arguing we should be competing at the top with Napoli and Juve. However, we're seriously prone to mistakes, tactical indiscipline and lapses in motivation. All the ability in the world is meaningless unless the right attitude is applied and quite frankly, often the mentally strong and disciplined side will beat the individually superior one (e.g Dortmund vs Real last season). We have lots of gifted youngsters, but lack the foundations and mental consistency in the group.
Anyway, I could go into more detail about specific development of the squad, tactics and players we should get, never mind how I think the club should be changed as a business. However, I think this post is long enough, with some key fundamental I think we need outlined above.
I'm aware that many have lost faith in the management, thinking they're not taking the best interests of the club when making decisions and therefore thinking this discussion is pointless. However, I would like to see what fans want, where they want us to head within the boundaries (i.e. financial constraints) we now find ourselves in. It's unlikely much will come from this discussion, but without some hope it would be pointless even discussing Milan.
mzk57
5 easy things to do:
(1) Sack Allegri, because he is a dumb loser.
(2) Make DS as a CB. I mean more like a Maldini & Thuram role, who could play both as CD and Fullback.
(3) Take captaincy from Montolivo and give it to Abbiatti.
(4) Make Poli and regular starter & Constant a regular Serginho type sub for crossing
(5) Pray Pray Pray Pray Pray ............................................
ACM2020
Good article as usual, Dev.
Zeekay's thought of turning DS into a CB is quite interesting.
ZvonimirBoban
That to-do-list made by zeekay actually makes sense and better be implemented.
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[View all lots in this auction]
Lot : Oldsmobile CUTLASS 442
Vintage, Classic & Collectors Motor Vehicles, BCA (22 April 2008)
Introduced in 1964 on the Cutlass models in reaction to the Pontiac GTO, the 442 was technically the B09 'Police Apprehender' package offered as a high-performance option. This included a 330 cu in, 310hp motor with a stiffened frame, beefed-up suspension, transmission dubbed 4-4-2 to reflect the 4-barrel carburettor, 4-speed transmission and dual exhausts. The following year a larger 400 cu in motor was added to the option and the package redesignated as 400 cubic inches, 4-barrel carburettor and dual exhausts with the further option of automatic 'Jetaway' transmission offered alongside the 4-speed manual. For '66, a triple barrel carburettor option was added, though this was deleted the following year when the 3-speed 'Turbo-Hydramatic' transmission option replaced the 2-speed 'Jetaway' unit and front disc brakes were offered for the first time. In 1968, the 442 became a model in its own right rather than just a customer-ordered option package.This '68 car has been repainted in Teal Blue metallic and is trimmed with silver blue vinyl. Verified as being a 4-4-2 High-performance V8 Sports Coupe built in the Lancing Michigan plant, it is fitted with automatic transmission and a 445 cu in motor, a similar specification to that used in the 390bhp Hurst/Olds 442 during 1968. Purchased by the vendor in the USA, the car is now UK registered and a V5C document and an MOT certificate to September this year are supplied, along with a copy of the last Certificate of Title. For many years, values of the 442 Series have been overshadowed by other muscle cars, though more recently they have been rising to the point where it is becoming increasingly difficult to find reasonably priced examples.
Vintage, Classic & Collectors Motor Vehicles
BCA, Surrey
£14000-£16000
Hammer Price
Hammer Price (inc premium)
Condition rating
Chassis number
Engine - cylinders
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CURRENT ISSUE PAST ISSUES AHEAD OF PRINT SEARCH GET E-ALERTS
Prasher D
Issue of environmental noise and annoyance
Deepak Prasher
Institute of Laryngology and Otology, University College London, 330 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom
Prasher D. Issue of environmental noise and annoyance. Noise Health 1999;1:1-2
Prasher D. Issue of environmental noise and annoyance. Noise Health [serial online] 1999 [cited 2020 Jan 17];1:1-2. Available from: http://www.noiseandhealth.org/text.asp?1999/1/3/1/31721
In this special issue of the journal of Noise and Health, we consider the subject of annoyance from environmental noise. Annoyance is a particularly important psychological reaction as it affects an individual's quality of life. Furthermore any deterioration in the quality of life has implications for the health of the individual.
Any continued adverse psychological reaction may lead to changes in the immune system and thereby affect the physical well-being of the individual.
In this issue leading experts from the field consider non-acoustical factors which play a significant role in the annoyance from environmental noise.
The understanding of reactions to noise is a necessity for informed decision-making by public authorities.
The impact of noise based on noise levels alone do not reflect the true extent of the effect on the community. Although increasing noise levels show an increase in levels of annoyance, the absolute noise levels are not sufficient determinants of annoyance. A dripping tap with a very low sound level can be extremely annoying when concentration is of the utmost importance.
Activity disturbance plays a major role in the general reaction to noise. Complaints of community noise nuisance have trebled in the last decade in the UK.
There is a growing awareness of the detrimental effect of excessive noise in the environment and a need to understand the factors that affect annoyance levels and how they may be altered to reduce the effect on Man.
This special edition of the Journal raises the importance of non-acoustical determinants of annoyance from environmental noise which we hope will stimulate discussion and offer ways of combating the negative psychological reactions.
Institute of Laryngology and Otology, University College London, 330 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE
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Great weekend at Bridlington Beach Tournament!
posted 6 Jul 2011, 02:48 by Web Admin [ updated 6 Jul 2011, 02:54 ]
Last weekend 27 Rockets players and family members travelled up to Yorkshire’s coastline to take part in the Bridlington Beach tournament in the beautiful sunshine. A mixed fours competition, this is the 29th year of ‘Brid Beach’ and as last year it was a very well organised and enjoyable weekend!
Rockets 1: Marta, Jole, Pawel, Klára and Mathias
Rockets 2: Ieuan, Lauren, Owen and Courtney
Rockets 3: Sharon, Paul S, Rachel, Kate and Mark
Rockets 4: Paul L, Sian, Jeff, Alison and Lara
All 4 Rockets teams had a good day of Saturday competition with all escaping the Bucket & Spade competition and Rockets 1 and 2 making the main KO cup thus earning themsleves a lie in on Sunday morning.
On Saturday afternoon, there was also the opportunity to play in the Men’s, Women’s and Mixed competition and 9 Rockets pairings duly entered. Congratulations to Marta and Jole who made the final of the Women’s pairs, narrowly losing out to a more experienced pair. Well done also to Rachel and Klára who were knocked out in the semi finals (by Marta and Jole) and Owen and Ieuan who as one of the youngest pairings in the competition reached the quarter finals of the Men’s competition.
On Sunday the 4s competition recommenced and Rockets 3 and 4 found themselves in the same pool of the Plate competition. Rockets 4 combining ‘experience’ and the Tax Revenue Massive pulled out their A game for the all Rockets game easing ahead with strong serving and unstoppable blocking from Jeff and Paul. In a complicated results add up, Rockets 3 ended up making it through to the next round and with Rockets 1 & 2 finding tougher opposition in the KO Cup, were the only Rockets team to make it through to round 3 of the competition. Left us plenty of time to go swimming instead J
Jole and Mathias also made it through to the semi final of the Mixed pairs competition, played during a match break on Sunday in front of a crowd of more than 200 players and spectators. They faced a pair from York Volleyball Club who had also brought a lot of teams down to the event; support from both clubs was very loud! The Rockets pairing faced a tough challenge with the tall York male player taking every attack even on the 2nd ball but served tough to keep the scores level. Unfortunately due to clever tipping from the York team and some service errors they just crept behind to lose the set… but some excellent play putting Rockets well on the map!
In all a great weekend (thank you weather) and well done to all the players who took part. We look forward to seeing as many club members as possible there next weekend!
Quote of the weekend: “I have sand in places where I don’t even want to tell you I have sand!”
For all the photos from the weekend, please visit the Nottingham Rockets Facebook page.
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Village Arcade – Classic Pinball and Vintage Arcade Games – St. Peters PA
(Original story at Retro Roadmap)
Established in 1988, Village Arcade in St. Peters Village, PA is a wonderland for vintage game enthusiasts. Proprietor Robert Mauger has been collecting / rebuilding arcade equipment for over 20 years. The arcade features over 40 vintage arcade games and pinball machines manufactured in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, some of which are very rare and hard to find.
According to Mauger, the game Haunted House (Midway 1972), was the premiere release for that year and is very sought after by collectors today. It’s a gun game with two cats, a witch, and a grave robbing monster. The highlight feature of this game is the special 4-channel 8-track player (one track is used for background “spooky” sounds, and three other tracks have sound effects for specific targets – the monster, the cats and the witch). This detailed video illustrates the game play and mechanics of Haunted House.
Haunted House (Midway 1972)
Williams was often crafty in their approach to game construction, as evidenced by Flotilla (Williams 1970). In this game, the player is on a night bombing mission over a three dimensional landscape of lighted sea and land targets. In this video, Mauger explains the advanced conveyor belt and mirrors construction of the game (click HERE).
Invaders from Outer Space (Midway 1970) is similar to Flotilla in that it’s gun uses a red light feature (kind of looks like a laser pointer) to show where it’s being aimed. The player shoots alien invaders using a joystick control, and the game incorporates electronic sound and motorized score reels. The aliens pop up and down across the back and when hit, a red light bulb flashes. Here’s video footage of the game in action (click HERE).
Village Arcade is also home to a number of vintage pinball machines… Actually, it all started with one: Triple Strike (Williams 1975). Mauger explains, “In 1980, I bought Triple Strike because in ’76 everything went digital and people started junking the old mechanical relay machines… They were cheap.” Mauger went on to explain that this relay circuit technology was the same technology used to put a man on the moon… An intriguing comparison for sure.
Domino (Gottlieb 1968)... That's hot!
Just one row out of the many...
Wild Kingdom (Midway 1971) is another game in Mauger’s arcade that features the 8-track sound player. Here only one channel of the 8-tracks is used (for background sounds) though four channels are recorded, but all with the same sound track. Wild Kingdom is a very challenging gun game because the player is shooting against “Jungle Charlie”, a 3″ high moving mechanical marksman on the game’s playfield. Unlike say Haunted House where the player can take their time and shoot as slow as they want, Wild Kingdom forces the player to shoot fast.
The oldest “gun game” in Village Arcade may also have the most interesting story. Arctic Gun (Williams 1967) is a bit like Wild Kingdom but set in the arctic, not a jungle, and there is no “Jungle Charlie”. It makes use of an actual serialized Remington rifle…
Mauger explains:
In the 60s and 70s, they used actual guns for these games to save money, so they went to Remington and bought rifles. The ATF audited Remington and wondered where the other hundred thousand or so rifles were. Remington had sold them to Williams, but had no record of it, and it almost bankrupted the company because of it.
Vintage gun games galore!
Aside from pinball and gun games, there’s classic arcade games like Dozer (Americoin 197?). In this game, the player must operate a minature bulldozer and collect as much “ore” as possible. This video illustrates how this is done (click HERE).
Another one of these electronic games is Whirly Bird (Midway 1969) that feature a helicopter attached to a rod that pivots on top of a center pylon and a counter weight helps lift the helicopter. The player controls the helicopter’s pitch and speed and the object make contact with one of seven stationary pins.
There is much fun to be had at Village Arcade… Aside from playing the games, the art on the machines is wonderfully nostalgic. The vibe of the place evokes a magical timeless feeling. It should not be missed by anyone even remotely interested in the history of arcade games.
Village Arcade
St. Peters PA
Open year round, Sat and Sun 12 – 5
rick harlan
i have a vintage midway's haunted house shooting game wondering what it is worth unfirbished and refurbished. the problems are the lock or keys are missing ( cant open back without , it needs new bulb to lighten up screen game can CPU see a little bit needs to have wood sanded and painted can u get back to me at earliest conveinience thank u
Henry Galecki
I like these old games and would be willing to help if local. Let me know, thanks
I would go take a trip out to Village Arcade in St. Peters Village... Ask for Bob. He'd be your best resource for this.
Winston Wade
I have an ABT 5 cent US Marshall Shooting Game w/ 3 rounds(balls). I'm interested in selling. If you're interested or know someone who mkight be, please contact me or make a reasonable offer via email or call me anytime.
Winston (872)800.4664
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Home Entertainment Bollywood Shahrukh Khan is Second Richest Actor in World
Shahrukh Khan is Second Richest Actor in World
By Shakira Subhani -
It may be a surprise for some that Indian film actor Shahrukh Khan is richer than Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Johny Depp. In fact King Khan is the second richest actor in the world after Jerry Seinfeld. Khan is the only actor in Bollywood who made to the top 10 list of the richest actors in Hollywood and Bollywood in 2013.
Bollywood Actor, producer and businessman Shahrukh Khan’s estimated worth is $600 million in 2013 which is $120 million less than the richest US comedian Jerry Seinfeld who topped the list with worth of $820 million.
Tom Cruise with net worth of $480 million is listed at number 3 whereas Johny Depp is at number 4 in the top 10 richest actors of the world.
Shahrukh Khan is the co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders. He also has his own production companies
Red Chillies Entertainment and Dreamz Unlimited
Red Chillies Entertainment and Dreamz Unlimited. He earns handsome amounts through endorsement deals and profit sharing in his movies.
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Shakira Subhani
Is there something going on between Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora?
Dabang hero Salman Khan will never marry in his life
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International Star Abbas Hasan Ready To Steal More Hearts With “Away” Starring Humaima Malick!
World’s First one take Bollywood Horror movie “Super Natural” pays tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema
I love SRK May 28, 2014 at 7:42 pm
He’s the king of the world.. Not only bollywood.
#power_of_common_man .. he’s the legend forever…!! No johnny depp, tom cruise, Tom hanks, leonardo decaprio.. He does not want to sign a hokkywood movie as he knows that he’ll change the trend and the style over there..
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12/31/19 - The North Idaho College men’s basketball team closed out the pre-season by winning two of three games Dec. 28-30 at the Aztec Winter Classic at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona....
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12/30/19 - The NIC Lady Cards defeated Lethbridge College and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology on Dec. 27 and 28 respectively to boost their record to 6-5....
NIC Dec. 19 wrestling dual postponed
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Wesley R. Payne, IV is a partner at White and Williams LLP and served on the Board of Governors from 2006–2015 as a member, assistant treasurer and treasurer. For the last two years, he has served as a non-voting member on the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Bar Association as the Zone 1 Governor. Payne will serve as Vice Chancellor of the Association in 2020 after running unopposed in the Association's 2019 Annual Election, which culminated at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2019.
Philadelphia Bar Association Applauds City Council for Passage of Historic Right to Counsel Bill
The Philadelphia Bar Association today commended the Philadelphia City Council for passing Bill No. 190386, Legal Representation in Landlord Tenant Court, launching Philadelphia into the forefront of the national movement of American cities providing a right to counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction. The legislation was strongly supported by the Philadelphia Bar Association.
2019 Annual Meeting Introducing Our 93rd Chancellor Hon. A. Michael Snyder (Ret.) Dec. 12
Join us at the 2019 Annual Meeting Luncheon, introducing our 93rd Chancellor Hon. A. Michael Snyder (Ret.), in the Grand Ballroom at The Bellevue Hotel on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 12 p.m.
Nov. 18-22: 2019 Member Appreciation Week!
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Board of Governors Adopts a Resolution at October Meeting
The Philadelphia Bar Association's Board of Governors adopted a resolution in October urging the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to discontinue the practice of considering the assets income or wealth of applicants when conducting investigations of applicants for pardon.
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苏州奥体美甲培训学校
苏州美甲培训学校
His ‘first love’ calls Anthony back to trade
May 8th, 2018 / / categories: 苏州美甲学校 /
ONE liked to listen to John Laws, while the other likes a bit of Cold Chisel.
But there is one thing in common between barbers John Hardcastle and Anthony Staines – they both love a shave and a haircut.
It’s been a real changing of the guard at shop 8d in Bourke St in recent weeks with the closure of John’s business paving the way for the next generation in Anthony’s.
Now enjoying his retirement, John put in 40 years wielding the scissors in the little shopfront and has passed the torch, and the keys to the new barber in town.
Taking up an apprenticeship at age 18 with a friendly Italian named Angelo in his home town of Cowra, Anthony learnt the tricks of the trade from an old hand.
“He was a hard boss but a great barber,” Anthony said.
Sweeping up hair and cleaning windows, the young apprentice watched his boss wield the scissors and use the cut-throat razor to shave his clients, a skill that has gone out of fashion in today’s world.
“Too many bumps and grooves – it’s pretty hard to beat a Mach III these days,” he said.
Anthony said his inner creative side had a hand in him learning the trade. All his brothers were tradesmen and he didn’t think he’d enjoy the same work. A songwriter and musician in his spare time, he said he planned to bring a musical touch to his retro-styled shop.
“I will definitely have the electric guitar up there on the wall soon, and maybe a few old music posters.”
After completing his apprenticeship, the young barber took a break, moving to Tamworth with wife Jacinta and his two sons and working his way up to a management position at Specsavers.
But he couldn’t escape the calling, returning to the trade he calls “his first love” and opening the doors to Headlines at the beginning of August, just a few short weeks after John closed the doors.
Offering traditional techniques with a modern twist, he plans to embrace old-school moves such as the cut-throat razor and scissors-over-comb techniques.
Kids’ styles are his signature, as his own two boys come in for a handy bit of practise, often getting a bit of “product” and astyle session in the morning.
There’s been a shift in men’s hairstyling of late, with traditional barber shops getting fewer as men visit hairdressers for their monthly chop.
“A few years ago it was taboo for a man to get his hair cut at a hairdressers. Now it’s quite common. Dads used to consider it a rite of passage to take their kids to the barber shop,” Anthony said.
One thing hasn’t changed and that’s the unspoken rule of barbering: what is said in the chair, stays in the chair.
“It’s an immediate trust between the barber and the client. Some say that barbers and taxi drivers should be running the country with all the things you’re told at work,” he said.
He’s looking forward to a long career, and with most of his customers devotees of his former barbering friend John, the new kid in town is well on his way.
“They are very supportive,” Anthony said.
NEW KID IN TOWN: Anthony Staines has opened his barber shop in the same location as retired Tamworth barber, John Hardcastle. Photo: Barry Smith 300812BSA23
This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on 苏州美甲学校.
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苏州美甲学校
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Radio Havana Cuba
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NewsInternational NewsU.S. Justice Department Warns 'Sanctuary Cities' With Grant Money At Risk
U.S. Justice Department Warns 'Sanctuary Cities' With Grant Money At Risk
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Washington, April 22 (RHC)-- The U.S. Justice Department has escalated its approach to so-called "sanctuary cities," writing to at least eight jurisdictions to put them on notice they could be failing to cooperate with immigration authorities.
Alan Hanson, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's grant-making arm, warned the cities that they're required to submit proof they comply with federal immigration law.
"Failure to comply with this condition could result in the withholding of grant funds, suspension or termination of the grant, ineligibility for future... grants, or other action, as appropriate," Hanson wrote. The cities receiving the letters include: Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, New York and Sacramento.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has adopted a hard line on immigration, dating to his time in the U.S. Senate. Sessions links immigration to a variety of social problems, including what he claims is a rise in crime. In a statement accompanying the letters to sanctuary cities, the Justice Department said "many of these jurisdictions are also crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime."
While murders and other violence are on the rise in some major cities, most scholars have concluded that crime remains near historic lows, and that immigrants commit fewer crimes than U.S.-born citizens.
Edited by Pavel Jacomino
Dark money charity paid acting U.S. attorney general over one million dollars
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U.S. attorney general defends policy of tearing infants from mothers’ arms
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Puerto Rico: the struggle for independence continues
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Imperialism and Revolution Episode #22
Ricardo Alarcón: Recent anti-Cuba measures by the Trump Administration reflect complete failure of Washington's Cuba policy
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Woodbury Commons Station
Re: Woodbury Common finally getting it's own Metro North sta
Post by EuroStar » Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:14 pm
I did not realize the proposed area already had a passing siding. That is a problem that an island platform will not solve it. Look at Wesmont. It is an island platform, but still required two elevators to the overhead bridge. If you have an overhead bridge you definitely need the elevators given that the bridge needs to have clearance for double stack trains. In addition to that Wesmont has clearance for wires if the Bergen line ever gets electrification. Even without that extra height for wires it still seems pretty high to me for ramps. With a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks the required clearance is much less, so ramps might work. But tunnels are expensive -- that is why all new construction has involved overpasses.
I am unsure why but I am pretty certain that pedestrians crossing at grade are not being built any more (Teterboro could have used one given that the station is on the opposite side of the residential neighbourhood). NJT is even trying to close the existing one at Ho-Ho-Kus and would gladly eliminate the one at Hawthorne if there was a cheap way to do so. Dover benefits from the existing street crossing as does Plauderville. Is there a street crossing close to the proposed Woodbury platform? No. In fact that is one of the reasons why the double track is there -- there are no crossing. Also note how the double track begins after Harriman station -- otherwise the station will need two platforms and an ADA compliant way to connect them. Additionally note how the proposed future addition of more passing sidings on the line are away from any of the stations -- in order to avoid the cost of modifying the stations which triggers ADA and the need for elevators.
Post by Backshophoss » Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:20 pm
Southeast(Brewster North) was setup with a ramp and gated crossing when build during the 3rd rail extension project on the Harlem Line.
That is an island platform,believe Wilton on the Danbury Branch, was done that way as well.
Post by R36 Combine Coach » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:30 pm
EuroStar wrote: INJT is even trying to close the existing one at Ho-Ho-Kus and would gladly eliminate the one at Hawthorne if there was a cheap way to do so. Dover benefits from the existing street crossing as does Plauderville.
When the new high level platform at Dover was built in the mid 1990s, a new ADA compliant pedestrian grade crossing was built at east end by the ticket office instead of elevators and overpass.
Post by DutchRailnut » Sat Mar 17, 2018 3:56 pm
since 1990 the intellect of average commuter and rail crossing user has taken a nose dive , and may require rethinking !!
Post by Ridgefielder » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:41 am
Backshophoss wrote: Southeast(Brewster North) was setup with a ramp and gated crossing when build during the 3rd rail extension project on the Harlem Line.
Yes, Wilton is a center-island platform between the main and the siding with a ramp leading to a gated crossing. However, the crossing also exists to serve a parking lot that's sandwiched between the tracks and the Norwalk River, across from the station. There's at least one regularly-scheduled meet at this station every day.
SecaucusJunction
Location: NS Watchdog
Post by SecaucusJunction » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:16 pm
You'd think this would be easier than other places on MTA because you don't have to worry about someone wandering off the sidewalk and right into the third rail....
Still seems like a Dover set up would be ideal, if possible, for this station, given the fact that the tracks are not nearly as active as other MTA lines, or even NJT M&E where Dover is.
I think it may be possible that NJ Transit might not be the perfect, infallible organization that most people assume it is.
Location: If it's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium
Re: Woodbury Commons Station
Post by Jeff Smith » Fri Dec 28, 2018 12:30 am
RecordOnline.com: Skoufis urges train station for Woodbury Common
Assemblyman and senator-elect James Skoufis is urging the Woodbury Planning Board to require the construction of a Metro-North train station at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets as a condition of the latest proposed expansion of the shopping center.
Skoufis, a Woodbury Democrat who will succeed Sen. Bill Larkin in January, sent the board a letter this month in response to Simon Property Group’s new proposal to build two hotels, more stores and restaurants, more than 2,000 additional parking spaces in two garages, and a helipad.
The notion of building a Metro-North station at the outlet center to serve New York City-area shoppers and relieve traffic has come up before, most recently when Gov. Andrew Cuomo surprisingly announced that “we are putting a Metro-North station at Woodbury Commons” during a budget speech in Poughkeepsie in February.
Metro-North officials afterward stressed that “the project is in its early stages,” leaving major unanswered questions about the cost and timeline, and whether Simon Property Group or New York taxpayers would pay for the station.
Woodbury Mayor Michael Queenan was skeptical that a train station would absorb traffic, but adamant that Simon Property Group - not taxpayers - shoulder the cost if the project comes to fruition.
He also argued that a second set of tracks should be built so commuters aren’t inconvienced by stops at the outlet center.
Next stop, Willoughby
~el Jefe ("Jeff Smith Rules") :: RAILROAD.NET Site Administrator/Co-Owner
njt/mnrrbuff
Post by njt/mnrrbuff » Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:39 am
I'm glad that this project is back and is probably needed as people coming from the city and points closer and between would probably rather be dropped off at the mall rather than a little over a mile away. Having a second track at the proposed site of the station would be good too. Wait a minute, isn't that in the original plan, as part of having long sidings as far as Salisbury Mills-Cornwall?
Hopefully whenever this project gets passed the planning stages, the service reliability will improve. These days, not many people are happy with NJT and the Pt. Jervis Line has been getting affected a lot.
Post by SecaucusJunction » Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:40 am
How many sets of tracks do they need?? There are two there already. This line is hardly the Northeast Corridor.
Post by njt/mnrrbuff » Fri Dec 28, 2018 3:31 pm
It’s not the NEC but the PJL has been turning into an enhanced commuter rail route serving an exurban/rural region where people move to save money while being close enough to commute to NYC, Jersey City, and Hoboken. Eventually MTA is supposed to let NJT extend more trains beyond Suffern but many of them will probably go as far as either Middletown-Town of Wallkill or Salisbury Mills-Cornwall. Between Middletown and Pt. Jervis, I doubt that many people are commuting daily to the city. In fact, it’s too far from Middletown-Town of Wallkill. I think that as the trains get closer to Salisbury Mills-Cornwall, then ridership will increase. When the frequency of trains is increased, that will help commuters.
Post by TDowling » Sun Feb 17, 2019 9:10 pm
One of my first posts on this forum was to suggest a part time stop designated exclusively for shoppers....that seems to be what is happening now with Woodbury Common. It most likely would not make sense to have every train on the PJL stop there (especially considering the likelihood of doubled service on the line).
One of the issues is shuttling from Harriman Station to the mall. As of now, there is only one main line shuttle bus that meets the 10:28AM arrival and 6:30PM departure. If ShortLine and NYSDOT would finally pony up some dough to purchase new shuttle buses (as the current ones I am told have well over half a million miles on them) there could be enhanced connecting service at Harriman.
ShortLine more often than not uses its regular fleet to compensate for the shuttles as they are quite prone to breakdowns.
NIMBYkiller
Location: Port Washington
Post by NIMBYkiller » Mon Feb 18, 2019 4:58 pm
Shortline has ZERO incentive to improve that shuttle connection if the amount of business they are said to do between NYC and Woodbury is true.
Post by TDowling » Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:43 pm
It looks like Simon properties, the proprietor of Woodbury Common, is turning its back on construction of a train station.
http://www.thephoto-news.com/news/local ... n-KN593387
According to the Photo News, a local Orange County-based journal, and other sources, 5 million dollars was brought to the table, a compendium of state and federal funds.
In my seven years in the State Legislature, I've never seen such unreasonable disregard by a corporation towards its host community," Skoufis said. "We are coming to the table with $5 million to make a train station work and Simon Properties doesn't even have the decency to take a meeting. This ought to be a win-win-win: a win for the local community, taking untold thousands of cars off our local roads; a win for the outlet mall with a new opportunity for shoppers to conveniently get to Woodbury Common; and a win for the MTA which stands to see a significant increase in ridership
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Who is a Vaiṣṇava?
śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year-2, Issue 12
Posted: 5 January 2010
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Inspired by and under the guidance of
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Question 1: Who impels the living beings to act?
Answer: Śrī Viṣṇu alone is the governor and master of all living beings. Whatever activities the living entities perform, the Supreme Lord bestows the appropriate fruits of their actions. In accordance with the activities the living entity performed in his previous births, the Lord inspires in him the inclination to continue acting in a certain manner. Hence, the living soul is the dependent, instrumental entity, whereas the Lord is the entity who impels him to act.
Since the living being is the doer of his own acts, he becomes eligible to receive specific results and engage in further acts thereafter, but it is the Supreme Lord who impels him to enjoy those fruits, whatever they may be, and engage in further acts. In short, the Supreme Lord bestows the fruits of action and the living soul enjoys them.
Those who are averse to the Lord are impelled to act by the influence of His external, illusory potency, but His surrendered devotees are inspired to act by the Supreme Lord Himself.
Question 2: What is the difference between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Viṣṇu?
Answer: From the perspective of tattva, Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu are essentially one and the same. They are both the Supreme Personality of Godhead (bhagavad-tattva), the infinite whole (pūrṇa-tattva) and the fountainhead of all energies (śaktimān-tattva). When Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the embodiment of mādhurya (sweetness), appears instead as the very form of aiśvarya (majestic splendour and opulence), then He is Viṣṇu, or Nārāyaṇa.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa has a two-armed form and holds the flute. Śrī Viṣṇu has a four-armed form and holds a conch, disk, club and lotus flower. Sixty virtuous qualities* reside in full within Śrī Viṣṇu, while all sixty-four qualities are present in their absolute fullness within Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa can steal the heart of Lakṣmi, but Nārāyaṇa is not able to attract the hearts of the vraja-devīs, who are exclusively Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beloveds. Śrī Viṣṇu is served in two-and-a-half rasas, namely neutrality (śānta), servitorship (dāsya) and a form of friendship that is partially stifled by reverence (gaurava-sakhya). But Śrī Kṛṣṇa can be served in every respect and with utmost love and affection through all five rasas – namely, neutrality, servitorship, friendship unhindered by any feelings of inequality (viśrambha sakhya), parenthood (vātsalya) and divine, transcendental amour (mādhurya) – while regarding Him as one’s own husband, one’s son and so forth.
* Referring to the sixty-four qualities of Godhead of which fifty are marginally present in the ordinary living beings, and fifty-five in the demigods.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the self-originative form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (svayam-rūpa). Just as from one lamp, all other lamps are lit, all the innumerable forms of Viṣṇu have manifested from Him alone.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the embodiment of mādhurya, or sweetness, and Śrī Viṣṇu is the embodiment of aiśvarya (majestic splendour and opulence). Although, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Master of all that is, He does not consider Himself to be. His self-conception is as the son of Nanda, the beloved of Rādhā and so on. Śrī Viṣṇu’s self-conception on the other hand, is as the Supreme Lord. Śrī Viṣṇu is served through vidhi-mārga, the path in which regulative principles are followed in accordance with the instructions of authentic scriptures, whereas Śrī Kṛṣṇa is served through rāga-mārga, the path in which service is dictated by spontaneous attraction. Due to the presence of awe and reverence within service to Śrī Viṣṇu, a mood of shyness remains in one’s heart, but no shyness is exhibited by the residents of Vraja in their service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Question 3: Who is a Vaiṣṇava?
Answer: The servants of Śrīla Gurudeva are Vaiṣṇavas. Only those who have taken shelter of the lotus feet of a bona-fide guru by accepting initiation (dīkṣā) from him are Vaiṣṇavas. One’s guru-bhakti is the gauge for determining the level of his kṛṣṇa-bhakti, or his vaiṣṇavatā (his standing as a Vaiṣṇava). One who relinquishes his guru or is envious of him is not a Vaiṣṇava; he is a non-Vaiṣṇava, an atheist and a candidate for hellish life. He who is antagonistic toward the spiritual master (a guru-drohi) is envious of the Supreme Lord and, indeed, of the whole world. The only pure devotees (śuddha-bhaktas) are those devotees who are selfless and who possess guru-niṣṭha (immovable faith in and dedication to śrī guru). Thus it is said:
kanaka-kāminī,’ ‘pratiṣṭhā-bāghinī,’
chāḍiyāche jāre, sei to’ vaiṣṇava
sei ‘anāsakta,’ sei ‘śuddha-bhakta,’
saṁsār tathā pāy parābhava
The desire for money, women and fame is compared to a tigress. Verily, a Vaiṣṇava is he who has relinquished such desires. Only one such as him can be called detached and a pure devotee (śuddha-bhakta). None but him can truly overcome material existence.
Question 4: Is there any means of attaining spiritual welfare other than rendering service to Śrī Bhagavān?
Answer: Certainly not. Upon becoming averse to Kṛṣṇa, the living entity will pursue the path of yoga and accept Paramātmā as the Supreme Reality; or he will pursue the path of impersonal knowledge and consider the impersonal, undifferentiated and all-pervasive spirit (brahma) to be the Supreme Reality. Pursuing these paths cannot bestow any welfare upon him. In contrast, service to Śrī Bhagavān awards Bhagavān Himself. Without service to Bhagavān, the living soul cannot attain any auspiciousness. Bhagavān is not an entity we must merely attain proximity to; rather He is the object of our eternal service (nitya-sevyā vastu).
Engaging in mundane worldly discussions is indicative of a lack of eagerness to hear topics related to Bhagavān. But the discussion of topics related to Bhagavān itself instils in us that very eagerness. If one does not achieve the state of liberation while still in his present body (jīvan-mukta), then he will be bound to take another birth. In unfavourable association, that is, while remaining averse to hari-kathā, the desire to attain deliverance from that burden – from the suffering of material existence – does not even arise. And even if the desire is present, it is motivated by the hope of gaining personal happiness.
Service to Bhagavān is not the same as the desire, or search for personal happiness. The desire to seek personal happiness is nothing but attachment to selfishness. Those who desire material sense enjoyment and those who desire impersonal liberation both search for their own happiness. Consequently, Bhagavān favours neither he who is engaged in sense gratification nor the false renunciant. Such persons are only favoured by the material potency of Bhagavān, which bewilders the antagonists. Bhagavān, the master of the material potency, only personally favours those who are surrendered to Him in every respect and who are engaged in searching for ways to please Him.
We must gain emancipation by becoming guru-devatātmā – he who perceives his guru as his Lord and as dear as his very soul – and thereby serving śrī guru without duplicity. Only then will we be able to achieve pure and sublime service. This most elevated transcendental service cannot be obtained unless one becomes liberated.
We must constantly engage in chanting the holy names under the guidance of śrī guru. We must always remember that kṛṣṇa-bhajana is constituted solely of nāma-bhajana.* Indeed, one will achieve all perfection by serving the holy name (śrī-nāma). The subject matter of the topmost realm of bhajana can only be comprehended by serving śrī-nāma.
* The term bhajana, in the mature state, refers to a profound condition of divine internal worship wherein the liberated soul can engage in direct service to the Supreme Lord.
Translated by the Rays of The Harmonist team
from Śrīla Prabhupadera Upadeśāmṛta
Questions re-numbered for this on-line presentation
Śrīla Prabhupadera Upadeśāmṛta is a compilation of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda’s instructions in question-and-answer form.
Rays of The Harmonist On-line, Year 2, Issue 12 “Who is a Vaiṣṇava?” by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda , is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License to ensure that it is always freely available. You may redistribute this article if you include this license and attribute it to Rays of The Harmonist. Please ask for permission before using the Rays of The Harmonist banner-logo.
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Queen Elizabeth's School
London Politics Trip
Year 12 and Year 13 Politics Trip to London
Written by Molly McLaughlin (Y12 Politics student)
Back in February, the Year 12 and Year 13 Government and Politics classes went on a trip to London to visit the Houses of Parliament, meet with local MP Simon Hoare and meet other individuals such as MPs assistants, MPs and others who work within politics.
We had a brilliant tour of the Houses of Parliament with a guide who gave us important information that is beneficial to our course. We first entered the House of Lords where we got to see a debate which was interesting. It was incredi- ble to see the Lords in action andhowitissetout.Aswesat in the gallery, we saw the dynamics of the House of Lords and the progression of the debate, and how they would later on make amend- ments to government legislation. The House of Lords was full of History and we could identify the different parts which make up the House.
After spectating the debate, we left the Lords and shortly entered the House of Commons. The debate held in the House of Commons was fascinating to watch too. We saw Members of Parliament in action debating over important legislation.
We saw a variety of MPs broadcasting their thoughts to other members that were present. Normally, we see these MPs taking part in PMQs and other televised debates, it was a great opportunity as we could see them live, changing and debating over legislation and issues in the UK today. We continued to watch the debate in the Commons and left before it was going to end. Following this, we were asked questions by the guide regarding the Houses of Parliament. We also got background history on Parliament too. We saw where a suffragette chained themselves to a statue in Parliament during a protest for Women’sRightsandwealso were given background information on our first ever Prime Minister Robert Walpole.
This really is important for us as politics students as our knowledge is forever growing and having this tour of Parliament allowed us to revise our current knowledge while adding to it at the same time. When the tour ended we were taken back to the Parliament Education Centre for a ‘Political Speed Debating’ event. We got the chance to meet different people who work within Parliament and different assistants. Talking to the different politicians, assistants and workers within Parliament
gave us all an insight into what working within Parliament was like. We got the chance to broadcast our views and interests to these individuals and they were enthusiastic to listen. I believe that this motivated many of the politics students to get more involved politically.
Towards the end of our day in Westminster, we met with local MP Simon Hoare. We asked him questions regard- ing our local area and what he is actively doing to improve it for everyone and what his views on ‘Brexit’ are. We all got the chance to ask him questions which were important to us, and he recognised the Year 13s who hehaspreviouslymetbefore. It was lovely to meet another local MP as this gave us another chance to express our views and opinions. Finally, we left the Parliament Education Centre and head- ed back to the Tube Station where we began our journey home. This trip was an amazing experience for us politics students which will prove to be helpful as we start our exams. We are all grateful for this trip that was organised by Miss Barr and it wouldn’t have been possible without her. Overall, the trip was out- standing and it was such an amazing experience that we were lucky to have.
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NBN tower on Mount Camel axed by Aboriginal quarry
The tribunal found that, while the tower was unlikely to affect Aboriginal artefacts, it could ride roughshod over ‘intangible’ cultural values. Photo: Rob HomerAn attempt by government-owned NBN Co to build a telecommunications tower on rural Victoria’s Mount Camel has been scuppered by “intangible” cultural heritage sensitivities and an Aboriginal axe quarry.
The NBN Co is charged with rolling out Australia’s largest infrastructure project, a country-wide broadband network that includes building extensive wireless and cable infrastructure.
The decade-long building process, which started in 2009, has hit snags in the past, including asbestos contamination in underground ducts and significant political opposition.
Now, NBN Co has been rebuked for failing to properly consult the Taungurung Aboriginal Clan about an access track and fixed wireless broadband tower it wants to build on Mount Camel’s summit near Bendigo.
The Mount Camel area has registered Aboriginal cultural heritage sites, including axe quarries.
NBN’s plans for a 25-metre-high tower and an equipment shed were scuttled by Victoria’s planning tribunal, which also chastised the company for failing to talk to local Aboriginal groups.
“The tribunal was not assisted by NBN Co’s expert choosing not to contact the Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation to inquire about possible intangible values before preparing her witness statement and giving oral evidence,” a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal member said.
The tribunal found that, while the tower was unlikely to affect Aboriginal artefacts, it could ride roughshod over “intangible” cultural values like stories and traditions about the landscape.
The tower would have a large and unacceptable visual impact, which, combined with the possible impact on cultural sensitivities, led the tribunal to reject it.
However, neither NBN nor the tribunal was able to assess what the intangible impact would be because the local Taungurung Clan “declined” to get involved in legal action or attend hearings.
It also failed to participate in a cultural heritage management plan that NBN Co volunteered to put together, the tribunal said.
Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Lawrence Moser said at the time the corporation was under-resourced and unable to respond.
NBN Co could have “gone about it a whole lot better”, Mr Moser said.
“All we wanted . . . was to engage in the process that’s set out under the legislation and to maintain our right to protect our cultural heritage. I think we’ve been treated unfairly.”
Consultation was a “high priority” for NBN Co, which took “great care to minimise the impact of our facilities in these areas”, a spokeswoman said.
“NBN is currently reviewing its options for making a decision on the best way to service the Mount Camel community,” she said.
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End of the line for credit card surcharges
Bit on top: an inquiry is now looking at the practice of adding a surcharge when purchases are made with credit cards. Photo: Michel O’SullivanFor several years now, regulators have tacitly acknowledged that some businesses are gouging customers who pay on credit.
However, attempts to stamp out the excessive fees for paying on plastic are proving to be frustratingly slow.
Credit card surcharges – the extra fees levied on customers who use credit, instead of some other payment type – have the dubious honour of being the most complained-about issue in the last year’s financial system inquiry.
An online campaign led to more than 5000 submissions being lodged about this issue. But it is not just a populist concern.
The Reserve Bank, which supports the principle of surcharging, has nonetheless argued that a minority of credit card surcharges are really a sneaky way for some businesses to make extra money from their customers.
It wants to stamp out these “excessive” charges, so that businesses can only pass on the true cost of accepting credit card payments.
For consumers, however, progress on this front has been painfully slow.
An RBA discussion paper in mid 2011 raised concerns about excessive surcharging. It found that the practice was most rife in industries where payments are typically made online and there are fewer alternative payment methods – such as when you are booking a holiday. As the graph shows, this is also the industry where surcharging is most common.
Ultimately, the RBA’s concerns led to rule changes designed to stop merchants using credit card surcharges to gouge their customers.
But it’s been almost two years since those rules came into force, and some of the most unpopular surcharges, such as those used by airlines, remain.
That is because the current system has proven difficult to enforce – as it’s complex and time-consuming to establish the retailer’s exact costs of accepting credit.
Now, the government has been presented with a new proposal on how to deal with excessive surcharging.
The financial system inquiry, chaired by David Murray, argues that what is needed are clear surcharge limits, rather than leaving it open to companies to determine. The proposal is open for consultation now.
Under the model proposed by Murray, some amount of surcharging would continue because it is an important “price signal” to customers.
It tells shoppers that paying on credit is more expensive for the retailer – and gives customers an incentive to use a lower-cost method.
But rather than the current system that is proving tough to enforce, Murray has proposed allowing low-cost cards, such as debit cards, to ban retailers from surcharging altogether.
Medium-cost cards, such as Visa and MasterCard, would be allowed to cap surcharges at a certain level. While the higher-cost cards – American Express and Diners Club – would continue with the current approach, but be forced to better explain to their customers why they might have to pay a surcharge.
Murray reckons this approach would be simpler, would reduce excessive surcharging, and would allow customers to avoid surcharges altogether if they want to. It seems a sensible response to a gripe that refuses to go away.
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System damned by planner’s decades of fraud
More care: Scrutiny needs be be on licensee practises as much as it is on the employees.It seems incredible that a financial adviser could continue to rip off clients for two decades.
To get more Money more often, why not follow us on Twitter? We’re @FairfaxMoney
Such was the case with Sydney financial planner Melinda Scott, who was sentenced to a minimum three years and 10 months in jail for defrauding clients, including her friends, of almost $6 million.
Scott owned her own advice business, Roach Graham Scott, but operated under the licences of others, including, most recently, through a licensee owned by ANZ.
It was a Ponzi scheme where the savings from some clients were used to pay-out other clients, while pocketing the money herself.
Fraud can hard to detect. But our regulatory system, which regulates the employers of planners rather than individual planners, does not help.
Under the licensing regime, the employer holding the license has responsibility for all those operating under its licence.
Much has been written, including by myself, on how inadequate background checking by some employers leaves those seeking financial advice exposed. Bad apples have been able to circulate from employer to employer. Scott was banned from providing financial advice much earlier in her career. She was banned as a securities representative in 1996. The banning was for 10 years; a lengthy term which means she must have committed serious wrong-doing.
She was banned at the behest of the Australian Securities Commission; the forerunner of today’s Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The earlier Commission could only ban Scott from giving advice on investments, such as managed funds, as it did not have responsibility for insurance and superannuation. That meant she could continue to give advice on insurance and superannuation, including annuities.
She was able to get away with her crimes for so long, the judge of the trial observed, because her clients rarely checked their superannuation funds.
The judge also said there was a lack of scrutiny by those whose licences she operated under.
You would think that a previous banning order would be a red flag to any potential employer.
ANZ says its hiring processes have since been improved and that Scott would never be hired today.
ANZ has compensated most of the affected clients, with more compensation to follow, regardless of whether the losses occurred during or before Scott was an adviser operating under the license of an ANZ-owned subsidiary.
ASIC has repeatedly warned employers that they need to have “robust recruitment processes”. That is especially the case when checking references and credentials of those who have worked for financial planning firms against whom it has taken action.
The much-anticipated public register of financial advisers will help arm consumers against dodgy advisers.
For the first time, everyone who is giving personal advice will have details about them listed.
A planner’s qualifications and membership of professional associations will be listed. Most importantly, any bans, disqualifications and enforceable undertakings will be listed.
The register will start on March 31; though not all required information will on the register until May 30. ASIC will be able to impose financial penalties and possible jail terms for putting misleading information on the register.
@jcollett_money
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News of the week (2019)
FREE online courses on nanotechnology
Self-Sterilizing Microneedles
March 6, 2019 Uncategorized
Vaccinations are the world’s frontline defence against infectious diseases yet despite decades of interventions, unsafe injection practices continue to expose billions of people to serious infection and disease.
Now, new technology from the University of South Australia is revolutionising safe vaccination practices through antibacterial, silver-loaded dissolvable microneedle patches, which not only sterilise the injection site to inhibit the growth of bacteria, but also physically dissolve after administration.
These first generation microneedles have the potential to transform the safe administration of transdermal vaccinations and drug delivery”, explains Lead researcher, Professor Krasimir Vasilev .
“Injections are one of the most common health care procedures used for vaccinations and curative care around the world,” Prof Vasilev adds. “But up to 40 per cent of injections are given with improperly sterilised syringes and needles, placing millions of people at risk of contracting a range of illnesses or diseases. “Our silver-loaded microneedles have inherently potent antibacterial properties which inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria and reduce the chance of infection.”
The UniSA study tested the antibacterial efficacy of silver-loaded microneedles against bacteria associated with common skin infections – Golden staph, staphylococcus epidermis, escherichia coli and pseudomonas aeruginosa – and found that the silver-loaded microneedle patches created a 24-hour bacteria-free zone around the patch administration site, a feature unique to the new technology.
The silver-loaded microneedles comprise an array of 15 x 15 needles each 700 micron in length, which pierce only the top layer of the skin without reaching the underlying nerves, making them 100 per cent painless.
The microneedles are made from a safe, biocompatible and highly water-soluble polymer that completely dissolve within one minute of application, leaving behind no sharp waste.
Source: http://www.unisa.edu.au/
Deep-sea microbe sheds light on primordial evolutionary milestone
A microorganism scooped up in deep-sea mud off Japan's coast has helped scientists unlock the mystery of one of the watershed evolutionary events for life on Earth: the transition from the simple cells that first colonized the planet to complex cellular life - fungi, plants and animals including people.
Brain freeze: Russian firm offers path to immortality for a fee
When Alexei Voronenkov's 70-year-old mother passed away, he paid to have her brain frozen and stored in the hope breakthroughs in science will one day be able to bring her back to life.
U.S. flood risk model to be publicly available in boon for homebuyers
A climate research organization will offer access to a risk model that predicts the probability of flooding for homes across the United States, giving the public a look at the data institutional investors use to gauge risk.
Fly me to the moon: Japanese billionaire Maezawa seeks girlfriend for SpaceX voyage
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's search for a girlfriend to join him on a voyage around the moon will be the subject of a new documentary program, in the latest attention-grabbing stunt by the entrepreneur.
Oldest stuff on Earth found inside meteorite that hit Australia
A meteorite that crashed into rural southeastern Australia in a fireball in 1969 contained the oldest material ever found on Earth, stardust that predated the formation of our solar system by billions of years, scientists said on Monday.
Chinese woman with mystery virus quarantined in Thailand
A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain of coronavirus, authorities said on Monday, the first time it has been detected outside China.
China launches gigantic telescope in hunt for life beyond earth
China on Saturday officially opened operations of the world's largest radio telescope, which it will use for space research and help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Blackstone raises three-quarters of targeted $4.6 billion life sciences fund
U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc has secured $3.4 billion from investors for its first fund dedicated to investments in the life sciences sector, targeting $4.6 billion in total, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday.
Feces-smeared fakes: Scientists use rubber hands in OCD therapy
A new type of therapy using feces and fake rubber hands may be able to help patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) overcome their fears of touching contaminated surfaces, according to new research.
NASA, Boeing probe software glitch that stopped astronaut capsule from reaching space station
NASA is opening an independent investigation with Boeing over a software glitch that prevented its unmanned astronaut capsule from reaching the International Space Station in December, the agency said on Tuesday.
Lidar laser-sensing technology: from self-driving cars to dance contests
Self-driving cars employ lidar, a remote sensing technology using pulsed laser light the way radar uses radio waves, and lidar makers waiting for the automotive market to take off are courting new customers who would use the technology for everything from monitoring cattle to helping a disc jockey synchronize dance music.
No eyes? No problem. Marine creature expands boundaries of vision
A cousin of the starfish that resides in the coral reefs of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico lacks eyes, but can still see, according to scientists who studied this creature that expands the boundaries of the sense of sight in the animal kingdom.
Israel Aerospace to build Israel's next communication satellite
State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) [ISRAI.UL] said on Thursday it signed with the Israeli government to build the country's next communication satellite.
India has approved its third lunar mission months after its last one failed to successfully land on the moon, its space agency said on Wednesday, the latest effort in its ambitions to become a low-cost space power.
China plans to issue biosafety certificates to domestic GM soybean, corn
China's agriculture ministry said on Monday it plans to issue biosafety certificates to a domestically grown, genetically modified (GM) soybean crop and two corn crops, in a move toward commercializing GM grain production in the world's top market.
NASA's Mars 2020 rover set to hunt Martian fossils, scout for manned missions
A NASA robotic rover is nearing completion ahead of a journey next year to search for evidence of past life on Mars and lay the groundwork for the space agency's mission to send humans into deep space.
'Ring of fire' eclipse enthrals skywatchers in Middle East, Asia
Thousands of skywatchers gathered across parts of the Middle East and Asia on Thursday to glimpse the sun forming a ring of fire around the moon in a rare annular solar eclipse.
Egg-standing test goes viral as ring-of-fire eclipse crosses Asia
Can you make an egg stand on its narrow side during a solar eclipse?
A decade on earth captured from space
The biggest news events of the past decade have been chronicled from space.
'Bull's-eye' landing caps Boeing's faulty astronaut capsule test mission
Boeing Co's Starliner astronaut spacecraft made a "bull's-eye" landing in the New Mexico desert on Sunday, a successful ending to a crewless test mission that two days earlier failed to reach the orbit needed to dock with the International Space Station.
Mars Science Lab launch delayed two years
NASA's launch of the Mars Science Laboratory -- hampered by technical difficulties and cost overruns -- has been delayed until the fall of 2011, NASA officials said at a news conference Thursday in Washington.
iReporters watch planets, moon align
Shuttle lands at California air base
NASA officials Sunday waved off the first opportunity for space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth, citing poor weather conditions.
Inspiration for 'Contact' still listening
From a remote valley in Northern California, Jill Tarter is listening to the universe.
Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat rise
Scientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft.
Real Gold, Almost As Light As Air
Stem Cells Used To Create First Living Robots
How To Make Airplane Parts With 99% Less Energy
Copper-based Nanomaterials Kill Cancer Cells
Uber Electric Flying Taxi Available In 2023
New CPSC Nanotechnology Center Would Focus on Risks to Consumers
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has requested $7 million in funding for a new center focused on nanotechnology in consumer products.
A Statement about the PEN Consumer Products Inventory and Titanium Dioxide
There has been much confusion and misinformation in recent weeks about our Consumer Products Inventory (CPI). Much of this confusion was sparked by a recent report from Friends of the Earth (FOE) on nanoscale materials in food, as well as news articles from Mother Jones and other outlets focused in on the use of nanoscale […]
Inventory Finds Increase in Consumer Products Containing Nanoscale Materials
The updated Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory now contains 1,628 consumer products that have been introduced to the market since 2005, representing a 24 percent increase since the last update in 2010. In addition to finding new products introduced to the market, the newly re-launched inventory seeks to address scientific uncertainty with contributions from those involved […]
New Case Study Explores Influence of PEN Efforts
A new case study looks at the work of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) amidst the shift away from government-led technology assessment.
NIOSH, CDC to Examine Health Effects of Carbon Nanotubes in Workplace
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health are taking public comment on their plans for a new exposure assessment and epidemiological study of U.S. workers that are exposed to carbon nanotubes and nanofibers.
FDA Releases Food, Cosmetic Nanotechnology Guidances for Public Comment
The Food & Drug Administration has released two new guidance documents for public comment outlining agency policy for the use of nanotechnology in food ingredients and packaging and the use of nanotechnology in cosmetic products.
New EC Publication Marks New Strategy Towards Responsible Innovation
The European Commission’s Science in Society Programme reflects on how to proceed towards Responsible Research and Innovation in the Information and Communication Technologies and Security Technology fields.
New Report Finds Public Perception of Nanotechnology Not Negative
Today the Food Standards Authority issued a report on consumer attitudes to the use of nanotechnology in Food, drinks and other related products such as processing and packaging. The results, based on focus group studies, suggest that the public perception of nanotechnology in food is not negative, and is based on weighing up the benefits […]
Nanotechnology between the lab and the shop floor: what are the effects on labor?
A new report by STIP fellow Noela Invernizzi explores the market changes posed by nanotechnology that may be disruptive for some categories of workers.
Nanotech-enabled Consumer Products Continue to Rise
The most recent update to the Nanotechnology Consumer Product Inventory finds that over 1,300 manufacturer-identified nanotechnology-enabled consumer products have entered the marketplace to date.
A new video podcast on nanotechnology safety from the ASME Nanotechnology Institute
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) have just posted a new video on the safe development of nanotechnology, featuring former PEN Science Advisor Andrew Maynard, as part of their series of nano educational podcasts.
2011 RISD Nanovation Winners Announced
Winning projects include smarter crash test dummies, improved firefighting gear, and an advanced water harvesting system for arid climates.
Voluntary Initiatives, Regulation, and Nanotechnology Oversight
A new PEN report provides the first ever analysis of voluntary initiatives to regulate nanotechnology. As nanotechnologies move forward, along with other emerging technologies, voluntary programs will play an important role in the governance portfolio available to the federal government as well as states and municipalities.
National Nanotechnology Initiative releases draft of new strategic plan
The National Nanotechnology Initiative has posted a new draft strategic plan and is accepting public comments until November 30, 2010.
New EPA definition for “nano” could affect state of regulations
At an April 29 presentation to the Pesticide Programs Dialogue Committee in Washington, D.C. EPA’s William Jordan announced a new working definition of nanomaterials.
Reinventing Technology Assessment for the 21st Century
A new report defines the criteria for a new technology assessment function in the United States, emphasizing the need to incorporate citizen-participation methods to complement expert analysis.
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Releases Nanotechnology Report
PCAST has released its “Report to the President and Congress on the Third Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative.”
Special Report on nanotechnology from AOL News
AOL News published a three part series on nanotechnology. “Nanotechnology has long been hyped for its potential to cure diseases, ease energy problems, supercharge our computers and more. But increasing evidence shows that the engineered particles could pose a giant risk to the environment and human life.”
Organising Collective Responsibility
A new paper makes a case for organizing collective responsibility through instruments beyond the regulatory system, such as codes of conduct and various deliberative assessment mechanisms within and outside the policy context.
Understanding Public Debate on Nanotechnologies: Options for Framing Public Policy
A new publication outlines the nature of the public debate on nanosciences and nanotechnologies.
Comcast bets ads work on streaming TV, plans Peacock debut for April
Comcast Corp-owned NBCUniversal's new Peacock service will offer free and $5-per-month options that include advertising to try to win customers for its belated entry into the streaming video wars, the company announced on Thursday.
Factbox: How NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service stacks up against others
Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal on Thursday gave specifics on its planned Peacock video streaming service, which will do battle with industry leader Netflix Inc and others in the highly competitive field.
Microsoft Corp on Thursday set a new ambition among Fortune 500 companies in addressing climate change, pledging to remove as much carbon as it has emitted in its 45-year history.
As Google-parent Alphabet Inc became on Thursday the fourth U.S. company to top a market value of more than $1 trillion, some funds holding its shares are wondering whether now is the time to cash in on the stock's extraordinary gains.
Alphabet public market capitalization tops $1 trillion
The public market capitalization of Google parent Alphabet topped the $1 trillion mark shortly before the close of trading on Thursday, making it the fourth S&P 500 component to top the lofty level.
Exclusive: Cyber security firm McAfee hires new CEO
McAfee LLC told Reuters on Thursday it has hired Peter Leav, the former CEO of BMC Software, as its new CEO, replacing Chris Young, who created the cyber security company in its current form by carving it out of Intel Corp four years ago.
The European Union is considering banning facial recognition technology in public areas for up to five years, to give it time to work out how to prevent abuses, according to proposals seen by Reuters.
Factbox: Big Tech and their carbon pledges
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it would take out of the atmosphere as much carbon as the company had ever produced, joining U.S. tech giants in setting ambitious goals for combating climate change.
Poland's CD Projekt delays launch of flagship game
Polish video games producer CD Projekt has delayed the launch of its flagship game Cyberpunk 2077 by five months until Sept. 17 to improve the product, it said on Thursday.
Keeping it real: a behind-the-scenes look at 'The Lion King' visual effects
How do you make a computer-generated lion, warthog and hyena look real while singing and talking at the same time?
Moonstruck: Japanese billionaire's girlfriend entrants top 20,000
Applications to become Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's girlfriend have topped 20,000, streaming service AbemaTV said on Thursday, ahead of its documentary on his search for a "life partner" to take on his moon voyage.
During Bezos visit, India minister says Amazon's $1 billion investment is no big favour
Amazon hasn't done India any big favours by announcing a new $1 billion investment, its trade minister said on Thursday, laying bare tensions with the U.S. online retail giant during a visit to the country by its CEO Jeff Bezos.
Germany's automakers and unions urged the government on Thursday to do more to support the industry's shift to electric cars, which provide less assembly work than combustion engine vehicles.
Tesla says it plans to open China design and research center
U.S. electric car maker Tesla plans to open a design and research center in China to make "Chinese-style" vehicles, the company said in a recruitment notice on its official WeChat account.
Mnuchin urges Apple, other tech companies to work with law enforcement
Apple Inc and other technology companies should cooperate with U.S. investigators, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday as law enforcement officials continued probing last month's fatal shooting at a U.S. naval base in Florida.
Trump criticizes Apple's encryption stance on Pensacola phones
President Donald Trump lashed out at Apple Inc on Tuesday, castigating the iPhone maker for what he said was its refusal to unlock phones used by criminals while benefiting from government help on trade.
Amazon orders electric vans from Deutsche Post's StreetScooter
Amazon.com has ordered 40 electric vans from Deutsche Post's StreetScooter unit for deliveries in the German city of Munich as part of the plan to be carbon neutral by 2040, the online retailer said on Wednesday.
Gemini launches in-house insurer to boost coverage for crypto assets
U.S. virtual currency firm Gemini Trust Company announced on Thursday that it has launched its own insurance unit to boost coverage against theft of crypto assets.
Taiwan's TSMC forecasts sharp rise in first quarter revenue, bets on robust 5G demand
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) forecast an up to 45% spike in January-March revenue and raised its capex plan for the year, betting robust demand for 5G smartphones would dial up profits at the world's top contract chipmaker.
China's ZTE plans $1.7 billion A-share sale to fund 5G R&D
ZTE Corp said it was looking to raise 11.51 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) from a private placement of A shares, and that it plans to use the proceeds for research and development (R&D) of 5G networks as well as working capital.
Video Tech
A Dutch start-up company is showing off an air pollution mask that it claims can detect dust particulates, show real-time pollution levels, and map cleaner walking routes.
The latest in sleep tech features everything from cooling your brain to training it.
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's search for a girlfriend to join him on a voyage around the moon will be the subject of a new documentary program, in the latest attention-grabbing stunt by the entrepreneur. Lauren Anthony reports.
Goody the turtle lost her left flipper years ago in Thailand - but now she's swimming properly again, thanks to a specially-designed prosthetic flipper. Lauren Anthony reports.
Futuristic concept cars capture the imagination at the CES tech convention in Las Vegas. Adam Reed reports.
The world's biggest tech expo opens its doors to showcase the gadgets of tomorrow, today. Adam Reed reports.
French car parts company Valeo unveiled its first autonomous, electric delivery droid on Monday (January 6), continuing its focus on betting big on autonomous driving technology at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Hyundai will partner with ride-hailing company Uber to launch a network of flying air taxis. On Monday Hyundai revealed their design of an aircraft to carry four passengers and travel up to speeds of 180 miles per hour. Libby Hogan reports.
From the Keurig of cocktails and soft, squishy comfort robots to artificial intelligence-fueled projector screens and personalized skincare regiments, more than 200 new products appeared at a media event on Sunday ahead of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
An new study reports on the development of a colloidal quantum dot photodetector capable of detecting light in the far infrared.
Complex, porous, chiral nanopatterns arise from a simple linear building blocks.
A disordered network that is capable of detecting ordered patterns: it sounds contradictory, but it comes close to the way our brain works.
Researchers develop a new ecological process to degrade atrazine.
Azopolymer material allows light-assisted imprinting of nanostructures for structurally colored surfaces.
As Moore's Law comes to an end with a limit to the number of transistors that fit on a chip, a paradigm of brain-inspired neuromorphic computing paves the way forward with new directions in computing hardware, algorithms, architectures and materials.
Researchers have shown that sulfur can spice up a nanomaterial sandwich by putting a literal twist on the multi-layered classic.
Thanks to a new experimental method, researchers have now delivered insights into the atomic-level movement of water molecules.
Researchers have developed an accurate and non-invasive way to detect cancer through a person's breath. The hand-held sensor can be used by anyone without medical supervision in combination with their smart phone. Tests reveal the accuracy of the sensor is about 93%.
A team of researchers is democratizing entry into the field of nanopore research by offering up a unique tool to accelerate the development of new applications and discoveries.
Researchers reach a critical milestone on the path to versatile colloidal quantum dot laser diodes by successfully demonstrating a quantum dot LED that also operates as an optically pumped laser.
Researchers have succeeded in developing a novel type of transistor with extremely high cut-off frequencies: metal oxide semiconductor HEMTs, in short MOSHEMTs.
Engineered ingestible molecular traps created from mesoporous silica particles introduced to the gut can have an effect on food efficiency and metabolic risk factors. The results from studies on mice demonstrate the potential to reduce the energy uptake into the body and could lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes.
Scientists have discovered that an active, rather than passive, process dictates which nanoparticles enter solid tumours. The finding upends previous thinking in the field of cancer nanomedicine and points toward more effective nanotherapies.
A 50-year-old puzzle in statistical mechanics has been solved by an international team of researchers who have proved that two-dimensional (2D) liquids have fundamentally different dynamical properties to three-dimensional (3D) liquids.
Researchers have modulated the properties of graphene locally and dynamically by means of a surface acoustic wave, a kind of earthquake on a chip.
Magnetically levitating proteins to precisely measure their density
The density of proteins in solution is an important fundamental biophysical quantity that has not been accurately measured yet. This has led to extensive debate in the literature regarding the precise density value of proteins. This rough density metric can often lead to inaccurate estimates on the other physicochemical and composite protein features, especially after […]
Using shape-programmable DNA frames, scientists established a new nanofabrication platform for directing nanomaterial components of different natures (inorganic and biological) into 3-D arrays with prescribed organizations; they then demonstrated the enhanced optical and catalytic functionalities possible with this platform.
Carbon nanotube film produces aerospace-grade composites with no need for huge ovens or autoclaves.
Just like a chameleon changes its skin color in response to its environment, engineers have found a way for liquid metal - and potentially solid metal - to change its surface structure in response to heat.
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La Cage Aux Folles at the Titusville Playhouse
Certain shows make me laugh out loud no matter how many times I see them. "La Cage Aux Folles" is very high on that list. Not only is it comedy and musical magic, it has an important message about love, acceptance, equality and family.
Georges and Albin operate a drag nightclub where Albin stars. The gay couple has raised a son together. Their son announces he is engaged to the daughter of a pompous, regressive, anti-gay politician who is coming for dinner. To make matters worse, their son wants them to pretend to be heterosexual or to hide drag diva Albin completely. Chaos hilariously ensues.
OUR INTERVIEW WITH ARTISTIC DIRECTOR STEVEN J. HERON
La Cage is both hilarious and insightful on many levels. What do you think is the best thing about performing it on stage?
It is so relatable to everyone because it is truly a normal relationship and family dynamic.
Take the fact that the couple is a gay couple out of the mix the story is what everyone, no matter who you, are faces in every relationship of length.
It is also smartly written so that the child, like most children at times, is embarrassed by their parents and want them to change. This is so incredible for this show because it makes the basic storytelling relatable to everyone.
But then make it a same sex couple and add in a drag club and wow you have conflict that makes people think all the while they are still relating.
We have done something unique as well. Albin and Georges do not kiss or show much physical emotion to each other by design throughout the show. We have made it that way so someone who might struggle with LGBTQ does not have that from the first moment. We do wait until the end of the show for a final kiss where Albin is not in drag any longer but a man. We felt it would make a bigger impact having two men kiss as the final button of the show and keeping everyone in anticipation for that moment throughout the whole show.
The show also smartly wins the audience over with humor and charm all the while making the audience fall in love with the couple that some, I might dare say, would never know or feel for a same sex couple. Very smart writing and show that has stood the test of time since it debuted in 1983!
The character Albin has been hilariously portrayed by Harvey Fierstein (in La Cage) and Nathan Lane (in The Birdcage.) What do you see in Albin that you hope others see in your portrayal?
As a comedic actor I love the role!! But what it does for me that I rarely get to do is have full emotions.
We have staged a few scenes differently for a bigger emotional impact such as when Georges tells Albin that he is not invited to meet the parents and wedding. The original had Albin behind a dressing screen changing. We have left me onstage to receive that news directly. That direct emotional hit, I hope does not go unnoticed to the audience, which just sets up more emotional push behind the Act 1 finale "I Am What I Am" because the audience has been allowed to experience the pain and the hurt of being unwanted or unaccepted.
Now as a gay man myself and 48 years old being raised in Alabama I know first-hand how you hide what you are and are selective at who you tell and when you tell people your real truth.
I myself have been in a 19 year relationship and yet still am private about my personal life in business and some others.
Although I would never say I am closeted I am guarded.
Playing Albin has been freeing for me personally. I get to make people laugh all the while showing others that people are just people.
The music is catchy and alternately inspiring, touching and romantic. "I Am What I Am" has a message for everyone.
Steven J. Heron was born to portray Albin. Even when he appears in outrageous drag outfits, his eyes show the pain and self-doubt Albin tries to conceal.
Jordyn Linkous provides constant over-the-top comic relief as Georges and Albin's drag maid / butler Jacob who has never had an inappropriate thought she didn't vocalize.
The Titusville Playhouse production of "La Cage Aux Folles" is definitely a must-see event for Space Coast theatre lovers.
"La Cage Aux Folles" runs January 11 to February 3, 2019.
The Titusville Playhouse is located at 301 Julia Street, Titusville, FL 32796. Phone the playhouse at 321-268-1125.
For more information, visit http://titusvilleplayhouse.com/home/
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Download ROADWORK
Driven:- The Car Reviews
About Chris Haining
Faster miles an hour....With The Radio On:- Listening Habits.
I like hi-fi. I come over all doe-eyed, hopeless and weakened when I visit a hi-fi dealership and find myself surrounded by brands such as Meridian, Musical Fidelity, PMC, I would go on but the resultant drool could cause a short in my keyboard.
At home I have what I maintain is a good sounding setup, even though it’s made up of a rag-bag of brands it would cost me a considerable hill of cash to swap it in for anything that would offer me a worthwhile upgrade. My girlfriend and I like nothing (well, maybe a few things) more than to sprawl across the sofa together with a carafe of wine and a good CD, something we can close our eyes and really get to grips with. It’s not about entertainment, it’s about escaping into the music. It’s a drug.
In the car, well, things are different.
I have never been gripped by the urge to install a monster stereo into any of my cars. My first car, the Triumph, was blighted by a Motorola longwave / mediumwave unit which was usurped almost immediately by a highly comedic Saisho radio cassette, which caught fire. Twice. I binned it in favour of a Wharfedale (Wharfedale in name only, the identity was whored out across a plethora of lowest-bidder brands in the late ‘90s) FM/CD machine. Then a pair of Wharfedales (the genuine article) in the dash and a set of godawful Goodmans rear shelf speakers. It was a mess, visually and sonically, but it made my tunes audible.
Next came my first Rover, fitted from new with a Phillips FM Cassette and eight speakers. This sounded OK, actually. Very nearly good. But inevitably I upgraded that with a JVC Cassette / CD changer combo picked up dirt cheap in a French hypermarket. This system actually lives on in my sisters Ford Puma, I sold it to her for £60, £14 more than I got for the entire car.
Both my current cars came from the factory with similar setups, being similarly aged both hedged their bets by having tape and disc on board. The Audi carries the in-house Concert head unit that became ubiquitous, the Rover comes with a Phillips-badged unit, of considerably lesser build than the Audi. These days though, I don’t have any temptation whatsoever to replace any of it.
Neither of them sound brilliant, the Rover system sounding pretty dreadful thanks to mean-spirited 8cm speakers. The boy-racer forums are awash with people bemoaning the lack of phat bass ™ from the Audi A4 stereo, but the midrange and beyond is pretty reasonable, and these days all I really want is to hear the presence of music and discussion, I can wait until I return home for the chance to wallow in sound.
Things are different when it comes to choosing the actual material that pumps from the system. I absolutely love my CD collection, and either car can take six at a time in its boot-mounted server, but unless you make scheduled stops on every journey to play DJ, you’re stuck with whichever six discs you install at the beginning of your journey. So choose wisely.
Inevitably you’re going to get bored with your selection at some point, and you then revert to the radio for relief. And the relief lasts for about fifteen seconds before you get very angry. Our national FM radio choice in the UK is appalling. I’ll let BBC Radio 4 (common affairs), Radio 3 (classics, culture etc) and Classic FM off the hook as they’re of a more specific appeal, but across the board, all our radio stations of nominally broader appeal range from bland and inane to absolutely dismal.
This could become a “youth of today” whinge, complaining about the music of now not being a patch on what it was “when I were a lad”, but it isn’t. I can accept the fact that kids today are programmed to listen to corporate sludge written not for the art but to generate revenue and ever more impressive bling for the protagonists to decorate themselves with. When Black Eyed Peas release a new single you can bet your life it’ll be played several times every day, and with something as calculated as the sort of unexciting drawl that they purvey, the novelty wears of very quickly. The question of why people feel the need to download these tracks is puzzling; if you want to hear the latest Cee lo Green tune, just switch the radio on and it’ll probably be played within the hour anyway.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t great radio out there, it just doesn’t appear, by and large, on FM. I apologise if you’re a DJ somewhere that genuinely does play great music, but it seems I haven’t chanced upon your station yet. And the chances are you’ll play commercial trailers between songs, and this gets annoying in itself.
The above little box of tricks is pretty much the solution to all my audio woes. It’s a DAB radio with an RF output enabling it to play through the car system, and it finds itself perma-tuned to BBC 6, AKA the finest radio station on the planet. Commercial free, as per BBC dictum, of course. To give you a flavour in the last half an hour messrs Radcliffe and Maconie have played Richard The Third by Supergrass, Somewhere, sometime in summer time by Simple Minds, Ruins by Portico Quartet, and driving home last night I was accompanied by Stiff little Fingers, Geoff Buckley and James Brown. It’s a truly diverse canon, and never ever gets boring. There are other great stations on DAB too, special mention must go to Absolute Radio, based up North somewhere, who play some terrific stuff by new and unsigned bands. Keep up the good work.
The only drawback to DAB is that good reception can’t be guaranteed, high pressure weather conditions, built up areas and electrical interference all hinder receipt of the relatively low-power transmissions the system uses. And if absolutely everything fails, I’m bored with my CDs, I Can’t Get No Radio Satisfaction… There’s always the mixtape.
Hallelujah to the mix tape. For the first twenty years of my life the unreliable spooled media was the only way to compile tunes into little portable collections. I could bootleg recordings from the radio, steal music from my friends and mix it all together on a TDK D90, using my Bush MS351CD with twin tape decks and high-speed-dubbing. For a long while all my old, unlabelled cassette tapes had lay dormant, waiting for either rebirth or oblivion.
Then, suddenly I found myself back in a car with a cassette player and an opportunity to rediscover some of those old recordings. The greatest thing about them is that there is almost total mystery shrouding what can be found on each of the numerous cassettes; I was never very disciplined at maintaining tracklistings. Furthermore, I rarely had a blank tape handy when I needed it; if an amazing tune came on I would just grab the nearest BASF and hit record. Resultantly, if you listen to my cloned recording of Pink Floyd’s Animals, you’ll find Brown Paper Bag by Roni Size dubbed over the top. This comes as a surprise on playback, every single time.
There’s another bonus to having a cassette deck in the car, and that’s that you can employ that most ‘90s of accessories, the cassette adaptor. This black tape-shaped thing takes the analogue signal from you’re the headphone jack of your MP3, Minidisc or DAT player and rams it directly into the pick-up head of the deck. These days I do actually own an MP3 player, a six year old Olympus M:Robe I picked up from eBay onto which I wound all the music I had misappropriated onto my hard drive during my time at University. It’s properly diverse, like a four gigabyte mix-tape, and the best thing is that none of the tracks have names to them, a legacy of my utter disorganisation when committing small scale piracy.
When I remember to have the Olympus both in the car and with a battery that is actually charged, it’s like having access to a magical radio station with zero repetition, no commercials and playing 100% music I like.
Posted by Chris Haining at 16:06
Labels: Cassette, CD, DAB, driving, FM, hi-fi, Music
Chris Haining
Cassette|CD|DAB|driving|FM|hi-fi|Music|
Follow me or find out things about who I am
Trying my best to do an even-handed review:- Cayenne V6
Eight years have now passed since Porsche first bestowed upon us their controversial Cayenne SUV, gifting Journalists around the world t...
Driven #25:- C63 AMG vs C350CD
The Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and its less expensive, less specialist little brother, the diesel fuelled C350 CDi Sport live at different reach...
I don't like the Fisker Karma.
It’s been universally accepted that the hybrid-propelled Fisker Karma is a cool car. It has won plaudits from the worldwide motoring press ...
Driven #19:- E65 BMW 730d
It’s funny how things change. Last time I drove an E65 7 Series it had belonged to my boss. This was going back a few years, it was a f...
Driven #22;- '96 Mazda 323F; Journey In A Lantis
My father recently transferred a load of old VHS tapes onto DVD, and among them was a tape we had made of music from Top Of The Pops ...
Driven #13:- Vauxhall Signum 2.2i Design Irmscher
Enough has been said about the Vauxhall Vectra, a car damned by its quest to be the ultimate motoring all-rounder. GMs' Mondeo figh...
Driven #43:- Renault Espace 2.2dCI Dynamique ('06)
One day soon I’m going to have to become a responsible adult. Settling down with a house will become the priority, choosing furnitu...
Driven #50!:- 1991 Mercedes-Benz 230 CE (W124)
When a car has a story to tell, it rarely has any effect on its value, unless it had a previous owner who was either famous, or infamous....
Rover 75 Retrospective;- Requiem for an Industry
Anybody with an iota of integrity will admit that the Rover group put out more than its fair share of absolute dross over the yea...
Driven #14:- BMW E46 320d Compact
Image and looks, two very separate things that just happen to be inextricably linked. See that cool guy over there? The handsome, well dres...
Chris Haining. All words and photography are property of the author unless otherwise stated. Powered by Blogger.
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Getting Indexed by Bibliographic Databases in the Area of Computer Science
Arne Kusserow, Sven Groppe
Open Journal of Web Technologies (OJWT), 1(2), Pages 10-27, 2014, Downloads: 5809, Citations: 2
Designing a Benchmark for the Assessment of Schema Matching Tools
Fabien Duchateau, Zohra Bellahsene
Open Journal of Databases (OJDB), 1(1), Pages 3-25, 2014, Downloads: 4327, Citations: 13
Using Business Intelligence to Improve DBA Productivity
Eric A. Mortensen, En Cheng
Open Journal of Databases (OJDB), 1(2), Pages 1-16, 2014, Downloads: 5609
SIWeb: understanding the Interests of the Society through Web data Analysis
Marco Furini, Simone Montangero
Open Journal of Web Technologies (OJWT), 1(1), Pages 1-14, 2014, Downloads: 4532, Citations: 4
MapReduce-based Solutions for Scalable SPARQL Querying
José M. Giménez-Garcia, Javier D. Fernández, Miguel A. Martínez-Prieto
Open Journal of Semantic Web (OJSW), 1(1), Pages 1-18, 2014, Downloads: 4883, Citations: 10
Open Journal of Internet of Things (OJIOT)
OJIOT, an open access and peer-reviewed online journal, publishes original and creative research results on the internet of things. OJIOT distributes its articles under the open access model. All articles of OJIOT are fully open access and online available to readers free of charge. There is no restriction on the length of the papers. Accepted manuscripts are published online immediately.
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Call for Papers: txtUTF-8 txtASCII pdf
Aims & Scope Statistics Author Guidelines Editorial Board Articles SI Special Issues Publication Fees Indexing Submit
The current internet with its applications like web browsing, emails, social networks and online games is human oriented. It is predicted that real objects will have a much bigger impact in the future internet. Any real object will be accessible and manageable via the internet, and real objects will automatically work in cooperation. This new vision is called as the internet of things (IoT). Realizing this vision offers a new dimension of real world services to the user.
OJIOT publishes regular research papers, short communications, reviews and visionary papers in all aspects of the internet of things. There is no restriction on the length of the papers.
Short communications reports novel research ideas. The work represented should be technically sound and significantly advancing the state of the art. Short communications also include exploratory studies and methodological articles.
Regular research papers are full original findings with adequate experimental research. They make substantial theoretical and empirical contributions to the research field. Research papers should be written in as concise a style as possible.
Research reviews are insightful and accessible overview of a certain field of research. They conceptualize research issues, synthesize existing findings and advance the understanding of the field. They may also suggest new research issues and directions.
Visionary papers identify new research issues and future research directions, and describe new research visions
Topics relevant to this journal include, but are NOT limited to:
System architectures for IoT, e.g.
things-centric,
data-centric,
event-centric, and
service-centric
IoT applications, including e.g.
smart homes/offices/cities,
waste management,
continuous care,
emergency response, and
intelligent shopping
Nano Technology, including e.g.
Nano Networks
Nano communication
Nano applications
Nano computing
Internet of Nano Tings
IoT programming toolkits and frameworks
IoT prototypes and evaluation test-beds
IoT management and interoperability
Management of IoT streams
Enabling technologies and standards for the IoT
Spatial and temporal reasoning for IoT
Sustainability of IoT platforms, e.g. business models for deployment and maintenance
Societal challenges and IoT, e.g. urban planning and decision making tools
Ownership of data in IoT scenarios
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Please prepare your manuscripts using the manuscript template of the journal. It is available for download as word doc docx and latex version zip. The template describes the format and structure of manuscripts and other necessary information for preparing manuscripts. Manuscripts should be written in English. There is no restriction on the length of manuscripts.
Authors submit their manuscripts following the information on the submit page. Authors first submit their manuscripts in PDF format. Once a manuscript is accepted, the author then submits the revised manuscript as a PDF file and a word file or latex folder (with all the material necessary to generate the PDF file). The work described in the submitted manuscript must be previously unpublished; it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else.
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Our journal follows the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and deals with the cases of misconduct according to the COPE Flowcharts.
Dennis Pfisterer, Duale Hochschule Baden Württemberg Mannheim, Germany
Faruq Al-Omari, Jordanian Universities Network (JUNet), Jordan
Maurizio Atzori, University of Cagliari, Italy
Jian-Nong Cao, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Han-Chieh Chao, National I-lan University & National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan
Whai-En Chen, National I-lan University, Taiwan
Mischa Dohler, King's College London, UK
Stefan Fischer, University of Lübeck, Germany
Guangjie Han, Hohai University, China
Horst Hellbrück, Lübeck University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Andrew Hudson-Smith, University College London, UK
Wen-Jyi Hwang, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Young-Sik Jeong, Dongguk University, Korea
Hai Jiang, Arkansas State University, USA
Chin-Feng Lai, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Shie-Jue Lee, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
Jianhua Ma, Hosei University, Japan
Juan Suardíaz Muro, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Spain
Luis Muñoz, University of Cantabria, Spain
Cathryn Peoples, The Open University, UK and Ulster University, UK
Barbara Pes, University of Cagliari, Italy
Mirko Presser, The Alexandra Institute, Denmark
Fangyang Shen, New York City College of Technology, USA
Mu-Chun Su, National Central University, Taiwan
Ye Tian, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China
Lorna Uden, Staffordshire University, United Kingdom
Vijay Varadharajan, Macquarie University, Australia
Full-Text: pdf | URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2019092919352344146661 | GNL-LP: 119598636X | Meta-Data: tex xml rdf rss | Show/Hide Abstract | Show/Hide BibTex
Abstract: This paper presents an experimental study of Ensemble Deep Learning (DL) techniques for the analysis of time series data on IoT devices. We have shown in our earlier work that DL demonstrates superior performance compared to traditional machine learning techniques on fall detection applications due to the fact that important features in time series data can be learned and need not be determined manually by the domain expert. However, DL networks generally require large datasets for training. In the health care domain, such as the real-time smartwatch-based fall detection, there are no publicly available large annotated datasets that can be used for training, due to the nature of the problem (i.e. a fall is not a common event). Moreover, fall data is also inherently noisy since motions generated by the wrist-worn smartwatch can be mistaken for a fall. This paper explores combing DL (Recurrent Neural Network) with ensemble techniques (Stacking and AdaBoosting) using a fall detection application as a case study. We conducted a series of experiments using two different datasets of simulated falls for training various ensemble models. Our results show that an ensemble of deep learning models combined by the stacking ensemble technique, outperforms a single deep learning model trained on the same data samples, and thus, may be better suited for small-size datasets.
@Article{OJIOT_2019v5i1n11_Mauldin,
title = {Experimentation and Analysis of Ensemble Deep Learning in IoT Applications},
author = {Taylor Mauldin and
Anne H. Ngu and
Vangelis Metsis and
Marc E. Canby and
Jelena Tesic},
journal = {Open Journal of Internet Of Things (OJIOT)},
url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2019092919352344146661},
urn = {urn:nbn:de:101:1-2019092919352344146661},
abstract = {This paper presents an experimental study of Ensemble Deep Learning (DL) techniques for the analysis of time series data on IoT devices. We have shown in our earlier work that DL demonstrates superior performance compared to traditional machine learning techniques on fall detection applications due to the fact that important features in time series data can be learned and need not be determined manually by the domain expert. However, DL networks generally require large datasets for training. In the health care domain, such as the real-time smartwatch-based fall detection, there are no publicly available large annotated datasets that can be used for training, due to the nature of the problem (i.e. a fall is not a common event). Moreover, fall data is also inherently noisy since motions generated by the wrist-worn smartwatch can be mistaken for a fall. This paper explores combing DL (Recurrent Neural Network) with ensemble techniques (Stacking and AdaBoosting) using a fall detection application as a case study. We conducted a series of experiments using two different datasets of simulated falls for training various ensemble models. Our results show that an ensemble of deep learning models combined by the stacking ensemble technique, outperforms a single deep learning model trained on the same data samples, and thus, may be better suited for small-size datasets.}
The paper has been cited by the following scientific contributions so far. This list of citations may not be complete. Please contact us, if citations are missing. There might be errors in the citation data due to automatic processing.
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Posted on June 24, 2019 11:04 AM
Horrocks Hwy shoulder sealing works complete
A 13-kilometre stretch of the Horrocks Highway in the Mid North has been widened and its shoulders sealed to increase driver safety and convenience.
Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll said the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure had been undertaking shoulder widening and sealing works along the Horrocks Highway, from Yacka township to just north of the Brinkworth turn-off (Stone Cutter Road), since November.
“The safety of South Australians on our roads is paramount for the Marshall Liberal Government,” Minister Knoll said.
“Our regional roads are in varying stages of disrepair after 16 years of neglect under Labor.
“Last year, we moved quickly to commit to works to improve the safety and driving conditions on some of the worst stretches of the Horrocks Highway. We said then that this was the first step towards fixing this notorious highway.
“Since then, we have committed an additional $55 million in the 2019-20 State Budget to deliver further shoulder sealing and overtaking lanes along the Horrocks corridor, among a raft of other crucial regional road upgrades.
“This investment in South Australia’s regions will deliver real, tangible results. It will save lives, while helping to build regional communities and create jobs.”
Minister Knoll said the main works were completed in March, resulting in the sealed width of the 13km stretch of highway between Yacka and Brinkworth being increased to 8.6 metres in total (consisting of two 3.3m lanes and two 1m shoulders).
Previously, the sealed width varied from 7.4m to as little as 6m in some areas.
An 800m section near Weckert Road was also reconstructed to a full width to correct undulations, as part of the works.
Finishing works have been undertaken since March, with a total of 1.5km of guard rail now being installed over six targeted locations throughout June, to address roadside safety hazards.
The increased sealed road and shoulder width provides motorists with additional recovery width to regain control of their vehicles, should they run wide of the traffic lane.
The project cost approximately $3.765 million to deliver, and was funded by the South Australian Government’s Community Road Safety Fund (Shoulder Sealing Program) and Critical Road Maintenance Programs.
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Rev. Saúde Pública vol.50 São Paulo 2016 Epub June 10, 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1518-8787.2016050005667
High risk of respiratory diseases in children in the fire period in Western Amazon
Alto risco de doenças respiratórias em crianças no período de incêndios na Amazônia
Pãmela Rodrigues de Souza SilvaI
Eliane IgnottiII
Beatriz Fátima Alves de OliveiraIII
Washington Leite JungerIV
Fernando MoraisV
Paulo ArtaxoV
Sandra HaconIII
I Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso. Cuiabá, MT, Brasil
IIFaculdade de Ciências da Saúde. Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso. Cáceres, MT, Brasil
IIIEscola Nacional de Saúde Pública. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
IVInstituto de Medicina Social. Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
VInstituto de Física. Universidade de São Paulo. São Paulo, SP, Brasil
To analyze the toxicological risk of exposure to ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) among schoolchildren..
Toxicological risk assessment was used to evaluate the risk of exposure to O3 and PM2.5 from biomass burning among schoolchildren aged six to 14 years, residents of Rio Branco, Acre, Southern Amazon, Brazil. We used Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the potential intake dose of both pollutants.
During the slash-and-burn periods, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations reached 119.4 µg/m3 and 51.1 µg/m3, respectively. The schoolchildren incorporated medium potential doses regarding exposure to O3 (2.83 μg/kg.day, 95%CI 2.72–2.94). For exposure to PM2.5, we did not find toxicological risk (0.93 μg/kg.day, 95%CI 0.86–0.99). The toxicological risk for exposure to O3 was greater than 1 for all children (QR = 2.75; 95%CI 2.64–2.86).
Schoolchildren were exposed to high doses of O3 during the dry season of the region. This posed a toxicological risk, especially to those who had previous diseases.
Key words: Child; Respiratory Tract Diseases, epidemiology; Risk Factors; Ozone adverse, effects; Particulate Matter, adverse effects
Analisar os riscos toxicológicos da exposição ao ozônio (O3) e a partículas finas (PM2,5) em escolares.
Avaliação do risco toxicológico foi aplicada para verificar o risco de exposição ao O3 e PM2,5 a partir da queima de biomassa, em escolares de seis a 14 anos, moradores de Rio Branco, Acre, no sul da Amazônia. Nós usamos a simulação de Monte Carlo para estimar a dose potencial de ingresso do poluente.
As concentrações de O3 e PM2,5 atingiram 119,4 mg/m3 e 51,1 mg/m3, respectivamente, durante os períodos de queimadas. Os escolares incorporaram doses potenciais médias relativas à exposição ao O3 (2,83 μg/kg.dia, IC95% 2,72–2,94). Para a exposição a PM2,5, não encontramos risco toxicológico (0,93 μg/kg.dia; IC95% 0,86–0,99). O O3 apresentou risco toxicológico maior que 1 para todas as crianças (Quociente de Risco [QR] = 2,75; IC95% 2,64–2,86).
Escolares são expostos a altas doses de O3 durante a estação seca. Isso representa risco toxicológico, principalmente para aqueles com agravos à saúde pregressa.
Palavras-Chave: Criança; Doenças Respiratórias, epidemiologia; Fatores de Risco; Ozônio, efeitos adversos; Material Particulado, efeitos adversos
Ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are the pollutants with the greatest impact on public health, even at low concentrationsa. Annually, approximately 0.7 million deaths by respiratory disease and 3.5 million deaths by cardiopulmonary disease worldwide are attributed to exposure to O3 and PM2.5, respectively, originating from anthropogenic activities1.
Since O3 reaches the lower airways of children, its oxidizing and cytotoxic properties decrease their pulmonary function7. Several studies have also showed that exposure to PM2.5 is an important risk factor for health, especially for cardiopulmonary diseases15, even when PM2.5 derived from biomass burning8-10,13,14.
In the Amazon region of Brazil, high peaks of atmospheric pollution occur during the dry season. Intense slash-and-burn has been observed in the last few years in Rio Branco, AC, exposing the local population to high levels of atmospheric pollutionb.
Monitoring pollutants at soil level is crucial to observe the effects of exposure on human health, especially in children and older adults. The number of monitoring networks in Brazil is growing, but there is no monitoring network in the Amazon region to continuously oversee the main pollutants, even though this region has gained international attention due to its significant amount of pollutants.
The aim of this study was to analyze the toxicological risk of exposure to O3 and PM2.5 among schoolchildren.
This study is a risk assessment in which we estimated the potential intake dose and the toxicological risk of the pollutants O3 and PM2.5 for children aged six to 14 years. This study assessed the risk of exposure to O3 and PM2.5 located in an area of biomass burning activities in the Brazilian Amazon. We conducted this study in Rio Branco (the largest city in Acre state, with 336,038 inhabitantsc) between August and October, 2009, during the dry seasonb. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)d and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registere methodologies were used to assess toxicological risk, adapted to estimate the potential intake dose of O3 and PM2.5 pollutants.
Study Area and Population
According to education officials in Rio Branco, the public school assessed had similar demographic features as the local population. The school is in the same area as Horto Florestal (approximately 870 meters away), where PM2.5 and O3 were hourly measured. The advantage of this location is less traffic in its surroundings when compared with the downtown. It is also in the opposite direction to the industrial area of the city, with mainly brick factories, which prevents interference from pollutants from other sources.
A continuous air quality monitoring station was established and supervised by the atmospheric pollution study group of Instituto de Física of Universidade de São Paulo. Missing data were not attributed for days when monitoring failed.
The O3 concentrations were measured by a 2B Tech O3 monitor installed along with other air quality samplers at a height of five meters. This monitor meets the technical O3 measurement recommendations of the EPAf and measured all concentrations of O3 every day in hourly intervals. Then, we estimated the average of the eight hours with the greatest O3 concentrations throughout the day, which usually occurred between 12 and 20 hours.
The PM2.5 concentrations were estimated based on real time measurements of the PM10 (combination of coarse and fine particulate matter) mass applied to the daily ratio of PM2.5(FCS)/PM10(FCS). Hourly, PM10 levels were measured by a Tapered Element Oscillating Monitor (TEOM), and PM2.5 concentrations were obtained by a Fine and Coarse Particulate Matter Sampler (FCS), collected by inertial impaction in 47 mm polycarbonate filters with 4 µm diameter pores. Daily averages were estimated based on the PM2.5 concentrations that were measured every day in hourly intervals, from 12 a.m. to 11 p.m. The lognormal distribution fits the model best.
Among the 250 children randomly selected from the sample, 237 (95.0%) agreed to participate in the study.
Study Variables
The variables sex, age, and asthma were provided in an individual survey with the children’s parents or guardians. The survey was conducted by duly qualified research assistants. Eight questions specifically addressed asthma symptoms, which were related to wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing, according to the method of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhoodg.
The children’s weight and height were obtained in a single measurement at the beginning of the study. Project researchers used a mechanical anthropometric scale with a ruler.
The potential O3 and PM2.5 intake dose was estimated for all schoolchildren. The participants were separated into groups stratified by age, sex, presence of asthma, and body mass index (BMI). The average of the eight hours with the greatest O3 concentration and the average of daily PM2.5 concentrations were compared among the groups. The equation to estimate the daily potential intake dose and the toxicological risk of O3 and PM2.5 followed the general EPA equation11 described below:
Potential Intake Dose:
In which:
I = pollutant intake dose (µg/kg.day);
CA = average O3 and PM2.5 concentrations from August to October, 2009 (μg/m3);
IP = inhalation rate of the exposed group (m3/d):
Inhalation rates were obtained from the study conducted by Brochu et al.2, following EPAd recommendations. Values for the subjects’ daily inhalation rate (µg/kg.day), observed in the 95th percentile, were used and applied to the children’s body weight, adjusted by age, sex, and BMI.
FR = retention factor:
We assumed a retention factor of FR = 1, which represents the highest exposure and the highest potential impact on subjects’ health.
FA = absorption factor:
We assumed an absorption factor of FA = 1, which represents the highest exposure and the highest potential impact on subjects’ health.
ET = exposure time (h/d):
The schoolchildren’s exposure time to O3 totaled eight hours. According to studies conducted in the region, the highest O3 concentration occurs during times of higher ultraviolet radiation16. Therefore, we assumed the occurrence of constant exposure. According to the EPA16, the measurement of an individual’s exposure to O3 is normally conducted throughout the exposure period.
The schoolchildren’s exposure time to PM2.5 ranged from two to eight hours. This corresponds to the period when children are outdoors, according to recommendations in the Highlights of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook.h We did not select this exposure time according to its daily variation because the concentration of PM2.5, in contrast to O3, can vary throughout the day and is independent of ultraviolet radiationi. Therefore, we assumed the exposure to this pollutant was uniform for each 24-hour period.
EF = exposure frequency (d/y):
The O3 and PM2.5 concentrations were monitored for 68 and 80 days, respectively.
ED = duration of exposure (y):
The period from July to December corresponds to half a year, including 182 days. The 2009 dry season in the region lasted for 122 days, which corresponded to the average exposure time. Therefore, the duration of exposure equaled 122/182 = 0.67.
BW = body weight (kg);
AT = average time, period of exposure in which the dose was measured (d):
The average exposure time was 122 days, which corresponds to the longest dry period in the region being studied in 2009.
We assumed a constant distribution for the variables average time, duration of exposure, frequency of exposure, and exposure time for O3.
Toxicological Risk:
RQ = risk quotient;
Risk quotients are classified as follows: RQ ≤ 1: unlikely risk, even in population groups that are sensitive to adverse health effects; RQ > 1: there is a risk of non-carcinogenic adverse effects on human health.
I = potential intake dose (µg/kg.day);
RfD: reference dose for each pollutant;
We estimated each pollutant’s RfD in this study in µg/kg.day units to compare them with the potential intake dose estimated in the exposure assessment. To achieve this, we applied the RfD in the potential intake dose equation above, with average inhalation rates and body weights of all children and environmental variables (PM2.5 and O3) of the location being studied2,d.
According to Collins et al.3 and McDonnell et al.12, the estimated RfD for O3 was obtained assuming the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL) that matches the lowest pollutant dose that may cause observed side effects on human health, including sensitive groups, over a given time of exposure. Studies have found a relationship in which healthy adults and children exposed to 0.12 ppm of O3 experienced reduced pulmonary function for a one-hour exposure. Expanding the data to the intraspecies uncertainty factor, which was 10, from no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) to LOAEL, which was 10, resulted in an estimated level of 18.80 µg/m3.
In contrast, to obtain RfD for PM2.5, we used NOAEL, which corresponds to the maximum dose without any noticeable adverse effects on human health, corresponding to 5.8 µg/m3i. For PM2.5 exposures above 5.8 µg/m3, we observed an estimated risk of mortality caused by respiratory diseases.
Monte Carlo simulations were used to estimate the potential intake dose in the different subgroups of children for both pollutants being studied. Probabilistic models were used to assess dose by the general equation of the potential dose. The probability distributions for each input model variable were defined after a descriptive analysis and by the adhesion Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results. The input model variables and the assumed probability distributions are presented in Table 1. We estimated average O3 and PM2.5 doses according to individual characteristics of schoolchildren, by 1,000 simulations for each category under analysis. In the group of schoolchildren, differences between averages of O3 and PM2.5 doses for each category under study were compared using t student and ANOVA tests when appropriate, at a significance level of 5% (95%CI). Model entry variables with the most influence in estimating the dose were identified by Spearman correlation coefficients. Application R 2.13 was used in simulations and statistical analyses.
Table 1 Description of variables entered in the exposure model for inhalation rate and body weight, according to an eight-hour O3 average and daily PM2.5 average.
Entry variables
Inhalation rate (m3/d)
Age (y)
6 - 8 y 57 12.18 2.43 8.64 19.99 Log-normal
9 - 11 y 83 14.58 2.62 8.01 24.72 Log-normal
12 - 14 y 97 18.75 3.58 12.90 28.92 Log-normal
Male 113 15.99 4.26 8.64 28.92 Log-normal
Female 124 15.45 3.81 8.01 24.48 Log-normal
Yes 45 15.42 4.71 9.28 25.81 Log-normal
No 192 15.78 3.86 8.01 28.92 Log-normal
Healthy 221 15.41 3.91 8.01 28.92 Log-normal
Overweight 16 19.79 3.49 14.76 25.70 Log-normal
Total 237 15.71 4.03 8.01 28.92 Log-normal
6 - 8 y 57 23.07 4.53 16.00 38.00 Log-normal
9 - 11 y 83 32.77 7.33 19.00 56.00 Log-normal
Male 113 34.46 11.32 16.00 72.00 Log-normal
Female 124 35.59 11.35 17.00 67.00 Log-normal
Yes 45 33.69 12.67 18.00 65.00 Log-normal
No 192 35.37 11.00 16.00 72.00 Log-normal
Healthy 221 33.83 10.37 16.00 65.00 Log-normal
Overweight 16 51.94 10.76 36.00 72.00 Log-normal
Total 237 35.05 11.32 16.00 72.00 Log-normal
BMI: body mass index; O3: ozone; PM2.5: fine particulate matter.
Ethical Aspects
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the National School of Public Health (CEP/ESNP/FIOCRUZ – Protocol 25/07 – on March 7, 2007). The children’s parents or guardians signed an informed consent form.
The highest O3 concentrations were recorded in December with two peaks over 100 µg/m3, which exceeds the air quality standard levels prescribed by the WHO. It did not rain on those days, and relative humidity was 76.0% and 80.0% (Figure 1).
CONAMA: National Environment Council; EPA: Environmental Protection Agency; WHO: World Health Organization; O3: ozone; PM2.5: fine particulate matter
Figure 1 Ozone concentration (µg/m3) variations according to the average of the eight hours with the greatest concentrations, air quality standards for O3 according to the EPA, CONAMA and WHO, relative humidity (%), and rainfall (mm/d). Rio Branco, AC, Northern Brazil, period from August to October, 2009.
The daily average PM2.5 concentration was high, with figures during September that were above the air quality recommendations prescribed by the EPA. The concentrations were 43.6 µg/m3 on August 15, 2009; 51.1 µg/m3 on September 14, 2009; and 45.7 µg/m3 on September 15, 2009. On these days, relative humidity levels were 60.0%, 80.0%, and 73.0%, respectively (Figure 2).
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency; WHO: World Health Organization; O3: ozone; PM2.5: fine particulate matter
Figure 2 Average daily PM2.5 concentration variation, air quality standards for PM2.5 according to the EPA and WHO, relative humidity (%), and rainfall (mm/d). Rio Branco, AC, Northern Brazil, period from August to October, 2009.
The lognormal probability distribution was used to simulate the concentration, inhalation rate, and body weight of schoolchildren with the results of the adhesion Kolmogorov-Smirnov test placed in the best fit for the data. The uniform probability distribution was assumed for exposure time (ET) while the exposure frequency (EF), duration (ED), and average time (AT) were maintained constant in the model (Table 1).
The potential average dose of O3 was higher than that of the PM2.5 dose. The doses differed depending on age. Schoolchildren aged six to eight years inhaled a higher potential average dose than those aged nine to 14 years for exposure both to O3 and PM2.5.The comparison between sexes showed statistically significant differences only for exposure to O3 (p = 0.008).The differences between children with and without asthma were significant for exposures to O3 and PM2.5. Among normal-weight schoolchildren, we estimated an average potential dose for O3 and PM2.5 exposure. Both exposure doses significantly differed between normal-weight and overweight schoolchildren (Table 2).
Table 2 Estimated potential intake doses of O3 and PM2.5 among schoolchildren, for an average of the eight hours with the highest O3 concentration and the average of daily PM2.5 according to age, sex, asthma classification, and BMI. Rio Branco, AC, Northern Brazil, 2009.
Average of eight hours of O3
Daily average of PM2.5
95%CI
Age 0.000 0.000
6 - 8 y 3.12 3.02 3.22 1.03 0.96 1.09
9 - 11 y 2.66 2.57 2.74 0.87 0.82 0.93
12 - 14 y 2.53 2.45 2.61 0.83 0.78 0.88
Sex 0.008 0.134
Male 2.93 2.82 3.05 0.96 0.89 1.03
Female 2.75 2.64 2.85 0.90 0.84 0.96
Asthma 0.020 0.012
Yes 3.00 2.86 3.13 1.04 0.97 1.11
No 2.80 2.69 2.90 0.92 0.85 0.98
BMI 0.000 0.000
Healthy 2.85 2.74 2.96 0.94 0.84 1.00
Overweight 2.27 2.20 2.34 0.74 0.70 0.79
All children 2.83 2.72 2.94 0.93 0.86 0.99
Based on the estimated reference RfD dose of 1.03 µg/kg.day of O3 and 1.14 µg/kg.day of PM2.5, we estimated toxicological risks by the ratio between average potential doses and RfD.
Regarding O3 exposure, 95,0% of schoolchildren exposed to this pollutant had risk quotients above 1, which means a toxicological risk of exposure to this pollutant. For PM2.5, we did not find any toxicological risk for children arising from exposure to this pollutant (Figure 3).
RQ: risk quotient
Figure 3 Distribution of toxicological risk probability for exposure to O3 and PM2.5. Rio Branco, AC, Northern Brazil, 2009.
Children aged six to eight years had a risk quotient three times higher than the reference dose (RQ = 3.03; 95%CI 2.93–3.13). Children labeled as asthmatic and healthy were also at high risk for exposure to O3, RQ = 2.91 (95%CI 2.78–3.03) and RQ = 2.77 (95%CI 2.66–2.88), respectively.
The variables O3 and PM2.5 concentration were the ones most strongly correlated with the potential intake dose (r = 0.38 and r = 0.68, respectively). The variable weight was negatively related to the average potential dose, for both O3 (r = -0.29) and PM2.5 (r = -0.12).
We verified that schoolchildren aged six to 14 years experienced toxicological risks for O3 from biomass burning in 2009, in the “arch of deforestation”, located in Rio Branco.
We did not find health risks for children exposed to PM2.5. However, during the study the concentrations of this pollutant surpassed the levels prescribed by the EPA and WHO. The highest daily average concentration of PM2.5, measured on September 14, 2009, was 46.0% higher than the air quality standard prescribed by the EPA, which is 35 µg/m3i.
Our results were similar to a study conducted in Mexico, which also showed that toxicological risk to the chemical components of PM2.5 was 1.81 for children aged between 6-12 years, but no risk was observed when each chemical component was individually analyzed5. However, although any toxicological risk for PM2.5 was observed, exposed individuals may experience non-observable health effects caused by exposure to particulate matter. Several international epidemiological studies showed harmful effects associated with even low concentrations of PM2.5. The doses of exposure were lower than those estimated in Rio Branco during the 2009 dry season15. Potential health effects depend on the multi-element composition of particulate matter and its aerodynamic characteristics, its capacity for reaction with other elements or compounds, persistence in the environment, transportation capacity across long distances, exposure time, local climate conditions, and human susceptibility, with several possible impacts on human health3,13,15.
Oliveira et al.14 found results different from ours. The authors conducted a similar study in which the source of pollutant emissions was sugarcane burning in the city of Tangará da Serra, Mato Grosso state, also within the Amazon biome. The authors found a toxicological risk for PM2.5 of 2.07 in the dry season of the region among children aged six to 14 years. Those results point to possible differentiation in the chemical composition of particulate matter, among other properties of PM2.5.
Even though both studies used the same methodology, the reference concentration for particles released from diesel combustion applied by Oliveira et al.14 was lower than the PM2.5 NOAEL applied in this study (5.0 µg/m3 and 5.8 µg/m3, respectively). However, even using the same reference concentration as Oliveira et al.14, the toxicological risk in our study would not be > 1 for PM2.5. Furthermore, the average PM2.5 concentrations were 2.5 times higher in Tangará da Serra compared with Rio Branco, which could explain the different findings.
The pollutant concentration is a major factor in determining the toxicological risk, since the risk is strongly related with the potential average dose inhaled by schoolchildren exposed to O3 and PM2.5. Therefore, the variable pollutant concentration had the greatest influence in the sensitivity analysis over potential intake doses in both studies.
It is currently understood that, according to the EPA12, the use of NOAEL for PM2.5 is more appropriate because it is specific PM2.5. Although there is no research similar to ours addressing children’s exposure to O3, a study showed the association between the breathable dose of an individual exposed to O3 and changes in pulmonary function for different levels and exposure duration12.
In Rio Branco, O3 reached maximum levels of 119.4 µg/m3, which coincided with the scarce rainfall in the period. Rainfall can increase O3 levels because it transfers NO2, an important O3 precursor, closer to the surface, increasing NO2 levels and consequently O3 formation reactions6. Another factor that favors the formation of O3 in Rio Branco is the extension of its forests: approximately 87.0% of its territory still has exuberant forests. Ozone is typically formed when precursors from combustion emissions, such as NOx, reach an area with abundant volatile organic compounds (VOC) and solar radiation. The VOC in the Brazilian Amazon are abundantly available in forest areas where vegetation is the greatest natural source6.
Even if Rio Branco does not have many slash-and-burns like other regions of the Amazon, its population may be subject to a large amount of O3 precursor pollutants from other states such as Rondonia and Mato Grosso4.
Schoolchildren aged six to eight years incorporated the highest average potential doses of O3 and consequently experienced highest toxicological risk, with 20.0% higher risk of effects on health when compared with 9-11 and 12-14 age groups. Because of their physiological growth and pulmonary development, children are vulnerable to environmental pollutantsa. In this study, 19.0% of children were classified as asthmatic, according to the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) scoreg. Asthmatic schoolchildren inhaled high average potential doses for O3 exposure. There is evidence in the literature that asthmatic children are more vulnerable to adverse effects caused by exposure to O3, following the hypothesis that inhaling high doses of O3 could lead to airway hyperactivity and inflammation, and that this would make individuals with asthma more likely to experience pulmonary obstructions11. In a cohort study, the incidence of new asthma diagnoses increased among children living in regions with high O3 concentrations11.
The toxicological risk for exposure to O3 in schoolchildren evidenced in our study indicates that air quality standards prescribed by the EPA and WHO do not protect human health from exposure to this pollutant. The O3 LOAEL used in the present study corresponds to the lowest dose of the pollutant that can cause an adverse effect on human health, including vulnerable subgroups, during a certain exposure time. It is eight times lower than the level established as the air standard quality for O3 in Brazil by Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente (CONAMA – National Council for the Environment)j, which is 160 µg/m3. This is the maximum tolerable concentration of O3 during an average one-hour period. The CONAMA is responsible for setting air quality standards for pollutants in Brazil. Its latest update in environmental legislation occurred in 1990, which we consider out of date.
j Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente. Resolução nº 3, de 28 de junho de 1990. Padrões de qualidade do ar. Diario Oficial Uniao. 1990 Ago 28.
Limitations of this study include insufficient coverage of the population exposed to slash-and-burns by air quality monitoring networks across longer periods, which would allow for evaluating a trend of exposure to the main pollutants released by burns in the region. Another limitation is the quality of healthcare data, their standardization, and accessibility. Lack of agreement in environmental agencies on the reference concentration for O3 is also associated with the lack of continuous air quality monitoring networks. Children’s inhalation rate was obtained from an international study, since there are no similar studies in Brazil providing measurement parameters for individuals’ daily inhalation rate according to age group, sex, and BMI. Finally, it was also difficult to acquire accurate PM2.5 measurements, which were obtained from the daily ratio between PM2.5(AFG)/PM10(AFG) applied to real time PM10 (TEOM) mass measurements.
We conclude that schoolchildren residing in Rio Branco were exposed to high doses of O3 during the dry season of the region, and this poses toxicological risk. Schoolchildren aged six to eight years incorporated the highest average potential doses of O3 and consequently experienced the highest toxicological risk.
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8. Ignotti E, Hacon SS, Junger WL, Mourão D, Longo K, Freitas S et al. Air pollution and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in the subequatorial Amazon: a time series approach. Cad Saude Publica. 2010;26(4):747-61. [ Links ]
9. Ignotti E, Valente JG, Longo KM, Freitas SR, Hacon SS, Artaxo Neto P. Impact on human health of particulate matter emitted from burnings in the Brazilian Amazon region. Rev Saude Publica. 2010;44(1):121-30. DOI:10.1590/S0034-89102010000100013 [ Links ]
10. Jacobson LSV, Hacon SS, Castro HA, Ignotti E, Artaxo P, Leon ACMP. Association between fine particulate matter and the peak expiratory flow of school children in the Brazilian subequatorial Amazon: a panel study. Environ Res. 2012;117:27-35. DOI:10.1016/j.envres.2012.05.006 [ Links ]
11. McConnell R, Berhane K, Gilliland F, London SJ, Islam T, Gauderman WJ et al. Asthma in exercising children exposed to ozone: a cohort study. Lancet. 2002;359(9304):386-91. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)07597-9 [ Links ]
12. McDonnell WF 3rd, Chapman RS, Leigh MW, Strope GL, Collier AM. Respiratory responses of vigorously exercising children to 0.12 ppm ozone exposure. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1985;132(4):875-9. [ Links ]
13. Nunes KVR, Ignotti E, Hacon S. Circulatory disease mortality rates in the elderly and exposure to PM2.5 generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon in 2005. Cad Saude Publica. 2013;29(3):589-98. DOI:10.1590/S0102-311X2013000300016 [ Links ]
14. Oliveira BFA, Ignotti E, Artaxo P, Saldiva PHN, Junger WL, Hacon S. Risk assessment of PM2.5 to child residents in Brazilian Amazon region with biofuel production. Environ Health. 2012;11:64. DOI:10.1186/1476-069X-11-64 [ Links ]
15. Pope CA 3rd, Burnett RT, Thun MJ, Calle EE, Krewski D, Ito K, Thurston GD. Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. JAMA. 2002;287(9):1132-41. DOI:10.1001/jama.287.9.1132 [ Links ]
16. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Review of the national ambient air quality standards for ozone: policy assessment of scientific and technical information. North Carolina: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2007. (EPA-452/R-07-007). [ Links ]
aWorld Health Organization. WHO Air quality guidelines for particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide: globar update 2005: summary of risk assessment. Geneve: World Health Organization; 2005
bInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais. Portal de monitoramento de queimadas de incêndios. São Jose dos Campos (SP); 2012 [cited 2012 Oct 3]. Available from: http://www.inpe.br/queimadas
cInstituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. 2010. IBGE Cidades: Acre. Rio de Janeiro (RJ): Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; 2010 [cited 2011 Nov 7]. Available from: http://www.ibge.gov.br/cidadesat/topwindow.htm?1
dU.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Risk assessment guidance for superfund. Vol 1, Human health evaluation manual (Part A): interim final. Washington (DC): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 1989. (EPA/ 540/1-89/003).
eAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Public health assessment guidance manual: update. Atlanta: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; 2005 [cited 2011 July 1]. Available from: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/PHAManual/PDFs/PHAGM_final1-27-05.pdf
fU.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Air quality management: National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for criteria pollutants. Washington (DC): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2010a [cited 2012 Jun 15]. Available from: http://www.epa.gov/apti/course422/apc4a.html
gInternational Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood - ISAAC. 2011 [cited 2011 Nov 2]. Available from: http://isaac.auckland.ac.nz/index.html
hU.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Highlights of the child-specific exposure factors handbook. North Carolina: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2009. (EPA/600/R-08/135).
iU.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Quantitative health risk assessment for particulate matter. North Carolina: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2010b. (EPA-452/R-10-005).
Funding: Brazilian Ministry of Health (Process 33781.0550001/07-050).
Received: June 24, 2014; Accepted: August 4, 2015
Correspondence: Pãmela Rodrigues de Souza Silva. Rua Ulisses Paschoal, 75 Jardim Lourdes. 04328-040 São Paulo, SP, Brasil. E-mail: pam_r_s@hotmail.com
Author’s Contribution: Development and planning of the study: PRSS, EI. Data collection: FM, PA. Data analysis and interpretation: PRSS, EI, FM, BFAO, PA, WLJ. Elaboration or composition of the manuscript: PRSS, EI. Critical review of the manuscript: PRSS, EI, SH. Final approval: PRSS, EI, SH, BFAO, WLJ, FM, PA.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Avenida Dr. Arnaldo, 715
01246-904 São Paulo SP Brazil
Tel./Fax: +55 11 3061-7985
revsp@usp.br
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We are very excited to incorporate the craftsman Dirk Heinemann to our small selection of craftsmen. We bring you some of the his pipes exclusively for SybaritePipes. The Heinemann´s pipes are a rare blend of a complex equation, where the architecture is executed with mathematical accuracy and a work of contemporary art where the sinuous shapes take center stage. Dirk is a nice guy with a kind hearted treatment, a young and modern kid. But he takes his job very seriously their pipes have a fresh look and a very actual design but also has taken care of every line detail with obsessive meticulousness. Heinemann is now a pipe craftsman with a promising career but is called to be soon one of the biggest names in the pipe worldwide.
HUSEYIN YAVUZ - ESMEERSCHAUM
JC PIPES
JOOP PIPES
JOURA PFEIFEN
La Siesta Store
Imitaion Leather Tobacco Pouches.
MADELCAR
Martelo Tobacco Pipes
Gustavo Cunha is friendly and talkative, cordial and polite. He is a young man of only 27 years and however, it is surprising, his deep knowledge and passion with which explores topics that interest him, always aware that it has more to learn than what he knows. For three years he has focused his interest on the pipe and has not wasted time. His academic background in design and experience in furniture design, for he worked with wood and tools were not strangers to him. But he wanted to deepen and this led from Belo Horizonte (Brazil) to Denmark to visit and learn in Tom Eltang´s workshop. Gustavo is well aware that we live in a globalized world and that technology allows us to be close though thousands of miles separate us. This has allowed him to make good references and learn from artisans with more experience than him, He told me that he thanks Chris Asteriou, Konstantinos Anastasopoulos and Eder Mathias for the help and assistance given to him. Upon his return to Brazil from Denmark in November 2013 and since then, he has been making pipes professionally. His style is sober and focused on the classic forms of English traditionally shapes and yet influenced with the lightness and fluidity of liquids forms so typical of Danish school, a elegant and superb mixture. Gustavo is a meticulous craftsman, retailer and technically gifted. Doubtlessly a Martelo pipe is a well made pipe, with attention to detail and flawless but with an added bonus. Gustavo pipes carry his signature, are equipped with a special personality that makes them unique. I am convinced that in the coming years we will hear a lot of good work Gustavo Cunha
Missouri Meerschaum Co.
MOLINA PIPE
P.S. STUDIO
PIPES BONET
PIPES MARTIN
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‧Editorials
Home / Editorials
Thu, Mar 28, 2019 - Page 9 News List
Australia’s coal export bonanza under threat
By Martin Farrer and Ben Smee / The Guardian
The number of Chinese ports restricting or delaying Australian coal imports has continued to rise, threatening to end the export bonanza that is bloating Australian federal coffers and signaling a possible painful long-term structural change to the economy.
In an ominous development for Australia’s trade balance and federal budget, traders and buyers in China on Thursday last week reported that the holdups for Australian shipments that began last month have spread from the northern Port of Dalian to Fuzhou in Fujian Province and Rizhao near Qingdao.
Industry news agency Platts reported one market source as saying that Australian thermal coal used for power generation has been “largely forgotten” by Chinese buyers as they have switched preference to delay-free imports from Indonesia and Russia.
The reports have seen a sharp drop to the share price of Australian pure-play coalminers.
New Hope Corporation shares were down more than 20 percent this week after it warned of a sharp fall in exports bound for China, while Yancoal has fallen 9 percent.
However, the effect will not be limited to the coal sector. The commodity is Australia’s second-biggest export earner and demand from China accounts for 3.7 percent of Australian GDP — although half of that comes from exports of coking coal, which is used for steel production.
The benchmark price for high-energy Australian thermal coal has enjoyed a buoyant few years of prices above US$100 a tonne.
The figure has now dropped below US$90 a tonne for the first time in nearly two years, threatening some of the export-duty windfall Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg can expect to highlight in his budget next month.
A steep fall could also hurt the Australian dollar.
It remains unclear why Australian imports have been targeted for the holdups at customs. Official explanations from China have mentioned the need for environmental checks and even a suggestion that imports needed to be inspected for radioactivity.
However, few doubt that there is a considerable political dimension.
Tension between Canberra and Beijing has been growing over the past few years amid concern about China’s military ambitions in the South China Sea, but has intensified over the reach of technology companies such as Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, the “state actor” cyberattack on Australia’s Parliament House and the rejection of Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo’s (黃向墨) visa.
However, there are also intriguing market-centred reasons why China might want to reduce its reliance on foreign resources and which suggest that Australia’s coal industry could be facing a more existential threat.
Alex Turnbull, founder of the Singapore-based hedge fund Keshik Capital, said that the port slowdown is a result of wide-ranging changes in the Chinese economy.
A huge expansion of rail infrastructure in the past decade has enabled China to begin exploiting its vast inland coalfields in areas, such as Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province, in a way that has not previously been possible, he said.
Thermal coal imports were unheard of before 2008, but they boomed to fuel the massive economic stimulus ordered by Beijing in the wake of the global financial crisis, Turnbull said.
At the same time, China’s National Development and Reform Commission started adding millions of tonnes in freight capacity to the Chinese rail system, so that cheaper domestic coal could be shipped to coastal centers of heavy industry and population, he said.
2020 Presidential Election: Envoys, foreign legislators congratulate Tsai
‘Whole world’ could learn from Taiwan’s transparent vote-counting: US academic
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The Straits View Residences
Project Intro
Singaporean Investors
Iskandar News
Phase 2 Completion
Iskandar News > Post News >
Catalyst Projects Can Generate RM13 Billion Annual Investments In Iskandar
posted 2 Oct 2011, 05:39 by Straits View
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 (Bernama) -- Construction of catalyst projects in Iskandar Malaysia will generate annual investments of about RM13 billion until 2015, says Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) Chief Executive Officer Ismail Ibrahim.
IRDA is a statutory body responsible for realising the vision and objective of Iskandar Malaysia which will be transformed into a premier economic growth area.
It will be home to some three million people and total investments are expected to reach RM383 billion when the projects are completed in 2025.
He said the projects, viewed as tourists attractions, would not only generate economic growth but also provide high-income employment for many.
Citing the example of the international Legoland Malaysia theme park taking shape in Iskandar Malaysia, he said the park would open in the third quarter of 2012 and attract more than 1.5 million tourists and create 1,500 job opportunities.
"Todate, more than 12 catalyst projects were in its initial stage of operations and we expect more to join the bandwagon each year," he told reporters after a presentation on Iskandar Malaysia at the National Institute of Public Administration here today.
Some of the catalyst projects in the pipeline include Johor Premium Outlet, Medini Iskandar Malaysia, Indoor Theme Park and Edu-City.
Ismail also said the participation of foreign investors in the projects would also open opportunities for local investors to share experience and expertise.
"The foreign investors will bring with them technology, knowledge and expertise in specific fields and this is a good opportunity for local investors to enhance their expertise," he added.
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当前的位置： 考研英语 > 英语真题 > 2017年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语(一)真题
2017年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语(一)真题
Section I Use of English
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
Could a hug a day keep the doctor away? The answer may be a resounding “yes!” 1 helping you feel close and 2 to people you care about, it turns out that hugs can bring a 3 of health benefits to your body and mind. Believe it or not, a warm embrace might even help you 4 getting sick this winter.
In a recent study 5 over 400 health adults, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania examined the effects of perceived social support and the receipt of hugs 6 the participants’ susceptibility to developing the common cold after being 7 to the virus .People who perceived greater social support were less likely to come 8 with a cold ,and the researchers 9 that the stress-reducing effects of hugging 10 about 32 percent of that beneficial effect. 11 among those who got a cold, the ones who felt greater social support and received more frequent hugs had less severe 12 .
“Hugging protects people who are under stress from the 13 risk for colds that’s usually 14 with stress,” notes Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie. Hugging “is a marker of intimacy and helps 15 the feeling that others are there to help 16 difficulty.”
Some experts 17 the stress-reducing , health-related benefits of hugging to the release of oxytocin, often called “the bonding hormone” 18 it promotes attachment in relationships, including that between mother and their newborn babies. Oxytocin is made primarily in the central lower part of the brain , and some of it is released into the bloodstream. But some of it 19 in the brain, where it 20 mood, behavior and physiology.
1．[A] Unlike [B] Besides [C] Despite [D] Throughout
2．[A] connected [B] restricted [C] equal [D] inferior
3．[A] choice [B] view [C] lesson [D] host
4．[A] recall [B] forget [C] avoid [D] keep
5．[A] collecting [B] involving [C] guiding [D] affecting
6．[A] of [B] in [C] at [D] on
7．[A] devoted [B] exposed [C] lost [D] attracted
8．[A] across [B] along [C] down [D] out
9．[A] calculated [B] denied [C] doubted [D] imagined
10．[A] served [B] required [C] restored [D] explained
11．[A] Even [B] Still [C] Rather [D] Thus
12．[A] defeats [B] symptoms [C] tests [D] errors
13．[A] minimized [B] highlighted [C] controlled [D] increased
14．[A] equipped [B] associated [C] presented [D] compared
15．[A] assess [B] moderate [C] generate [D] record
16．[A] in the face of [B] in the form of [C] in the way of [D] in the name of
17．[A] transfer [B] commit [C] attribute [D] return
18．[A] because [B] unless [C] though [D] until
19．[A] emerges [B] vanishes [C] remains [D] decreases
20．[A] experiences [B] combines [C] justifies [D]influences
Section II Reading Comprehension
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)
First two hours , now three hours—this is how far in advance authorities are recommending people show up to catch a domestic flight , at least at some major U.S. airports with increasingly massive security lines.
Americans are willing to tolerate time-consuming security procedures in return for increased safety. The crash of Egypt Air Flight 804,which terrorists may have downed over the Mediterranean Sea ,provides another tragic reminder of why. But demanding too much of air travelers or providing too little security in return undermines public support for the process. And it should: Wasted time is a drag on Americans’ economic and private lives, not to mention infuriating.
Last year, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found in a secret check that undercover investigators were able to sneak weapons---both fake and real—past airport security nearly every time they tried .Enhanced security measures since then, combined with a rise in airline travel due to the improving Chicago’s O’Hare International .It is not yet clear how much more effective airline security has become—but the lines are obvious.
Part of the issue is that the government did not anticipate the steep increase in airline travel , so the TSA is now rushing to get new screeners on the line. Part of the issue is that airports have only so much room for screening lanes. Another factor may be that more people are trying to overpack their carry-on bags to avoid checked-baggage fees, though the airlines strongly dispute this.
There is one step the TSA could take that would not require remodeling airports or rushing to hire: Enroll more people in the PreCheck program. PreCheck is supposed to be a win-win for travelers and the TSA. Passengers who pass a background check are eligible to use expedited screening lanes. This allows the TSA wants to enroll 25 million people in PreCheck.
It has not gotten anywhere close to that, and one big reason is sticker shock. Passengers must pay $85 every five years to process their background checks. Since the beginning, this price tag has been PreCheck’s fatal flaw. Upcoming reforms might bring the price to a more reasonable level. But Congress should look into doing so directly, by helping to finance PreCheck enrollment or to cut costs in other ways.
The TSA cannot continue diverting resources into underused PreCheck lanes while most of the traveling public suffers in unnecessary lines. It is long past time to make the program work.
21. According to Paragraph 1, Parkrun has_____.
[A] gained great popularity
[B] created many jobs
[C]strengthened community ties
[D] become an official festival
22. The author believes that London’s Olympic “legacy” has failed to _____.
[A] boost population growth
[B] promote sport participation
[C]improve the city’s image
[D] increase sport hours in schools
23. Parkrun is different form Olympic games in that it ____.
[A] aims at discovering talents
[B] focuses on mass competition
[C] does not emphasize elitism
[D] does not attract first-timers
24. With regard to mass sports, the author holds that governments should______.
[A] organize “grassroots” sports events
[B] supervise local sports associations
[C] increase funds for sports clubs
[D] invest in pubic sports facilities
25. The author’s attitude to what UK governments have to done for sports is _____.
[A]tolerant
[B] critical
[C]uncertain
[D]sympathetic
“The ancient Hawaiians were astronomers,” wrote Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, in 1897. Star watchers were among the most esteemed members of Hawaiian society. Sadly, all is not well with astronomy in Hawaii today. Protests have erupted over construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope(TMT), a giant observatory that promises to revolutionize humanity’s view of the cosmos.
At issue is the TMT’s planned location on Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano worshiped by some Hawaiians as the piko , that connects the Hawaiian Islands to the heavens. But Mauna Kea is also home to some of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Rested in the Pacific Ocean, Mauna Kea’s peak rises above the bulk of our planet’s dense atmosphere, where conditions allow telescopes to obtain images of unsurpassed clarity.
Opposition to telescopes on Mauna Kea is nothing new. A small but vocal group of Hawaiians and environments have long viewed their presence as disrespect for sacred land and a painful reminder of the occupation of what was once a sovereign nation.
Some blame for the current controversy belongs to astronomers. In their eagerness to build bigger telescopes, they forgot that science is the only way of understanding the world. They did not always prioritize the protection of Mauna Kea’s fragile ecosystems or its holiness to the island’s inhabitants. Hawaiian culture is not a relic of the past; it is a living culture undergoing a renaissance today.
Yet science has a cultural history, too, with roots going back to the dawn of civilization. The same curiosity to find what lies beyond the horizon that first brought early Polynesians to Hawaii’s shores inspires astronomers today to explore the heavens. Calls to disassemble all telescopes on Mauna Kea or to ban future development there ignore the reality that astronomy and Hawaiian culture both seek to answer big questions about who we are, where we come from and where we are going. Perhaps that is why we explore the starry skies, as if answering a primal calling to know ourselves and our true ancestral homes.
The astronomy community is making compromises to change its use of Mauna Kea. The TMT site was chosen to minimize the telescope’s visibility around the island and to avoid archaeological and environmental impact. To limit the number of telescopes on Mauna Kea, old ones will be removed at the end of their lifetimes and their sites returned to a natural state. There is no reason why everyone cannot be welcomed on Mauna Kea to embrace their cultural heritage and to study the stars.
26. Queen Liliuokalani’s remark in Paragraph 1 indicates
[A] its conservative view on the historical role of astronomy.
[B] the importance of astronomy in ancient Hawaiian society.
[C] the regrettable decline of astronomy in ancient times.
[D] her appreciation of star watchers’ feats in her time.
27. Mauna Kea is deemed as an ideal astronomical site due to
[A] its geographical features
[B] its protective surroundings.
[C] its religious implications.
[D] its existing infrastructure.
28. The construction of the TMT is opposed by some locals partly because
[A] it may risk ruining their intellectual life.
[B] it reminds them of a humiliating history.
[C] their culture will lose a chance of revival.
[D] they fear losing control of Mauna Kea.
29. It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that progress in today’s astronomy
[A] is fulfilling the dreams of ancient Hawaiians.
[B] helps spread Hawaiian culture across the world.
[C] may uncover the origin of Hawaiian culture.
[D] will eventually soften Hawaiians’ hostility.
30. The author’s attitude toward choosing Mauna Kea as the TMT site is one of
[A] severe criticism.
[B] passive acceptance.
[C] slight hesitancy.
[D] full approval.
Robert F. Kennedy once said that a country’s GDP measures “everything except that which makes life worthwhile.” With Britain voting to leave the European Union, and GDP already predicted to slow as a result, it is now a timely moment to assess what he was referring to.
The question of GDP and its usefulness has annoyed policymakers for over half a century. Many argue that it is a flawed concept. It measures things that do not matter and misses things that do. By most recent measures, the UK’s GDP has been the envy of the Western world, with record low unemployment and high growth figures. If everything was going so well, then why did over 17 million people vote for Brexit, despite the warnings about what it could do to their country’s economic prospects?
A recent annual study of countries and their ability to convert growth into well-being sheds some light on that question. Across the 163 countries measured, the UK is one of the poorest performers in ensuring that economic growth is translated into meaningful improvements for its citizens. Rather than just focusing on GDP, over 40 different sets of criteria from health, education and civil society engagement have been measured to get a more rounded assessment of how countries are performing.
While all of these countries face their own challenges , there are a number of consistent themes . Yes , there has been a budding economic recovery since the 2008 global crash , but in key indicators in areas such as health and education , major economies have continued to decline . Yet this isn’t the case with all countries . Some relatively poor European countries have seen huge improvements across measures including civil society , income equality and the environment.
This is a lesson that rich countries can learn : When GDP is no longer regarded as the sole measure of a country’s success, the world looks very different .
So, what Kennedy was referring to was that while GDP has been the most common method for measuring the economic activity of nations , as a measure , it is no longer enough . It does not include important factors such as environmental quality or education outcomes – all things that contribute to a person’s sense of well-being.
The sharp hit to growth predicted around the world and in the UK could lead to a decline in the everyday services we depend on for our well-being and for growth . But policymakers who refocus efforts on improving well-being rather than simply worrying about GDP figures could avoid the forecasted doom and may even see progress .
31.Robert F. Kennedy is cited because he
[A]praised the UK for its GDP.
[B]identified GDP with happiness .
[C]misinterpreted the role of GDP .
[D]had a low opinion of GDP .
32.It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that
[A]the UK is reluctant to remold its economic pattern .
[B]GDP as the measure of success is widely defied in the UK .
[C]the UK will contribute less to the world economy .
[D]policymakers in the UK are paying less attention to GDP .
33.Which of the following is true about the recent annual study ?
[A]It is sponsored by 163 countries .
[B]It excludes GDP as an indicator.
[C]Its criteria are questionable .
[D]Its results are enlightening .
34.In the last two paragraphs , the author suggests that
[A]the UK is preparing for an economic boom .
[B]high GDP foreshadows an economic decline .
[C]it is essential to consider factors beyond GDP .
[D]it requires caution to handle economic issues .
35.Which of the following is the best title for the text ?
[A]High GDP But Inadequate Well-being , a UK Lesson
[B]GDP Figures , a Window on Global Economic Health
[C]Rebort F. Kennedy , a Terminator of GDP
[D]Brexit, the UK’s Gateway to Well-being
In a rare unanimous ruling, the US Supreme Court has overturned the corruption conviction of a former Virginia governor, Robert McDonnell. But it did so while holding its nose at the ethics of his conduct, which included accepting gifts such as a Rolex watch and a Ferrari automobile from a company seeking access to government.
The high court’s decision said the judge in Mr. McDonnell’s trial failed to tell a jury that it must look only at his “official acts,” or the former governor’s decisions on “specific” and “unsettled” issues related to his duties.
Merely helping a gift-giver gain access to other officials, unless done with clear intent to pressure those officials, is not corruption, the justices found.
The court did suggest that accepting favors in return for opening doors is “distasteful” and “nasty.” But under anti-bribery laws, proof must be made of concrete benefits, such as approval of a contract or regulation. Simply arranging a meeting, making a phone call, or hosting an event is not an “official act”.
The court’s ruling is legally sound in defining a kind of favoritism that is not criminal. Elected leaders must be allowed to help supporters deal with bureaucratic problems without fear of prosecution for bribery.” The basic compact underlying representative government,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the court,” assumes that public officials will hear from their constituents and act on their concerns.”
But the ruling reinforces the need for citizens and their elected representatives, not the courts, to ensure equality of access to government. Officials must not be allowed to play favorites in providing information or in arranging meetings simply because an individual or group provides a campaign donation or a personal gift. This type of integrity requires well-enforced laws in government transparency, such as records of official meetings, rules on lobbying, and information about each elected leader’s source of wealth.
Favoritism in official access can fan public perceptions of corruption. But it is not always corruption. Rather officials must avoid double standards, or different types of access for average people and the wealthy. If connections can be bought, a basic premise of democratic society—that all are equal in treatment by government—is undermined. Good governance rests on an understanding of the inherent worth of each individual.
The court’s ruling is a step forward in the struggle against both corruption and official favoritism.
36. The undermined sentence (Para.1) most probably shows that the court
[A] avoided defining the extent of McDonnell’s duties.
[B] made no compromise in convicting McDonnell.
[C] was contemptuous of McDonnell’s conduct.
[D] refused to comment on McDonnell’s ethics.
37. According to Paragraph 4, an official act is deemed corruptive only if it involves
[A] leaking secrets intentionally.
[B] sizable gains in the form of gifts.
[C] concrete returns for gift-givers.
[D] breaking contracts officially.
38. The court’s ruling is based on the assumption that public officials are
[A] justified in addressing the needs of their constituents.
[B] qualified to deal independently with bureaucratic issues.
[C] allowed to focus on the concerns of their supporters.
[D] exempt from conviction on the charge of favoritism.
39. Well-enforced laws in government transparency are needed to
[A] awaken the conscience of officials.
[B] guarantee fair play in official access.
[C] allow for certain kinds of lobbying.
[D] inspire hopes in average people.
40. The author’s attitude toward the court’s ruling is
[A] sarcastic.
[B] tolerant.
[C] skeptical.
[D] supportive
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G to filling them into the numbered box. Paragraphs B and D have been correctly placed. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
[A]The first published sketch, “A Dinner at Poplar Walk” brought tears to Dickens’s eyes when he discovered it in the pages of The Monthly Magazine. From then on his sketches ,which appeared under the pen name “Boz” in The Evening Chronicle, earned him a modest reputation.
[B]The runaway success of The Pickwick Papers, as it is generally known today, secured Dickens’s fame. There were Pickwick coats and Pickwick cigars, and the plump, spectacled hero, Samuel Pickwick, became a national figure.
[C]Soon after Sketches by Boz appeared, a publishing firm approached Dickens to write a story in monthly installments, as a backdrop for a series of woodcuts by the ten-famous artist Robert Seymour, who had originated the idea for the story. With characteristic confidence, Dickens successfully insisted that Seymour’s pictures illustrate his own story instead. After the first installment, Dickens wrote to the artist and asked him to correct a drawing Dickens felt was not faithful enough to his prose. Seymour made the change, went into his backyard, and expressed his displeasure by committing suicide. Dickens and his publishers simply pressed on with a new artist. The comic novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, appeared serially in 1836 and 1837, and was first published in book form in 1837.
[D]Charles Dickens is probably the best-known and, to many people, the greatest English novelist of the 19th century. A moralist, satirist, and social reformer. Dickens crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society.
[E]Soon after his father’s release from prison, Dickens got a better job as errand boy in law offices. He taught himself shorthand to get an even better job later as a court stenographer and as a reporter in Parliament. At the same time, Dickens, who had a reporter’s eye for transcribing the life around him especially anything comic or odd, submitted short sketches to obscure magazines.
[F] Dickens was born in Portsmouth, on England’s southern coast. His father was a clerk in the British navy pay office –a respectable position, but wish little social status. His paternal grandparents, a steward and a housekeeper possessed even less status, having been servants, and Dickens later concealed their background. Dicken’s mother supposedly came from a more respectable family. Yet two years before Dicken’s birth, his mother’s father was caught stealing and fled to Europe, never to return. The family’s increasing poverty forced Dickens out of school at age 12 to work in Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, a shoe-polish factory, where the other working boys mocked him as “the young gentleman.” His father was then imprisoned for debt. The humiliations of his father’s imprisonment and his labor in the blacking factory formed Dicken’s greatest wound and became his deepest secret. He could not confide them even to his wife, although they provide the unacknowledged foundation of his fiction.
[G] After Pickwick, Dickens plunged into a bleaker world. In Oliver Twist, e traces an orphan’s progress from the workhouse to the criminal slums of London. Nicholas Nickleby, his next novel, combines the darkness of Oliver Twist with the sunlight of Pickwick. The popularity of these novels consolidated Dichens’ as a nationally and internationally celebrated man of letters.
D → 41. → 42. → 43. → 44. → B →45.
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
The growth of the use of English as the world——s primary language for international communication has obviously been continuing for several decades.
(46)But even as the number of English speakers expands further there are signs that the global predominance of the language may fade within the foreseeable future.
Complex international, economic, technological and culture change could start to diminish the leading position of English as the language of the world market, and UK interests which enjoy advantage from the breath of English usage would consequently face new pressures. Those realistic possibilities are highlighted in the study presented by David Graddol
(47)His analysis should therefore end any self-contentedness among those who may believe that the global position of English is so stable that the young generation of the United Kingdom do not need additional language capabilities.
David Graddol concludes that monoglot English graduates face a bleak economic future as qualified multilingual youngsters from other countries are proving to have a competitive advantage over their British counterparts in global companies and organizations. Alongside that,(48)many countries are introducing English into the primary-school curriculum but British schoolchildren and students do not appear to be gaining greater encouragement to achieve fluency in other languages.
If left to themselves, such trends will diminish the relative strength of the English language in international education markets as the demand for educational resources in languages, such as Spanish ,Arabic or Mandarin grows and international business process outsourcing in other language such as Japanese, French and German, spreads.
(49)The changes identified by David Graddol all present clear and major challenges to UK——s providers of English language teaching to people of other countries and to broader education business sectors. The English language teaching sector directly earns nearly &1.3 billion for the UK in invisible exports and our other education related explores earn up to &10 billion a year more. As the international education market expands, the recent slowdown in the number of international students studying in the main English-speaking countries is likely to continue, especially if there are no effective strategic policies to prevent such slippage.
The anticipation of possible shifts in demand provided by this study is significant:(50) It gives a basis to all organization which seek to promote the learning and very different operating environment. That is a necessary and practical approach. In this as in much else, those who wish to influence the future must prepare for it.
Section III Writing
51. Directions：
You are to write an email to James Cook , a newly-arrived Australian professor , recommending some tourist attractions in your city . Please give reasons for your recommendation .
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET .
Do not sign your own name at the end of the email . Use “Li Ming” instead.
Do not write the address . (10 points)
Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following pictures. In your essay , you should
1）describe the pictures briefly,
2）interpret the meaning , and
3）give your comments.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.( 20points )
责任编辑：hyy
2015年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语(二)真题
2019年全国硕士研究生考试考研英语（一）真题及解析
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Difference between revisions of "Angel Lore"
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** Angels are able to maintain their vessels without food, water, or sleep, and to heal them after they are injured. Lucifer healed Nick's body after he was shot by [[the Colt]]. Castiel has healed his vessel, [[Jimmy Novak]] from his countless fatal injuries. Their vessels also appear resistant to disease. However, when Castiel is on the verge of becoming mortal, [[Pestilence]] is able to infect him.<ref name="five21">[[5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight]]</ref> Possessed vessels will also not age as long as they are possessed by an angel. Also, weakened angels in vessels can become drunk, but it takes an extremely large amount of alcohol. An angel's ability to maintain and heal its vessel can be used to repair fatal damage that even their healing power can't fix.
* Invisibility - Angels, even while occupying vessels, can hide within [[the Veil]] rendering themselves unseen by the human eye.
* Invulnerability - An angel's durability far exceeds that of a human's. Prior to the Fall, an angel could take great amounts of physical damage, causing little to no harm to them.
* Knowledge of all [[prophet]]s - Castiel claims that [[Leah]], the [[Whore of Babylon]], is not a prophet because he has every prophet's name "seared" into his brain, and it is likely that all angels do as well. [[Samandriel]] displays this ability as well.
* Matchmaking - Certain types of angels in the [[cherub]] class, e.g. cupids, can bring couples together by marking their hearts with [[Enochian]] symbols.
* Soul-reading - By reaching into a human's chest, an angel can read marks left on the human's soul by another angel. This procedure is very painful for the human, but leaves little physical damage. Thus far, this ability has only been used by Castiel.
* Soul-channeling - Angels can use the energy from souls to empower themselves. Castiel siphons some energy from Bobby's soul to pull Sam and Dean forward in time.<ref name="six18">[[6.18 Frontierland]]</ref> He absorbs fifty thousand damned souls to declare war on Raphael.<ref name="six20" /> He manages to destroy [[Raphael]] by taking in the souls of [[Purgatory]].<ref name="six22">[[6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much]]</ref>
* Superhuman strength - The physical strength of an angel in a vessel is unknown, it's possible that their strength is unlimited as it doesn't come from the vessels muscles but instead their angelic power. They also have an extreme control on their strength as they have been shown to punch through walls but also non-fatally punch humans. [[Castiel|One]] has been shown to be able to lift a one-ton anvil with ease.
* Super strength - The physical strength of an angel in a vessel is unknown, it's possible that their strength is unlimited as it doesn't come from the vessels muscles but instead their angelic power. They also have an extreme control on their strength as they have been shown to punch through walls but also non-fatally punch humans. [[Castiel|One]] has been shown to be able to lift a one-ton anvil with ease.
* Supernatural perception - Angels are able to see objects and beings that are invisible to humans, for e.g. [[reaper]]s, [[hellhounds]] and [[Enochian sigils]].
* [[Telekinesis]] - Angels have the ability to move and influence objects with their minds. Other forms of telekinesis include:
Powers and Abilities Varies; can include telekinesis, teleportation and possession.
Vulnerabilities Angel blades, The First Blade, holy fire
Appearance Varies
Episode(s) Seasons 4-14
Avenging Angels
An angel is an ethereal creature who assists and serves God or the gods of many religious traditions. In the Christian bible, angels are portrayed as powerful and dreadful, endowed with wisdom, correct in their judgment, holy, but not infallible. When their duties are not punitive, angels are beneficent to man. When their duties are punitive, they are known as avenging angels and are mentioned inverses such as II Sam. Xxiv. 15, in which an angel annihilates thousands on God's command. These avenging angels are used by God to punish men for their sins.
– Pad of Definitions (1.07 Hook Man), Official Website
An angel is a being created by God, able to manifest physically on earth by occupying a vessel. During God's long absence, angels became the caretakers and rulers of Heaven.
1 Culture & Hierarchy
1.1 Angel Sub-Classes
1.1.1 Cherubs
1.1.2 Seraphim
1.1.3 Rit Zien
1.1.4 Grigori
1.1.5 Fallen Angels
1.1.6 Nephilim
3.1 Powers and abilities
3.2 Vulnerabilities
4 The Winchesters' Beliefs
5 Major Angels
5.1 Castiel
5.2 Uriel
5.3 Anna Milton
5.4 Zachariah
5.5 Balthazar
5.6 Samandriel
5.7 Naomi
5.8 Metatron
5.9 Gadreel aka Ezekiel
5.10 Bartholomew
5.11 Malachi
5.12 Angel Henchmen
6 Angels in Lore
Culture & Hierarchy
God has been absent from Heaven for a long period, and in his absence angels manage and power Heaven, as well as the watch over the souls within it, according to Ash.[1] Angels in Heaven dwell in a very hierarchical community, and are known collectively as the Host of Heaven. Much of angelic hierarchy appears to operate like a military organization, broken down into smaller units and factions called garrisons. While in Heaven, all angels can communicate with one another via an Enochian language. For millennia, angels were not allowed to manifest on Earth or take a vessel, though angels had been known to do so on special circumstances, but chose watch over humanity from afar.[2][3]
The archangel Michael appeared to have been the leader in Heaven prior to his imprisonment in Lucifer's Cage. Raphael, another archangel, was also a powerful force taking the reigns of power in hopes of freeing Lucifer and Michael and restarting the Apocalypse. The other archangels were not involved in the Host; Gabriel left Heaven soon after Lucifer was cast out. Archangels are the eldest angels, having been God's first creations made from pure primordial creation. They are "fierce", "absolute", and are "Heaven's most terrifying weapon", according to Castiel. Unquestioning obedience is expected of lower members of the Host, and those who question orders may be tortured to force compliance. Disobedience can be punished by death. Anna explained the situation to Dean:
Anna: Dean, do you know how many angels have actually seen God? Seen his face?
Dean: All of you?
Anna: Four angels. Four. And I'm not one of them.
Dean: That's it? Well, then how do you even know that there is a God?
Anna: We have to take it on faith... Which we're killed if we don't have.
Anna and Castiel are both subject to torture during seasons four and five. Angels who rebel and leave Heaven become fallen angels.
In 2011 the only archangel that remained alive and active was Raphael, as Lucifer supposedly killed Gabriel, and both Lucifer and Michael were restricted to Lucifer's Cage. Heaven would fallen into major disarray as a civil war, with Castiel and a number of other angels tryied to prevent Raphael from becoming the paramount leader of Heaven and restarting the Apocalypse. Castiel managed to defeat Raphael by taking in souls from Purgatory. He slaughters Raphael and his followers, but Castiel cannot contain the power for long, and must return the souls. In his absence, the leadership of Heaven was unknown, though angels still appeared to have a hierarchy.[4]
Among the hierarchy is Naomi who holds an unknown rank, but works in intelligence and is clearly very high-ranking. Metatron reveals that she is a major player in fighting over for the right to rule Heaven. After Metatron expelled all angels from Heaven to Earth using a spell, he declared himself to be the sole ruler of Heaven. On Earth, many angel factions formed led by Bartholomew, Malachi, Tyrus and Rebecca. Both Bartholomew and Malachi wanted to unite all of the angels and retake Heaven under their leadership and Rebecca and her faction wanted to coexist with humans. Bartholomew killed Rebecca and wiped out her faction while Castiel killed Bartholomew in self-defense. Currently another faction is forming under Castiel's leadership that wants there to be no more unnecessary bloodshed between angels. Castiel's faction comes into conflict with one led by Metatron and Gadreel who kill anyone who refuses to join them including Malachi. Metatron eventually manages to unite all the angels under his command and attains God-like power with the help of the angel tablet, but with the help of Gadreel, Sam, Dean and Castiel destroy Metatron's power and overthrow him. Metatron is locked in Heaven's dungeon and all the angels look to Castiel for leadership. However, Castiel declines the leadership and a quorum of angels is formed to run Heaven by committee, of which included Hannah in a high ranking position.[5][6][7]
It is later revealed that the existence of angels is what maintains Heaven, and due to the significant loss of angels through the Fall and various wars and battles only nine angels, led by Namoi remain in existence to watch over the souls in the Heaven, and that once they are all gone, Heaven will fall releasing billions of souls on to the earth.
The Cosmic Entity who is enraged when Jack dies and goes to Heaven rather than the Empty, threatens to destroy Heaven until Castiel makes a deal to save Jack in exchange for his own life.
Angel Sub-Classes
Colloquially known as "cupids", they are cherubs of the "third class" according to Castiel, and represent a lower order of angels.[8] There were dozens of them stationed on Earth, but after the angelic civil wars and the Fall, their numbers are not known. Cherubs can manipulate the nature of human attraction, allowing them to make even the most opposite of humans fall in love.
A cherub is first seen in 5.14 My Bloody Valentine, and then again in 8.23 Sacrifice where Castiel must acquire a cupid's bow and arrow for what he believes to be a trial to close off Heaven. Another Cherub appears in 10.18 Book of the Damned where he attacks Castiel and is killed by Metatron and another appears in 13.13 Devil's Bargain where his grace is stolen by Lucifer who then kills the powerless Cherub.
Seraphim are a higher class of angel than regular angels like Joshua and Inias. The two known seraphim are Akobel and Castiel. Their powers are greater than a regular angels, being shown to smite black-eyed demons with ease.[9] They also have been shown to be able to rival the archangels, as when Castiel lead a rebellion against Raphael.
Rit Zien
Rit Zien are a special class of angel, their name translated from Enochian means "hands of mercy." The Rit Zien functioned much like field medics, they honed in on pain and would tend to the wounded and healed the angels strong enough to be healed on the fields of battle. In the case of those who were mortally wounded and beyond saving, the Rit Zien would put them down, their way of smiting was, according to Castiel "so quick and so total that it rendered death virtually painless." [10]
The Grigori were, according to Castiel, an elite squad of some of the first angels who were stationed on Earth to watch over humanity, but went rogue and were wiped out. However, some survived and continued feeding off humans, trapping them in a dream state where they were in their ideal Heaven while the Grigori in question fed on their souls. The survival of the Grigori became known in 2015 when Claire Novak's efforts to find her mother led to Tamiel's exposure and death.[11]
Fallen angels are angels that have been expelled from Heaven on the Host of Heaven's command. When regular angels are cut off, they loose certain abilities including, healing, resurrection, and dmiting.[12] However, archangels function independently from Heaven and do not loose any known abilities.
The union between an angel and a human can produce offspring known as Nephilim. The Nephilim have the soul of a human infused with angelic grace, and like angels have many of the same abilities and characteristics such as wings and are able to perceive angels in their vessels. They are however, seen as abominations by angels and are seen as one of the most dangerous creatures in creation, due to the fact that they grow more powerful than the celestial parent that sired them and have the ability to destroy worlds. As the conception of a nephilim is forbidden by the oldest laws of heaven, the penalty for breaking their most sacred oath is death to the child and the parents.
A supernatural being found in Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam. Angel comes from the Latin word angelus, which came from the Greek word, angelos, meaning "messenger". According to these religions Angels typically act as messengers from God.
Though superhuman, angels can assume human form and according to the Hebrew Bible, often appeared to people in the shape of humans of extraordinary beauty. They are also described as pure and bright and are said to be formed of fire, and encompassed by light. Angels are thought to possess wings, and are depicted that way in Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian art where they are also commonly depicted with halos.
In the Bible, angels are a medium of God's power; they exist to execute God's will. Angels reveal themselves to individuals as well as to the whole nation, to announce events, either good or bad, affecting humans.
– Pad of Definitions (2.13 Houses of the Holy), Official Website
Misha Collins plays Castiel
The archangels were created by God in order to help battle his sister the Darkness. After her defeat, God would begin creating in earnest, first making the Leviathans, whom were locked away for being too dangerous. Sometime after, God created the angels and their various classes. With the arrival humanity, God placed a high value on them. Lucifer refused to accept the position in the divine order apportioned to humanity, and defied God's word. After Michael cast him from Heaven, Lucifer twisted human souls to create the first demons, the first of which was Lilith. For his crimes, Lucifer was imprisoned in a cage locked with the 66 seals. This conflict had lasting repercussions, including Gabriel's descent to Earth and becoming the trickster god Loki. At some point, God also departed Heaven, leaving the angels in charge.
In 1972, the demon Azazel managed to locate Lucifer's prison and to communicate with him. Azazel then proceeded with an intricate plan to release Lucifer that required decades of work from himself, and the demons Meg, Ruby, and even Lilith. Of special importance was the effort to ensure Sam Winchester's availability as Lucifer's vessel. The plan culminated in the breaking of the 66 seals.
It appears that when the highest ranking angels discovered the plan, they decided to allow it to proceed. According to Zachariah, they intend for Lucifer to be freed so that Michael can finally battle and defeat him, bringing about paradise. However, to maintain order, the angelic hierarchy commands the rank and file angels to descend to Earth, and even take vessels to prevent the breaking of the 66 seals. Angels aware of the master plan included Zachariah and Michael. Even some of the angels who were kept ignorant of Heaven's plan decided not to oppose the breaking of the seals, but for a different reason. Uriel and his fellows wanted to see Lucifer rise so that they could follow him.
Most angels worked to maintain the seals, including Castiel. He was sent to rescue Dean from Hell, but did not reach him before he broke the first of the seals. It is likely that Heaven wanted Dean returned to Earth, not to prevent the first seal from breaking, but so that he would be available to be Michael's vessel. Eventually all of the seals are broken and Lucifer is released. However, the ultimate goal of Michael's followers is not achieved, because the final confrontation between Lucifer and himself is prevented by the combined efforts of Sam, Dean, Castiel, Bobby Singer, Gabriel, and the demon Crowley, among others. In the end, both Lucifer and Michael became imprisoned in Lucifer's Cage.
Following the loss of Michael, Castiel speculates that Heaven will be in chaos, and intends to return to help if he can. When Raphael threatens to restart the Apocalypse, Castiel, at Crowley's urging, starts a civil war to stop him.[9] Some of the angels chose sides in the war, while others had abandoned the fight to live on Earth. Castiel manages to destroy Raphael, the leader of the traditionalist angels, by taking in souls from Purgatory. After which he then declares himself the new God.
His first act as "God", Castiel kills Raphael's followers and a variety of humans of whom he disapproves of. However, Castiel finds that he cannot control the souls indefinitely because they are destroying his vessel. He also finds that he is host to Leviathans, who seem to be making his behavior even more violent. With the Winchesters' help he gives up the souls, but the Leviathans take him over, and escape into the world. Castiel becomes an amnesiac, and later mentally unbalanced. In his absence, the primary leadership of Heaven is unknown, but Hester was revealed as a ranking member. The angels would continue to perform at least some of their duties, such as the protection of prophets. Some angels resented Castiel, while others seemed willing to move forward.[4] After finding Castiel alive and getting the prophet Kevin Tran, two angels are shown to be killed by a Leviathan named Edgar. Castiel later discovers that his entire garrison was wiped out and says that if there are any survivors, they are now in hiding. Castiel later went on to help Dean kill Dick Roman and defeat the Leviathans.[13]
The angel Samandriel attends Plutus' auction to try to get the demon tablet and stop it from falling into demon hands, especially Crowley's as he wants to throw open the Gates of Hell.[14] Later, angels under the command of Naomi rescue Castiel from Purgatory, though many die in the incursion. Crowley kidnaps Samandriel to get the names of all future prophets, which the other angels don't even seem to notice. However, Castiel helps rescue the prophets, and ends up breaking the demon tablet in half, stopping Crowley from getting away with all of it. Naomi later orders Castiel to help the Winchesters in whatever they need and report to her periodically on their activities. After Samandriel manages to get a distress call off, Naomi sends Castiel to rescue him. Though he succeeds with the Winchesters' help, Samandriel has revealed the existence of an angel tablet and Naomi has Castiel kill him as a traitor, worried about what it might mean. According to Naomi the existence of this tablet is something any angel would die to protect as with it, Crowley could cause a lot of trouble for the angels, pointing out that the demon tablet shows how to seal them all up in Hell and could conceivably do the same to the angels in Heaven.[15] After indoctrinating Castiel to her will, Naomi sends him to get the angel tablet, which he succeeds in doing with the help of the Winchesters and the demon Meg and then tries to get him to kill Dean. Castiel manages to break free of Naomi's control and flees with the tablet, though Naomi says he is doing what he is meant to do: protect the tablet.[16] Afterwards, Naomi presents herself as an ally to the Winchesters, claiming that she and by extension, Heaven, want the same thing they do: Hell sealed. Naomi aids with completing the second trial by releasing Crowley's hold on Bobby Singer's soul and allowing it to ascend into Heaven despite Crowley's belief that if the Winchesters seal up Hell and all its demons, they will seal up Heaven and all of its angels next.[17] Naomi later captures Castiel, but is driven off by Crowley before she can find the angel tablet. Castiel teams up with Metatron to seal off Heaven and end the civil war going on there, but Naomi learns that Metatron intends to expel all angels from Heaven forever as revenge for his own expulsion and tries to convince a disbelieving Castiel of this. He refuses to believe her, but she is proven right when Metatron kills her and uses a Nephilim's heart, Cupid's bow and Castiel's grace to expel all the angels (except, presumably, himself) who are seen falling to Earth.
The angels falling from Heaven.
The angels falling to Earth is believed by many humans just to be a "global meteor shower." Most angels blamed Castiel for what happened and want revenge. When Dean gets desperate for a way to save Sam, he sends out a prayer to all angels, pleading for one to save Sam, but while it draws in Gadreel, pretending to be Ezekiel, who is willing to help, it also draws three angels who want to know where Castiel is. Dean kills one and banishes the other two, but is forced to let "Ezekiel" possess Sam in order for him to heal both Sam and himself as "Ezekiel" was injured falling to Earth. At the same time, an angel named Hael enlists Castiel's help in guiding her on Earth, but after he decides to help Dean instead, she kidnaps him and reveals her true plan to be to possess Castiel to become stronger. Castiel incapacitates Hael by crashing her car and kills her when she threatens to reveal where to find him to all the angels searching for him. [18] While Gadreel allows Sam to remain in control for the majority of the time, he emerges without Sam's knowledge when his presence is needed to protect Sam or aid the Winchesters in some way.[19][20][21][22] A faction of angels quickly emerges led by Bartholomew, a follower of Naomi, that uses Reverend Buddy Boyle to gain vessels and hunt for Castiel. After killing an angel that locates him, Castiel wards himself against detection with an Enochian tattoo so Bartholomew sends rogue Reapers after him. One succeeds in killing Castiel, but Ezekiel resurrects him.[20] While Dean and Castiel deal with rogue Rit Zien angel Ephraim, ultimately killing him when he tries to kill Castiel, Sam and Kevin learn from Crowley's translation of the angel tablet that Metatron's spell to expel all angels from Heaven is irreversible.[10] It was also revealed by Malachi, who is now at war with Bartholomew, that a whole host of angels died during the fall, among the dead he names Azrael, Sophia, and Ezekiel. After stealing Theo's Grace, Castiel becomes an angel once more. After Dean learns the truth and meeting with Metatron, Gadreel takes full possession of Sam to become his lieutenant in restoring Heaven, murdering Kevin Tran along the way.[23] Eventually, with the help of Crowley, Sam expels Gadreel who merely returns to his original vessel to continue his work.[24] After being captured by Bartholomew's followers, Castiel discovers that Bartholomew is using Boyle's resources to track Metatron whenever he appears on Earth, but is also eliminating all other factions, even peaceful ones such as the Penitents who coexist with humanity. When Castiel refuses to kill Eliah due to wanting no more angel on angel bloodshed, Bartholomew attacks him and Castiel is forced to kill Bartholomew in self-defense. However, Castiel's beliefs sway some of Bartholomew's followers who decide to follow Castiel in his way of thinking.[5]
In the years since the Apocalypse, the Host of Heaven's numbers began decreasing. Through the first angelic civil war, Castiel declaring himself God and killing the Raphael loyalists, the angel fall, and second angelic civil war on Earth, by 2017 the number of angels decreased to the point they are near extinction, as no angels have been made since God created them at the dawn of time. In an attempt to save their species, the remaining angels have decided to try and use the Nephilim Jack Kline to create more angels.
According to Castiel, angels are not omniscient beings,[25] although their knowledge, especially that of archangels, is extensive. Their angelic power exists in the form of grace. Anna voluntarily removed her grace in order to be reborn human. She describes the grace as "an energy", but this energy is somehow connected to an angel's true form. Anna said that the removal of her grace was very painful. Despite the fact that an angel's power is connected to its grace, Anna still demonstrated telekinesis and superhuman strength. Anna also heard other angels conversing in Heaven but could not respond.[26] The restoration of grace replenishes the angel's powers and abilities.[2]
Angels in their incorporeal form.
The "physical appearance" of an angel's true form varies. For instance, Lucifer's angelic form is said by Uriel to be beautiful.[27] However, Sam and Rowena described their experiences seeing Lucifer's true face as traumatic. Luciger's eye color is also red, opposed to the traditional blue of his brethren. Zachariah described his angelic form has four faces (one of which is a lion) and six wings, though Sam and Dean are not able to perceive him in this way in Heaven.[1] Castiel states that his true angelic form is the size of the Chrysler Building.[28] Within the show, an angel's true form is often seen as brilliant white light. Psychic Pamela Barnes' eyes are burnt out when she looks on Castiel's true form. Michael's voice and true form prove fatal to several bar patrons.[29] For these reasons, angels most often communicate with humans through dreams, or through a vessel.
An angel's true voice is often heard as an ear piercing, high-pitched sound which can shatter glass. Castiel tries to speak to Dean with his true voice and is surprised when Dean cannot understand it because he is the vessel of Michael.[30] Some humans, in fact, can understand this true voice, but to most it is overwhelming, painful, or sometimes fatal to behold.
When angels converse with each other in Heaven, they speak Enochian. Anna, before realizing that she was formerly an angel, was able to hear angels speaking without them being physically present. Dean referred to this communication as "angel radio", and it appears to be a common method of relaying information between angels. This might be referred to as a telepathic link; angels also have some ability to read human minds.[8]
Angels occupy a human vessel in order to manifest on Earth. The person they possess must consent to this, as opposed to demonic possession which is non-consensual. Angels and their vessels appear to be matched based on bloodlines, some of which are preserved by "cupids", which according to Castiel is a lower order of cherub. Though angels can possess human's not of a specific bloodline, however they risk the vessel deteriorating or even exploding upon possession. It seems that while occupied, the vessel's blood is altered by the angel's presence. Castiel has commented that he cannot use his "own" blood for a ritual, because he is "not human".[31]
Some angelic powers are innate, and some can be curtailed or enhanced by the hierarchy of the Host of Heaven. Castiel finds his abilities limited after he rebels and helps Dean: "I'm cut off from Heaven and much of Heaven's power. Certain things I can do. Certain things I can't."[32]. Castiel appears essentially mortal in the alternate future in 5.04 The End, after he reports the angels have abandoned Earth. After he directly acts against Heaven in 5.18 Point of No Return, Castiel returns almost mortal. He receives enhanced angelic powers from God in 5.22 Swan Song. Abilities are also correlated with the rank of the angel. Depending on the rank, angels may not need to be connected to Heaven to use all of their power as while in Purgatory after receiving enhanced powers, Castiel displays a power he lost when cut off from Heaven last time, but is left in a weakened state from the experience when he eventually escapes Purgatory. However, he appears to quickly recover from this weakness.
Angels are extremely powerful beings with a wide range of abilities. Abilities vary with the class of the angel. For example, archangels have all the abilities of a normal angel, but they are enhanced, and they seem to have abilities that average angels do not possess.
Having fallen from Heaven due to the actions of Metatron, the angels have all lost their ability to teleport due to the loss of their wings, although they appear to retain their other abilities and weaknesses, such as being held off by angel-banishing sigils or their ability to heal, as well as still requiring vessels.
Destructive white light - Similar to Lilith's ability in depiction, however comes with the blue tinge that represents angelic presence, suggesting this is an extension of the angel's true form. When Castiel used this power, he ordered the humans to "Shut your eyes!" as Anna did when she regained her true form, destroying Alastair's host. The light is powerful enough to kill a diner full of Eve's "perfect creations" the Jefferson Starships in 6.19 Mommy Dearest. This may have been what the Sheriff witnessed Raphael using on demons at a gas station in 5.03 Free to Be You and Me. Naomi later used this in 8.19 Taxi Driver to try to smite Crowley forcing him to flee before she could. Metatron also displayed this in 8.21 The Great Escapist when he rescued Kevin Tran from Crowley.
Dreamwalking - Angels can enter human dreams in order to communicate with them. They do not need to know where the person is to use this ability.
Enhanced senses - An angel's senses heightened to a superhuman level. They have the ability to identify people from simply smelling their bones or blood, see a person's molecular make-up, and hear people from vast distances. Their sense of taste allows them to taste each individual atom that makes up a piece of food.
Healing - Angels have the ability to heal humans. When angels are disconnected from Heaven, they lose this power, as shown during Castiel's defection from Heaven and his inability to cure Bobby of his paralysis.
Angels are able to maintain their vessels without food, water, or sleep, and to heal them after they are injured. Lucifer healed Nick's body after he was shot by the Colt. Castiel has healed his vessel, Jimmy Novak from his countless fatal injuries. Their vessels also appear resistant to disease. However, when Castiel is on the verge of becoming mortal, Pestilence is able to infect him.[33] Possessed vessels will also not age as long as they are possessed by an angel. Also, weakened angels in vessels can become drunk, but it takes an extremely large amount of alcohol. An angel's ability to maintain and heal its vessel can be used to repair fatal damage that even their healing power can't fix.
Invisibility - Angels, even while occupying vessels, can hide within the Veil rendering themselves unseen by the human eye.
Invulnerability - An angel's durability far exceeds that of a human's. Prior to the Fall, an angel could take great amounts of physical damage, causing little to no harm to them.
Knowledge of all prophets - Castiel claims that Leah, the Whore of Babylon, is not a prophet because he has every prophet's name "seared" into his brain, and it is likely that all angels do as well. Samandriel displays this ability as well.
Matchmaking - Certain types of angels in the cherub class, e.g. cupids, can bring couples together by marking their hearts with Enochian symbols.
Memory manipulation - Angels have the ability to take away and restore a human's memories. Angels can also implant fake memories. Displayed by Zachariah, Michael, & Castiel.
Power removal - One angel has displayed the power to remove psychic abilities from humans, but it is extremely painful and mentally-damaging to the person losing the power.
Prayer - Angels are capable hearing the prayers of humans. The prayer does not need to be formal, as angels can pick up on a sense of longing in a person, whether they are aware of it or not.
Reality warping - Gabriel had shown the ability to create living beings, creatures, objects and imaginary realities out of nothing. He also showed the ability to reshape objects and human bodies, including his own vessel, and he was able to create an exact copy of himself as well.[34][35][36][37]
Resurrection - Some angels are sufficiently powerful to resurrect humans, even from Hell.
Revelation - Angels can implant visions into a prophet’s mind, as demonstrated when Zachariah uses Chuck.[38]
Sedation - As displayed by Castiel & Michael, angels have the ability to make humans unconscious by placing two fingers on their foreheads.
Smiting - Angels have the ability kill demons by placing a hand on the forehead of a possessed individual. Extremely powerful demons are immune to the touch of lower-level angels, e.g. Alastair.[2] This works on monsters and humans alike.[23] A special class of angels called the Rit Zien, like Ephraim, can use this to kill mortally-wounded angels and humans, but when they do, the being it is used on near-instantly explodes in a painless death.[23] The collective Host of Heaven can pool their powers together and perform mass-smitings.
Soul-reading - By reaching into a human's chest, an angel can read marks left on the human's soul by another angel. This procedure is very painful for the human, but leaves little physical damage. Thus far, this ability has only been used by Castiel.
Soul-channeling - Angels can use the energy from souls to empower themselves. Castiel siphons some energy from Bobby's soul to pull Sam and Dean forward in time.[39] He absorbs fifty thousand damned souls to declare war on Raphael.[9] He manages to destroy Raphael by taking in the souls of Purgatory.[40]
Super strength - The physical strength of an angel in a vessel is unknown, it's possible that their strength is unlimited as it doesn't come from the vessels muscles but instead their angelic power. They also have an extreme control on their strength as they have been shown to punch through walls but also non-fatally punch humans. One has been shown to be able to lift a one-ton anvil with ease.
Supernatural perception - Angels are able to see objects and beings that are invisible to humans, for e.g. reapers, hellhounds and Enochian sigils.
Telekinesis - Angels have the ability to move and influence objects with their minds. Other forms of telekinesis include:
Biokinesis - Zachariah gives Dean stomach cancer and removes Sam's lungs.[38] He also injures Adam, causing him to cough up blood.[29] Castiel uses this ability, similar to demon exorcism and the pyrokinetic power used by Michael on Anna, on Lenore to kill her in 6.19 Mommy Dearest
Cryokinesis - Lucifer proved capable of freezing objects by breathing on them; this occurred while he was manifesting in his vessel.[41]
Electrokinesis - Raphael can manipulate and control electricity. When Raphael first appeared before Dean and Castiel, electricity arcs away from him while he was manifesting in his vessel for the second time.[42]
Pyrokinesis - Michael has shown the ability to kill another angel by setting her ablaze.[3] Gabriel also demonstrated this when he lighted some candles.[37] and incinerated the Prince of Hell Asmodeus.[43] Castiel ignited and burnt Crowley's bones.[44]
Telepathy - Angels have the ability to communicate using their minds.
Teleportation - Angels have the ability to teleport anywhere in the world as long as the area is not protected by Enochian sigils. They can teleport themselves and other beings. Due to angels using their wings to teleport, when the Fall occurred all non-archangels had their wings destroyed preventing then from teleporting. The process of teleportation can be uncomfortable for humans, according to Dean.[42] Teleportation may involve:
Creating sudden wind, shattering lights (Castiel), and causing an Eastern Seaboard blackout (Raphael) when manifesting.[30][42]
Covert arrival, i.e. when Anna Milton attacked Uriel, or when Castiel attacked Zachariah's henchmen.[27][38]
Time travel - Angels have the ability to go backward and forward through time, though this is difficult without Heaven's assistance. According to Castiel, "Time is fluid, and on occasion we can bend it." Angels can become aware if there is a significant change to the timeline, however they cannot discern how a change happened.
Voice mimicry - Angels have the ability to sound like any human they choose.[27][45][3]
Weather manipulation - Raphael, Michael, and Lucifer all manipulated weather at will.
Ancient beings - Certain beings that predate the angel's creation, such as Eve, can inhibit an angel from using his or her powers. It is not known if this applies to higher tier angels, such as the archangels. Eve existed before angels, and suggests that she has knowledge that angels lack. Leviathan's have been shown to be able to over power and kill angels with little effort.
Angel banishing sigil drawn in human blood. When a hand is placed on the sigil, angels are temporarily banished from the area. It can be used by humans and angels, and the angel who uses it does not disappear with the others. Castiel uses an extreme form of this when he carves the sigil into his vessel's chest; on this occasion, he vanished with the other angels, and returned near mortal.[29] It is powerful enough to banish an archangel as strong as Lucifer as well as regular angels.[46]
Angel blade - A short blade carried around by angels, can be wielded by humans.
Angel sword - A sword that is carried by the Grigori class of angels. Has the same effect as the angel blade.
Archangels can easily overpower angels, often killing or banishing them by snapping their fingers.[36][3][41]
Archangel blade - A short blade carried by the archangels that is capable of killing an archangel,[37] but only when wielded by another archangel[47] or a vessel powered by an archangel.[48]
Cambion - Jesse has the power to transform Castiel into a toy. Castiel says that Jesse could "destroy the Host of Heaven with a word."
The Colt - The gun's power against angels is uncertain. It was ineffective against Lucifer, but he stated that only five things could not be killed with this weapon, so it is possible that the Colt may work on angels, but not archangels.
Death's scythe - Crowley states that it will kill an angel.[33]
Enochian warding - They can be used to disguise the location of those bearing the symbols. Castiel carved the symbols into Sam and Dean's and later Adam's ribs. Enochian sigils can also be used to keep angels from entering a building.[27][12]
Exorcism chant - There is an exorcism chant to expel angels from their human vessels. It seems that the chant is not well known as only one demon, Alastair, has ever used it.[2][27]
The Fall - After the angels fell from Heaven due to Metatron's spell, all angels have become more susceptible to physical damage as well as having lost the ability to teleport.
Holy oil - This can be used to trap an angel. Castiel uses a Molotov cocktail of holy oil to temporarily banish Michael at Stull Cemetery.[41]
Naomi's torture spike - Naomi's torture spike can be used to torture and possibly bend an angel to another angel's will.
Pieces of Heaven - Any physical piece of Heaven itself can be used to kill an angel as shown when Gadreel uses a piece of rock from the wall of Heaven's dungeon to commit suicide.
Salt crystal - A crystal from the smiting of Sodom and Gomorrah has the ability to render an angel's vessel into a pillar of salt, forcing the angel to seek a new one.[31]
Staff of Moses - The staff has control over the 10 Plagues of Egypt, and appears to be effective even against angels.[31]
Unsuitable vessels - If an angel takes a vessel that cannot hold the angel's power, it will begin to burn out unless they find a more suitable one. In extreme cases the vessel will explode upon possession.
Vessel expulsion - If an vessel does not want the angel in them anymore and they are aware of the possession, they can expel the angel possessing them though it seems to cause no harm besides rendering the angel bodiless.
The Winchesters' Beliefs
Never say never, (...) but in my mind, angels as supernatural beings do not exist. In my opinion there are forces of evil, but the forces of good are human. There might very well be a God, but if there is, he's working in mysterious ways through a band of very imperfect humans.
– Eric Kripke, Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 2, page. 75
Prior to the introduction of angels on the show, Dean believed angels did not exist. Sam on the other hand believed in both angels and God, and prayed every day. Dean and Sam's mother is also revealed to have been a woman of faith; the last words Mary ever spoke to Dean were "...angels were watching over us."[49] When Dean first sees Mary during a djinn-induced hallucination, he checks to see if she is real by asking her what she would always say when she tucked him in at night. She answers, "I told you angels were watching over you."[50] Mary is shown saying this to an unborn Dean during season five.[3]
It is not until season four that angels actually appear, when Castiel arrives and proclaims himself "an angel of the Lord," and reveals that he saved Dean from Hell.[30]
Major Angels
The following named angels have prominent roles in the series; for information on the archangels Michael, Lucifer, Raphael and Gabriel see the article on archangels.
Castiel in his first appearance.
Season 4 Multiple angels laid siege to Hell in attempt to rescue Dean Winchester from its pits, but it was Castiel who eventually saved him. During the process of raising Dean, a hand print is burnt into his left shoulder. As a result of his interactions with Dean, Castiel begins to develop empathy for humans. This leads to his demotion because his superiors view this as dangerous.[27] At one point, Castiel is forcibly removed from his vessel, Jimmy Novak, and sent back to Heaven where it is impressed on him, under torture, that he must follow angelic orders.[51] Ultimately, he does disobey and acts to help Dean escape Zachariah in order to try and stop Sam from unknowingly freeing Lucifer.[45]
Season 5 As a result of this action Castiel is killed, but is then resurrected by God. He next embarks on a mission to find God in order to stop Lucifer. He becomes disillusioned after Joshua reveals that God will not intervene to stop the Apocalypse. After he takes drastic action against a group of angels in 5.18 Point of No Return, Castiel awakes in a hospital with his angelic powers all but gone. After being killed by Lucifer in the confrontation at Stull Cemetery, he is resurrected by God a second time with his angelic status restored and enhanced powers which he uses to heal Dean's injuries and resurrect Bobby Singer. Castiel then tells Dean that he intends to return to Heaven and take command.
Season 6 Castiel returns to Heaven following the imprisonment of Michael to help restore order. He is fighting a civil war against Raphael. After imbuing himself with the souls of Purgatory inside his vessel, Castiel rises in power, dispatches Raphael with a snap of his fingers, and claims to be the new "God".[40]
Season 7 His reign obliterates Raphael's followers and an assortment of humans of whom Castiel disapproves. He also heals those he finds faithful. However, he becomes increasingly influenced by another group of creatures he took in along with the souls: Leviathans. They drive him to increasingly bloody acts, while the souls begin to destroy Castiel's vessel. At a prompt from the Winchesters, he accepts their help to get rid of the souls, but the leviathans remain, and seize control of Cas.[52] They use him for his knowledge, and as a way to escape into the world.
Castiel is resurrected by God once more but as an amnesiac, and is eventually found by Dean, who is searching for someone to heal Sam of his hell-madness. Castiel remembers who he is, and takes Sam's illness on himself. His sanity is doubtful, but he remains willing to help the Winchesters. He chooses not to return to Heaven. He later helps kill Leviathan leader Dick Roman and gets pulled into Purgatory with Dean as a result.
Season 8 Castiel is eventually rescued by angels working for Naomi despite not wanting to leave and is now working with Sam and Dean to find the second half of demon tablet to close the Gates of Hell forever and banish all demons from the face of the Earth. After retrieving the angel tablet and nearly killing Dean, Castiel is now on the run with the tablet, protecting it from all threats. After the tablet is stolen from him by Crowley, Castiel teams up with Metatron to do the Trials to seal off Heaven in an effort to end the civil war there. Its eventually revealed that Metatron is using him to get revenge on the angels by expelling them all from Heaven and he steals Castiel's grace to do it, making him human and depositing him on Earth.
Season 9 Following becoming human, Castiel began trying to fit into a human life, but after being captured by Malachi and Theo, he regained his angel status and at least some of his powers by stealing Theo's grace and he starts looking for Metatron to reverse his spell. After killing Bartholomew, Castiel begins leading a faction of angels who want no more angel on angel violence. With his grace burning out, Castiel defeats Metatron with the help of the Winchesters, Gadreel and Hannah and the angels regain control of Heaven. However, Castiel's grace is close to burning out and he will die if he doesn't replenish it.
Season 10 With his grace rapidly burning out, Castiel aids in the search for the now-demonic Dean. Near death, Castiel is saved by Crowley who gives him the grace of Adina, enabling Castiel to help return Dean to being human. After an encounter with the husband of Hannah's vessel, Castiel takes an interest in the Novak family, leading him to become involved in the life of Claire Novak. Castiel eventually aids Claire in rescuing her mother and killing the Grigori Tamiel. Following the Mark of Cain starting to affect Dean badly, Castiel begins working on finding a cure, searching for Cain and participating in the final battle with him. Castiel later works with Sam and Bobby Singer in a failed attempt to get a cure from Metatron. Though Metatron escapes, Castiel renders him human and regains his own grace and with it his status and power. After the Mark of Cain is removed by Rowena, Castiel is placed under a spell that causes him to attack Crowley uncontrollably.
Season 11 Castiel begins to go into uncontrollable rages due to the effect of Rowena's spell and draws the ire of the angels once more due to Metatron escaping on his watch. The Winchesters force Rowena to break the spell Castiel is under and he locates Metatron who tells him that the Darkness is in fact God's sister. Seeing Metatron as no longer a threat, Castiel lets him go. During an encounter with Lucifer, Lucifer insists that he can beat the Darkness and Castiel agrees to become his vessel in order to give Lucifer form on Earth. Lucifer poses as Castiel to the Winchesters, but he is eventually found out by Sam. Castiel briefly resurfaces long enough to save Sam's life and explain the situation, but is unable to get rid of Lucifer. The Winchesters later make a failed attempt to free Castiel from Lucifer's control, but he refuses to expel the archangel and the attempt fails, leading to both being captured by Amara. After Lucifer and Castiel's rescue from Amara, Castiel briefly resumes control to aid Lucifer in convincing the angels to join in their plan to attack Amara. During the final confrontation with Amara, Lucifer is expelled from Castiel's body, leaving Castiel in control once more. After the threat of Amara is over, Sam and Castiel return to the Bunker only to have Castiel banished by Lady Toni Bevell.
Uriel, a specialist.
Uriel comes to Earth, manifests inside a vessel, and stands with Castiel in trying to prevent the breaking of a seal in 4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. He is introduced to the Winchesters as a "specialist", and appears to be junior to Castiel, being placed under his authority. He exhibits disdain for both humanity and demons. By 4.16 On the Head of a Pin, he has been made Castiel's superior. He clandestinely breaks the devil's trap holding Alastair, intending for him to kill Dean. Uriel secretly supports the release of Lucifer so that the archangel can return to power. He is one of a group of rebellious angels with this goal, and he has been trying to recruit other angels to the cause; he kills those who refuse. He eventually reveals his plans to Castiel in an unsuccessful attempt to recruit the other angel, and they fight. Uriel gets the upper hand over Castiel, but Anna kills him with his own blade, saving Castiel.
Uriel is also seen in 5.13 The Song Remains the Same when Anna travels to 1973 and recruits a younger Uriel to help in her attempt to kill Mary and John Winchester and prevent Sam's birth.
Anna Milton
Anna, the fallen angel.
Anna was originally Castiel and Uriel's superior, but she chose to remove her grace and become human. When Dean is saved from Hell, she begins to hear the angels speaking. Alastair wants to capture her in order to find out what the angels are doing, but Dean and Sam rescue her, and Pamela Barnes helps her regain her memories of having been an angel. Anna is under a death sentence for disobedience, but she is able to regain her grace from Uriel and becomes an angel again.
Later, Anna tries to get Castiel to join her and stop following orders, but he refuses. She kills the traitor Uriel to save Cas. After the events of 4.21 When the Levee Breaks, Anna meets with Castiel in an undisclosed location, and a group of angels take her back to Heaven for "reprogramming".
When Anna returns in 5.13 The Song Remains the Same she travels back in time to kill Sam's parents and prevent his birth. She believes this will prevent Lucifer from possessing him and end the Apocalypse. She fails, and Michael disintegrates Anna with a touch for interfering with Heaven's plan.
Zachariah - Castiel's superior.
Zachariah is a powerful celestial that was under Michael's command. In his true angelic form, has four faces and six wings. Upon Uriel's death, Zachariah is deployed from Heaven and manifests on Earth in a vessel. He has significant authority over other angels. Zachariah is a direct superior of Castiel, and can even command Joshua, an angel who talks directly to God.
Zachariah plays a major role in the plan to allow Lucifer to be released so that Michael can kill him. Once Lucifer is freed, Zachariah takes increasingly aggressive actions to force Dean to consent to being Michael's Vessel. His failures on this score embitter him. According to Zachariah, he was greatly respected by all of his angel colleagues before being assigned Dean's case because he delivered consistent successes. His reputation is damaged by Dean's refusals, and he is 'fired' by his superiors. Michael then gives Zachariah one more chance at the task of recruiting Dean with a plot involving the resurrection of Adam, Dean's half-brother. Ultimately even this effort fails, and Zachariah is killed by Dean with an angel blade in 5.18 Point of No Return.
Balthazar is an angel who fought alongside Castiel during the last angelic war. Castiel thought that he had died in the fighting. In fact, Balthazar faked his death, taking a number of powerful artifacts, including the Staff of Moses and Lot's Salt, with him. He has been on Earth enjoying a rather hedonistic lifestyle, and has bought at least one human soul. He becomes something of an ally to Castiel, but is unaware of Castiel's deal with Crowley until the Winchesters tell him about it. He decides to clandestinely support their efforts to stop Cas. Castiel kills him with an angel blade after he alerts them to Castiel's location in 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Samandriel
Samandriel attends the auction held by Plutus in order to protect the Word of God. His vessel is a young man named Alfie. He asks Dean about Castiel's whereabouts, and Dean tells him how they ended up in Purgatory. Samandriel tells Dean that Castiel still has supporters in Heaven and indicates that he is one. He also decides to go by the name of his vessel; Alphie.
During the auction, Samandriel bids the Mona Lisa, and then Vatican City. However, the bidding turns to souls, and he says that angels "guard the souls in Heaven, we don't horse trade them." He later offers angelic protection to Linda Tran for her son Kevin, but she refuses it, a wish he respects.
Later, Crowley captures him and tortures him for information on the future prophets which Samandriel gives him. Crowley then orders him put "on ice" for future torture. Eventually his torture under Viggo causes him to revert to his "factory settings" and reveal the existence of an angel tablet. After his rescue by Sam, Dean and Castiel, Naomi labels him as a traitor and forces Castiel to kill him with his angel blade, planning to examine his remains to discover just how badly he broke. He is killed in 8.10 Torn and Frayed He is last mentioned by Castiel in 9.10 Road Trip.
A high-ranking angel in the field of intelligence, who exists in a part of Heaven not many have visited. According to Metatron, she is the leader of one of many factions fighting for control of Heaven and is able to order the rescue of Castiel from Purgatory and order around Castiel who is a powerful angel himself. She completely brainwashes Castiel, making him deceive the Winchesters, and commanding him to kill Dean when he finds the angel tablet. After Castiel breaks free of her control, he flees with the angel tablet saying he must protect it from both Heaven and the Winchesters. Later she introduces herself to the boys as an ally, and appears so by saving them from Crowley and helping them complete the second trial by sending Bobby's spirit to heaven. She briefly manages to capture Castiel, but is forced to flee when Crowley arrives. Naomi captures Metatron and learns of his plans to expel all angels from Heaven. This causes her to rethink her decisions and even express remorse for them. She warns Castiel of the truth and Dean that Sam will die if he completes the trials, but Castiel refuses to believe her while Dean does. Naomi returns to Heaven where Metatron kills her in 8.23 Sacrifice and later tells Castiel that she was telling the truth about his plans.
In 13.19 Funeralia Naomi is revealed to have survived Metatron's attempt to kill her, but suffered such injuries that she faked her death and has taken years to recover enough to be "mostly here." With less than a dozen angels left in all of Creation, Naomi is leading the surviving angels in trying to keep Heaven going for as long as possible.
Metatron was an angel who was enlisted by God to write the tablets. After God left and the archangels started conspiring to take over the universe themselves, Metatron hid out on Earth. He gifted a Native American tribe with immortality in exchange for stories and books which he found very interesting. However, he was completely cut-off from Heaven and was unaware of things that had occurred since he had left such as the imprisonment of Michael and Lucifer and the deaths of Raphael and Gabriel. Sam and Dean locate him and convince Metatron to join their efforts by rescuing Kevin Tran and half of the demon tablet from Crowley. He then begins with working with Castiel to seal off Heaven in an effort to force the angels to stop fighting and also to keep the civil war from spilling over onto Earth. Naomi learns that in truth he wants to expel all angels from Heaven in an act of revenge for his own self-exile and he kills her and uses the items he has gathered, including Castiel's grace to successfully enact his plan. Its eventually discovered that his spell is irreversible. Using the angel tablet, Metatron gains massive God-like power. After gathering a massive following to him under the command of himself and Gadreel, Metatron is defeated when Castiel shatters the angel tablet, stripping him of his extra power and causes Metatron to broadcast his true feelings on humanity and angels over angel radio. Metatron is overthrown and imprisoned in Heaven's dungeon, but not before he briefly kills Dean who returns as a demon. He is later interrogated for information on how to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm and eventually broken out of prison after the first time fails with the help of Bobby Singer. After having his grace removed and being rendered human, he is forced to reveal that he doesn't actually know how to remove the Mark. Metatron then offers to lead Castiel to the remainder of his grace in exchange for his life. However, while Castiel gets his grace back, Metatron escapes with what he really came for, the demon tablet. Castiel later locates him working as a videographer and captures Metatron once more for information on the Darkness. Following getting the information he needs, Castiel lets Metatron go, seeing him as no longer a threat and pitiable instead. Metatron is later brought in by God to help write his autobiography. In an attempt to stop God's suicidal attack on the Darkness, Metatron helps to rescue Lucifer and sacrifices himself to buy Sam, Lucifer and Donatello Redfield time to escape. He is then imploded by Amara into nothingness.
A silhouette of the angel Gadreel's damaged wings after his fall from Heaven.
Gadreel aka Ezekiel
Gadreel is an angel who according to Metatron was God's most trusted, which lead to him being chosen to protect the Garden, and keep evil from entering it. Gadreel somehow failed in his task, and allowed the Earth to be cursed with evil, for which he was blamed and locked-up for thousands of years in Heaven's darkest dungeon. He was freed from his imprisonment by Metatron when he expelled all the angels from Heaven in an act of revenge.
Though injured by the fall, he proceeded to take a vessel, and when Dean prays for any angel that hears him for help, Gadreel comes under the guise of "Ezekiel," who according to Castiel, was a good soldier and is trustworthy, which is why Gadreel took his identity as a way atoning for his past. The real Ezekiel died in the fall from Heaven. As "Ezekiel" he was unable to heal Sam, due to both of their weakened states, but with Dean's help, he is able to take possession of Sam so he can heal him from the inside while also healing himself. "Ezekiel" allows Sam to remain in control of his body, but erases his memory of his near-death experience so that he won't realize he is possessed and reject Ezekiel which would be fatal to Sam. "Ezekiel" later takes control to protect Sam from three demons, but stages it so it looks like Dean killed the demons so Sam remains aware of his presence.
Gadreel's first vessel.
When angels are after Castiel he lets Dean know about it along with the fact that Sam is slowly healing. He aids Dean in finding Castiel by tracking the rogue reaper looking for him and resurrects Castiel when he is killed but warns that he either he or "Ezekiel" must leave because Castiel is too dangerous to be around with all of the angels looking for him. When Charlie Bradbury is killed, Dean calls upon Ezekiel to resurrect her. "Ezekiel" reluctantly does so, stating that every time he does so, it weakens him and he's barely back to half-strength. Gadreel later takes full control of Sam, murdering Kevin Tran in order to become the lieutenant of Metatron. With the help of Crowley, Sam eventually manages to expel him and Gadreel is forced to return to his original vessel.
Gadreel began working with Metatron to rebuild Heaven, killing any angel who wouldn't join Metatron and commanding his followers for him. However, Gadreel still had honor and when Metatron's unscrupulous methods got too much for him, Gadreel defected to the side of Sam, Dean and Castiel. Trying to break Metatron's power by infiltrating Heaven and shattering the angel tablet, Gadreel commits suicide in order to blow open Heaven's dungeon and free Castiel, sacrificing himself to redeem his actions and fulfill what he recognizes is the angels true mission: protect humanity at any cost. His sacrifice ultimately allows Castiel to shatter the angel tablet, reveal the truth about Metatron to his followers and defeat him. [7]
Bartholomew was an angel who was both a protégé of Naomi's and old friend and subordinate of Castiel's who gathered a faction after the fall of the angels. His faction used Reverend Buddy Boyle to get vessels for angels that needed them and hunted for Castiel for revenge for causing the fall of the angels, with Bartholomew calling on rogue Reapers to help when Castiel warded himself against angelic detection. After Malachi gathered a faction of his own to oppose him, Bartholomew started an angelic civil war between the two factions and started hunting down even peaceful factions such as the Penitents, seeing them as a threat to his growing power. Bartholomew later tried to recruit Castiel, believing that with Castiel at his side he would be able to unite all of the angels, but after Castiel refused to join Bartholomew due to Bartholomew's savage methods, Bartholomew tried to kill him and Castiel was forced to kill Bartholomew in self-defense. Following Bartholomew's death, some of his faction decided to follow Castiel in a less violent way of living. Dies in 9.14 Captives
An anarchist angel who led a faction of angels trying to unite all of the angels under his command and retake Heaven, something that Castiel said would be a very bad thing. Malachi is brutal, even his own henchman Theo described him as insane and violent, murdering anyone who gets in his way and going to war with Bartholomew. After Bartholomew is killed by Castiel, he presumably gains ground but is killed by Gadreel in his efforts to unite all the angels under Metatron. Reported dead by Castiel in 9.21 King of the Damned
A soldier of Raphael engages in battle with Castiel.
Angel Henchmen
These anonymous angels appear to serve the executive members of the Host like Zachariah and Raphael. They often accompany higher angels when a specific task must be completed. They are primarily silent.
Their first appearance may be in 4.21 When the Levee Breaks, when they come to capture and escort the fugitive Anna Milton back to Heaven. Castiel kills two angel henchmen in 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil, and in the same episode Dean banishes them along with Zachariah. In 5.18 Point of No Return, Castiel kills two more at the site of Adam Milligan's resurrection, and a fifth in the subsequent attempt to rescue Adam. In the same episode, he banishes four others with an angel banishing sigil carved into his vessel.
Angel henchmen taking Anna.
In season six, a group of henchmen act as soldiers for Raphael in his attempts to gain control of Heaven. During 6.03 The Third Man, a henchman spying on Castiel speaks for the first time. Of the three soldiers in the episode, Balthazar dispatches one, Sam and Dean banish a second, and Castiel kills the third. Two later appear with Hester and Inias to capture the prophet Kevin Tran, but don't intervene in the confrontation that takes place. They are later assigned to protect Kevin at his home, but are killed by Edgar.
The henchmen appear in the following episodes: 4.21 When The Levee Breaks, 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil, 5.16 Dark Side of the Moon, 5.18 Point of No Return, 6.03 The Third Man, 6.20 The Man Who Would Be King, 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much, 7.01 Meet the New Boss, 7.21 Reading Is Fundamental, 8.17 Goodbye Stranger, 8.21 The Great Escapist and 8.23 Sacrifice
Angels in Lore
Angels or divine beings described as messengers of God, or guardians of souls occur in many religious traditions.
Angels on Wikipedia
Angels in Roman Catholicism
Angels in Islam
Angels in Judaism
Reported encounters with angels
↑ 1.0 1.1 5.16 Dark Side of the Moon
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 4.10 Heaven and Hell
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 5.13 The Song Remains the Same
↑ 4.0 4.1 7.21 Reading Is Fundamental
↑ 5.0 5.1 9.14 Captives
↑ 9.21 King of the Damned
↑ 7.0 7.1 9.23 Do You Believe in Miracles?
↑ 8.0 8.1 5.14 My Bloody Valentine
↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 6.20 The Man Who Would Be King
↑ 10.0 10.1 9.06 Heaven Can't Wait
↑ 10.20 Angel Heart
↑ 12.0 12.1 5.10 Abandon All Hope...
↑ 7.23 Survival of the Fittest
↑ 8.02 What's Up, Tiger Mommy?
↑ 8.10 Torn and Frayed
↑ 8.17 Goodbye Stranger
↑ 8.19 Taxi Driver
↑ 9.01 I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here
↑ 9.02 Devil May Care
↑ 20.0 20.1 9.03 I'm No Angel
↑ 9.04 Slumber Party
↑ 9.05 Dog Dean Afternoon
↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 9.09 Holy Terror
↑ 9.10 Road Trip
↑ 4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester
↑ 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer
↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 4.16 On the Head of a Pin
↑ 6.07 Family Matters
↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named five18
↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 4.01 Lazarus Rising
↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 6.03 The Third Man
↑ 5.02 Good God, Y'All
↑ 33.0 33.1 5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight
↑ 2.15 Tall Tales
↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named three11
↑ 36.0 36.1 5.08 Changing Channels
↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 5.19 Hammer of the Gods
↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil
↑ 6.18 Frontierland
↑ 40.0 40.1 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much
↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 5.03 Free to Be You and Me
↑ 13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive
↑ 6.10 Caged Heat
↑ 45.0 45.1 4.22 Lucifer Rising
↑ 11.14 The Vessel
↑ 13.13 Devil's Bargain
↑ 13.23 Let the Good Times Roll
↑ 2.13 Houses of the Holy
↑ 2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be
↑ 4.20 The Rapture
↑ 7.01 Meet the New Boss
Retrieved from "http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/index.php?title=Angel_Lore&oldid=177211"
Angel Lore
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I INTRODUCTION
Section 1. USA Water Polo, Inc.
USA Water Polo, Inc. (“USAWP”) is the national governing body for the sport of water polo in the United States. The Southwest Zone of USWP operates under the sponsorship and rules of USAWP. The Southwest Zone of USWP is the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
Section 2. This Zone Policy & Procedure Manual
USA Water Polo Inc. provides a Zone Policy & Procedure Manual intended to provide all participants in USAWP Zone activities with information about the policies and procedures associated with their involvement with USAWP.
It terminates and replaces any previous zone policies, memoranda and any inconsistent oral or written descriptions of the Zones’ role within USA Water Polo.
Although this Zone Policy & Procedure Manual is intended to be as comprehensive as possible, no policy and procedure can anticipate every circumstance. Thus, should any questions arise regarding the contents of this Manual or Zone policies or procedures in general, the zone should contact USAWP staff, who can either provide guidance regarding the meaning of the provisions of this manual or cause USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer or Board of Directors to consider any policy issues that are not addressed in this Manual.
Section 3 Southwest Zone Unique Policies and Procedures
The Southwest Zone board may create policies and procedures that address questions and operations not already covered by the USAWP Zone Policy & Procedure Manual. Should there be any conflict between the zone policy and any USAWP policy then the USAWP policy will take precedence.
II MISSION & GOALS
Section 1 USA Water Polo Mission Statement
The mission of USAWP is to grow the sport of water polo throughout the United States and win medals in the Olympic Games, FINA World Championships and Pan American Games. In order to accomplish this mission, USAWP sponsors and organizes water polo competition and training programs from introductory youth Splashball programs through 60+ Masters competitions, as well as selecting and training the Men’s and Women’s National Teams. In addition, USAWP provides training to, and certifies, water polo coaches and referees.
Section 2 Zone Mission Statement
The Southwest Water Polo Zone of USAWP represents the essential organizing mechanism for Southwest Zone regional volunteerism within USAWP and beyond. Each USAWP Zone is expected to build the water polo community within its region by creating, sponsoring and overseeing leagues and qualifying tournaments, clinics, and other services. Zone activities should be self-supporting, except for certain national obligations, such as attendance at national assemblies, which will be funded by USAWP. As ambassadors for our sport, each Zone, in collaboration with the USAWP national office, should strive to enhance the growth of the sport throughout the country and to promote the sport at all levels.
Section 3. Goals and Expectations for Zones
Each Zone is expected to organize, develop and promote the sport of water polo using guidelines and goals set forth by USAWP under the direction of USAWP’s Director of Sports Development. The primary means of accomplishing this objective are:
• Encouraging increased water polo activity within the Zone by organizing competitions, assisting in the formation of new clubs within the Zone and facilitating training for athletes, coaches and referees;
• Informing USAWP members within the Zone regarding water polo competitions and developments within USAWP;
• Promoting USAWP member participation in the USAWP Olympic Development Program;
• Assisting in securing facilities for training and selection camps and regional training centers;
• Promoting USAWP member participation in national events by hosting national championships, national championship qualification tournaments, and regional leagues, events and camps;
• Providing oversight of local activities to ensure they are conducted in a manner consistent with USAWP’s Statement of Ethics and Values, as well as the policies and procedures within this manual and USA Water Polo’s Codes of Conduct for Athletes, Coaches and Referees; and
• Wisely using the resources available to the Zone to promote the sport of water polo and to increase the number of USAWP members in the Zone, and the quality of play, instruction and competition within the Zone.
III ZONE BOARD
Section 1. General Powers
Except as otherwise provided in these Policies and Procedures, the business of each Zone shall be conducted by the Zone Chair under the supervision of the Zone Board.
Each member of a Zone Board shall: (a) be over the age of 18 years, (b) be a member of USAWP and (c) have his or her principal place of residence within the Zone. At the option of the Zone Board, and with the prior written approval of USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer, a Zone may elect to divide the Zone in geographic regions and to allocate one or more positions on the Zone Board to each of those geographic regions so as to ensure that all distinct geographic areas within a Zone are represented on the Zone Board.
Each Zone shall have at least five and no more than 10 members on that Zone’s Board of Directors, as determined by the Zone Board. Starting in 2015, the SW Zone Board will be comprised of 7 Board Members.
Section 4. Staggered Terms
Each Zone shall have two groups of members on its Zone Board, Group A Members and Group B Members. Each Zone Board shall be as evenly divided between Group A Members and Group B Members as possible.
Section 5. Initial Terms as of January 1, 2014
The initial term of office for the Group A Members of each Zone Board shall commence on January 1, 2014 and shall terminate on December 31, 2016. The initial term of office for the Group B members of each Zone Board shall commence on January 1, 2014 and shall terminate on December 31, 2014.
Section 6. Election of Zone Board Members
The members of the Zone Board shall be elected at the annual Zone meeting held during each even numbered year, i.e., 2012, 2014. Nominations for membership on the Zone Board must be received in writing by the Zone Chair at least 30 days prior to the election Any current member of USAWP who resides in the Zone conducting the election may nominate any current member of USAWP who resides in the Zone conducting the election, including the member making the nomination, for a position on the Zone Board. Only USAWP members in attendance at the annual Zone meeting at which an election is held may vote for members of the Zone Board, i.e., members may not vote by proxy or by telephone. For purposes of this provision, a Zone may elect to have its annual meeting at more than one location provided that: (a) the meetings are held at the same time, (b) the locations are connected to one another via telephone and/or video phone and (c) at least one Zone Officer, or other person selected by the Zone Board to supervise the meeting, is present at each location to verify that persons voting at that location are USAWP members and to tally the votes cast at that location. Notwithstanding the foregoing, at the option of the Zone Board, and with the prior written approval of USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer, a Zone may elect to conduct the election of the members of the Zone Board by permitting USAWP members residing in the Zone to vote using USAWP’s on-line database. In the event that a Zone elects to conduct the election of its Zone Board using USAWP’s on-line database, then: (a) members of USAWP residing in the Zone must be informed of that decision via e-mail not less than 60 days before the last day to vote, including the deadline for submitting nominations for the Zone Board; (b) nominations for the Zone Board must be made not less than 30 days before the last day to vote and (c) all members of USAWP residing in the Zone must receive, via e-mail, a list of the persons nominated for positions on the Zone Board and instructions on how to vote not less than 20 days before the last day to vote.
Section 7. Eligibility to Vote
In order to be eligible to vote in an election for a Zone Board, an individual must:
(a) be 18 years old, or older, on the date of the election;
(b) be a current member of USA Water Polo sixty (60) days prior to the date of the election and on the date of the election and;
(c) be affiliated with a water polo club within the Zone in which the individual is voting or, if a member is not affiliated with any water polo club, have their principal place of residence within the Zone in which the election is being held. A member may vote in only one Zone in any election year;
(d) provide some form of proof of eligibility.
Section 8. Diversity
USAWP is committed to enhancing diversity at all levels. Accordingly, USAWP encourages each Zone to select diverse representatives on its Zone Board including, but not limited to, male and female Board Members, athlete, coach and referee Board Members, Board Members of different ethnic backgrounds and Board Members of different ages. Board Members from different geographies within the zone.
Section 9. Tenure
After the initialization of the tenures under the A and B group defined in 2013,the term of office of each member of the Zone Board shall commence on January 1 of the year immediately following the year in which the member is elected and shall terminate on December 31 of the third year following the year in which the term commences, i.e., the term of office shall be four (4) years).
Section 10. Board Member Attendance
Zone Board members are expected to attend in person all regularly scheduled Zone Board meetings, though for exigent circumstances and in recognition of the geographical distribution associated with our zone, a Board member may participate in a meeting by telephone.
Section 11. Resignation, Removal and Vacancies
A Board member’s position on the Zone Board shall be declared vacant upon the Board member’s resignation, removal, incapacity, disability, ineligibility, or death. A Board member may resign at any time by giving written notice to the Zone Chair with a copy to USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer. Such resignation shall take effect at the time specified in the notice of resignation and, if not specified, upon receipt of the notice by each of the Zone Chair and USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer. Zone Board members may be removed at any time, with or without cause, by:
(a) the affirmative vote of a super majority (not less than 66% of the Zone Board members other than the Board member whose removal is being voted upon or
(b) USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer. Any vacancy on a Zone Board may be filled by a majority vote of the remaining members of the Zone Board. A Zone Board member selected to fill a vacancy shall serve the remaining unexpired term of the member’s predecessor in office.
Section 12. Zone Board Meetings
Each Zone Board shall meet not less than four (4) times per year, which meetings shall be spaced throughout the year. Zone Board meetings may be called by any one of:
(a) the Zone Chair,
(b) a majority of the members of a Zone Board or
(c) USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer.
Section 13. Notice of Zone Board Meetings
Written notice of each meeting of the Zone Board stating the date, time and place of the meeting shall be given to each of the members of the Zone Board. Notice may be delivered by U.S. mail, personal delivery, facsimile transmission or by electronic transmission (e-mail). Such notice shall be provided at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of all regularly scheduled meetings and at least two (2) days prior to the date of all special meetings. A Zone Board member may waive notice of any meeting, prior to, at, or after any meeting.
Section 14. Quorum
The presence of a majority of the members of a Zone Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The act of a majority of the Zone Board in attendance at a duly noticed meeting shall constitute the act of the Zone Board, except where these Zone Policies & Procedures specifically require a super-majority.
Section 15. Voting by Proxy
No Zone Board member may vote by proxy.
Section 16. Action Without a Meeting
Any action required or permitted to be taken at a Zone Board meeting may be taken without a meeting if each and every member of the Zone Board in writing:
(a) votes for such action or
(b) votes against such action.
Section 17. Transacting Business by Electronic Mail
The Zone Board may conduct business by electronic mail if, in the judgment of the Zone Chair or the Board, the urgency of the case requires such action.
Section 18. Agenda
The Zone Chair shall determine the agenda for Zone Board meetings and shall endeavor to circulate the Agenda to the members of the Zone Board in advance of each Zone Board meeting. Any member of the Zone Board may request that the Zone Chair add any item to the agenda of any Zone Board meeting.
The Zone Chair or, in his or her absence, the Zone Vice-Chair shall conduct all Zone Board meetings.
Section 20. Minutes
The Zone Secretary shall prepare minutes of each meeting of the Zone Board.
Zone Board meeting minutes shall be sent to USAWP’s Director of Sports Development and shall be posted on the Zone’s website, within 10 days of the Zone Board meeting to which they relate, except for minutes related to disciplinary actions, which shall be deleted from the version of the minutes posted on the Zone’s website.
Zone Board members shall serve without compensation for their services in that capacity. The Zone may elect to reimburse Zone Board members for their out of pocket expenses incurred in furtherance of the Zone’s business.
VI ZONE OFFICERS
Section 1. Designation
Each Zone shall have the following officers:
(a) Zone Chair
(b) Zone Vice-Chair
(c) Zone Treasurer
(d) Zone Secretary
(e) Zone Representatives to USAWP Assembly
(f) Zone Head Referee
Each Zone Officer shall: (a) be over the age of 18 years, (b) be a member of USAWP and (c) have his or her principal place of residence within the Zone.
Section 3. Selection of Zone Officers
The Zone Board shall select each of the following Zone Officers:
(e) Zone Representatives to USAWP Assembly.
The Zone Board’s selection of the Zone Chair shall be subject to the approval of USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer. The Zone Chair, Zone Vice-Chair and Zone Secretary must be members of the Zone Board. The remaining Zone Officers may be members of the Zone Board, but need not be members of the Zone Board. USAWP’s Director of Referees shall appoint the Zone Head Referee, subject to the approval of the Zone Board.
Each of the Zone Officers shall hold their office from the date upon which their appointment is made, or when required to be ratified, from the date upon which the appointment is ratified. The term of office of each of the Zone’s Officers shall end on the earlier of:
(a) January 1 of each year following an Olympic year and until their successor is appointed and, when required, such appointment has been ratified or
(b) the Zone Officer’s resignation, removal, incapacity, disability or death;
(c) the Zone Officer’s ineligibility defined as the same requirements of a voting member within the Zone.
Section 5. Resignation, Removal and Vacancies
An officer’s position with the Zone many be declared vacant upon the officer’s resignation, removal, ineligibility, incapacity, disability or death. Any officer other than the Zone Chair may resign at any time by giving written notice to the Zone Chair and USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer. A Zone Chair may resign by giving written to notice to each of the members of the Zone Chair’s Zone Board and to USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer. A resignation shall take effect upon the date specified in the notice of resignation, or, if no date is specified in the resignation, when notice of the resignation has been delivered as provided in this Section.
Any Zone officer may be removed by USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer, at any time, with or without cause by USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer delivering a notice of such removal to the officer being removed and to that officer’s Zone Board. Any Zone officer may be removed at any time, without or without cause, by the affirmative vote of at least 66% of the Zone Board. The Zone Head Referee may be removed at any time, with or without cause, by USAWP’s Director of Referees.
Any vacancy in any Zone office shall be filled in the manner provided for the selection of the office for which a vacancy exists.
Section 6. Authority and Duties
The Zone Officers shall have the following authority and duties, in addition to those specified by the Zone Board:
(a) Zone Chair –
• Coordinate USAWP activities within the Zone Chair’s Zone with USAWP’s Director of Sport Development;
• Work with the Olympic Development Program (the “ODP”) regarding ODP Zone and Regional Teams;
• Manage Zone Championships, which will serve as National Championship Qualification Events within the guidelines set forth by USAWP;
• Communicate with USAWP members within the Zone;
• Support the Zone Head Referee and Zone ODP Referee in securing officials for Zone and National Championships;
• Work with the Treasurer to develop the Zone budget;
• Work with USAWP’s Regional Directors to create advisory/volunteer committees for Zone leagues and Zone events;
• Act as the Chair of the Zone Board;
• Work with Regional Directors in the establishment and supervision of Sections and Section Chairs;
• Facilitate the development of existing USAWP clubs within the Zone and the creation of new USAWP clubs;
• Promote more playing opportunities for Zone Members;
• Assist USAWP in such other respects as USAWP may request.
(b) Zone Vice-Chair – In the absence of the Zone Chair, assumes the
duties of the Zone Chair.
(c) Zone Treasurer – In consultation with the Zone Chair, develops the Zone annual budget and maintains the Zone’s financial records.
(d) Zone Secretary – Maintains minutes of all Zone Board meetings
and performs such other duties as may be specified by the Zone Chair.
(e) Zone Representatives to USAWP Assembly – Represents the Zone
at the USAWP Assembly, including voting for members of the USAWP Board of Directors.
(f) Zone Head Referee –
• Facilitates Zone referee recruitment, training and
• continuing education;
• Oversees assignment of referees for all USAWP sanctioned
• events within the Zone;
• Becomes familiar with current Referee Rating/Certification
• Program and the process for establishing & maintaining levels of Rating/Certification;
• Abides by the policies and procedures of the USAWPR as set forth by USAWPR’s Education and Evaluation Committee;
• Becomes a conduit for communication among all Zone referees, the Zone Board, USAWP, the USAWPR and USAWPR’s Education and Evaluation Committee;
• Maintains records tracking all registered referees in the Zone, their contact information, referee certification levels and other pertinent data;
• Attends the Annual ODP Conference for Coaches and Referees;
• Provides periodic reports to the Zone Board regarding matters pertaining to referees within the Zone.
No officer of a Zone shall receive compensation for his or her services as such; provided that the expenses of any Zone officer incurred in connection with the Zone’s business may be reimbursed.
VII COMMITTEES
Each Zone may establish such committees as the Zone Board may determine to carry out the business of the Zone including, without limitation, committees charged with carrying out the business of the Zone within a specified geographical area of the Zone. All such committees shall have such authority and duties as the Zone Board may specify and shall be composed of individuals appointed by the Zone Board.
VIII ZONE MEETINGS
Section 1. Purpose
Each Zone shall hold a meeting open to all USAWP members resident within the Zone at least one time per year, during the fourth quarter of the year, and at such other times as may be determined by the Zone Chair, the Zone Board or the Chief Executive Officer of USAWP. The purposes of the Zone meetings shall be to:
(a) provide a forum in which the Zone Officers can report to USAWP members within the Zone regarding the Zone’s accomplishments and plans for the future,
(b) conduct elections to the Zone Board at the Zone meeting held during each even numbered year and (c) discuss such other and further matters as may be determined by the Zone Board or USAWP’s Chief Executive Officer, or requested by one or more USAWP members residing in the Zone.
Section 2. Place
Each Zone meeting shall take place at a time and place to be set by the Zone Board. In considering the location of a Zone meeting, the Zone Board shall give due regard to selecting a location that is likely to promote attendance by the greatest number of USAWP members within the Zone and to alternating locations for the meeting within the Zone so as to equitably spread the burden of travel to Zone meetings among USAWP members within the Zone. Zone meetings may take place at multiple locations provided that:
(a) the meetings are held at the same time,
(b) the locations are connected to one another via telephone and/or video phone and
(c) at meetings at which Zone Board members are elected, the election process described in III Zone Board Section 6 will apply.
Section 3. Agenda
The Zone Board shall publish an agenda for each Zone meeting on the Zone’s website no later than thirty (30) days prior to the Zone Meeting.
Section 4 Notice
Except in cases of exigent circumstances, notice of each Zone Meeting shall be provided to all USAWP members within the Zone via e-mail and by posting notice of the meeting on the Zone’s website at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting. All such notices shall include:
(a) the date time and place(s) of the meeting,
(b) a proposed agenda for the meeting,
(c) information as required to allow persons receiving notice of the meeting to participate in the meeting via teleconference,
(d) the telephone conference
calling number and access code (if required) for persons desiring to attend the meeting via telephone conference call and
(e) such other and further information as the person providing notice of the meeting deems appropriate. In cases of exigent circumstances, notice of the meeting shall be provided as soon as is reasonably practicable.
Section 5. Remote Participation in Zone Meetings
The Zone Board shall provide a means for USAWP members to participate in each Zone meeting via telephone conference call including:
(a) assuring that conference calling equipment capable of permitting remote participants to hear the discussion at the Zone meeting is available at the site of each Zone meeting,
(b) assuring that conference calling equipment capable of permitting persons in attendance at each Zone meeting to hear comments made by remote participants and
(c) providing the telephone number and access code (if required) to all Zone members in the notice of the Zone meeting. Persons remotely participating in Zone meetings pursuant to this Section shall not be permitted to vote on matters considered at the Zone meeting unless at least one Zone Officer, or other person selected by the Zone Board to supervise the meeting, is present at the location from which such person is participating.
IX DISCIPLINE
Section 1. USAWP Codes of Conduct
USAWP has adopted Codes of Conduct that prescribe the conduct expected of USAWP athlete members, coach members and referee members. Those Codes of Conduct are subject to periodic amendment by the USAWP Board of Directors. The Code of Conduct in effect at the time of an alleged violation of a Code of Conduct applies to the alleged violation, even if the Code of Conduct has been subsequently amended. Zone members are expected to abide by the USAWP Codes of Conduct. Zones shall not adopt their own Codes of Conduct.
Section 2. Enforcement by Zone Chair
Zone Chairs are authorized to enforce USAWP’s Codes of Conduct within their Zone by suspending the USAWP membership of an athlete, coach or referee who the Zone Chair determines to have violated the applicable USAWP Code of Conduct, provided that such suspension shall not be for a period of greater than seven (7) days.
Section 3. Enforcement by Zone Board
A Zone Board, by a majority of a quorum of the Zone Board, may enforce USAWP’s Codes of Conduct within its Zone by suspending the USAWP membership of an athlete, coach or referee who the Zone Board determines to have violated the applicable USAWP Code of Conduct, provided that: (a) the person alleged to have violated a USAWP Code of Conduct is afforded a hearing before the Zone Board, which hearing may be by telephone conference call and (b) such suspension shall not be for a period of greater than thirty (30) days inclusive of any previous suspension imposed by the Zone Chair for the same alleged infraction.
Section 4. USAWP Grievance Process
In the event that a Zone Chair or a Zone Board determine that the suspension of a USAWP member’s membership for a period of greater than thirty (30) days may be warranted for a violation of a USAWP Code of Conduct, the Zone Chair or the Zone Board may file a grievance against the person who is alleged to have violated USAWP’s Code of Conduct in accordance with the grievance process specified in USAWP’s Bylaws and Codes of Conduct; provided that no fee need be paid in connection with such grievance. Such grievances shall be heard and determined by a Hearing Panel appointed in accordance with USAWP’s Bylaws and the determination of the Hearing Panel may be appealed as provided in USAWP’s Bylaws.
Section 5. Appeal from Zone Chair and Zone Board Enforcement
Any member of USAWP who is suspended in accordance with these Policies and Procedures may appeal such suspension by filing a grievance in accordance with USAWP’s Codes of Conduct and Bylaws, provided that no fee need be paid in connection with such grievance. Such grievances shall be heard and determined by a Hearing Panel appointed in accordance with USAWP’s Bylaws and the determination of the Hearing Panel may be appealed as provided in USAWP’s Bylaws.
Section 6. Suspension
Any suspension of a USAWP’s membership in accordance with the provisions of these Policies and Procedures shall be effective worldwide, and not just within the Zone that imposes the suspension.
X CONFIDENTIALITY
During the course of their duties, the members of Zone Boards and Zone Officers may become privy to confidential information including, but not limited to, information pertaining to: (a) USAWP’s members, such as their names, ages, gender and contact information (including e-mail addresses, post office addresses and telephone numbers) and (b) disciplinary proceedings. Zone Board members and Zone Officers shall maintain the confidentiality of all such information and shall not disclose any such information except as may be necessary in the performance of their official duties on behalf of the Zone in which they serve. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Zone Board members and Zone Officers shall not use any confidential information that they may obtain as a result of their position in a Zone for any commercial purpose including, but not limited to, selling mailing lists including USA Water Polo members or sending mass solicitations to USA Water Polo members for the purchase of any product or service.
XI AMENDMENTS
Section 1 USAWP Policy May Vary
These base USAWP Zone Policies and Procedures have been adopted by USAWP’s Board of Directors and may be amended by USAWP’s Board of Directors at any time.
Section 2 Resolution of Conflict between Zone and USAWP Policy
The Southwest Zone Board may amend and append those rules and policies as necessary as long as they do not conflict with explicit existing rules and policies published by USAWP board.
Section 3 Board Groupings and Termination Dates for 2014 Board
For the purpose of transition to the zone policies adopted in 2014, the following Group A positions are open to election in 2016:
Joe Linehan 2016 – Group A
Robert Albach 2016 – Group A
Jim Linehan 2016 – Group A
All other members are Group B members and will be comprised of all new board members newly elected in 2014 including the two additional board members. Those positions will be open to election in 2018.
XII Change History
Version 2 – 2014 October 20 Board Expansion
The zone board voted unanimously to expand the number of board members to 7. Modifications were made to III Section 3 and XI Section 3 to reflect the change.
Version 2 – 2015 February 8 Board Groupings
XI Section 3 was rewritten to remove references to former board members and only identify those board member positions (in Group A) that are open to election at the end of 2016.
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Pyxis Tankers Announces Q3 Results, Records Net Loss
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by ShippingHerald Editor's Picks, Finance & Economy, Headlines, Slider, Tankers, The Wire
Pyxis Tankers Inc., an emerging growth pure play product tanker company, announced unaudited results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017.
For the three months ended September 30, 2017, our time charter equivalent revenues were $5.2 million, which resulted in a net loss of $1.3 million, or a loss per share (basic and diluted) of $0.07, and our EBITDA (see “Non-GAAP Measures and Definitions” below) was $0.8 million.
Valentios Valentis, Chairman and CEO commented:
“Our operating results for the third quarter of 2017 reflected a slight improvement over the comparable period in 2016. Spot charter rates for medium range tankers (“MRs”) continued to be volatile during the quarter but improved slightly overall. Improving demand growth reduced high inventories of refined products in storage worldwide to levels below 2016 and increased voyage activity. As previously mentioned, we expected chartering activity to be choppy for most of 2017. Consequently, we took the opportunity to increase our time charter coverage for our MRs on a short-term basis. We believe this employment strategy positions us to take advantage of improving rates in late Q4. Overall, we continue to believe in a longer term improvement in charter rates moving into 2018 as the result of attractive market fundamentals, such as significantly lower scheduled deliveries of new build MRs combined with projected solid growth in consumption and increasing export-oriented petroleum refinery cargoes. Over the long-term, we intend to maintain our mixed chartering strategy.
“We continue to be pleased with our disciplined, cost-effective operating structure, which is evidenced by our fleet-wide daily operating expenses of $5,747 per vessel for the nine-month period of 2017 representing a slight decrease over the same period in 2016.
“As of September 30, 2017, our net funded debt stood at $64.7 million, and the weighted average interest rate was approximately 3.7% during the first nine months of 2017. We do not have a scheduled balloon payment on our bank debt until the second quarter of 2020, which enhances our financial flexibility.
“In the near-term, we will continue to pursue cost-effective, flexible capital alternatives. We remain optimistic about the fundamentals of the product tanker market and believe that Pyxis Tankers is positioned to take advantage of them.”
Results for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2017
For the three months ended September 30, 2017, we reported a net loss of $1.3 million, or $0.07 basic and diluted loss per share, compared to a net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.08 basic and diluted earnings per share, for the same period in 2016. The increase in our net result was primarily due to a $0.2 million increase in time charter equivalent revenues. Our EBITDA of $0.8 million for the third quarter of 2017 remained relatively stable compared to the same period in 2016.
Results for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2017
For the nine months ended September 30, 2017, we reported a net loss of $3.8 million, or $0.21 basic and diluted loss per share, compared to a net income of $19,000, or $0.00 basic and diluted earnings per share, for the same period in 2016. The decrease in our net result was primarily due to a $3.9 million decrease in time charter equivalent revenues. In addition, during the second quarter of 2017, we recorded one-off expenses of approximately $0.3 million associated with the termination of our equity offering in July 2017, which are included under general and administrative expenses for the period. For the first nine months of 2017, our EBITDA was $2.6 million, a decrease of $4.1 million from $6.6 million for the same period in 2016. If we were to exclude the write-off of our equity offering expenses in the nine months ended September 30, 2017, our EBITDA and net loss would have been $2.9 million and $3.5 million, or $0.19 basic and diluted loss per share, respectively.
(Thousands of U.S. dollars, except for daily TCE rates)
Voyage revenues 7,197 6,339 23,538 22,509
Voyage related costs and commissions (2,234) (1,188) (3,914) (6,778)
Time charter equivalent revenues* 4,963 5,151 19,624 15,731
Total operating days 477 486 1,529 1,470
Daily time charter equivalent rate* 10,406 10,600 12,835 10,701
* Subject to rounding; please see “Non-GAAP Measures and Definitions” below.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Results for the Three Months ended September 30, 2016 and 2017 (Amounts are presented in million U.S. dollars, rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand, except as otherwise noted)
Voyage revenues: Voyage revenues of $6.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 represented a decrease of $0.9 million, or 11.9%, from $7.2 million in the comparable period in 2016. The decrease in gross voyage revenues during the third quarter of 2017 was attributed to lower spot charter activity, partially offset by a slight increase in total operating days attributed to decreased idle days between voyage charter employments.
Voyage related costs and commissions: Voyage related costs and commissions of $1.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 represented a decrease of $1.0 million, or 46.8%, from $2.2 million in the comparable period in 2016. The decrease was primarily attributed to lower spot charter activity, which incurs voyage costs.
Vessel operating expenses: Vessel operating expenses of $3.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 represented a slight increase of $0.1 million, or 1.7%, from $3.2 million in the comparable period in 2016.
General and administrative expenses: General and administrative expenses of $0.6 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 remained stable compared to the three-month period ended September 30, 2016.
Management fees: For the three months ended September 30, 2017, management fees payable to our ship manager, Pyxis Maritime Corp. (“Maritime”), and to International Tanker Management Ltd., our fleet’s technical manager, of $0.2 million each, remained stable compared to the three-month period ended September 30, 2016.
Amortization of special survey costs: Amortization of special survey costs was less than $0.1 million for the three-month period ended September 30, 2017, compared to $0.1 million for the three-month period ended September 30, 2016. The decrease in amortization of special survey costs is attributed to the write-off of the unamortized portion of the special survey costs of the Northsea Alpha and the Northsea Beta since an impairment charge was recognized on both vessels as of December 31, 2016.
Depreciation: Depreciation of $1.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 remained relatively stable compared to the three-month period ended September 30, 2016.
Interest and finance costs, net: Interest and finance costs, net, for the three months ended September 30, 2017 amounted to $0.7 million and remained relatively stable compared to the three-month period ended September 30, 2016.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Results for the Nine Months ended September 30, 2016 and 2017 (Amounts are presented in million U.S. dollars, rounded to the nearest one hundred thousand, except as otherwise noted)
Voyage revenues: Voyage revenues of $22.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 represented a decrease of $1.0 million, or 4.4%, from $23.5 million in the comparable period in 2016. The decrease during the first nine months of 2017 was attributed to lower time charter equivalent rates as well as to a decrease in total operating days attributed to increased idle days between voyage charter employments.
Voyage related costs and commissions: Voyage related costs and commissions of $6.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 represented an increase of $2.9 million, or 73.2%, from $3.9 million in the comparable period in 2016. The increase was primarily attributed to greater spot charter activity, which incurs voyage costs.
Vessel operating expenses: Vessel operating expenses of $9.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 represented a decrease of approximately $0.4 million, or 3.7%, from $9.8 million in the comparable period in 2016. The decrease was primarily attributed to cost efficiency increases through most of our fleet in the period.
General and administrative expenses: General and administrative expenses of $2.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 increased by $0.3 million, or 14.9%, from $2.0 million in the comparable period in 2016. The increase in general and administrative expenses is primarily attributed to the one-off expenses of $0.3 million relating to the public equity offering that was terminated in July 2017.
Management fees, related parties: Management fees to Maritime of $0.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 increased by less than $0.1 million, or 15.7%, from $0.5 million in the comparable period in 2016. The increase is attributed to the increase in the daily management fee of the Northsea Beta and the Northsea Alpha as a result of Maritime’s assumption of full commercial management of these vessels in June and November 2016, respectively.
Management fees, other: Management fees mainly payable to International Tanker Management Ltd. of $0.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 decreased by less than $0.1 million, or 10.4%, compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2016, which included the services of North Sea Tankers BV, the former commercial manager of the Northsea Alpha and the Northsea Beta.
Amortization of special survey costs: Amortization of special survey costs was $0.1 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, compared to $0.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. The decrease in amortization of special survey costs is attributed to the write-off of the unamortized portion of the special survey costs of the Northsea Alpha and the Northsea Beta since an impairment charge was recognized on both vessels as of December 31, 2016.
Depreciation: Depreciation of $4.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 remained relatively stable compared to the nine-month period ended September 30, 2016.
Bad debt provisions: Bad debt provisions of $0.2 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 represented an increase in doubtful account for trade receivables.
Interest and finance costs, net: Interest and finance costs, net, for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 amounted to $2.2 million, compared to $2.1 million in the comparable period in 2016, an increase of less than $0.1 million, or 2.3%. The increase is mainly attributed to the increase of the LIBOR-based interest rates applied to our outstanding bank debt.
Unaudited Interim Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss
For the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2017
(Expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars, except for share and per share data)
Three Months Ended Three Months Ended
Voyage revenues 7,197 6,339
Voyage related costs and commissions (2,234) (1,188)
Vessel operating expenses (3,211) (3,266)
General and administrative expenses (581) (589)
Management fees, related parties (169) (179)
Management fees, other (252) (232)
Amortization of special survey costs (61) (18)
Depreciation (1,449) (1,403)
Bad debt provisions – (50)
Operating loss (760) (586)
Other expenses:
Interest and finance costs, net (703) (737)
Total other expenses, net (703) (737)
Loss per common share, basic and diluted ($ 0.08) ($0.07)
Weighted average number of common shares, basic and diluted 18,277,893 18,277,893
Unaudited Interim Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income / (Loss)
For the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2017
Nine Months Ended Nine Months Ended
Voyage revenues 23,538 22,509
General and administrative expenses (1,981) (2,276)
Amortization of special survey costs (185) (54)
Bad debt provisions – (231)
Operating income / (loss) 2,128 (1,637)
Interest and finance costs, net (2,109) (2,157)
Total other expenses, net (2,109) (2,157)
Net income / (loss) 19 (3,794)
Earnings / (loss) per common share, basic and diluted $ 0.00 ($0.21)
As of December 31, 2016 and September 30, 2017 (unaudited)
December 31, 2016 September 30, 2017
Cash and cash equivalents 783 604
Restricted cash, current portion 143 142
Inventories 1,173 808
Trade receivables, net 1,681 1,083
Prepayments and other assets 404 261
Total current assets 4,184 2,898
FIXED ASSETS, NET:
Vessels, net 121,341 117,177
Total fixed assets, net 121,341 117,177
OTHER NON-CURRENT ASSETS:
Restricted cash, net of current portion 4,857 4,858
Deferred charges, net 358 304
Total other non-current assets 5,215 5,162
Total assets 130,740 125,237
Current portion of long-term debt, net of deferred financing costs, current 6,813 7,059
Accounts payable 3,115 2,705
Due to related parties 1,953 5,777
Hire collected in advance 415 802
Accrued and other liabilities 574 690
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES:
Long-term debt, net of current portion and deferred financing costs, non-current 66,617 60,745
Promissory note 2,500 2,500
Total non-current liabilities 69,117 63,245
Preferred stock ($0.001 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized; none issued) – –
Common stock ($0.001 par value; 450,000,000 shares authorized;
18,277,893 shares issued and outstanding at
each of December 31, 2016 and September 30, 2017) 18 18
Additional paid-in capital 70,123 70,123
Accumulated deficit (21,388) (25,182)
Total stockholders’ equity 48,753 44,959
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity 130,740 125,237
Unaudited Interim Consolidated Statements of Cash Flow
(Expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars)
Adjustments to reconcile net income / (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities:
Amortization of special survey costs 185 54
Amortization of financing costs 125 116
Bad debt provisions – 231
Inventories (427) 365
Trade receivables, net (568) 367
Accounts payable 649 (410)
Due to related parties 50 3,824
Hire collected in advance (1,614) 387
Accrued and other liabilities 49 116
Net cash provided by operating activities 3,186 5,563
Net cash provided by investing activities – –
Repayment of long-term debt (5,752) (5,552)
Change in restricted cash (500) –
Payment of financing costs (22) (190)
Net cash used in financing activities (6,274) (5,742)
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (3,088) (179)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period 4,122 783
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period 1,034 604
Liquidity and Debt
Pursuant to our loan agreements, as of September 30, 2017, we were required to maintain minimum liquidity of $5.0 million. Total cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, aggregated to $5.6 million as of September 30, 2017.
Total debt (in thousands of U.S. dollars), net of deferred financing costs:
As at December As at September
31, 2016 30, 2017
Bank debt $ 73,430 $ 67,804
Promissory Note – related party 2,500 2,500
Total $ 75,930 $ 70,304
Our weighted average interest rate on our total funded debt for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 was 3.68%.
Non-GAAP Measures and Definitions
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) represents the sum of net income / (loss), interest and finance costs, depreciation and amortization and, if any, income taxes during a period. EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under U.S. GAAP.
EBITDA is presented in this press release as we believe that it provides investors with a means of evaluating and understanding how our management evaluates operating performance. This non-GAAP measure should not be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In addition, this non-GAAP measure does not have standardized meaning, and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
(In thousands of U.S. dollars) September 30, 2016 September 30, 2017 September 30, 2016 September 30, 2017
Reconciliation of Net (loss) / income to EBITDA
Net (loss) / income $ (1,463) $ (1,323) $ 19 $ (3,794)
Amortization of special survey costs 61 18 185 54
Interest and finance costs, net 703 737 2,109 2,157
EBITDA $ 750 $ 835 $ 6,631 $ 2,581
The nine-month period ended September 30, 2017 presented above includes the offering expenses incurred with respect to the public equity offering we terminated in July 2017. If we were to exclude these costs, our EBITDA for the same period would have been $2,910.
Daily time charter equivalent (“TCE”) is a shipping industry performance measure of the average daily revenue performance of a vessel on a per voyage basis. TCE is not calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We utilize TCE because we believe it is a meaningful measure to compare period-to-period changes in our performance despite changes in the mix of charter types (i.e., spot charters, time charters and bareboat charters) under which our vessels may be employed between the periods. Our management also utilizes TCE to assist them in making decisions regarding employment of the vessels. We calculate TCE by dividing voyage revenues after deducting voyage related costs and commissions by operating days for the relevant period. Voyage related costs and commissions primarily consist of brokerage commissions, port, canal and fuel costs that are unique to a particular voyage, which would otherwise be paid by the charterer under a time charter contract.
Vessel operating expenses (“Opex”) per day are our vessel operating expenses for a vessel, which primarily consist of crew wages and related costs, insurance, lube oils, communications, spares and consumables, tonnage taxes as well as repairs and maintenance, divided by the ownership days in the applicable period.
We calculate fleet utilization by dividing the number of operating days during a period by the number of available days during the same period. We use fleet utilization to measure our efficiency in finding suitable employment for our vessels and minimizing the amount of days that our vessels are off-hire for reasons other than scheduled repairs or repairs under guarantee, vessel upgrades, special surveys and intermediate dry-dockings or vessel positioning. Ownership days are the total number of days in a period during which we owned each of the vessels in our fleet. Available days are the number of ownership days in a period, less the aggregate number of days that our vessels were off-hire due to scheduled repairs or repairs under guarantee, vessel upgrades or special surveys and intermediate dry-dockings and the aggregate number of days that we spent positioning our vessels during the respective period for such repairs, upgrades and surveys. Operating days are the number of available days in a period, less the aggregate number of days that our vessels were off-hire or out of service due to any reason, including technical breakdowns and unforeseen circumstances.
Recent Daily Fleet Data:
(Amounts in U.S.$) Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months EndedSeptember 30,
Eco-Efficient MR2: (2 of our vessels)
TCE 14,830 12,892 15,442 13,057
Opex 5,624 5,871 5,798 5,836
Utilization % 96.2% 100.0% 98.5% 92.7%
Eco-Modified MR2: (1 of our vessels)
TCE 4,847 10,838 12,447 12,634
Utilization % 85.9% 87.0% 93.4% 91.9%
Standard MR2: (1 of our vessels)
Small Tankers: (2 of our vessels)
TCE 7,523 5,673 8,271 6,172
Fleet: (6 vessels)
When we refer to total daily operational costs as applied to our eco-modified and eco-efficient tankers, we define that as the sum of (1) daily Opex per vessel, (2) total general and administrative expenses in the period per day per vessel, and (3) the technical and commercial management fees in the period per day per vessel. We believe total daily operational costs for such vessels can provide a more complete picture of financial results for comparative purposes.
In August 2017, Maritime Investors Corp., a corporation controlled by our chief executive officer and our largest shareholder, notified our board of directors that it intended to purchase through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pyxis Holdings Inc. (“Holdings”), up to 200,000 shares of our outstanding common stock. Holdings may purchase these shares in one or more open markets (whether through the safe harbor afforded by Rule 10b-18 promulgated under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or otherwise) or privately negotiated purchases at times and prices considered to be appropriate, although it is not obligated to purchase any shares.
Since August 2017, Holdings completed the purchase of 51,463 common shares at an average share price, net of brokerage commissions, of $1.88. Following the purchase of these shares, Mr. Valentis increased his beneficial ownership of our common stock from 93.0% to 93.3%. Maritime Investors Corp. has informed us that it may continue to pursue such permitted purchases.
2017 Annual General Meeting Results
On November 6, 2017, we held our 2017 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders pursuant to a Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders dated September 27, 2017. At the meeting, the following proposal, which is set forth in more detail in the Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and our Proxy Statement sent to shareholders on or around September 27, 2017, was approved and adopted: the election of Mr. Robin P. Das and Mr. Basil G. Mavroleon as our Class III Directors to serve until our 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Pyxis expects chartering activity to “continue to be choppy” in 2018
Scorpio Tankers posts third quarter loss
Pyxis Tankers takes hit by low MR rates
Pyxis Tankers reports first quarter profit
Pyxis posts profit increase
Pyxis posts third quarter loss
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« Texans to Bring in Free Agent RB Chris Brown for a Visit
Texans Interested in CBs Dyson, Bryant »
RFA C/G Myers to Visit Texans
Denver Broncos restricted free agent C/G Chris Myers is planning to visit the Houston Texans this Thursday. Myers is a third-year restricted free agent who received a low tender offer of $975,000 by the Broncos. The 26-year old Myers started all 16 games last season for Mike Shanahan’s Broncos, and he saw action at LG before moving to C after replacing Tom Nalen, who was placed on the injured reserve. If the Texans sign Myers to an offer sheet, then the Broncos will have one week to match that offer or let the versatile lineman go and receive a compensatory sixth round pick.
The Broncos, who reportedly had high hopes on Myers, must have seen offers to Myers coming before giving him such a low tender offer for an offensive lineman who started all last season. The Texans have been searching for a LG and C to fill in for the injuries which swarmed their offensive line positions in 2007. The Texans interest in C/G Rex Hadnot didn’t last long as he didn’t receive a contract offer from the Texans, and C John Wade has yet to decide whether or not he will sign-on and join the Texans in 2008.
Tags: chris myers, mike shanahan, tom nalen
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Common/White Checkered-Skipper - Pyrgus c. communis/albescens Life Cycle Study
The Problem: Positive identification of Common Checkered-Skipper - Pyrgus c. communis and White Checkered-Skipper - Pyrgus albescens can be made only by dissection and scrutiny of the male genitalia.
On April 7, 2008, I observed a Common/White Checkered-Skipper - Pyrgus c. communis/Pyrgus albescens ovipositing on Threelobe False Mallow - Malvastrum coromandelianum, which is very abundant in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. I collected the egg; 34 days later (May 11, 2008) the butterfly emerged and was released.
Threelobe False Mallow - Malvastrum coromandelianum, an abundant host plant in the Lower Rio Grande Valley for Common/White Checkered-Skipper.
Day-2 as an egg (egg laid on 4/7/2008).
Day-7 (4/14/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-2 as a caterpillar. The caterpillar is ~6mm long.
Day-7 (4/14/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-2 as a caterpillar. The caterpillar is ~6mm long. This is the first day the caterpillar makes a nest between two leaves.
Day-10 (4/17/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-5 as a caterpillar. The caterpillar made a nest between two leaves.
Day-10 (4/17/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-5 as a caterpillar. The nest was opened to reveal the caterpillar, which is still ~6mm long.
Day-14 (4/21/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-8 as a caterpillar. The caterpillar is 8mm long.
The following sequence of nine images show the caterpillar building its nest:
Day-18 (4/25/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-12 as a caterpillar. The caterpillar is feeding and is 20mm long.
Day-18 (4/25/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-12 as a caterpillar.
Start: The caterpillar reaches to pull leaf towards itself.
56 mins. from start: The caterpillar has pulled leaf that is on the left over to the base leaf and has begun attaching threads to the leaf on the left.
61 minutes from start: The caterpillar is continuing to attach the two leaves together, and it is beginning to roll the right leaf into a tube.
62 minutes from start: Lines are continuing to be attached and pulled together as the tube is tightening.
62 1/4 mins. from start: The tube is continuing to tighten.
62 3/4 mins. from start: The caterpillar has made its tube. The leaf on the left is being pulled towards the tube to act as a back, closed door.
68 mins from start: The door is closing.
92 mins. from start: The tube has been rolled, and the back door is almost pulled shut. When the process is complete, the caterpillar will turn around, placing its head at the end away from this back door.
Day-22 (4/29/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-16 as a caterpillar. The caterpillar is in its nest.
Day-22 (4/29/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-16 as a caterpillar. The nest is opened to measure the caterpillar, which is 21mm long.
Day-24 (5/1/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-18 as a caterpillar.
Day-24 (5/1/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-18 as a caterpillar. This is its last day as a caterpillar.
Day-25 (5/2/2008) from when the egg was laid, Day-1 as a pupa.
Day-34 (5/11/2008 at 0002hrs.) from when the egg was laid, Day-10 as a pupa. This is the last day as a pupa.
Day-34 (5/11/2008 at ~1545 hrs.) from egg. The Common/White Checkered-Skipper - Pyrgus c. communis/Pyrgus albescens emerged and was released.
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with 1 Comment1 Like
Nature Sacred As It Is
So last month the largest spinning ice disk recorded formed in the Presumpscot River in Maine. It’s a pretty rare phenomenon caused when a piece of ice breaks off a frozen river surface near a bend and is spun around like a record. This one, being so incredibly large, attracted a lot of attention.
Unfortunately, not everyone could just appreciate it for the natural wonder it was–and I use “was” deliberately. Some dude decided that the ice disk wasn’t magnificent enough by itself, and that it needed a peace sign carved into it. Spoiler–he broke it. Now I can get behind his idea that peace is a good thing, but there are better ways to advertise this much-needed concept than to spoil a very uncommon and ephemeral natural feature.
Humans have spent thousands of years deciding that nature wasn’t good enough on its own, and that it needed our influence to be truly perfect. Much of that has been in the service of material exploitation, that a forest won’t maximize its potential until its wood has been made into houses and furniture, its minerals into coinage, and its water into an engine for electricity. There are all too many people who look at a wild place and only see dollar signs.
It’s almost more defensible than the actions of this person and others who decide that something awe-inspiring in nature must have their personal mark on it because somehow they’re important enough to make that statement. At least houses and energy have practical applications that can improve people’s lives in concrete ways. The same can’t be said for graffiti on natural features, even well-intended.
“What harm is there in breaking a big ice disk, or carving initials into a tree?” one might ask. Well, sure, there’s no price tag on the ice disk, and chances are the tree will survive, though there are plenty of cases where that sort of damage led the tree to die from disease through the breach in its bark. Painting on rock formations may be mostly obnoxious rather than harmful to the rock, though some of the paints can be toxic to the local ecosystem.
Part of the issue is the concept of intrinsic value. I value nature for itself, rather than just for what I can get out of it. The very fact that I am surrounded by a vibrant community of biological beings, inhabiting a planet ever-changing through geological, hydrological, and climatic forces, never ceases to fill me with awe and wonder. I don’t need to then overlay that with my biases to make it pretty.
This may seem odd coming from someone who routinely takes bits of nature and imposes personal meaning on them through art. After all, it would be easy to defend the peace sign on the ice disk as art. However, scale and permanence play a big part in things. If you make a snow sculpture in your backyard, no one’s likely to feel they missed out on the unmarred snowfall. But a lot of people who wanted to see the ice disk, whole and undamaged, had that ruined for them by one man’s actions. He destroyed the shared experience.
Moreover, he seems to have come at his project without really considering the intrinsic value of the disk, only valuing it as a canvas for his idea of art. Good art involving nature will show appreciation for that nature, rather than just using it as an object to display human biases on. It’s what I try to do with my own artwork, asking the hides and bones what they want to become and trying to focus on their beauty. I appreciate them as they are, and then do my best to do them some justice even as I impose my arrogance as an artist upon them.
Obviously we’re never not going to leave our mark on the world, until there are none of us left anyway. There are too many of us, and we’re too used to taking, taking, taking. Few of us in industrialized societies would want to move to a quality of life that involves strict subsistence. I just wish people would think more about something besides themselves, sometimes besides their own wants and needs and priorities.
I want people to be able to look at rare, amazing things in nature and not have their immediate thought be “I need to change that!” I want more people to be able to have the appreciation for nature’s intrinsic values that existed long before we ever did. I want us, just for a moment, to stop corralling nature in with our economic and religious beliefs, and just let it be its own thing, massive and terrifying and magnificently beautiful from the tiniest atom to the entire universe. Stop telling stories about how much money you can make off of it, or how it has all these supernatural properties that we can exploit, or any other ways in which nature supposedly revolves around us.
Just take a moment, and breathe in the reality that we live on an incredible planet that has giant disks made of frozen water, and long-limbed animals who thunder across grassy plains with hooves of keratin, and tiny bryophyte forests housing a myriad of springtails, worms, and bacteria aplenty. Appreciate the marvel that is your own body, created from molecules parted out from the food you have eaten over a lifetime and which is made from the many minerals and nutrients of a thousand soils. Touch the grass and realize that its family–Poaeceae–first sent forth blades in the last days of the dinosaurs.
Yes, we need values besides the intrinsic. But we do need the intrinsic, too.
Did you enjoy this post? Consider helping me keep the bills paid and the blog posts coming by picking up one of my books or some of my artwork, or even becoming my Patron on Patreon!
Ryan Cronin
February 6, 2019/Reply
I love this! So much of human engagement with nature is as a backdrop to our own priorities and emotional states, rather than simply understanding it as an ecosystem of living beings, each with their own lives and needs.
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Joe Levin
You are here: Home / Newsroom / Crime / Who killed Karina Vetrano?
Who killed Karina Vetrano?
February 3, 2017 /0 Comments/in Crime /by Joe Levin
HOWARD BEACH, Queens – Thursday marks six months since the vicious murder of a woman who was attacked while jogging in Howard Beach, Queens, and the case remains unsolved.
Police said Karina Vetrano, 30, was sexually assaulted and strangled on August 2.
Vetrano’s parents spoke out Thursday, trying to renew momentum in the case to help bring their daughter’s killer to justice.
They’re all urging the New York State Commission on Forensic Science to adopt guidelines permitting use of familial DNA matching at a meeting set for next week.
That technology allows investigators to search the DNA database for relatives of potential suspects.
“My daughter barely 100 pounds fought her last moments alive, fighting this evil savage. We cannot let her efforts go in vain.
It’s despicable to allow her efforts to go in vain,” Cathie Vetrano said.
Here’s a rundown of facts in the case:
1) The last known image of Karina Vetrano was captured at 5:46 p.m. on Aug. 2, when a surveillance camera recorded her running past a parked car.
2) Karina Vetrano typically ran the path with her father, Phil Vetrano, who was not with her because of an injury. He had asked her not to go, police said, warning her it might not be safe without him, but she went anyway.
3) Police said Karina Vetrano had been listening to music and texted a friend during her run. Later, her father repeatedly tried to call her cellphone, which was recovered along the path.
4) Police said they found a pinging on the phone somewhere in the brush off the path, and her father walked police through the marsh to show them where she normally ran.
5) Phil Vetrano found her body at about 9 p.m. at Spring Creek Park. She was located face down about 14 blocks from her home in the marshes of the park, about 15 feet off the main trail. The medical examiner determined that she had been sexually assault and died of strangulation.
6) NYPD detectives were able to recover a DNA profile of the killer. The DNA was collected from three places: Karina’s cellphone, touch DNA from her neck and DBA from other parts of her body. After running it through nationwide, state and local databases, no matches were found. Since the nationwide database was only started in 1998, the NYPD said it was also going to look at records to see who might have been in jail before that time – or someone younger who might not have done jail time.
7) Chief Robert Boyce with the NYPD said detectives still believe the killing was “a random attack.” He said one theory is that the killer retreated through the weeds and emerged along the belt parkway in Brooklyn. Detectives traced all possible escape routes with no suspect on camera, and no evidence indicating any one person.
8) The NYPD released a sketch of a man seen leaving Spring Creek Park around the time Karina Vetrano was killed.
Police also included this description of the possible witness:
– Black male
– 35 to 45 years old
– Height: 5’10”
– Medium build
– Wearing dark pants with a red t-shirt and dark wool hat
Detectives think the wool hat could to the key to figuring out who this person is.
“Remember, the day was Aug. 2. You don’t usually wear a wool hat in the area there,” Boyce said. “We don’t know who he is, we don’t know if he is a fellow jogger, what he is doing.”
9) The reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Karina’s killer stands at $235,000. New York City and the NYPD put up $35,000, and Vetrano family raised $200,000 through a fundraiser website.
10) No suspects have been named in the case, and no arrests have been made.
Anyone with information about Karina Vetrano’s murder is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Tags: Crime, Howard Beach, Karina Vetrano, NYPD
http://www.totpi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/0202121-50.jpg 857 1286 Joe Levin http://www.totpi.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/lolo-300x136.png Joe Levin2017-02-03 08:05:042017-02-03 08:05:04Who killed Karina Vetrano?
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Way too much about bitter taste perception
Last time I repined that there aren't enough "organic" reviews out there, so today I'll give it a go myself.
Theories of bitterness
When you eat food, you are able to identify it via its smell, texture in your moth, and how it activates taste cells on your tongue. The classic "taste modalities" are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. For sweet, sour, salty, and umami, there is a single taste receptor; the only information you get from those senses is degree of activation. In contrast, there are over twenty five bitter receptors, called T2Rs.
So is bitter taste similar to the other modalities, a single labeled line, or is it more complex? Some people (the Zuker lab chief among them) propose that, like sweet and sour, we can only detect the extent to which something is bitter. That is, there is a single "labeled line" for all bitter tastes. This would reduce our sense of taste to five labeled lines. The ability to discriminate between similar tastes - e.g. between two citrus fruits - would be due to extra information from olfaction.
There is the alternative possibility that bitter is not a single labeled line, but more than one line. Individual bitter taste cells could express a subset of T2Rs, have individualized receptive fields, and discriminate between different bitter compounds. Today I'm going to review the evidence for both theories at the level of the tongue, brain, and behaviour.
Bitter on the tongue
The bitter receptors were discovered circa 2000, and reported in a series of papers. In one of those papers (Adler, et al 2000), the authors performed in situ hybridization against multiple T2Rs on the tongue. The found similar numbers of cells were labeled whether they used probes for 1, 2, 5, or 10 T2Rs (see below, left). Notably, they state that labeling 2+ receptors labeled 20% of taste cells, while labeling with only 1 receptor labeled 15% of taste cells. Here, the difference could be due to simple labeling inefficiency. They alternately verified this by performing double-labeled fluorescent in situs, and found "most" cells coexpressed multiple receptors. From this, they concluded that individual bitter taste cells in the tongue express most T2Rs, and are sensors for bitter, generally.
Individual taste cells express multiple bitter taste receptors. c. In situ label using 10 probes for T2Rs. The number of cells labeled here is similar to single label probes. d. Fluorescence in situ double-labeling for T2R3 (green) and T2R7 (red). Most cells express both T2Rs.
From Adler et al 2000.
The next year, the Roper lab reported potentially contradictory results. Caicedo and Roper performed confocal calcium imaging on isolated tongues from rats while applying five bitter tastants. Of the taste cells they imaged, 18% (69/374) responded to one of the bitters, but most cells responded to only one or two of the tastants (see below).
Individual taste cells respond to only a subset of bitter tastants. A. Three example taste cells each respond to different tastants (denatonium, quinine, cycloheximide, phenylthiocarbimide, and sucrose octaacetate). B. Response for all responsive cells to bitters. Cell ID on left, tastants on top. From top to bottom, cells respond to more tastants.
From Caicedo and Roper, 2001.
It is hard to reconcile these two results. I am not an expert on in situs, but it is possible that the labeling specificity is not 100% specific (as is often the case for antibody staining). Yet, I think you have to trust that the researchers were competent. I would only emphasize that "most" receptors is not "all" receptors, and so these results are not completely mutually exclusive.
In 2005, Zuker fired back. Bitter signaling uses a G-protein coupled cascade that signals through PLCβ2; PLCβ2 KO mice lose all bitter taste. Mueller et al took PLCβ2 -/- mice, and then expressed PLCβ2 under a T2R promoter, like mT2R5 (m for mouse). When they did that they were able to fully rescue bitter taste.
Expression of PLCβ2 under the expression of a single bitter receptor rescues all bitter taste. The "relative response" measures the amount of licking mice did of bitter compounds (inverse). Control mice do not lick bitters. PLC -/- mice cannot taste bitter, and so lick bitters. PLC expressed behind the promoters for mT2R5, mT2R32, and mT2R19 is able to rescue bitter perception.
From Mueller et al 2005.
However, again, I feel this is not quite conclusive. If bitter taste receptor expression overlaps randomly, while an individual taste cell may not express all T2Rs, the whole population of mT2R5 taste cells could express all the other T2Rs. And hence allow full recovery of bitter sensitivity.
Bitter in the brain
There's a lot more interesting stuff about bitter taste on the tongue - for example, the Meyerhof lab has identified the ligands for many human taste receptors - but let's move to the brainstem (and beyond!).
Few labs have recorded from the taste areas of the brainstem. Chief among them are David V Smith and the Travers of Ohio State. In 2006, Geran and Travers recorded from NST of rats while applying the classic tastants + a set of bitters. And they found that some cells in NST responded differentially to cycloheximide and denatonium. And if the brain can discriminate between different bitters, surely the tongue must as well...
Individual NST neurons can discriminate denatonium (DEN) from cycloheximide (CHX). Pardon the figure, it's excised from a MUCH larger one. y-axis is response rate, x-axis is neuron ID. On the right are the bitter sensitive neurons (B-best). The first three neurons respond to denatonium, while the rest do not. There also may be quinine neurons.
From Geran and Travers, 2006.
As far as I know, no one has presented animals with multiple bitters while electrically recording from gustatory cortex. However, two weeks ago I covered a recent paper on Ca2+ imaging in gustatory cortex. While the main focus of the paper was taste hotspots in gustatory cortex, they also presented the following figure in the supplementary data. They applied multiple bitters while imaging cortex, and found that not all cells responded to all the bitters presented. In general, there was some unreliability in there results, - many "responsive" cells only responded in a subset of trials - but this does raise the possibility that cortical cells can discriminate between different bitters.
Gustatory cortical neurons may be able to discriminate between different bitters. left. Map of responsive cells to three bitter: denatonium, cycloheximide, and quinine. middle. Overlaid map of cells to left, color coded for cells that respond to all 3 bitters (red), 2 bitters (yellow), and 1 bitter (white). right. Bar chart of # of cells that respond to bitters.
From Chen et al, 2011.
Bitter in the "mind"
So what about, you know, bitter perception itself? This has been rather ill studied. Many people have shown that typical "bitter" stimulants are aversive. Only a couple have tested whether mice can discriminate between them.
The best paper I've found tested whether mice could discriminate between quinine and denatonium (I wonder if scientists choose these chemicals so often because they're much easier to pronounce and remember than sucrose octaacetate). To ensure that the mice were not discriminating between different intensities of bitterness, they measured the aversiveness of each chemical, and used iso-yucky concentrations.
Thirsty mice were allowed to lick a water bottle for five seconds. The lick rate over the last 3 seconds of the trial determined the "stimulus licks" and were normalized to water licks. Dashed rectangles denote equivalently aversive concentrations.
From Spector and Kopka, 2002.
Once they had determined the equivalent concentrations to use, they employed a two-alternative forced choice task to measure discrimination. They first validated their system by testing whether animals could discriminate between quinine and KCl (below, left). Then they switched quinine for denatonium to see if the mice noticed, and found that the mice continued to discriminate between denatonium and KCl, as if quinine and denatonium were the same. As a positive control, they swapped NaCl for denatonium, and found that the mice needed a few testing sessions to relearn the new task (middle). Finally, they tested whether mice could discriminate quinine and denatonium, and found that discrimination was at chance level (right).
Mice are unable to discriminate between quinine and denatonium. See above for details.
Similar experiments were performed in flies, using the proboscis extension reflex as a measure of palatability (Masek and Scott, 2010). I'm sure someone has tested this in humans, but I have not read the study yet. My main issue with these experiments is that they are using such high, aversive concentrations of the bitter stimuli that they may be beyond a discriminatory range. For example, bitter taste may have two functions: discrimination, and aversion. At low concentrations, certain chemicals may be useful for discrimination, and non-toxic; at high concentrations, however, they signal toxicitiy. It would be interesting to see how discrimination worked at lower concentrations.
After all this data, what can you conclude? The evidence for a single bitter labeled line come from the taste input and output, the receptors and the behaviour. In the brain, however, it seems that individual cells can discriminate between bitter tastants. It's certainly possible that taste neurons can discriminate between bitters before discarding the information as useless. I think the main issue here is the old scientific problem of, "just because you can't detect it doesn't mean it's not there." I know reading these papers has suggested a few experiments to my mind.
Adler, E., Hoon, M a, Mueller, K. L., Chandrashekar, J., Ryba, N. J. P., & Zuker, C. S. (2000). A novel family of mammalian taste receptors. Cell, 100(6), 693-702.
Caicedo, A., & Roper, S. D. (2001). Taste Receptor Cells That Discriminate Between Bitter Stimuli. Science, 291(5508), 1557-1560. doi:10.1126/science.1056670
Chen, X., Gabitto, M., Peng, Y., Ryba, N. J. P., & Zuker, C. S. (2011). A Gustotopic Map - Supplement. Science, 333(6047), 1262-1266. doi:10.1126/science.1204076
Geran, L. C., & Travers, S. P. (2006). Single neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract respond selectively to bitter taste stimuli. Journal of neurophysiology, 96(5), 2513. Am Physiological Soc. doi:10.1152/jn.00607.2006.
Mueller, K. L., Hoon, Mark a, Erlenbach, I., Chandrashekar, J., Zuker, C. S., & Ryba, N. J. P. (2005). The receptors and coding logic for bitter taste. Nature, 434(March), 225-230. doi:10.1038/nature03366.1.
Spector, A. C., & Kopka, S. L. (2002). Rats fail to discriminate quinine from denatonium: implications for the neural coding of bitter-tasting compounds. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 22(5), 1937-41.
Posted by Mike at 5:00 PM No comments:
Labels: paper summaries
Organic reviews
Long ago, on the nascent form of this blog, I wrote a little diatribe on the shortcomings of the peer-reviewed journal system. My basic gripe is that the system slows the dissemination of information for marginal benefit. For example, people claim peer review makes science more reliable, but it has been found that, "at least 50% of published studies from academic laboratories cannot be repeated in an industrial setting." And that's for the most reproducible natural science, chemistry.
Review papers are frustrating for different reasons. Certainly, most review papers are not delayed by peer reviewers. Instead, reviews are hobbled by their very format: review articles come out every few months, and cover a field of research as a whole. Their infrequency means they become outdated as soon as another important paper comes out. And their scope means they are forced to rehash the same basic information (there's only so many ways to say AMPA receptors are important for LTP). I often find reading reviews tedious, trying to segregate what's new from what I already know.
I wish we had a form of organic review. A format wherein you could write a complete overview of a field, and then update it piecemeal as new findings emerge; wherein you didn't have to rewrite the entire review; wherein you could stay current to within a month, or even a week. In effect, I wish we had review wikis.
There are a few non-traditional review sources out there, but they are all lacking in different ways. Most obviously there's Wikipedia. Like a lazy undergrad, I often turn to Wikipedia first when I read an unfamiliar term (what's a diencephalon, again?). The articles on popular things, like AMPA receptors, are fairly thorough, while the articles on more obscure things like T1R3 contain enough information for me to look elsewhere. Yet Wikipedia is true to its nature as an encyclopedia, and is rarely up-to-date, or technical enough to be useful to scientists.
Some people have tried to improve Wikipedia. A couple years ago the Society for Neuroscience tried to ameliorate the situation by launching the "Neuroscience Wikipedia initiative." Unfortunately, it appears to have netted less than 100 edits.
I myself have dabbled in editing Wikipedia. When I train students, I try to get them to read papers, and synthesize them into a whole. Instead of getting them to write a staid essay, I have them edit the Wikipedia page on whatever they're studying. For example, I worked with one student to develop a PI3K FRET sensor, so he added to the section on PI3K in long term memory (his username is Wc18, mine is Amphipathic).
Besides Wikipedia, there are a few other web resources that almost act like organic review. There is wikigenes, which has useful lists of citations, but lacks any bird's-eye perspective on research. Some labs have wikis, but they are often quite focused (the Hayashi lab's is quite good). And some adventurous souls have set up regular ol' web pages dedicated to their field of interest, but static webpages by their nature cannot organically evolve. In general, I'd say these alternative forms of review fail because they are too superficial, lack Weltanschauung, or are too focused.
The review wiki is such an obvious idea that it must come to fruition. The biggest obstacles are probably authorship (people want credit), reliability (no one trusts a random web page), and quality control. The easiest solution to these problems would be for a known organization to sponsor a wiki. For example, I bet a neuroscience department could gain reputation by starting an awesome, up-to-date wiki. Over time, as the wiki grew, it could serve as an alternative sort of textbook (in fact, if you search for science wikis, you'll see many hits from teachers looking for textbook alternatives). They could brand the wiki with the department or university. Then when undergrads inevitably discover the wiki, they'll assume the authors are important. The first mover advantage here would be huge.
(Why don't I take action and start a wiki? I don't have the stature to get people to use it, nor get buy-in from others to expand it.)
Until then, I will continue to read traditional reviews, and supplement them as best I can. The precious few neuroscience bloggers out there do a decent job reviewing recent papers, and in doing so comment on the state of the field. I hope some of my blog posts can do the same.
Labels: management, publishing
Walk Along the Paper Trail: Taste Hotsprings
I haven't done many walkalongs about new papers, so let's review a new paper from Charles Zuker's lab.
First, two pieces of background. There are two diametrically opposed theories of taste coding. The "labeled line" theory states that each taste quality (sweet, salty, bitter, etc.) is encoded by a single cell type, and individual cells respond to single taste qualities. In contrast, the combinatorial, or "across fibre," theory states that taste is encoded in the population response of neurons, and individual neurons can respond to multiple tastants.
In general, taste coding shifts from a labeled line representation to a combinatorial representation as information flows from the tongue to the CNS. The taste receptors for most taste qualities have been identified, and recordings of the nerve fibres that project from the tongue show each fibre encodes one taste quality. In contrast, recordings from the brainstem, thalamus, and gustatory cortex have found that individual neurons can respond to multiple tastants. The number of taste responsive cells can change depending on your criteria: only ~10% of gustatory cortex (GC) neurons respond tonically (longer than 1s) to taste application, while 30-40% respond if you consider phasic responses, inhibition, or ensemble coding.
The second piece of background you need to know about are the idea of cortical maps. In visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortex, there is a clear organization of physical space in the cortex. For example, in visual cortex, a picture of the world is mapped onto a corresponding 2D map of visual cortex, called retinotopy. Similarly, the body is mapped from head to toe in the somatosensory cortex (with the tongue area abutting taste cortex). In contrast to those well-organized cortices, odors do not seem to be chemotopically organized in olfactory cortex.
The Carleton lab has attempted to image taste maps in gustatory cortex using intrinsic imaging. They found that individual taste qualities were represented in segregated areas, but that there was significant overlap between areas. Furthermore, the pleasant and unpleasant tastes seemed to somewhat separated.
Taste qualities are vaguely mapped in the gustatory cortex of rat, with pleasant qualities anterior, and unpleasant qualities anterior. From Carleton et al, 2010.
With that background, we can look at the Chen paper. They performed calcium imaging in taste (insular) cortex, which allows one to image the activity of dozens of cells at the same time. Taste cortex is on the lateral side of the brain, so to access this area you have to remove the cheek-muscle, and turn the animal on its side. The authors noted in the supplemental methods that only one-in-four animals were usable after these manipulations.
(Extra methods for those interested: They opened an area about 1mm2, and were able to image areas of 350um x 350um using a 40x objective. To better identify taste cortex, the injected a virus containing GFP into the taste thalamus, which they could see while imaging. To image calcium, they bath applied Oregon-Green BAPTA. Images were acquired at 2Hz. Animals were anesthetized with urethane and isoflurane.)
While they were imaging, they applied tastants for sweet, salty, bitter, etc. and found that most of the purported taste cortex was unresponsive. However, they identified a portion of posterior insular cortex that responded well to bitter tastants, which they dubbed a bitter hotpot.
There is a bitter hotspot in posterior insular cortex. A/B. Individual neurons in the bitter hotspot respond to bitter tastants (red/white dots). E. Approximately 30% of neurons in the bitter hotspot respond to bitters, while few respond to other tastants. G. Calcium response of individual cells show they are selectively tuned to bitter tastes.
In the bitter hotspot, approximately 30% of the neurons responded to bitter tastant, while less than 10% responded to other tastants like sweet or sour (panel E/G). The hotspot was approximately the size of their imaging area. They performed a neat experiment to verify that this was a bitter hotspot. There are ~36 bitter receptors in mice, each of which responds to different bitter compounds. One receptor, T2R5 is the only receptor for cycloheximide. So they imaged T2R5 knockout mice, and found that the bitter hotspot no longer responded to cycloheximide, but still responded to other bitters like quinine.
From here, we diverge into the supplemental figures. First, I want to mention the reliability of the responses. They performed 4-7 trials for each tastant, and considered a cell responsive if it responded in two of four trials. In a supplemental figure, they applied a bitter tastant three times, and noted that some cells responded during all three trials, while others responded only once or twice (panel a, below). I realize that any response is going to be noisy, but it is somewhat troubling that there is a 30-60% "failure" rate of bitter responses in the bitter hotspot.
Responses of neurons in the bitter hotspot during multiple trials, and to multiple bitters. a. In the bitter hotspot, many cells respond to only 1 or 2 trials (the % of cells was not given). b. Many neurons respond to three bitters tastants, while others respond only to a subset.
Given the diversity of bitter receptors, they also looked at how different bitter compounds are represented in the bitter hotspot. They applied three bitters, and found that many cells responded to all three, while other cells responded to only one or two of the bitters (panel b, above). This may have implications for how you interpret whether these cells indicate a labeled line model. If the labeled line is "bitter," then each cell should respond to all bitter compounds. However, there could be individual labeled lines for bitter subcomponents. Yet, here there are cells that respond to multiple bitters, which would be a combination of labeled lines.
In another supplemental figure, they used a tungsten electrode to record from neurons inside and outside the hotspot. 13 of the 31 neurons recorded in the hotspot responded to bitters, and nothing else, while only 1 of 39 neurons outside the hotspot responded to anything.
Electrical recordings of neurons near the bitter hotspot. a. Map of recording sites. Unresponsive neurons outside the hotspot shown in black, bitter neurons in red, and unresponsive neurons inside the hotspot in white. c. (left) PSTH of neurons inside the bitter hotspot, and (right) firing rate change of these neurons. b. Average firing rate changes for responsive neurons inside the hotspot and all neurons outside the hotspot.
From Chen et al. 2011.
I have to say, this is an odd figure. The characterization of the firing rate change in terms of "delta spikes / 5s," seems weird; if you divide by the 5s, you get a rate change of 2 Hz, which is neither impressive nor terrible. The responses shown in panel c above are not that convincing, especially considering they're probably the best responses they have. Furthermore, they didn't note the depth they're recording from. Remember this when considering what a "responsive" neuron is.
After focusing on the bitter hotspot, they also found hotspots for three other taste modalities: sweet, salty, and umami. In each of the areas, ~30% of the neurons responded to the relevant stimuli. In the left panel, below, you can see that these generally pleasant areas are all rostral (anterior) to the bitter hotspot. They could not find a sour hotspot.
Non-bitter hotspots. E. Sweet, salty, and umami hotspots are all anterior to bitter. F. Cells in the salty hotspot respond to NaCl, but not other salts (KCl, or MgCl). This response is blocked by the sodium channel blocker amiloride.
Reminiscences on a long walk
Phew, that was a long one. It's sad that this was a Science paper, where so many interesting figures were shoved into the Supplement where no one will see them.
Earlier, I mentioned that the taste representation generally shifts from a labeled line code to a combinatorial code. In the discussion, the authors state:
Notably, existing models of taste coding in the insula included proposals of broadly tuned neurons across taste qualities ... with no region dedicated to the processing of only one taste quality. Although we cannot rule out the existence of sparse numbers of broadly tuned cells distributed throughout the taste cortex (i.e., nonclustered), our results reveal that the individual basic tastes are represented in the insula by finely tuned cells organized in a precise and spatially ordered gustotopic map, where each taste quality is encoded in its own (segregated) stereotypical cortical field.
They have convincingly shown that there are hotspots in taste cortex, with pleasant tastes represented rostrally. This is in agreement with the previously shown intrinsic imaging, as well as with genetic tracing studies.
This is a pretty cool study, so I had to include it. They made mice expressing wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) in T1R3 and T2R5 taste bud cells. WGA can cross synapses, so it's able to go to all the cells that are downstream of the taste receptor. They found that the sweet (triangle) and bitter (circles) cells were generally segregated in the brainstem and thalamus, but started to overlap in the cortex. Still, the sweet was generally anterior to the bitter.
From Sugita and Shiba, 2005.
However, I must disagree that they have shown GC neurons are "finely tuned." Repeated recordings from multiple labs throughout the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex have shown that taste neurons respond to multiple taste qualities. However, these responses are complex, including short responses, inhibition, and coordinated firing. If you restrict your definition of "taste responsive cells" to those that have a tonic firing rate increase, only 10% of GC neurons are responsive, and these responses are generally to few taste qualities (left panel, below). If you expand your definition to include phasic firing, inhibition, and other types of coding, neuronal tuning becomes more broad (right panel, below).
"Taste responsiveness" depends on the time window. Left: 13 neurons response to tastants, averaged over 2.5s. Here you can see the neurons respond to few tastants. Right: Two neurons' responses to tastants in 500ms bins. Here, the neurons respond to different tastants at different times.
From Katz et al, 2001. For more, see here.
Calcium imaging is a great tool for asking very specific questions, like looking at spatial maps, or sampling many cells simultaneously. It is poor at characterizing fast temporal responses. They are imaging at 2Hz, and quantifying responses over ten seconds, which will miss those dynamics. Furthermore, Ca2+ imaging acts as a filter, only reporting the strongest activity. Of course they found few responsive neurons responsive, and those responses were sparse. Those were the only neurons they can find.
Later in the discussion, they write:
What does the rest of the insula do? the inter–hotspot regions might be involved in other aspects of taste coding , such as the representation of taste mixes, and thus may help to code the perception of “flavor ” [e.g., responding to several tastes simultaneously]. In addition, the insular cortex responds to more than just taste, and it is often thought of as a site for multisensory integration. Thus, these areas may participate in the integration of taste with the other senses.
Here, I can agree.
If I may reinterpret their results: GC contains neurons that respond to a startling diversity of stimuli: somatosensory, olfactory, hedonic, motor, and taste. Previous recordings have shown that GC responses are quite phasic, and decay within one lick. However, a select subset of GC neurons have long-lasting taste responses, which have been sampled here. These specifically gustatory neurons seems to cluster together, with "unpleasant neurons" in the back, and pleasant to the front.
They also speculate that, in contrast to e.g. vision, taste maps are more developmental than functional, which would be in accord with Sugita's findings.
My paper-muscles are exhausted. I am glad to see taste get a high profile paper. Hopefully it makes it easier for the rest of us.
Chen X, Gabitto M, Peng Y, Ryba NJ, & Zuker CS (2011). A gustotopic map of taste qualities in the mammalian brain. Science (New York, N.Y.), 333 (6047), 1262-6 PMID: 21885776
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Nursing memories
LaVerne McDaniel of Thrall enrolled in the Scott & White School of Nursing in 1949. She was 18.
'The schedule was tough,' she said.
Breakfast was at 6 a.m. sharp.
'And from 7 to 10 you had 'a.m. cares,' Ms. McDaniel said. 'It was a morning round of caring for patients. You washed their face, brushed their teeth and served them breakfast.'
Then it was time for classes.
'Lunch came around but it was only for half an hour,' Ms. McDaniel said. 'Then you were back in class until 5 or 6, when it was time for 'p.m. cares.' That was when you got the patients ready for bed.' During the week, she had to be in her dorm every night by 8 p.m., and lights were out at 10 p.m.
Friday night had a more lenient curfew of 11 p.m., and on Saturday the nurses could be out until midnight.
'But on Sunday you had to be back at 8 p.m. unless you were at an evening church service,' Ms. McDaniel said. 'And if you said you were at church, that's where you'd better be because you'd get in trouble if you weren't.
And those were the rules.
'So you see, the people who went to school with you, they were your life,' Ms. McDaniel said. 'You lived with them and worked with them.'
And after graduation, they were in each other's weddings.
'We became family,' Ms. McDaniel said. 'That's why I like these homecomings so much.'
Ms. McDaniel graduated in 1952 and started a life-long nursing career at Scott & White Hospital in Temple. She served as the director of operating rooms and clinical instruction until retiring.
Homeless not hopeless: Program supports kids who'v...
Having the life of her time: Woman shares history ...
Family faces
Tenacity of tiny Russian congregation inspires loc...
Nurses salute alumni group's 100 years
Teacher's retirement sparkles with fun new hobby
Stardust dancers see silver anniversary
Altrusa honors one of its own
Ladies dance for the fun of it
Vocabulary is baffling but beautiful
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Additional major order from China for rail fastening systems
Award of the order to Vossloh underscores the continued strong market position in the high-speed segment in China
Order volume of €35 million, with deliveries starting in 2020 according to current information
Vossloh has won another tender for the delivery of rail fastening systems in China. The supplier is the Chinese company in the Fastening Systems business unit in the Core Components division. After the order in April, this is the second major order won in the high-speed sector in China this year, which underscores the strong market position of Vossloh in this segment. In April, Vossloh won the tender for the “Zheng Wan Chongqing section” project with an equivalent volume of approximately €30 million.
The new order encompasses an equivalent volume of approximately €35 million. The fastening systems are intended for a section of the planned high-speed line between Ganzhou in south-eastern China and Shenzhen, a city directly bordering Hong Kong. Based on current information, the rail fastening systems for both of these orders are scheduled for delivery beginning in 2020. A substantial increase in sales in China compared to the current fiscal year is thus not expected before 2020.
Vossloh has been present in China since 2006. Kunshan-based Vossloh Fastening Systems China Co. Ltd. is one of the locally leading providers of rail fastening systems for use on high-speed lines. At 23,000 kilometers (as of the end of 2017), China possesses the largest and most modern high-speed network in the world. Additional high-speed projects are under construction or in the planning stage, and should expand the rail network to 38,000 kilometers by 2025.
Werdohl, November 19, 2018
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Email: investor.relations@vossloh.com
Vossloh is active in rail technology markets worldwide. The Company’s core business is rail infrastructure. The Group activities in the area of rail infrastructure are organized into the three divisions of Core Components, Customized Modules and Lifecycle Solutions. In the 2017 fiscal year, Vossloh achieved sales of about €920 million in its core business, with more than 3,900 employees.
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← If you stand for Men’s Rights, you’ll fall for anything
Choosy Women Are a Threat to Civilization, Part 2: Electric Boo-hoo-aroo →
On A Voice for Men, a gay MRA takes on the real enemy: stubby-fingered lesbians
Over on A Voice for Men, much-beloved commenter andybob, an honest-to-goodness gay MRA, confronts what he apparently sees as the real enemies of “real gay men” like him: stubby-fingered lesbians and the “noisy, spangled disco version” gay men who don’t hate lesbians enough.
Lesbians barged into gay men’s spaces in droves jabbing their stubby fingers at everyone. Predictably, they proceeded to boss everyone around, making the gay rights movement about them. Note that homosexuality was a criminal offence for MEN ONLY. Lesbianism was never against the law. They had jackshit to whinge about, but they made gay rights about them anyway, and used it as a propaganda vehicle to support feminism.
Notice that GLTT [sic] became LGTT? [sic] How’s that for petty entitlement? Gay men should have fought back, but, to our everlasting shame, we didn’t. The only gay men who remained in GLTT were slimy political types seeking personal aggrandizement, zeta poodle carriers and moronic party boys who don’t give a shit about anything except the pattern on the umbrella in their drinks. Of course, the MSM focus entirely on this noisy, spangled disco version of real gay men like me: men who know exactly how greedy, relentless and downright shady those lezziefems are and don’t trust them one iota.
Truly an inspiring vision of solidarity!
In the comments, Perseus seconds andybob’s hatred of “lesbian femmies.”
I’ve come across a lot of people over the course of my life, a whole range of people, a wide variety.. different cultures, different backgrounds, different types and different temperaments. Shady people, adversarial people, etc..
I can tell you that where I have experienced the most uniquely sinister, hating and conspiratorial sensation has been from encounters with true-blood lesbian femmies. It’s as if they can barely contain their loathing. They have that look of someone who has been talking insane shit about you, conspiring and plotting intensely against you, and would stab you right on the spot if they could get away with it.
Project much?
Lesbian feminists place themselves behind the scenes, using hetero-females as their curtain. They regard hetero-females as immature, naive useful idiots, the former using the collective sexual and feminine power over men, of the latter, as the levers of manipulation that they wield. How far do you think a bunch of gumballs like Naomi Wolf could really have taken this thing?
Lesbian femmies, we’ve got an eye on you, you’re on notice.
Considering how utterly disposable regular females regard males as, how amplified does that disposability become to a creature which doesn’t even see that shred of value in him as a heterosexual mating utility?
Their hatred for males manifests in two objectives: 1) to injure and destroy and 2) to manipulate and control, to the fullest extent possible.
Nuttin wrong with bein gay. Somethin wrong with acts of evil..
Naturally, both andybob and Perseus received only compliments for their clear thinking from the assembled AVFMenners.
Andybob only dealt with the first two letters of the LGBT acronym; I shudder to think what he must feel about the other two.
Posted in: a voice for men, antifeminism, girl germs, hate, homophobia, misogyny, MRA, oppressed men
My favorite American story is when a friend of my husband’s (Mr. HK is from Hawaii) asked him how he liked being in the U.S. I do not think this person was nuanced enough to be asking about mainland vs. island life, either.
Texas has plenty of shit that will kill you, I will never go camping here. I’ve only seen one spider in the house, though. They were everywhere in the PNW.
A (former co-worker (with some Pacific Islander ancestry) had someone ask her if she spoke English in a bar in San Francisco (big surprise that this happened in the Marina). Believe it or not this was part of an attempt to pick her up.
(“Do you speak English, sexy lady?” as a pick-up line? Guys, don’t do that.)
Another (Vietnamese) friend gets asked where she’s from all the time. The people asking never will accept “Ohio” as an answer.
Mr. HK gets mistaken for Mexican in some stunningly inappropriate ways. He’s Filipino/Japanese and looks like Manny Pacquiao.
I think my favorite was this exchange in a corner store buying beer. Mr. HK had just grabbed a case of Corona as we were going to a friend’s houseboat.
Cashier Dude: I didn’t think Mexicans drank this.
Mr. HK: They don’t.
CD, not looking at Mr. HK: So, what part of Mexico you from?
Mr. HK: Hawaii.
This happened in Seattle, not TX.
nerdypants says:
Death by being bumped-into by a basking shark: most inglorious death ever.
I have to share this, because I’ve got these Nephila spiders in my backyard. I think the species around here are a bit smaller, but on the plus side (?), in some individuals the black-and-white pattern on their carapace resembles a human skull. Yeah…
wordsp1nner says:
I live in the Pacific Northwest of the US, and I’ve never had a scary animal interaction in the US (don’t ask me about my three months in the Caribbean and the hammerhead sharks and the dogs). The closest I’ve come is when I was on a week-long raft trip and some of the others disturbed a rattlesnake at our campsite. I made sure to make a lot of noise whenever moving around and to stay off the rocks.
That was also the trip I shared the river with a bear for a little bit. We almost didn’t see it, because when the guide on the raft in front of us made the “animal” signal our raft guide thought it meant there was a mountain goat up in the hillside.
Oh, and then there was the time some idiots decided to throw sticks at the moose we were looking at in Yellowstone. Dad got us all into the car pretty quickly when that happened. And the time some morons decided to walk right up the path the giant bison was laying on… also at Yellowstone. But in that case, I knew that I wasn’t going to be the one getting hurt.
BigMomma says:
@Cassandra, weather was a big deciding factor in moving to Australia from Edinburgh. We got sick of staring out the apartment window at the the grey skies and drizzle, wondering what to do with our bored 2yr old again. I won’t miss the weather, especial not the cold, the greyness and the snow ( which always turns to dirty slush and black ice)
Edinburgh sounds just like my upstate NY hometown in February. We called that dirty snow/slush mess “snirt.”
Fresh snow is beautiful, but the grey sludge it turns into a day or two later is no fun at all.
Snirt? Cool. We didn’t have a name for it. I have such memories of shivering, waiting for the bus to school to arrive, staring at the piles of dirty slush piled up by the side of the road, lot up by the orange street lamp because it’s Scotland and it’s still pitch black until 9.30am in the winter.
In other news, i shared the book of learnin’ on a slate thread where NWOSlave was helping stink up the joint.
Lit up…stupid autocorrect
That’s actually one of my least pleasant memories of high school, the short days in the winter. We started school at 8:30 and, other than a break for lunch and hockey/lacrosse, didn’t stop again until 6:30. So basically we only saw daylight while shivering in the rain and pretending to be enthusiastic about hockey or lacrosse for months at a time.
The Kittehs' Unpaid Help says:
Only if you were one of the ones who lives in an area with things like cold temps. Today we are in very late October and it is like 85 outside so I would still be chilled.
That’s 29C! We’re only just starting on those sort of temps now, in spring, here in Melbourne. It’s still way too hot for my liking. Melbourne’s fairly temperate; we don’t get seriously cold winters – it’s rare for a day to stay in single digits, which is to say below 50F. But our summers usually hover in the high 20s to low 30s. Worst I’ve known was the year of Black Saturday, when we had a week of temperatures in the 40s (up to about 114F).
That whole “where are you from” stuff is really commonplace here, too. I can understand it if someone has a foreign accent, but on appearance alone? That’s just silly.
Oh, and for really dumb, the time I was asked by some schmuck if I was “from around here” because I had a coat with me on a warm day. “Wearing more than most people around here” was how he put it. Shock horror, there’s a dress code for locals (probably “women are to dress minimally”) that I didn’t know about. Presumably the idea that it had been a frickin’ cold morning didn’t cross his mind, any more than the idea that it was none of his flaming business where I was from or how I dressed.
*&^%$#@! blockquotes!
But our summers usually hover in the high 20s to low 30s. Worst I’ve known was the year of Black Saturday, when we had a week of temperatures in the 40s (up to about 114F).
You would hate the climate in the Middle East and North Africa so much. One of my strongest memories of Saudi, because it happened every single time we flew into the country, was arriving after midnight and hearing the following message on the plane’s intercom right before landing.
“We will shortly be landing in Dhahran. The time is 1:15 am., and the temperature is 98 degrees Farenheit. Please enjoy your stay in Saudi Arabia.”
You’re right, I couldn’t cope with that at all!
I’d love to live in Hobart (capital of Tasmania) – I could deal with the cold winters, and I like the city, it’s sort of halfway between a city and a town, big enough not to get stared at but small enough to be fairly relaxed. Trouble is there’s hardly any work down there, and from what I’ve seen the public transport isn’t up to much.
When my Dad used to work in the deep desert in Libya it was so hot that they had to wear gloves all the time, because you couldn’t touch any of the metal railings etc without badly burning your hands. Leaving anything plastic, like a cassette case, on the dashboard of your car would result in it melting. I love that kind of climate, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
Wanna swap some autumn/winter coolth for our spring/summer heat? There must be a way we could do an exchange …
Kittehs, you would hate central TX. I hate it in the summer. In 2011, we had something like 90 days where the temp was above 100.
Right now it is 57 and I couldn’t be happier.
I would gladly exchange most of my cold winter days for hot summer days. I only want to keep a few mildly cold days as an excuse to wear my favorite coats.
Basically if the temperature stayed between 75-ish at night and 115-ish all year round I would be happy.
@Cassandra, that’s a long day.i just had regular school hours… but still went and came home in the dark. And prayed for hockey to be cancelled. Which it never was even when the pitches were covered in snow.
I never want to be cold again. Where we are hovers around the mid to high 20s (c) for most of the year, with occasional spike into the 30s dec – Feb. I love it. Melbourne’s a great city but the winters put me off plus the sudden and extreme heatwaves.
BigMomma, did you hear on the news the other day that the El Nino effect the weather bureau were expecting may be less severe than they thought? In fact they said on Channel 2 news that it may be more of a La Nina – so, a cooler, wetter sort of summer, presumably like the last couple we’ve had. I hope. Winter doesn’t bother me but yeah, our heatwaves are gross. I’d be happy if it never got above 25C.
Kitteh, yes i did hear and they were predicting average rainfall… our last 3 summers have been so wet and where we are was never in drought in the first place. I’d welcome a dry hot summer!
magpie says:
BigMomma, feel free to send any summer rain down here 😉
Are you up north, BigMomma?
more northern than you! i’m in northern new south wales. Magpie, you are very welcome to our rain!
LOL Just about everyone in Oz (except people in Tassie) is more northern than me!
Karalora says:
I’ve got a long-standing Internet friend in Melbourne, and we’ve decided that we actually live in the same climate, just calendar-reversed–I’m in Los Angeles, and we have the same tendency toward hot summers and relatively mild winters with the occasional chill. The terrain seems similar too, and we even have eucalyptus trees in common. Ours are transplants, of course, and are actually left over from when this was a big orange growing region. It’s just kind of eerie how two cities half a planet apart can wind up so similar.
It was pretty funny when he came to visit me in August and temporarily forgot that the seasons were reversed and hoped I wouldn’t have to wait “out in the cold” for his bus from the airport.
Matthew Cline says:
But to a straight male, the voice of the human female can be the most melodious sound. It’s why Japanese Eroge have live voice actresses…
Errr, isn’t it that visual novels and dating sims have voice actors regardless of the game’s rating, and the voice actor tends to be the same sex as the character?
(Also, my inner editor wants to snark: “live voice actresses”? As opposed to undead ones?)
pecunium says:
I miss the weather in Calif. (and I’m missing Sandy, because I’m at a convention in Ohio; it’s most unlikely our plane will be allowed to leave). I’ve lived in the Upper Midwest, wintered in Ontario, as well as Coastal Calif., and Seattle; and the inland deserts. I’ve summered in Utah and Arizona (N, and S) as well as in Iraq.
I love the desert (apart from the scorpions). I love Coastal Calif. with a burning in my heart, and I’m pretty fond of a decently cold winter.
The world, and all that’s in it. Boomdeyadda.
@Karalora – one of my best friends lives in LA too. She’ll be here in a week and I’m counting the days!
I’ve noticed just the same thing about our climates. They really are similar. And those eucalypts … I think yours were imported from Australia. I know I was severely unimpressed when I visited LA for the first time a few years back. “I’ve flown however many thousands of miles to look at bloody GUM TREES????” 😀
They were imported. Leland Stanford heard about how they were used for railroad ties in Oz, and imported some, because the local lumber is totally unsuited for such. They grew well, so he had a 1/4 mile of track laid, and ran a locomotive onto it.
The ties promptly failed. The soil was so rich, and the water so plentiful that the trees were too soft.
But they were useful as windbreaks, and went native too. I dread (with a heartsick ache I can’t explain), the day the overdense Euky-forest which covers the slopes of Montaña de Oro finally catch fire. I love to ride through those woods, and breath the smell of the blue-gum trees.
I love the smell of eucalyptus trees. We had a whole grove of them on a hill behind my house when I was a kid, and I didn’t know they were a non-native species I just knew they smelled wonderful.
Pecunium – that’s the thing that throws me about planting eucalypts. They rely on fire, it’s part of their cycle. All that oil … it’s not just that they burn ferociously, they explode when it’s hot enough. The Black Saturday fires here in ’09 were utterly terrifying, they were firestorms.
Plus they are seriously crap trees in urban areas. They don’t provide shade, because their leaves turn edgewise to the sun; they shed all year round, and their roots wreak havoc on any drains in the vicinity.
And they drop limbs
Aren’t a lot of people very allergic to eucalyptus too? I love the smell, but if it’s making tons of people unable to breathe that’s not good.
mildlymagnificent says:
Not many people allergic to gums. But heaps of people suffer dreadfully from wattle blossom.
Magpie’s right. The commonest issue with many gums isn’t the burning, it’s the dropping gigantic limbs on any day a tree decides it’s too warm, too dry, too windy, or just too much trouble to stay as it is. We had a big lemon scented near our old house, big for a lemon scented means gigantic by most standards. Smelled divine on a damp morning.
Other mornings we’d go out and get a huge jolt – thanking goodness none of us were out there when a branch as big as one of our other trees had come down. At least mrmagnificent got a good physical workout chopping up half a winter’s worth of firewood which had been ‘delivered’ to the back door.
The thing that makes Euky such a dangerous tree is the oils. The trees which aren’t burning are exhaling oils at a massive rate, then a spark hit it and you get, to all intents and purposes, a Fuel Air Explosive.
Which spreads the fire, something fierce.
What they are really good for is windbreaks. You can see them in stands around houses up and down the Central Coast of Calif.
In Calif. they are less regular at random limb-dropping.
Come now, feminists regard women as stupid, incompetent, brainless children much more than MRAs:
Ally S says:
You do know that ridiculing a campaign that is supposed to encourage people to protect others from being raped does nothing but show how you’re a terrible human being, right?
That is some quality tiny-type MRA poster defacing. No doubt you fit right in with your brothers-in-arms.
LBT says:
Yeah, Blah, seriously, the hell is your problem. Am I allowed to just go roofying guys at parties with impunity? Of course not. Nobody should get raped at parties. Piss off, necromancer.
Kiwi girl says:
Ah, an MRA-defaced image with introduced spelling errors and bad grammar.
Because stopping a female being sexually assaulted is *just like* fighting a medieval battle. And preventing sexual assault is all to do with chastity. And being wasted is a permanent condition.
What gives with the heavily xtian sentiment? Do they think* that male feminists are xtian and/or that the King Arthur legend is xtian?
*I am using this word in its broadest possible sense.
And when a female gets wasted, that’s her signal that she’s giving consent to all males.
MRAs, spotting female interest in you, you’re doing it wrong.
>Quote of the Day: Stupidity Strikes Twice October 8, 2010
No indictment: Open thread to discuss Ferguson November 24, 2014
Completely Inexplicable #GamerGate Meme of the Day October 28, 2014
A Nice Guy’s lament: “First, they came for the rapists … .” August 14, 2011
The Honey Badgers file their suit in moon court. And possibly in Alberta, too. September 7, 2015
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Billy Masters
by Billy Masters
"It would not have been possible without the help of the president, who not only gave us the impetus for this reboot but provided us with fresh fields to plow daily that Diane English and our superb writing staff have cultivated fearlessly and with unique wit."—Candice Bergen graciously accepts her latest Golden Globe nomination for playing Murphy Brown.
As last week drew to a close, Kevin Hart said he was hired as host of the upcoming Academy Awards. Then the gays protested him as host of the Academy Awards. ( I'm not going to recap why—look it up for yourself. ) Then he resigned as host of the Academy Awards. Am I the only one who thinks it a bit, dare I say, queer that all this news has come from Mr. Hart himself and not The Academy? Maybe I should announce that The Academy asked me to host, but I've pulled out ( as if ). Here's another thing I'm wondering about: Is there a height restriction for hosts? I say if you're not tall enough to ride Space Mountain, you can't host the Oscars. But you can ride me. That's all.
I typically wouldn't have a Fayewatch item this early in the column. But trust me—this is no normal Fayewatch. Then again, there is no such thing as a "normal" Fayewatch. For the past few years, Miss Dunaway's professional output has been limited to a curious extended commercial for Gucci and shuffling onstage at two consecutive Academy Awards—thus ensuring her spot when it's time for the inevitable "In Memoriam" segment.
That was all a warm-up for her grand return to Broadway. Ah, the Great White Way. Faye hasn't appeared there since 1982—I believe she was 82 at the time. And she's finally found a vehicle to harness her unique talents, such as they are. She will star in Tea at Five, a one-woman show about—brace yourself—Katharine Hepburn! Well, when you think of people suitable to play dead grand dames, who else?
The press release indicates that the run will take place sometime next summer and will be a "strictly limited engagement." ( I will refrain from the obvious joke. ) Here's something the press release doesn't say—the first choice for the role of Miss Hepburn was the divine Charles Busch! And I should know: I was there. Back in 2011, Busch starred in a one-night-only performance of Matthew Lombardo's revised play, which was a benefit for the Ali Forney Center. Needless to say, he was magical. Charles was courted for a full run, but Busch marches to the beat of his own drum and declined. So, essentially Faye is replacing a fella in a frock. How curious—usually, it's the other way around.
I'm more than a bit intrigued by the cast of the national tour of Falsettos. One might think that Christian Borle and Andrew Rannells would be hard to top—well, not that hard. Then it was announced that the tour will star Max von Essen and Nick Adams, and more than my ears perked up. First off, they're both gay, which is always a plus. And Max is a leading man of the first order. He's been the stand-by for some great people ( Ricky Martin in Evita and virtually everyone in Les Misérables ) and, for a while, he was in the running for the real-life role of Mrs. Neil Patrick Harris—but that's another story. Nick, on the other hand, is more known for his body than his body of work—although that's mighty impressive as well. So for him to flex his thespianistic muscles in this role is a tantalizing prospect, indeed. Fingers crossed he's up to the challenge. With Eden Espinosa rounding out this luxurious cast, you have a great show that's not to be missed when it comes to a city near you.
CNN is gonna take another stab at making magic work between Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on New Year's Eve. I'll be DVRing ( and scanning ) because faithful fans know I always ring in the New Year with loved ones watching not one, but two Lindsay Wagner movies. This year we have two new films—the Hallmark Channel's Mingle All The Way ( which has virtually the same plot as every other Hallmark Channel flick ) and Samson, in which Lindsay plays the Biblical hero's mother. That Bionic Woman's got range!
Time for another installment of "Billy's Holiday Gift Giving Suggestions." This week, we're delivering the perfect 2019 calendar. I am happy to once again spotlight the work of the Warwick Rowers. This group of hot athletes has been raising funds through their calendar since 2009. Obviously the men change, but the standards remain high. The gay and straight rowers have twice been named UK Charity Calendar of the Year by whomever votes on these things...presumably a bunch of Brits. This year's calendar features a special guest—two-time Olympic rower Robbie Manson from New Zealand. And let's just say his openly gay oar is prominently featured. While we will share some of the more sizzling shots on BillyMasters.com, I'd suggest you grab the calendar quickly at WarwickRowers.org . And HURRY—I was gonna promote the Ben Cohen calendar, but it's already sold out.
Queer athletes bring us to our "Ask Billy" question from Stephen in Anaheim: "Remember all that talk about a sex tape of Tom Daley being shopped around? Whatever happened to that?"
That's a good question. Sure, we got quite a fascinating shot of his ass in the air waiting for ... well, whomever turned up. And there was that brief clip of him allegedly fondling his nether regions through underwear. But then, nothing. So I did a little digging and found quite a few still shots from a video that allegedly stars Mr. Daley and a rather hot bald bloke. Now, I cannot say that this is definitely Tom. For all I know, it could be one of those many Tom Daley look-a-likes with a strikingly similar body, similar hair and similar ass that is enjoyed with great gusto by a hot bald guy. I mean, anything's possible. Check it out at BillyMasters.com and decide for yourself.
When bald men are welcomed "Daley," it's time to end another column. If you're having trouble finding the perfect gift for that special someone, why not snag them a membership toBillyMasters.com—the site that's a great stocking stuffer. If you have a question, send it along to Billy@BillyMasters.com and I promise to get back to you before Faye convinces Warren to play Spencer. Until next time, remember: One man's filth is another man's bible.
Billy Masters 2020-01-08 - "This is 20/20."—Cheri Oteri rang in the new year as Barbara Walters alongside a stoic Andy Cohen and a giggling Anderson Cooper on ...
SHOWBIZ Billy Porter, Olivia Wilde, Tessa Thompson, 'Ragtime,' Dan Levy 2019-12-24 - Stars of stage and screen have come together to celebrate Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning star for Billy Porter's lip-sync video for his ...
Billy Masters 2019-12-11 - "I didn't bother going to school. I just found my inner pussy."—Sir Ian McKellen explains how he prepared for his role as Gus ...
Billy Masters 2019-11-26 - "Well, I used to jerk off to Leonardo DiCaprio."—Pete Davidson in Paper magazine. He clarifies, "Uhh, like his acting. I used to have ...
Billy Masters 2019-11-13 - "The booing is fucking us up. It's messing with everyone's mic. You can grimace and all that. All we hear is booing."—Whoopi Goldberg ...
Billy Porter drops in at Sidetrack 2019-10-30 - Musical Monday at Sidetrack blasted through the stratosphere when entertainer extraordinaire Billy Porter dropped in on October 28. ...
Billy Masters 2019-10-30 - "Gay is not a limitation. It's a characteristic that I hope they view, like I do, that it's God's greatest gift."—Tim Cook's message ...
SHOWBIZ George Michael, Billy Porter, Michael Hutchence, LGBTQ-history film 2019-10-22 - The holiday romantic comedy Last Christmas (starring Emilia Clarke, Emma Thompson and Henry Golding) won't just feature the music of George Michael—it will ...
Billy Masters 2019-10-16 - "There is no right or wrong way to be gay, to be queer, to be trans, and I hope that our community, even ...
Billy Masters 2019-10-02 - "I spent the first 23 years of my life playing a straight man."—Gus Kenworthy's response to criticism about him playing Emma Roberts' boyfriend ...
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Poitiers Airport
Poitiers–Biard Airport (PIS)
The airport is located three miles (6km) west of Poitiers.
Taxis are available to transport travellers to the city centre or the train station.
GMT +1 (GMT +2 from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October).
Car rental companies represented at the airport include Europcar, Avis and Enterprise.
Airport Taxis
Two taxi companies, GIE Radio Taxis and the Association of Independent Taxis Poitier, are available at the airport to transport travellers to the city centre or the train station.
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Poitiers Airport offers 24-hour parking spaces for up to 400 vehicles, free for the first 15 minutes. For customers of the airport restaurant, parking is free of charge upon presentation of a receipt. Parking fees are €2.80 for an hour, €12 for a day and €19 for two days; each subsequent day costs €7.
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Poitiers Airport Taxis: the taxi fares above are intended as a guideline only.
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Augmentin (amoxicillin, amoxicillin) 250 mg, may be taken anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours before sexual activity.
Augmentin the recommended dose is 50 mg. When is co-administered with an alpha-blocker.
Cipro Beats Augmentin In Treating Urinary Tract Infections
The collected samples were inoculated on blood agar and eosin-methylene blue agar media Oxoid, UK using a standard loop. References Urinary tract infections remain a significant cause of morbidity in all age groups.
Isolate distribution and therapy responses are shown in Table 1. Additionally, 2 4. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital.
However, a small study has suggested early, mild UTIs might clear up on their own. The mean age of the patients was Uncomplicated urinary tract infections are caused by a predictable group of susceptible organisms.
Positive clinical response was defined as complete resolution of the symptoms and signs of infection. Candida albicans is a common fungus normally present zanaflex 10mg small amounts in the vagina and does not usually cause disease or symptoms.
A shorter course 3 days augmentin and uti antibiotics at the first sign of UTI symptoms; a prescription may be given to you to keep at home. Siegel said taking in more fluids at the first sign of an infection might even help clear it up.
Other oral treatments with reported increasing rates of resistance include sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim Bactrim DS, Septra DS and the fluoroquinolones or levitra sublingual. Of the women given the drug, 77 percent were clinically cured.
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Dosage adjustments are required in patients with varying degrees of kidney impairment. Previous studies suggested cranberry or cranberry juice might have been useful to prevent UTIs.
What new antibiotics are available for UTIs? Often, these infections don't cause any symptoms early on.
Uncomplicated urinary tract infections are one of the most common bacterial infections, particularly in women. Confusion can be a medication side effect or a sign of another problem, such as dehydration or a disturbed metabolism which might occur with abnormal blood levels of calcium or sugar.
In most cases, an antibiotic is the best treatment for a UTI. Thirty-two of the patients were female and 14 were male.
The study, published in the Feb. An early UTI, such as a bladder infection cystitiscan worsen over time, leading to a more severe kidney infection pyelonephritis. Additionally, 2 4. Of the women given the drug, 77 percent were clinically cured.
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Urinary Tract Infections in Adults
And "More information" links may arava for sale longer work. Some older adults with a UTI also develop confusion. New thinking about urinary tract infections Don't be surprised if your doctor doesn't rush you into treatment. For this study, women between the ages of 18 and 45 were randomized to receive either a three-day course of Augmentin and uti or Cipro to treat their urinary tract infections.
Are there any over-the-counter antibiotics for UTIs? Antibiotics may commonly lead to uncomplicated antibiotic-associated diarrhea or loose stools, that xenical india clear up after the antibiotic is stopped.
Positive microbiological response was considered if the organism could not be isolated in repeat cultures during or after the course of AMC therapy.
Augmentin is amoxicillin a penicillin combined with clavulanate, while Cipro is from a family of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones. Plus, in treating urinary tract infections, I'm not sure what it has to offer over amoxicillin," Siegel said.
Be sure to discuss our site individual antibiotic side effects with your healthcare provider.
However, many practical issues have yet to be fully addressed.
Positive microbiological response was considered if the organism could not be isolated in repeat cultures during or after the course of AMC therapy. Patients and Methods 3.
This article clarifies these issues by reviewing the approach to the diagnosis and treatment of each patient group at risk for UTIs A similar phenazopyridine product called Pyridium is also available with a prescription from your doctor A longer course of antibiotic therapy The researchers reexamined the women two weeks after treatment The most effective therapy for an uncomplicated infection is a three-day course of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole
Vaginal yeast infections or oral thrush candida species Cranberry has been studied as a preventive maintenance agent for UTIs What is the optimal duration of therapy and how should it be administered? Cranberry seems to work by preventing bacteria from sticking to the inside of the bladder Our results suggested that amoxicillin-clavulanic acid may be a good oral antimicrobial which can be used for treatment of ESBL-positive UTIs
Are there any over-the-counter antibiotics for UTIs? However Antibiotics commonly used for recurrent UTIs can include sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim Patients and Methods They're not always as easy to spot or treat as in youth
High rates of antibiotic resistance are being seen with both ampicillin and amoxicillin for cystitis E Antibiotics may also change the normal flora balance in the vagina However Also Evaluation of older children may depend on the clinical presentation and symptoms that point toward a urinary source e
What is a urinary tract infection (UTI)?
Asymptomatic bacteriuria rarely requires treatment and is not associated with increased morbidity in elderly patients. The most common antibiotics implicated in antibiotic-associated diarrhea are amoxicillin-clavulanate, ampicillin, and cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, azithromycin, and clarithromycin.
However, he cautioned, if you have any pain or burning when you urinate, or you have an urgent need to urinate, you should consult your doctor for treatment. Urinary tract infections UTIs are a leading cause of morbidity and health care expenditures in persons of all ages. Zerbaxa is given as an intravenous infusion every 8 hours.
Also, Hooton noted that spermicides can change vaginal flora and make women more susceptible to urinary tract infections. Uristat can be bought without a prescription at the pharmacy. Some women may have 2 or 3 UTIs in a year; for these women antibiotic prophylaxis may be recommended by her health care provider.
Often, these infections don't cause any symptoms early on. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea: Marc Siegel, a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University Non prescription ventolin augmentin and uti Medicine, said he wasn't surprised that the study found Augmentin wasn't effective in treating urinary tract infections.
However, the current study didn't include a comparison to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole ‒ macknairmultimedia.com/augmentin-2958334/augmentin-and-xarelto.
An early UTI, such as a bladder infection cystitiscan worsen over time, leading to a more severe kidney infection pyelonephritis
Candida albicans is a common fungus normally present in small amounts in the vagina and does not usually cause disease or symptoms
However, Hooton is quick to point out that the standard first-line treatment is still trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic sold under the brand names Bactrim and Septra
Prophylactic antibiotics do not reduce the risk of subsequent urinary tract infections, even in children with mild to moderate vesicoureteral reflux
They're not always as easy to spot or treat as in youth. Siegel said individuals prone to urinary tract infections should try to wash the genital area before and after intercourse, and Hooton also recommended urinating after intercourse, to help flush out any bacteria.
Wipe properly. Children younger than two years may be at greater risk of parenchymal defects than older children.
Positive microbiological response was considered if the organism could not be isolated in repeat cultures during or after the course of AMC therapy. Uncomplicated urinary tract infections are caused by a predictable group of susceptible organisms.
See also: Of the women who received treatment with Augmentin, 93 58 percent were considered clinically cured two weeks after treatment, the researchers report.
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UTI Dangers During Pregnancy
More treatment options This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4. For recurrent UTIs, there are several options:
Evaluation of older children may depend on the clinical presentation and symptoms that point toward a urinary source e. B Routine circumcision in boys does not reduce the risk of UTI enough to justify the risk of surgical complications. A single-dose or single-day course is not recommended.
Siegel said individuals prone to urinary tract infections should try to wash the genital area before and after intercourse, and Hooton also recommended urinating after intercourse, augmentin urinary tract infection help flush out any bacteria.
And "More information" links may no longer work. An early UTI, such as a bladder infection cystitiscan worsen over time, leading to a more severe kidney infection pyelonephritis – augmentin penicillin allergy.
Though some strains are susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid AMC in vitro, there is very less data about the consequences of AMC usage for such infections. Tobramycin Common side effects with antibiotic use Each antibiotic is responsible for its own unique list of side effects, and the list is usually extensive.
However, he cautioned, if you have any pain or burning when you urinate, or you have an urgent need to urinate, you should consult your doctor for treatment.
The date this privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. Using cookies: Cookies are pieces of information that are stored in a user's web browser on the user's hard drive.
To analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimization of our site. In order to ensure that content from our Website and the App is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer or mobile phone, to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service (when you choose to do so), and as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4. Thomas Hooton, M. Some patients may want to use cranberry or cranberry juice as a home remedy to treat a UTI.
Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical and microbiological outcomes of ESBL-positive UTIs in patients treated with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid AMCin which the infecting organism was susceptible to this drug in vitro.
The study, published in the Feb. Taking with food or a meal may help to decrease stomach upset, but check with your augmentin and uti. Antibiotics may also change the normal flora balance in the vagina, and lead to a fungal overgrowth. Complicated infections are diagnosed by quantitative urine cultures and require a more prolonged course of therapy.
The bacterial strains were identified using standard microbiological methods. Often, these infections don't cause any symptoms early on.
Antibiotics commonly used for recurrent UTIs can include sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, nitrofurantoin, cefaclor, cephalexin, or norfloxacin. In some areas of the country, he said, there is concern that bacteria may be growing resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, but "most people will do benadryl elderly on it, and it's still an excellent first-line antibiotic.
Uristat can be bought without a prescription at the pharmacy. Don't rely on cranberry juice.
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How to take bactrim for uti — Bactrim (clavulanate) 400 mg, comparison of once-daily extended-release ciprofloxacin and conventional twice-daily ciprofloxacin for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infection in women.. Bactrim seventy-two percent 80% and 85% of the patients on 25 mg and 100 mg of .
Roche pharmaceuticals accutane — Accutane (clavulanate) 10 mg, in the fda announced a new regulatory scheme called smart the system to manage accutane related teratogenicity that required roche to provide defined training materials to doctors, and for doctors to sign and return a letter to roche acknowledging that they had reviewed the training materials, for roche to then send stickers to doctors, which doctors would have to place on prescriptions they give people after they have confirmed a negative pregnancy test; prescriptions could only be written for 30 days and could not be renewed, thus requiring a new pregnancy test for each prescription.. Accutane when is co-administered with an alpha-blocker.
Can amoxicillin treat uti in dogs — Amoxicillin (amoxicillin) 250 mg, january 9, illness 54 comments to sustain this free service, we receive affiliate commissions via some of our links.. Amoxicillin when is co-administered with an alpha-blocker.
Augmentin, 3 reviews:
Shaun Comment №1 about product
Antibiotics may also change the normal flora balance in the vagina, and lead to a fungal overgrowth. Avycaz was first approved on February 25th, and is manufactured by Allergan Inc. Cranberry has been studied as a preventive maintenance agent for UTIs.
Casey Comment №2 about product
Siegel said taking in more fluids at the first sign of an infection might even help clear it up. Urinary tract infections UTIs are a leading cause of morbidity and health care expenditures in persons of all ages. We found that therapeutic failure was significantly more frequent in Klebsiella spp.
Garfield Comment №3 about product
Isolate distribution and therapy responses are shown in Table 1. Recent studies have helped to better define the population groups at risk for these infections, as well as the most cost-effective management strategies.
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It begins: President Trump likely to declare national emergency at 9pm today
January 8, 2019 by 1EarthUnited
Interesting breaking news, personally i don’t think anything will come of this address the nation broadcast. I would be very surprised if Trump invokes “state of national emergency” to promote the national defense. His motives are suspect, will not get the support of congress or even his own party…. we’ll see.
Tuesday, January 08, 2019 by: Mike Adams
(Natural News) President Trump plans to address the nation tonight in a 9pm Eastern broadcast that will be carried by all the major news networks. During this broadcast, he is widely expected to invoke a national emergency over the continued illegal invasion and occupation of America by foreign nationals. These law-breaking criminals are using America’s open borders to engage in widespread human trafficking, drug smuggling, gun running and the invasion of America with violent criminal illegal aliens who are granted “sanctuary” status by treasonous Democrats like former California Gov. Jerry Brown.
As NewsTarget.com has previously reported, President Trump is technically already operating with a declaration of a national emergency. Accordingly, he may not use the phrase “national emergency” in tonight’s address, since that designation has already been invoked and is legally in place. The declaration grants President Trump broad emergency power, many of which were established under former President Barack Obama. As reported by Natural News in 2012, Barack Obama already declared the president’s power to seize all national resources in times of emergency:
On March 16, 2012, President Obama issued an executive order entitled, “NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS.” (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2…)
This executive order states that the President alone has the authority to take over all resources in the nation (labor, food, industry, etc.) as long as it is done “to promote the national defense” — a phrase so vague that it could mean practically anything.
That executive order grants the President the power to seize all forms of communications, production, natural resources, transportation, energy and much more. It was invoked by Barack Obama with a plan to hand that power to future President Hillary Clinton, who would invoke the emergency powers to declare a national emergency over “gun violence,” followed by nationwide gun confiscation and mass arrests of conservative journalists.
Notably, Barack Obama declared that executive order “as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States,” setting up the precedent for military action to address whatever national emergency was subsequently declared. What Obama didn’t realize, of course, is that the American people would reject a Clinton presidency and elect an anti-establishment President who wants to protect America rather than gutting it. Thus, all the executive powers and military precedent declared by Obama has been inherited by President Trump.
It’s time to unleash the military police to arrest the deep state traitors who are conspiring to destroy America from within
During his national address, President Trump will likely affirm the urgent crisis of illegal aliens crossing a largely unprotected border. He will designate Pentagon budget money to build a wall of some sort, and he will highlight the dereliction of duty by deranged Democrats whose only future lies in recruiting more illegal alien voters via illegal border crossings.
Trump’s invocation of a national emergency to fund the border wall will indicate the beginning of the new war to defend America against traitors and globalists who are desperately trying to occupy and overrun the country in order to destroy its national sovereignty. Tonight’s broadcast is merely the first step in many steps yet to come. Trump is refusing to surrender America to the treachery of Democrats and their globalist controllers, and he is demonstrating that when it comes to the Trump presidency, America comes first.
Naturally, Democrats and the left-wing media will go ballistic as Trump orders the construction of a border wall, and they will ratchet up their efforts to have Trump impeached, assassinated or silenced (by censoring his Twitter account, for example). This will only result in Trump further invoking presidential powers to defend America against the Democrat traitors who despise this great nation and are infuriated when anyone attempts to defend America against an invasion of illegal foreign nationals.
Join me in calling for President Trump to unleash the military police in a nationwide campaign to arrest the treasonous traitors operating within the deep state, the Democrat party and the anti-America propagandists pretending to be “media.” Most of these individuals are communists, and they’re all working for globalists as part of a coordinated conspiracy to collapse our constitutional republic, overrule democracy and oust a duly-elected President.
President Trump needs to know that We the People are able to and ready to help defend this nation against the enemies within. “All enemies, foreign and domestic” must be opposed by the American people… by every available means. As I recently wrote on Trump.news:
It’s time to activate the military police and hand them a list of the deep state traitors who have attempted to carry out a treasonous political coup rooted in illegal government spying under President Obama, the falsification of “evidence” used to deceive the FISA court, witness tampering by Robert Mueller, illegal leaks by James Comey, official corruption by Hillary Clinton, and multiple acts of treason against America approved by Obama and dutifully carried out by Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch. Arrest the deep state traitors, indict them for crimes against America and prosecute them.
As I also pointed out in that story, it’s time for real America to arrest and prosecute the CEOs of the evil tech giants; root out the anti-American communists pretending to be journalists; arrest and eliminate the domestic terrorism recruitment “professors” operating in universities; purge all deep state operatives from government and imprison them for life.
It has taken two years for the American people to really wake up and see the level of treason being committed by the deep state, the CIA-run media, anti-Trumpers (like McCain) and the deranged, lawless Democrats. But now the American people are increasingly aware of what’s really at stake. They see how American has been targeted for destruction by the treacherous Democrats, and they are ready to take a stand to defend America at all costs.
We are willing to fight to defend America, and every former or current member of the armed forces, police departments and sheriff’s departments has taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. It will soon be time to make good on that oath. America must defend herself or she will be “suicided” by the Democrats.
We are blessed to have Trump as President… a man willing to fight for survival against an onslaught of deception, tyranny and destruction of the deranged Left and its globalist controllers.
Watch Trump’s address tonight and be awed by what real courage looks like. America shall be defended. The American people will not surrender to left-wing lunacy, open borders tyranny and globalist rule.
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Ending the War on the Non-Drug Known as Hemp
24 COMMENTS 9 HOURS AGO Chris Calton
With the recent legalization of hemp in the United States, one may ask the question of why it was ever illegal to begin with. Being a non-psychoactive form of cannabis, its uses were entirely industrial. One need not be a libertarian to recognize that the prohibition of hemp ranks among the most absurd and pointless laws our government passed in the twentieth century.
Prior to the War on Drugs, the United States had a long history of hemp production, going all the way back to the colonial era and Britain even before that. Before governments arrested people for growing hemp, they used to fine farmers for not growing it. In the sixteenth century, King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I fined English farmers who failed to contribute to the country’s hemp industry. In 1673, King Charles II instructed the Royal Governor of Virginia to impose the edict on the Virginia colonists.1 Hemp was particularly valuable to the Royal Navy, which used it for uniforms, ropes, and sails, among other things.
It is relatively common knowledge that several Founding Fathers of the United States grew hemp. Occasionally, pro-marijuana activists will cite this as evidence that the Founders smoked cannabis, but there is no evidence to support this, and the recreational or medicinal use of marijuana did not come to the United States until the nineteenth century. But for industrial purposes, figures as prestigious as George Washington grew hemp, following the instructions detailed in the pamphlet “A Treatise of Hemp-Husbandry,” authored by Edmund Quincy, a cousin of President John Adams.
Although it was never known as a staple crop, hemp production remained prevalent in certain southern states. During the Missouri-Kansas border war of the 1850s, the password for acceptance into southern camps was “all right on the hemp,” and members pinned hemp leaves to their shirts to signal allegiance to their side.2
But in 1937, due to the crusade of Harry Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that was facing budget cuts during the Great Depression, cannabis was criminalized. When the law was passed, there was concern that it would be used to stamp out the hemp industry. Anslinger promised that his men would leave industrial hemp alone.
Anslinger lied. When the United States entered World War II at the end of 1941, the hemp industry had been completely wiped out. The problem now was that the US military needed hemp, and a lot of it. Military and naval technology may have come a long way since Henry VIII issued his compulsory hemp-growing edict to support the Royal Navy of the sixteenth century, but hemp fibers retained a multitude of uses. And going into the biggest military conflict of the twentieth century, the US had no domestic source of hemp, despite a centuries-long tradition of producing it.
In response, the same government that empowered Anslinger to completely destroy the hemp industry now approved funding for enormous subsidies to American farmers to restart the hemp industry that had been flourishing without subsidies only five years earlier. To remind them that hemp-growing was their patriotic duty, the government even commissioned a propaganda film entitled Hemp for Victory.
But when the war was over, the benefits of hemp production were forgotten once again and Anslinger was able to send his men out to destroy what remained of the government-subsidized hemp industry. At the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars, his crusade to eradicate the evils of marijuana amounted to little more than the destruction of the low-THC outgrowth of industrial hemp.
In the 70 years since, hemp products have been legally imported from other countries, despite the US having soil that is perfectly suited for a lucrative hemp industry. The recent re-legalization of hemp in the United States is a far cry from the sweeping reforms needed to end the disastrous War on Drugs, but it is certainly a step in the right direction that overturns what may be the most pointlessly destructive law in the past century.
1.William W. Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia (Richmond, 1809–23), vol. 2, p. 306.
2.Nicole Etcheson, Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2004), p. 56.
Chris Calton is a 2018 Mises Institute Research Fellow and an economic historian. He is writer and host of the Historical Controversies podcast.
Justin Murray • 8 hours ago
I was under the impression that hemp was a victim of cronyism as well. Mainly, William Randolph Hearst utilized his news empire and political connections to demonize hemp as it competed with his wood pulp business and wanted it out of the way.
Eiji Wolf Justin Murray • 7 hours ago
Hemp has a great multitude of uses.
For naval industry, it was essential because salt water did not corrode/decay it as it does cotton.
It produces more “biomass” per acre than any other industrial crop or trees, supposedly.
Its seeds are extremely nutritious, high in protein and essential fats.
It can be used to create fuel, building materials (plasterboard or fibreboard type), paints, cosmetics, insulation, medicine, of course clothes and other fibre-based products…
It also, supposedly, improves he quality of soil.
So, right here, you have a great many powerful interest groups that may view it as unwelcome competition, especially after they have established themselves in the markets already.
But better do your own research, this is hearsay I have collected over 20-odd years and never bothered to verify…
Really?? • 7 hours ago
If the experience of legalizing marijuana is any guide, even if the war on hemp is ended, it will ironically continue in the form of regulations, licenses and fees imposed by government officials who disagree with legalization.
The mini-series, Murder Mountain, now airing on Netflix provides some powerful anecdotal evidence that bears this out. For decades, growers in Humbolt county grew and sold illegal marijuana. Then, when marijuana was legalized in California, these same growers were saddled with zoning and health regulations that imposed an array of new taxes, regulation, requirements about pesticides, certifications, licensing fees and just more and bigger taxes. These were enforced by local zoning authorities who used high-resolution satellite images to identify marijuana farms and imposed $10,000/day fines if the marijuana crops were not in the county database and licensure system. This followed with raids by local law enforcement to enforce zoning and building and licensing laws in full body armor and caravans that included chipper/shreders to destroy non-compliant crops that looked all looked a lot like the law enforcement raids of pre-legalization times. One raid included service of a warrant on the wrong farm and handcuffing a compliant grower and searching his property, which looks a lot like raids in the pre-legalization era. Of course, many growers just continued to remain underground, ’cause the war on marijuana did not end with legalization, but simply morphed from “criminalization” into “regulation.”
Blindfolded Really?? • 6 hours ago
Again, its not a war on hemp…it is a war on the Individuals Liberty and Property Rights.
Government ‘Regulation’ is not regulation at all, but RESTRICTION. Govs only tool is the initiation of force/violence.
Klerk Blindfolded • 6 hours ago
Property rights as in the crops were grown on property owned by the grower?
LudwigvonRothbard Klerk • an hour ago
Property rights as in I have a natural right to buy and consume whatever I care to, as long as I violate no one else’s rights to do the same in the process..
Debt, dope and casinos: Chicago is circling the drain
Simon Black January 8, 2019 Bucaramanga, Colombia
While the federal government is slowly careening toward permanent, fiscal disaster, many state governments (which don’t have the power of the printing press) are already staring into the abyss…
Take Illinois, for example. It’s the most broke state in the US with nearly $250 billion in debt. And it only brings in enough in taxes each year to cover 92% of its expenses… so the problem is getting worse.
Good thing Rahm “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste” Emmanuel is the current Mayor of Chicago. You may remember, the above quote was from Rahm’s days as Obama’s Chief of Staff, as told to the Wall Street Journalduring the depths of the Great Financial Crisis…
What followed was the greatest monetary experiment known to man.
Now Rahm has another crisis on his hands – Chicago’s woefully underfunded pensions. And he’s reaching into his old bag of tricks.
Governments can only kick the can down the road for so long. Eventually, they’ve got to make some tough decisions – like who they’re going to default on. Despite the promises made by certain political representatives, it’s impossible for everyone to have everything…
And today, Rahm must choose…
Either Chicago defaults on the pension promises it’s made to city workers or it defaults on its massive debt. It’s simple arithmetic.
Rahm, it seems, has chosen the latter.
Chicago’s pension funds are only 26% funded (meaning it only has enough cash to pay out a pathetic 26% of what’s promised). And with the city’s dismal fiscal situation, that hole isn’t getting plugged on its own.
So Rahm proposed issuing $10 billion of debt to shore up the city’s pensions. The only government solution for debt problems today, it seems, is still more debt…
But even with that extra $10 billion, the city’s pensions will only be 50% funded.
Let me be clear… when you’ve got to take on debt for a chance of paying 50% of your pension obligations… you’re in default.
Rahm is pressuring the city to act quickly before interest rates increase more, which would make it more expensive for the city to finance its new debt.
So he’s essentially admitting the city couldn’t afford this new debt if rates increase 50 or 100 basis points. This is desperation.
OK… If interest states stay low, and Rahm can afford to issue these bonds, now we’ve only got to worry about future pension returns.
And Rahm says they can afford to issue the debt because the city’s pension funds have never seen an annualized return of lower than 8% for any 30-year period.
Most pension funds are grasping to that “magic” 8% number based on the past. But as we’ve written before, making those returns today is no easy feat. We’re at the tail end of 40 years of falling interest rates, which caused an insane bull market in stocks. It’s not likely the next 40 years will be as generous.
Already, at a market peak, pension funds are investing in riskier assets in hopes of achieving their break even returns.
If every single, little thing goes just perfect for the next 30 years, Chicago’s pensions may squeak by for awhile. What’s the likelihood of that happening? About zero.
Remember, a massive, 10-year bull market in stocks is nearing its end.
But desperate times call for desperate measures. And Rahm is out the door in May… so he won’t be around when the city has to default on its debt.
The federal government can still conjure money out of thin air. Cities and states don’t have that luxury. And like Chicago is doing today, we’ll see more of these tough decisions being made in the near future – the decision of who to default on.
There is one bright spot.
When discussing the bonds, Rahm did mention he supports legalizing marijuana and bringing casinos back to Chicago.
So if the pensions don’t work out, we’ve always got pot and gambling to restore our country to the glory days.
С Рождеством! Happy Orthodox Christmas: Spectacular Russian Christmas in Facts & Pics!
Happy Orthodox Christmas everyone! ❤
Russian Christmas is traditionally celebrated on January 7 and the Christmas Eve is January 6, due to the difference between the so-called ‘Gregorian’ vs. ‘Julian’ Calendars.
On January 13-14 Russians also love to celebrate ‘The Old New Year,’ a cute family and friends gathering tradition to commemorate the nostalgic ‘old calendar’ which was replaced with the Gregorian Calendar by Lenin in 1918. So, even though Russia lives by internationally accepted today Gregorian Calendar, Christmas continues being celebrated according to traditional Russian Church (Julian) calendar.
FORBIDDEN HISTORY & LINGUISTICS:
But did you know that that the supposedly ‘Latin’ word calendar is a lot more ancient than its Latinized version. Did you know that it’s actually a RUSSIAN word? It comes from two Russian word roots: kolo + dar. And you won’t believe how many other words in many different languages come from the same roots! What do these roots mean and how…
Forget Nuclear Weapons! Russian New Hyper-Sonic Missile is King! Putin’s Victory and MY NEW BIG REPORT!
I find it interesting that the US military industrial complex demand an ever increasing budget to finance “operations” like a mafia, yet they contribute very little to actual defense. Most weapons produced are conventional, to bomb and control other nations. The west is not worthy of higher dimensional energy “weapon” deterrents to maintain peace. The main reason why Russia had to create hyper-sonic weapons in the first place is to contain an out of control power hungry aggressive force.
Also noteworthy is throughout Russia’s history, never have they invaded another sovereign nation even when they attained nuclear and other powerful weapons. On the contrary, Russia formed a union to protect their slavic brothers from Western invasion.
Contrast this with the West… let’s see, non stop warmongering since civilization began in Europe! It’s a wonder the world has not been destroyed many times over if it wasn’t for the great balancer and peace keeper Russia!
Perfect example is Syrian war conflict happening right now, Trump sees the hypocrisy and wants to pull out. There is zero reason for the US to be there or anywhere in the Middle East creating chaos. Of course it’s all about energy, control and power. Oil happens to be the medium of energy to fight over.
As Lada has so astute pointed out, humans who proclaim to be “awakened” are puzzled why Free Energy sources are not available today even tho Nikola Tesla had revealed it nearly a century ago! Our collective consciousness is not high enough to even allow the possibility to manifest it, b/c greedy special interests want to keep it that way!
Besides, with free unlimited energy, lowly calibrated humans will use it to destroy the Earth. It had happened before as documented in the Bhagavad Gita, at least Russia retained that genetic Vedic memory of past events to prevent a repeat of the end of civilization as we know it.
Thanks again Lada for your profound work on Forbidden history and restoring ancient forgotten knowledge. This is shaping up to be a very interesting new year indeed.
THIS POST CONTAINS MY FREE BONUS REPORT, Q&A & COOL VIDEO!
Just yesterday, Sunday 1/6/19, I published this BONUS REPORT for all my Patreon followers, comparing the armed forces of Russia, US and Singapore from the multidimensional Earth Shift and Inverted Collapse perspectives.
This is the link to full report in question:
REVEALED: Why Western Armies Calibrate So Low vs. Russsian Army? (How My Higher-Dimensional Method Works + Period 8 Predictions)!
And here’s a telling free excerpt from this latest report:
**MAKING THIS BONUS REPORT AVAILABLE TO ALL PATRONS IN ALL TIERS. I THINK IT’S A VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL EARTH SHIFT PUZZLE TO UNDERSTAND! ENJOY & TELL ME IN COMMENTS WHAT YOU THINK!**
This is the continuation of the previous post QUANTUM CALIBRATIONS! SINGAPORE: Country, Leaders, Army, Finance, Economy, Levels of Solvency & Sovereignty! With Li Quan Yew & Other BONUSES!
Our member George, who resides…
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The Lamplighters
The Lamplighters Radio
Plays The Lamplighters along with similar artists like:
The Larks, Annie Laurie, Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm, Shirley Gu…
Art Neville
Richard Berry & The Pharaohs
Ella Johnson
The Dominoes
Billy Ward & The Dominoes
Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm
The Velvets
Stations With The Lamplighters
Little Junior's Blue Flames Radio
Plays Little Junior's Blue Flames along with similar artists like:
Willie Nix, Big Al Downing, Calvin Boze, Annisteen Allen, Ike Turner &…
The Dyna-Sores Radio
Plays The Dyna-Sores along with similar artists like:
Tic & Toc, The Dominoes, Stick McGhee, The Groovers, Billy "The…
The Swallows Radio
Plays The Swallows along with similar artists like:
Little Junior's Blue Flames, The Mystics, The Jesters, Shirley Gunter…
Annie Laurie Radio
Plays Annie Laurie along with similar artists like:
Annisteen Allen, Myra Taylor, Little Junior's Blue Flames, Billy &quo…
The Dominoes Radio
Plays The Dominoes along with similar artists like:
Mark Dinning, The Lamplighters, The Crescendos, The Jesters, Sammy Turner…
Billy Ward & The Dominoes Radio
Plays Billy Ward & The Dominoes along with similar artists like:
Robert & Johnny, The Dreamlovers (DooWop), Shirley Gunter & The Q…
Stick McGhee Radio
Plays Stick McGhee along with similar artists like:
Jackie Ross, Earl Bostic, Calvin Boze, Annisteen Allen, The Lamplighters…
Five Royales Radio
Plays Five Royales along with similar artists like:
The Larks, Derek Martin, Randy & The Rainbows, Garnet Mimms, Don &…
From The Lamplighters
i Used To Cry Mercy, Mercy
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Not everyone is proficient is all aspects of game making… But if you don't have a team to complement your skills, jams are a chance to try your hand at something new! Let's just figure out some accessible options.
Being bad at graphics
You don't know how to draw? No problem.
One option is to just deal with it, and make a game that doesn't require pretty art. Games like Thomas Was Alone and 140 were successful commercial games built with basic shapes of various colors. This is what we call developer art, and it's perfectly acceptable! West of Loathing, featuring stickmen is another example. Of course it may not get you 10/10 ratings in Graphics, but simple graphics can still be super fun. Even in 3D.
Another popular option is to go for pixel art. It can be super fast to make, and with some effort it's easy enough to make something presentable. Realm of the Mad God is an example of successful game that has pretty simple (one could even say average) pixel art. Look through a couple tutorials to understand the basics, and don't be afraid to borrow the style or choice of colors from references.
Finally, you can just grab third-party art and submit your entry in the Unranked division.
Check the Resources page for a list of graphics software you can use.
Being bad at sound & music
I have good news: there's several, super easy ways to include sounds effects in your games. Making music is more involved, but still doable!
Regarding sounds, the Resources page has multiple tools for you to try. Your first option is to go down the sound generation route, using the super-easy bfxr software and the likes to produce cool, often-arcadey effects. You could also record sounds yourself with Audacity, assuming you have a decent microphone. Finally, you could just grab existing sounds, which is allowed even in rated competitions, as long as the assets you use have a permissive license.
Now for music, if you don't have any experience but still want to start making music, you can look around the Resources page and give a try to software like Bosca Ceoil. If this is new for you, it will definitely take some time to get comfortable with the tool and not cringe at your music too much, but it's not that hard to get something acceptable for a jam game.
Alternately, you can just grab existing music submit your entry in the Unranked division. Or, you now, not have music, maybe even no sound at all, which is also acceptable.
Being bad at code
Without knowledge of code, there's still plenty of options nowadays for making games! An option is to use genre-specific engines (e.g. for text adventures or RPGs) which are just point-and-click interfaces that let you build your game. More recently, great general purpose engines that still don't require code have started appearing, letting you build any type of (usually 2D) game.
Check the Resources page for a wide range of engines to try, and find the one that suits you best. Discovering an engine during a jam can be frustrating, so it is probably best to at least do some tutorials before the event starts.
"I'm bad, I'm bad, really really bad" *
If you're just new to all aspects of game development, you still have no excuses! Engines like Twine (text adventures) and Scratch (2D) are literally accessible for everyone. You can even enter without making the art or sounds yourself, by choosing the Unranked division.
Depending on what you want to learn, the suggestions above are still valid for advice on each aspect of game making.
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