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Home UiO Faculty of Medicine
UiO UiO University of Oslo Faculty of Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo was established in 1814 and is Norway’s oldest medical school. The teaching and research at the Faculty ranges from basic biomedical subjects, via clinical subjects, to health subjects, and has a prominent international profile. The Faculty attaches importance to dissemination and innovation activities.
Key figures 2018
Institute of Health and Society
Institute of Basic Medical Studies
Institute of Clinical Medicine
Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway (NCMM)
Scientific publications 2429 488 369 1522 44
Professional study 1 1 1 1 –
Master’s programmes 9 7 1 1 –
Bachelor’s programmes 1 1 – – –
Registered students1 2189 830 560 741 –
Candidates on the PhD programme2 1470 229 172 1061 4
Completed doctorates 208 27 24 155 2
Academic full-time equivalents 783 175 217 313 38
Academic employees 1433 478 260 640 45
Technical full-time equivalents 161 4 63 75 14
Technical employees 195 5 74 97 16
Administrative full-time equivalents 247 44 33 77 9
Administrative employees 297 53 42 101 10
Finances – total income 1384 million 206 million 340 million 519 million 91 million
Proportion of the budget funded by external sources3 40 % 51 % 45 % 48 % 17 %
Active research projects throughout the year with external funding 762 170 219 322 38
1 The Faculty's professional study programme in medicine consists of 12 semesters and has a total of 1,286 students. The cited number of student for the institutes includes the institute’s share of the medical students and the number of students on bachelor's and master's programmes (a total of 866 at the Faculty). The number of students at the Faculty also includes 3 students on the research option, 51 visiting exchange students (37 on the professional study programme in medicine, 12 at the master's level and 2 at the bachelor's level) and 5 exchange students in clinical internships.
2 The number of candidates as per spring 2018 was reported to the Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH) on 15 October 2019.
3 There will be a change of principle from 2019, which means that the share of external income at NCMM will appear as a higher percentage.
Sources of the official facts and figures about the Faculty
Database for Statistics on Higher Education (DBH)
OF (Oracle Financial)
Student numbers are taken from DBH each autumn after they have been reported.
Published Oct. 3, 2017 5:21 PM - Last modified Nov. 12, 2019 1:41 PM
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Contact MMN
Media Monitors Network (MMN)
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Home Perspectives Note to Michael Jackson — Time to Grow Up, Chase Girls, etc.
Note to Michael Jackson — Time to Grow Up, Chase Girls, etc.
Stan Moore
Dear Michael Jackson:
We know that U.S. President George W. Bush says he did not "grow up" and recover from his youthful indiscretions until he was about forty years old. Of course, George’s youthful indiscretions did include some drug use and some irresponsibilities while serving in the military, a college "party boy" career, etc. But one way or another, George did change his circle of companions and assume a more adult-like role in the world.
Michael, we know that you had a queer life as a child. You were performing and singing and dancing and did not get to have a typical growing up period. So, it might be understandable that you wanted to enjoy some of the things you may have missed. But, Michael, you are headed towards age 50 now — surely you can move onto the next phase of your life.
You built an amusement park named "Neverland" where you could play like Peter Pan. Fine, now that you lived there for more years than the typical adolescence, surely you can move on. You got to sleep over with lots of young boys and without impure sexual desires. Taking you at your word about that, Michael, surely the time has passed for you to do that. You can chalk sleeping with boys off your life list of things you wanted to do, and move onto to other things.
Now that you are in your fifth decade of life –” maybe it is time you discover girls, better yet young women. Surely among your many fans are lots of attractive, sweet young women, say from age 25 up to 40 who you could sleep with and get over your loneliness. Of course, this would be totally non-sexual until you are ready to get married for real, perhaps by age 65.
Michael, we can plainly see that your development has been retarded by your unfortunate lifestyle, which gave you hundreds of millions of dollars but little else. But it is time to move on, make progress, expand your horizons, and become a more well-rounded human being.
In due time, you might want to get some fast cars, maybe get a college education, join the army for a few years, become a Mormon missionary, grow a beard — anything to move beyond living in an amusement park and sleeping with little boys. If it turns out that your are a homosexual, Michael, maybe you would want to move to Greenwich Village and become someone else’s little boy.
It is time to move on, Michael. Say bye bye to your teams of plastic surgeons. Say bye bye to your sleepover pals. Say bye bye to your California lifestyle, Micheal. Get yourself a Harley and hit the road and let the next phase of your life begin.
Good luck Michael!
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The writer is a member of several falconry and ornithological clubs and organizations. He contributed this article to Media Monitors Network (MMN) from California, USA.
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VYO
Smart-Home Management Robot
Vyo is a home robot, a personal assistant serving as a centralized interface to smart home devices. The interaction with the robot is a combination of several paradigms, including the use of physical icons (“phicons”), expressive physical gestures and screen feedback. The project is a collaboration with the Korean telecom company.
Role: Research Assistant / Interaction Designer
Responsibilities: Designing human-robot interactions, designing and executing evaluation studies, paper writing, team coordination, assembling robots.
Team Members: Dr. Guy Hoffman, Dr. Oren Zuckerman, Robert Aimi, Benny Megidish, Maayan Polack
We carried out several research studies that resulted in a microscope-like desktop device, with an expressive monocular rotating face and the use of physical objects to communicate with the robot.
The design process followed a multi-channel design approach in which a number of the robot’s interrelated characteristics and features were explored in parallel.
The first channel of exploration followed a user-center design approach of define target users and scenarios.
The next channel was exploration of the robot’s morphology. We did this using an iterative approach to explore how the robot would look like, and how will it move. This included pencil sketches, 3D animation, and high detailed 3D renders.
We came up with two final directions, one robot closer to the idea of a social robot, while the other strongly influenced by consumer electronics.
We created several wooden models in the spirit of “rapid prototyping”, for both development purpose and to explore the movement with physical limitations taken into consideration.
Nonverbal Behavior
The final stage was conducting a series of studies to evaluate the robot’s morphology and to explore its nonverbal behavior.
We started with human-human improvisations with professional actors, asking the actors to act out the robot (a butler) and the user (a tenant). We observed the embodied improvisations searching for patterns in body language and behavior.
Then, we conducted human-robot improvisations using a wooden puppet prototype.
After designing the robot’s morphology and nonverbal behavior using the three parallel channels, we conducted a user study to evaluate our design.
Participants were asked to evaluate the robot size and movement using a “Personality Meter” that measured 5 qualities we wanted the robot to express. The participants were asked to interact with the robot and where interviewed throughout the interaction.
Final Prototype
The interdisciplinary nature of the project resulted in several novel design outcomes that were integrated into the final prototype, creating a robot on the spectrum between a microscopic device and a social agent. The final prototype includes several interaction paradigms, such as expressive gestures, screen feedback and tangible icons as a means of communication with the robot. The robot also includes a rotating monocular facial expression system and a spinning turntable at the robot’s base.
These interaction paradigms are synchronized and coordinated to define the robot’s nonverbal behavior and symbolic output modalities, creating a coherent human-robot experience.
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Legally Yours, Political Law
Cayetano v. Monsod
micvillamayor / January 23, 2019 / 0 Comments
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Cayetano v. Monsod G.R. No. 100113 | September 3, 1991 FACTS: Respondent Christian Monsod was nominated by President Corazon C. Aquino to the position of Chairman of the COMELEC…
Judge Santos v. CA
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Judge Santos v. CA G.R. No. 139792 | Nov. 22, 2000 FACTS: Herein petitioner is a retired Judge of the MeTC of Quezon City receiving his retirement gratuity under…
Quimson v. Ozaeta
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Quimson v. Ozaeta 98 Phil. 705 | March 26, 1956 FACTS: The Rural Progress Administration (later referred to as Administration) is a public corporation created for the purpose of…
Intia v. COA
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Intia v. COA G.R. No. 131529 | Apr. 30, 1999 FACTS: On April 3, 1992, Republic Act No. 7354, otherwise known as “The Postal Service Act of 1992,” was enacted and…
Bangalisan v. CA
Political Law. Labor Law. Constitutional Commissions. Rights of Workers. Bangalisan v. CA G.R. No. 124678 | July 31, 1997 FACTS: Petitioners, were among the 800 public school teachers who staged “mass actions” on…
Social Security System Employees Association (SSSEA) v. CA
Political Law. Labor Law. Constitutional Commissions. Rights of Workers. SSSEA v. CA July 28, 1989 | G.R. No. 85279 FACTS: The SSS failed to act on the demands of SSEA, such as: payment…
Cailles v. Bonifacio
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Cailles v. Bonifacio February 25, 1938 | G.R. No. L-45937 FACTS: The respondent filed his certificate of candidacy for the election of the provincial governor of Laguna, however, at…
Santos v. Yatco
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Santos v. Yatco L-16133 | November 6, 1959 FACTS: Judge Yatco issued an order disallowing the Secretary of National Defense from conducting a house-to-house campaign on behalf of Governor…
Palma-Fernandez v. De La Paz
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. Palma-Fernandez v. De La Paz April 15, 1988 | G.R. No.78946 FACTS: The petitioner, a career physician, occupied the position of Medical Specialist II in East Avenue Medical Center.…
De La Llana v. Alba
Political Law. Constitutional Commissions. De La Llana v. Alba March 12, 1982 |G.R. No. L-57883 FACTS: Batasang Pambansa Blg. 129 entitled, “An act reorganizing the Judiciary, Appropriating Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes” was…
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you are here: HomeNewsBusinessStartup
Last Updated : Oct 25, 2019 05:22 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Looking for next unicorn, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt keen on Indian startups
Schmidt has met entrepreneurs in Delhi and Bengaluru and has shown interest in startups with global potential and those backed by the government
Priyanka Sahay @priyankasahay
Former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt, also the founding partner of venture capital fund Innovation Endeavors, is in India in search of future unicorns.
According to sources, the 64-year-old Schmidt has met several entrepreneurs in the national capital Delhi as well as at the tech hub of Bengaluru in the last couple of days.
He has shown keen interest in technology firms targeting global audiences and also the ones backed by the government. "He wanted to understand India’s startup ecosystem and was particularly interested in government-supported startups," said an entrepreneur, who attended one of the interactions but requested anonymity as the meetings were private.
Among the wealthiest persons in the world, Schmidt, whose net worth was estimated to be around $14 billion by Forbes earlier this year, is busy investing in startups in his individual capacity as well as through his venture capital fund.
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Innovation Endeavors invests in transformational technologies and emergent ecosystems, the fund website says. It counts some of the most valued technology companies, including ride-hailing firm Uber and personal finance firm Sofi, as its portfolio companies.
The Delhi meeting was attended by around six startups and some high-net worth individuals. The gathering in Bengaluru was a mix of more than a dozen entrepreneurs and venture capital fund managers.
"His level of curiosity was amazing. He was keen to look at deep-tech companies and at the same time wanted to understand how these models could be accepted globally," said the person quoted above.
While there were no one-on-one meetings, Schmidt addressed the entrepreneurs in groups and then spent five to 10 minutes to understand everyone's business models.
He is also learnt to have asked the entrepreneurs to suggest ways in which companies such as Google could help them.
"He was super supportive of startups and asked what it will take to build an even better ecosystem. He also inquired about what Google can do better in India and for startups," said another person involved in these meetings.
Even though one of the entrepreneurs, Gaurav Munjal, co-founder of Steadview Capital-backed edu-tech startup Unacademy, tweeted about the Bengaluru meeting as insightful, he declined to comment when approached by Moneycontrol.
Schmidt is learnt to be in India as part of a US delegation. According to ANI, Schmidt said he would love to see India- build applications being used in his country.
Schmidt was brought to Google by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2001 and was given the role of the chief executive officer (CEO). He exited the position a decade later and was made Google's chief executive chairman. He left the board of Alphabet, the parent firm of Google in April 2019, but remains a technical adviser.
Get access to India's fastest growing financial subscriptions service Moneycontrol Pro for as little as Rs 599 for first year. Use the code "GETPRO". Moneycontrol Pro offers you all the information you need for wealth creation including actionable investment ideas, independent research and insights & analysis For more information, check out the Moneycontrol website or mobile app.
First Published on Oct 25, 2019 05:22 pm
tags #Eric Schmidt #Google #Startup
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Priyanka Sahay
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1-844-MOB-MOB4 (1-844-662-6624)
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At Money on Books, we recognize that the strength and resilience of our young people is best measured through their growing belief in the possibilities of their own promise.
Group home boys who have an incarcerated parent may experience financial hardship that result from the loss of that parent’s income. Further, some incarcerated parents face termination of parental rights because their group home boys have been in the foster care system beyond the time allowed by law.
R-Resilient Group Homes
Money on Books supports R-resilient Group Homes, a non-profit organization, which is a residential substance abuse treatment facility for boys that offers vocational training in the electrical, electronics, and electrician’s industries. R-resilient Group Homes provides for the needs of at risk, abused, and delinquent boys, between the ages of 13 and 17. Our primary focus is drug and alcohol abuse, mental health, and behavioral modification. In addition, we inspire these youth by providing them with the tools and equipment needed in their pursuit of sobriety and career.
Money on Books supports R-resilient Group Homes, a non-profit organization, which is a residential substance abuse treatment facility for boys that offers vocational training in the electrical, electronics, and electrician’s industries.
We believe that community support is vital to the emotional recovery of our youths. Our community support frequently comes through local churches and support clubs, all of which assist with treatment needs and equipment provisions not covered by governmental agencies.
Our structured and nurturing homes are located throughout Riverside, California. Our newly remolded spacious three and four bedroom facilities will be licensed by the State of California, Department of Social Supports/ Community Care Licensing.
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Elizabeth Collett
Home » About MPI » Staff
MPI Authors
Elizabeth Collett was the Founding Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe and Senior Advisor to MPI's Transatlantic Council on Migration, leaving to join the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Her work focused in particular on European migration and immigrant integration policy.
Prior to joining MPI, Ms. Collett was a Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank, and was responsible for its migration program, which covered all aspects of European migration and integration policy. She has also worked in IOM's Migration Research and Policy Department in Geneva and for the Institute for the Study of International Migration in Washington, DC. She also served as a Research Associate at the Centre for Migration Policy and Society, Oxford University (2011-13), and consulted for numerous governmental ministries and nongovernmental organizations, including foundations, nonprofits, and UN agencies.
She is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). She is also a member of the Dahrendorf Committee, which advises the Dahrendorf Forum, a joint initiative between the Hertie School of Governance and the London School of Economics and Political Science that encourages constructive reflection on the mid- to long-term strategic challenges facing Europe.
Ms. Collett holds a master's degree in foreign service (with distinction) from Georgetown University, where she specialized in foreign policy and earned a certificate in refugee and humanitarian studies, and a bachelor's degree in law from Oxford University.
Bio Page Tabs
After the Storm: Learning from the EU Response to the Migration Crisis
By Elizabeth Collett and Camille Le Coz
EU Migration Partnerships: A Work in Progress
By Elizabeth Collett and Aliyyah Ahad
All at Sea: The Policy Challenges of Rescue, Interception, and Long-Term Response to Maritime Migration
By Kathleen Newland, Elizabeth Collett, Kate Hooper, and Sarah Flamm
No Way Out? Making Additional Migration Channels Work for Refugees
By Elizabeth Collett, Paul Clewett, and Susan Fratzke
Into the Mainstream: Rethinking Public Services for Diverse and Mobile Populations
By Meghan Benton, Helen McCarthy, and Elizabeth Collett
The Development of EU Policy on Immigration and Asylum: Rethinking Coordination and Leadership
By Elizabeth Collett
The City Brand: Champion of Immigrant Integration or Empty Marketing Tool?
Future EU Policy Development on Immigration and Asylum: Understanding the Challenge
Big Business of Smuggling Enables Mass Movement of People for Enormous Profits
Faced with a flexible, diverse, and seemingly ubiquitous smuggling industry, governments have struggled to respond. Smuggling and trafficking networks, while hardly new phenomena, were put under a harsh spotlight in 2015 for their role as intermediaries in shaping the scale and flow of migrants and asylum seekers around the world.
Refugee Crisis Deepens Political Polarization in the West
As seemingly endless waves of asylum seekers and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, politicians from across the political spectrum invoked forceful anti-immigrant rhetoric that resonated in some quarters. Mainstream politicians began co-opting the tougher, more enforcement-laden language of far-right groups as all parties sought to reassure voters in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris.
Is Europe Faltering in Addressing its Multiple Migration Challenges?
A number of interlocking concerns have emerged in recent months regarding the rights of mobile EU citizens, fueled in part by euroskeptic parties (such as the UK Independence Party), and more hard-line anti-immigration parties such as the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands.
Questions of Immigration Control Preoccupy Policymakers Worldwide as Mixed Flows of New Arrivals Continue, and in Some Cases, Surge
This year has seen greater focus by policymakers in countries around the world on the balance between two enduring, complex migration management imperatives: maintaining secure and credible borders while separating out unauthorized immigrants from the most vulnerable populations in need of humanitarian protection, particularly those seeking refuge from conflict and persecution.
Faltering Movement: Explaining Europe's Schengen Struggle
Europe's Schengen agreement eliminated border controls between 25 countries for over 400 million people. Schengen cooperation has come under intense pressure of late, however, and EU Member States are currently considering whether the rules under which it operates ought to be adjusted. Elizabeth Collett provides background and explains what the current debate means for the future of Schengen.
The European Union's Stockholm Program: Less Ambition on Immigration and Asylum, But More Detailed Plans
In its newest five-year "roadmap" for justice and home affairs policy, the European Union has made migration a priority area. But while the Stockholm program offers plenty of detail on issues like illegal migration and asylum, it offers few specifics as to the final goal. MPI's Elizabeth Collett analyzes the program's action points and looks at challenges facing its implementation.
The Proposed European Blue Card System: Arming for the Global War for Talent?
The European Union's recent proposal aims to attract highly skilled migrants by granting them access to all EU labor markets—but with some important limitations. Elizabeth Collett of the European Policy Centre explains the basics of the Blue Card proposal, the questions it raises, and national-level reactions.
Assessing the Tsunami's Effects on Migration
Asia’s tsunami will have an enduring impact on diaspora groups and immigration policy, write Frank Laczko and Elizabeth Collett of the IOM.
Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again
By Elizabeth Collett and Susan Fratzke
Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis
Borderline Irrelevant: Why Reforming the Dublin Regulation Misses the Point
A Game of Chess, Not Tennis: Unraveling the Rights and Status of “Brexpats”
By Elizabeth Collett and Meghan Benton
New EU Partnerships in North Africa: Potential to Backfire?
The Paradox of the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal
The Asylum Crisis in Europe: Designed Dysfunction
The EU’s Strategic Guidelines on Migration: Uncontentious Consensus, But Missed Opportunity
An EU Commissioner for Migration? The Devil is in the Details
Valuing Citizenship: A Commodity or an Identity?
Building the Foundations for Inclusion: What Does the Future Hold for Immigrant Integration in Europe?
This meeting highlighted lessons from MPI Europe’s flagship Integration Futures initiative, which seeks to develop creative and strategic approaches to addressing today’s most difficult and pressing integration challenges—and to better plan for those around the corner.
Video, Audio
Migration in Europe: What Trends to Watch in 2018?
Is 2018 the year that the European Union takes leadership on migration on the international stage, or where it focuses inwards on healing internal divisions and delivering on overdue migration and asylum system reforms? This webinar looks ahead at the major external and internal events affecting migration on the continent over the next year.
The State of the World on Migration – Vitorino & Papademetriou Discuss Challenges, Opportunities Ahead
This MPI Europe discussion brings together two of the most experienced thinkers on migration policy— António Vitorino and Demetrios G. Papademetriou—to explore what will be needed over the next years to ensure that the properly managed movement of people remains an integral, positive force in the world.
Social Innovation for Refugee Inclusion: Maintaining Momentum and Creating Lasting Change
Following the arrival of large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers in Europe from 2015 onwards, many nontraditional actors—from tech start-ups to social enterprises—pioneered solutions to foster the social and economic inclusion of newcomers.
Life Beyond Brexit: How Are Negotiations Faring Over Rights for UK Citizens in the European Union?
As the European Council gears up to move onto the next phase of Brexit negotiations, this MPI Europe webinar features findings from an MPI Europe report that offers a demographic profile of the approximately 1 million UK citizens living in the European Union and examines the ways in which many are likely to see their futures significantly reshaped after Brexit. The discussion takes stock of citizens' rights, reflects on what may happen next, and considers the prospects for Britons abroad both in a situation of ‘no deal’ and if there is an ultimate agreement.
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As maritime arrivals climbed in 2015, EU policymakers struggled to mount a coordinated response. A range of ad hoc crisis-response tools emerged, but many officials worry that if another migration emergency were to hit Europe, the European Union may still be unprepared. This report traces the evolution of the EU response to the 2015–16 crisis and lays out recommendations to lock in progress and shore up weaknesses.
European leaders have settled on a recurring proposition to address the ongoing political crisis on migration: the creation of asylum processing centers beyond EU borders. The plans championed by various EU leaders are diverse, the details fuzzy. What they have in common is a near-universal focus on shifting responsibility for dealing with refugees and migrants upstream, as this commentary examines.
The EU-Turkey deal has been credited with helping to end the migration crisis of 2015-16, and after two years in force it has fostered a myth that such deals are cure-alls. They are not, as this MPI Europe commentary explores. Recent EU responses place great emphasis on transit routes to Europe. But what if the next major event is a different kind of shock altogether?
Video, Audio, Webinars
European policymakers are fixated on reform of the Dublin Regulation, the contentious rules that carve up responsibility for asylum claims between EU states. They see it not only as a long-term prophylactic against future fluctuations in irregular migration, but as a marker of the success or failure of solidarity in Europe overall. Yet rather than doggedly working to salvage Dublin, policymakers need to stop and consider why they regard it as so integral to European cooperation, as this commentary explores.
Following the arrival of large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers in Europe from 2015 onwards, many nontraditional actors—from tech start-ups to social enterprises—pioneered solutions to foster the social and economic inclusion of newcomers. This conference reflects on how innovations for refugee inclusion can grow beyond pockets of good practice and inspire large-scale, long-term change.
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MoboReader> Romance > The Spoiled Girl
Chapter 250 Are You Going to Flee
The Spoiled Girl By Lan Ke Ke Characters: 8556
"Mark..." Tina's eyelids fluttered open. It was like waking up from a dream, and the frenzy of rage that was in her face was no longer there. Suddenly, every thought came back to her in high definition and heart throbbed with horror. "I...I killed them..." she murmured, the shock partially paralyzing her.
Although Tina had a reputation of being ruthless and merciless, she had never killed another human being before. For a moment, fear claimed her, and she lost herself within its embrace.
Fear engulfed her conscience, knocking all other thoughts aside. Hesitantly, Tina's eyes fixated on the dead corpses before her. The people she killed... were her biological parents... 'No! They are Emily's parents! Not mine!' Tina cried in her heart, desperately trying to fight off the guilt.
Tina abruptly dropped the gun to the ground. The color on her face disappeared, leaving behind a deathlike pallor. "I'm glad that you're dead. I can finally be at peace, now that you're gone..." she muttered under her breath.
But then why did she feel like she was suffocating?
Mr. and Mrs. Bai lay on the ground with eyes wide open staring at Tina closely.
Tina felt as if her heart was being squeezed tightly by a big hand and suffocating her from the inside. She cried out, "Do not look at me! Do you hear me?! I'm not afraid of you!"
"It's okay, Tina. They are dead..." said Mark. He stood in front of Tina to block her view of Mr. and Mrs. Bai. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" he asked.
Tina jumped into his warm embrace, looking for shelter in his arms, like she used to do as a child, every time she would get into trouble. "M...Mark, Mark....I killed them... I killed them with my own hands..." she mumbled indistinctly, lips trembling like dry leaf.
Tina hated Mr. and Mrs. Bai, just as much as she hated Emily. Her hatred for them had increased tenfold ever since she found out that they were her biological parents.
Tina had been wishing for their deaths like a vulture, ever since they revealed her true birth identity to the world, bringing her shame and lowering her social status in front of Emily.
But she never thought that she would end up killing them!
Consumed by her hatred and anger, Tina lost control of her emotions and shot them dead!
"Do you know that those who humiliate their parents will suffer from an eternity of damnation?" Andrew's angry words haunted Tina's mind, and for the first time in her life she felt frightened by a premonition of imminent disaster.
Would she suffer from eternal damnation f
“Let's go and register our marriage on your birthday!”
Marrying Daniel should have been her best birthday gift, but everything was ruined the moment when she caught him sleeping with another woman on the day before her birthday.
“He’s going to marry that woman! She... was my best friend!"
n. Anxiety turned into panic, and soon the world was slowly disappearing in front of her. She forced herself to believe that none of it was real. "That's impossible. I saw them just yesterday. You must be kidding, right?" she asked, in denial.
Neither of the policemen answered her, as they took Emily upstairs.
Slowly, Emily's brain picked up her feet in an unbalanced gait, carelessly dropping the lead weights to the ground with each harrowing step. Her mind wanted to run fast, but her body refused to cooperate.
Emily was in denial. She didn't want to entertain even the slightest chance, that the policeman was telling the truth and that her parents were dead.
When Emily stood at her doorstep, she didn't need to go in and take a closer look as she could see the two bodies lying on a pool of blood.
"Bam"— Reality had hit Emily like a freight train.
Shock choked the breath from her lungs and left her body dry heaving. The sight of the two bodies covered with white cloth, devastated her. A scream dragged up her throat but it emerged as a groan. Salty tears spilled over onto her cheeks leaving a tight, dry feeling.
"Dad, mom, it can't be you, right?" Emily asked herself, under her breath. Emily held on to that one tiny shred of hope in her heart.
Just as long as she did not see their faces, she could still lie to herself.
Unfortunately, hope was the last thing to die, as the forensic scientist unveiled the white cloth and asked, "Miss Emily, are they your foster parents?"
Emily's world disappeared into darkness, as soon as she laid her eyes on their familiar, pale faces. Fear curled up inside her and clung to her ribs, settling uncomfortably in her chest.
Similar Romance Ebooks to The Spoiled Girl
My Mr. Soldier
Love Crisis
The Enchanted Night
Unbreak My Heart
Waiting For a Girl Like You
The Best Friend's Contract
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Difference between revisions of "Homosexuality"
Karenrosetrif (talk | contribs)
Richman9 (talk | contribs)
The terms gay (referring to men) and lesbian (referring to women) refer not only to personal feelings and behaviors, but they also describe a political, cultural, and social identity.
<videoflash>Ym0jXg-hKCI&rel=0</videoflash>
For a more completed discussion of homosexuality, see [[Same-sex attraction]].
For more information, see [[Same-sex attraction]].
*[http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=3e05c8322e1b3110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD Gay Mormons]
Homosexuality refers to the condition that includes same-sex attractions, feelings, desires, sexual behavior, identity, and all its associated aspects, such as issues with masculinity, self-perception, emotional dependencies, and relationships.
Some people prefer to use the terms same-sex attraction (SSA) or same-gender attraction (SGA) to avoid the clinical and psychiatric misunderstandings that may come by using the term homosexuality. A person who experiences same-sex attraction or same-gender attraction may experience
Intense attractions (which may or may not be sexual or erotic) without sexual behavior or
Complete emotional and sexual involvement.
The term "homosexual" is a clinical term that may be offensive when used as a noun to identify individuals who are trying to overcome same-sex attraction as well as those who embrace a gay identity. The former typically prefer the terms same-sex attraction or same-gender attraction and the latter prefer the terms gay (referring to men) and lesbian (referring to women). Homosexual may appropriately be used as an adjective, such as homosexual behavior.
For a more completed discussion of homosexuality, see Same-sex attraction.
Gay Mormons
Mormons with same-sex attraction
Retrieved from "https://www.mormonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Homosexuality&oldid=41046"
Gender and Cultural Issues
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Posted on October 30, 2015 by morrowcountysentinel
Highland football earns share of Blue Division title with win over Mount Gilead
Sports, Top Stories
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel Highland’s Andrew Stillwell was one of many running backs who powered the Scots to a 27-19 road win over Mount Gilead.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel Anthony Clark heads upfield after finding a hole in Mount Gilead’s game against Highland Friday.
MCSSports@civitasmedia.com
Some big special teams plays proved to be the decisive factor in Highland’s 27-19 win at Mount Gilead Friday night, which netted the Scots a share of the Blue Division crown.
The Scots, who got two field goals from Satchel Denton and a kick return touchdown from Alex Wright, finished 6-1 in the league (6-4 overall), which tied them with Fredericktown. Highland, who beat the Freddies 49-14 when those teams met earlier in the season, earned their first Blue Division crown and first Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference title since 2007, when they won the Red Division.
“This is a special group of kids,” said head coach Chad Carpenter. “The seniors really worked hard to put us in position. It’s special — just one of those things I want to enjoy.”
The third quarter proved to be pivotal for the Scots, as they were able to get a huge play just when it looked like the momentum had swung MG’s way. Leading 14-13 at the half, Highland returned the kickoff to midfield and advanced all the way to the Indian three on runs by Jared Limings and Dakota Bunting. However, a holding call pushed them back to the 14 and they eventually had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Denton to take a four-point lead.
After it looked like the Scots would then get a three-and-out, the Indians fooled them with a fake punt which Deondre Cook took for a 36-yard gain to the Scot 39. Cook would then connect with Mason Mollohan for 10 yards and a personal foul against Highland moved the ball to the 14. A holding call negated a touchdown pass from Cook to Tyler Bland, but on the next play, Cook hit Alex Ferguson for a 37-yard touchdown to put the Indians in front 19-17.
“We had some kids hurt and in new positions,” said MG coach Jason Ross, whose team finished 4-6, 3-4 in conference play. “I’m proud of them and their ability to adjust. Alex Ferguson made some good plays for us and he hadn’t played much on offense this year.”
That lead would only stand for 17 seconds, though, as Wright took the ensuing kickoff 78 yards for six points. Denton added the extra point to give the Scots a 24-19 advantage. Carpenter noted that his team showed a lot of resilience on their way to closing their season with a win, especially as they were playing without starting quarterback Max Schreiber, which altered their offensive gameplan.
“We overcame a lot of obstacles,” he said. “The kids kept fighting and, across the board, we made enough plays to win it.”
Highland would add a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to take a 27-19 lead. After both teams traded punts, MG had one final shot to potentially send the game to overtime. After recovering a punt on their 46-yard line, Cook ran for three yards and then hit Bland for 14 down to the Scot 39. He then completed passes to Ferguson for 15, Bland for 10 and Jonah Barnett for two more to get to the 12.
A sack pushed the Indians back to the 24. On the next play, the senior quarterback seemingly hit Bland for a touchdown, but the officials ruled that the ball hit the ground. A final attempt sailed long to ensure victory for the Scots.
“They’re a good team,” said Ross of the Scots. “I couldn’t be prouder of our guys. They battled until the very end. Highland played and coached a great game. It was a game of momentum swings. They kind of got the last one, but our kids played their rear ends off.”
MG opened the game with a very impressive drive, going 80 yards in 12 plays and taking 7:25 off the clock. While Cook hit Ferguson for a big 32-yard catch on fourth-and-14 from the Scot 36, most of the work happened on the ground. Cook had a 22-yard run, while Barnett carried the ball the final eight yards. Jacob Robinson’s extra point staked the Indians to an early 7-0 lead.
However, the Scots wouldn’t waste any time responding, getting a 29-yard run from Andrew Stillwell to move to the Indian 34. Two plays later, Wright ran for a 29-yard score and Denton added the point after to tie the game.
The Scots would take their first lead in the second quarter. Taking the ball on their 47 at the 7:08 mark, Highland went the distance in eight plays, all on the ground. Limings took a handoff for 15 yards for the biggest play of the drive and Wright finished it off with a nine-yard touchdown.
Trailing 14-7, MG responded. Bland took the kick to the Scot 48 and Cook immediately ran for 12 yards. However, the team then went backwards and was forced to punt on a fourth-and-25. The Scots roughed the kicker on that play, though, to give the Indians a new lease on life. Cook would then hit Ferguson for 26 yards and Anthony Clark eventually scored on a three-yard run. The PAT was blocked, keeping the Indians behind going into the half by one point.
“We played a very tough game,” said Carpenter. “Hats off to Mount Gilead; they gave us everything we could handle and it went down to the end.”
After watching the game and his team’s season end, Ross noted that the future is bright for the Indians, in no small part due to the foundation his seniors set.
“We’ve got some good classes coming up, in talent as well as work ethic,” he said. “I told the seniors they laid a good foundation to build off of.”
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/10/web1_andrewstillwell2.jpgRob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel Highland’s Andrew Stillwell was one of many running backs who powered the Scots to a 27-19 road win over Mount Gilead.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2015/10/web1_anthonyclark2.jpgRob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel Anthony Clark heads upfield after finding a hole in Mount Gilead’s game against Highland Friday.
Hi! A visitor to our site felt the following article might be of interest to you: Highland football earns share of Blue Division title with win over Mount Gilead. Here is a link to that story: https://www.morrowcountysentinel.com/sports/5067/highland-football-earns-share-of-blue-division-title-with-win-over-mount-gilead
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WEC / Breaking news
WEC makes tyre change rules U-turn for 2019/20
Gary Watkins
Nov 29, 2018, 10:54 AM
Teams will not be allowed to change tyres at the same time as refuelling after a rules U-turn for the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
The regulation preventing work on the cars taking place while fuel is going in, which dates back to the 1994 Le Mans 24 Hours, was done away with for this season in an attempt to make pitstops faster and more dramatic.
But the rule change will be reversed for the 2019/20 season in order for pitstops to play a more strategic role in the races.
The move was agreed by the FIA Endurance Commission earlier this month and is due to be signed off by the governing body's World Motor Sport Council at the beginning of December.
The WEC has yet to talk openly about the move ahead of its sign-off, but series officials have conceded that what is now being billed as an experiment for 2018/19 has stifled strategy.
This was because a set of tyres could be changed in the time in took for a car to be refuelled, which is strictly controlled by the regulations.
Teams appear to support the move, because it means that the crew on each car will be able to make a difference by changing tyres faster than their rivals.
Ford team principal George Howard-Chappell told Motorsport.com: "This will let the teams compete again in the pits; the mechanics doing the pitstops will be in the competition.
"It means that their efforts could allow us to jump the car in front, which has to be good. Now it's just about how long it takes for the fuel to go in, because everyone can change all four wheels in that time."
#66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT: Stefan Mucke, Olivier Pla
Photo by: JEP / LAT Images
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Series WEC
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Join prime To view in hi-res
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MBE Winter 2020
Sleeps and Eats
MountBakerExperience.com
Home MBE Articles Adventure Wild Dreams: Climbing, community and accomplishment on a Mount Erie first ascent
MBE Articles
MBE Summer 2016
Wild Dreams: Climbing, community and accomplishment on a Mount Erie first ascent
Story and photo by Mallorie Estenson
Chris Weidner at the crux moves on Wild Dreams, Mount Erie. Mallorie Estenson photo
Looking out at the Cascade Mountains to the east, the Olympics to the west, dense green forest below and blue skies above, Chris Weidner chalked his hands at the base of a climb in a landscape rich with memories.
On Friday, July 3, 2015, Weidner made his mark in Mount Erie history when he made the first free ascent of Wild Dreams, 5.13a, one of the hardest established climbing routes on the rocky dome south of Anacortes. In other words, Weidner climbed an extremely technical route without any falls.
The route begins on a tiny ledge 100 feet off the ground in what Weidner calls a “magnificent position” just beneath Erie’s summit. It was a hot day, but the climb was shaded and a cool breeze allowed his attention to focus exclusively to the challenging moves ahead. He had spent the previous afternoon examining the rock, determining the precise sequence of feet and finger placements needed to execute the climb. The night before, he visualized each of the moves between the belay at the bottom of the route to the safety of the anchor at the top.
Taking in the surroundings, Weidner’s mind flooded with memories. “I’ve had special moments everywhere I can see,” he said. “I just feel lucky to be able to travel up here to spend enough time to see the best views of any climbing cliff I’ve ever been to.”
In future editions of the Mount Erie guidebook, Wild Dreams’ description will likely bear a customary nod to the person to seize the first ascent. It won’t be the first time Weidner’s name appears in the guide.
On the first page after the table of contents is an essay titled “Dallas Kloke: My Mentor, My Rock,” which Weidner wrote. Kloke died in September 2010, at the age of 71, when a loose rock dislodged on The Pleiades in the North Cascades, and caused him to fall. He first set foot on Mount Erie in 1961 and spent countless hours at the mountain running, hiking and establishing new climbs.
Weidner was 17 when he met Kloke, who has had a lasting impact on him. Kloke was known for keeping meticulous records of his climbs; Weidner knows that he has climbed exactly 347 routes rated 5.13a or harder. At 52, Kloke needed a younger partner who could keep up with his brisk pace in the mountains; 40-year-old Weidner guides groups of teens up Mount Baker.
“Ultimately, what matters most to me about climbing is the relationships you build with your partners.”
Kloke wrote a handful of guidebooks for climbing Mount Erie, the most recent of which he published in 2005. A 2013 edition bears a note from Kloke: “Erie doesn’t have the best rock or longest routes, or a high level of difficulty; but it’s unique. The scenery is beautiful and most of the time you have to do some hiking and scrambling to get around. I hope you enjoy your climbing on Erie.”
Following his first ascent and reflecting on his climbing career, Weidner said, “Ultimately, what matters most to me about climbing is the relationships you build with your partners.”
He and Kloke built their relationship on the summits of more than 80 mountains, from British Columbia to Colorado. Weidner likens Kloke and his love of Mount Erie to the hub of a wheel of which he and his partner, Jim Thompson, among other climbers, are spokes.
Thompson belayed Weidner on his first ascent and helped author the 2013 edition of the Mount Erie guidebook, “Rockin’ on the Rock.”
“I’m glad he sent it,” Thompson said, which is climber-speak for climbing a route without a fall. “Several people have looked at it and tried. Hard climbers just don’t come to Erie; that’s just the truth.”
Besides the exceptional challenge of the route considering the average difficulty of most of the routes at Mount Erie, Weidner perceived a unique community dedicated to the area.
“It’s neat to be able to do a first free ascent where there just aren’t that many really hard established climbs,” Weidner said. “I just needed to be invited by Jim to give it a try.” x
Mallorie Estenson is a climber, writer and photographer based in Bellingham. She lives her life on the cusp of being considered a dirtbag, and likes it that way.
Mallorie Estenson
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Staff - Help - Contact Search:
alphabetically filtered reports:
buy this title
US DVD-Box including Extended Versions
Dr. Cyclops
Inside Moves
1.11 The One with Mrs. Bing
TV Version
Release: Mar 29, 2013 - Author: Muck47 - Translator: Mr Miau - external link: IMDB - more from this series
Comparison between the TV-Version (taken from the Blu-ray) and the Extended Version (taken from the British DVD)
- 14 alterations, 6 of those including alternative footage
- Difference in running time: 85.6 sec
Almost every episode of this sitcom classic was released in an extended version on the US DVDs. For TV some cuts were done in order to trim the episodes to the usual format, however, some censoring can be found as well. In Great Britain, only the TV versions were released on DVD at first yet the newer "15th Anniversary Edition" contains the extended episodes as well and was used as a comparison here.
The new Blu-ray release is identical all around the world and contains – only the TV Versions, the extensions can also not be found in the bonus material. People interested in buying the series now have to decide: Longer episodes or better picture quality? The latter is really great on Blu-ray, rescanning of the original 35mm tape led to a brilliant picture and it is now also in the 16:9 format with more information on the side of the picture. On the other hand, about 2 minutes are missing per episode.
Episode 1x11 ("The One With Mrs. Bing") is about 1,5 minutes longer. Besides some minor shortenings, a few good gags were removed in the TV version as well. Chandler's mother makes a few more sexual allusions in more than one scene (despite the sexual content, this is probably not due to censorship) amd the introduction to her final chat with Chandler is longer as well. The added comments about Rachel's spelling mistake in her erotic novel are worth watching, too.
As is the case quite often, there is also one part which seems to have been visually enhanced for the HD version.
Alternative Footage
The part after the intro starts differently.
TV Version: Exterior shot of the hospital, Monica can be heard asking "Why did I 'Woo-hoo'?"
Extended Version: A first interior shot (zooming out from the ECG) with a little more dialog.
Phoebe: "It's all my fault."
Monica: "No, it's mine. And why did I 'Woo-hoo'?
Extended Version 2,3 sec longer
The guessing about the patient continues a bit longer. Already two seconds before this visible difference, an alternative comment from the off can be heard, which is also included here.
In the TV Version, Monica says: "Look at his face. I mean, even sleeping he looks smart. I bet he's a lawyer."
In the Extended Version, Phoebe first comments on the fact that his name is unknown:
"I know. I hate that they are calling him John Doe. How sad! It's like he's a deer, a female deer..."
Monica looks at her a bit angry and Phoebe adds: "Oh, I was going to stop."
Monica can be seen in a different shot than in the TV Version: "Look at that face. I mean, even sleeping, he looks smart."
A bit earlier in the apartment. Ross is confused: "I don’t get it. You guys don’t even know this guy."
The chat about the book Chandler's mom wrote continues.
Monica: "Oh, I remember page 79! Yow!"
Joey: "Oh yeah, the thing after the opera with the girl with the trick hip. Huh?"
Chandler looks at him angrily and he stops talking.
9,8 sec
Later. The group is still sitting in front of the TV, Chandler's mother adds another ambiguous comment.
Mrs. Bing (Nora): "Needless to say, he got a huge tip..."
Rachel: "Oh my god, I love her!"
Chandler: "I think I’m having a stroke."
12,3 sec
Ther TV Version shows only a cut to Chandler being embarassed, when his mother sits down next to him.
In the Extended Version, Nora briefly continues to talk to Ross.
Nora: "I heard about the divorce. Lesbian, huh?"
Ross: "Yeah."
Nora, to everyone: "Well, you know what they say: Be careful what you wish for."
Cut to the grinning girls (and the confused Joey).
Extended Version 11,3 sec longer
An alternative take was used when Ross puts down his glass. In the Extended Version, he says "Umm, I’m going to go to tinker town."
TV Version Extended Version
Nora continues to tell Ross that he is attractive: "Yes, you are. And the fact that you don't think you are makes you even sexier."
The EV features a fade over, whereas the TV Version fades to black and then a bit earlier to the following city shot.
+ 1,3 sec
The TV Version fades out quite fast after the shot of Monica and shows an exterior shot of the hospital afterwards, there is a continuous pan upwards.
The EV shows a rather static shot of the hospital instead, there is only a short pan upwards immediately after the fade over from the shot of Monica.
no difference in running time
TV Version (Blu-ray) Extended Version
The scene in Chandler's room starts ealier, his mother comes in first.
In the TV Version, her statement that she just wants to drop off the books for Chandler's friends can be heard from the off during the exterior shot before. There is only a close-up at the beginning in which she asks "Anything you want from Lisbon?"
In the Extended Version, the scene takes up a lot more time and Nora talks longer and onscreen. The parts in brackets are those that can also be heard in the TV Version, the latter of those can be seen in an alternative shot.
"Hey kiddo, (car's running downstairs, I just wanted to drop off these copies of my book for your friends.) Autographed. And give you a goodbye kiss. So here's a kiss, there's goodbye. (Anything you want from Lisbon?)"
EV 12,6 sec longer
After Nora said that it would never happen again, both Chandler and then her repeat: "Really, really stupid."
More chat about the spelling mistake in Rachel's erotic novel.
Phoebe: "What, she could have 'heaving beasts'."
Rachel: "Right, right. But in this case she doesn't."
Immediately in front of the final logo, there is a last addition to that.
Phoebe: "Oh wait, wait, wait, no. I just got to the part about her 'public hair'."
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11° Snow Shower/Wind
Some lingering morning flurries or snow showers. Windy. Mostly cloudy skies will become partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 4F. Winds NW at 25 to 35 mph..
A few clouds from time to time. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low -12F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, second from right, speaks as candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,, right, and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, left, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., second from left, watch during a Democratic presidential primary debate, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019, in Atlanta.
John Bazemore / AP
Six Democratic presidential candidates to debate Tuesday night in Iowa
Emily Aubert | Ballotpedia via The Center Square
Six Democratic candidates will participate in the seventh presidential primary debate on Tuesday night: former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Bernie Sanders, businessman Tom Steyer, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Each candidate had to receive 5% support or more in at least four national or early state polls or 7% support or more in at least two single state polls to meet the debate’s polling threshold.
The four early states are Iowa (Feb. 3), New Hampshire (Feb. 11), Nevada (Feb. 22), and South Carolina (Feb. 29).
Candidates also had to meet a fundraising threshold of 225,000 unique donors and a minimum of 1,000 donors in at least 20 states.
Steyer was the final candidate to qualify last week after two Fox News polls in South Carolina and Nevada showed him at 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
Andrew Yang is the only candidate who participated in the Dec. 19 debate who did not qualify for this event.
The debate will take place at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, at 9 p.m. ET. CNN and The Des Moines Register are hosting the event with Wolf Blitzer, Abby Phillip, and Brianne Pfannenstiel moderating.
The next presidential debate will take place in New Hampshire on Feb. 7, four days after the Iowa caucuses.
This article originally ran on thecentersquare.com.
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2017 Jeep Patriot Reviews and Ratings
Latitude 4x4
Driving Dynamics
Latitude 4x4 75th Anniversary Edition 4x4 *Ltd Avail* 75th Anniversary Edition FWD *Ltd Avail* High Altitude 4x4 High Altitude FWD Latitude FWD Sport 4x4 Sport FWD Sport SE 4x4 Sport SE FWD
Most Recent Highest Reviews Lowest Reviews
Love it, does everything I expect.
Deeman
Im the owner of a 2015 Jeep Patriot with approximately 89,000 mil with good condition and only the second owner of this vehicle.
Harolds
Have the Patriot Altitude with the 2.0L & CVT II. Love this car. It rides like a Jeep--you hear and feel some road noise. The 2L engine won''t win any drag races. The CVT II is peppy, but you can''t pass quickly on a 2-lane road at 55mph. However, it runs great. It looks great. The interior is fab, especially the leather seats and 6" display. It''s for city driving and short trips and for the price, it''s the best car I''ve purchased. My first car was a ''60 VW Beetle, and I rode it to death. I never complained about the small engine, rough ride, or lack of power . . . We''re spoiled
American Joe
Best bang for the buck. Have 3. 2010, 2014, and a 2017. The 2010 has 370,000 miles without a major repair. You can say what you want as an owner of the competition but you can''t beat the durability and service for the price.
Owned 9 months
"Good value for your money. Positives: I LOVE the front seat storage options. The car seems to stay pretty clean without much upkeep. Negatives: Pick-up is poor. Bluetooth never seems to work."
I love my Jeep Patriot because it is fun to drive, sporty and has all the room I need. The 4x4 option gives me piece of mind. This is my second Jeep vehicle. My first Jeep was a Wrangler Saharah that I owned for 15 years. Many exciting memories where made.
I like my Jeep Patriot for it's size and maneuverability. The ride is comfortable but not exceptional. MPH is OK. It is fun to drive and the 4 cylinder engine provides adequate acceleration.
I was glad I choose my jeep Patriot because it's good in the snow and my kids love it...I love this jeep because it's not to big and not to small. I could find parking so easy . This jeep drives smooth as well..
Really economical, perfect space, and very good maneuverability, the dealer staff very attentive to listen to my needs
2017 Jeep 1199 Patriot 29547 385712
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The 2017 Jeep Patriot might be dated, but it still offers good value. It’s a far better vehicle than the original Patriot. It might not be equipped as well as some of its rivals, but it’s a sensible package with real Jeep character and enough civility to be a good family vehicle.
The Patriot compares with mainstream crossovers like the Honda CR-V, Subaru Forester, or Toyota RAV4, and smaller models like the Subaru Crosstrek, Nissan Juke, or Mazda CX-5.
It doesn’t look much like the Jeep Compass, which Jeep markets as a more premium model, but beneath its sheetmetal the Patriot is basically the same, with a lower price and available stripped-down.
The Patriot will be redesigned for 2018, so for 2017 it’s unchanged. Base engine is a 2.0-liter four cylinder making 158 horsepower and using a standard 5-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission (CVT). This engine only comes with front-wheel drive, which sort of defeats the purpose of a Jeep. If that’s all you want, there are better crossovers.
The other engine is a 2.4-liter four cylinder making 172 hp with that 5-speed gearbox or a 6-speed automatic. It comes with all-wheel drive.
The Patriot performs well in some crash tests, but scores a Poor rating from the IIHS in the small-overlap frontal crash test.
The 2.0-liter engine with 5-speed gearbox and front-wheel drive delivers an EPA rating of 23/30 miles per gallon City/Highway, or 26 mpg Combined. With the 2.4 liter, 6-speed automatic and all-wheel drive, mileage drops to 20/26/22 miles per gallon City/Highway/Combined.
The 2017 Jeep Patriot Sport ($17,895) comes with cloth upholstery, air conditioning, manually operated windows and door locks. All-wheel drive is available ($19,895).
Patriot Latitude ($22,395) and Latitude 4WD ($25,695) upgrade with power locks and windows and upgraded seating and tires. The High Altitude Edition ($1045) is a package for the Latitude with leather-trimmed seats, special interior and exterior trim and other features.
The Patriot is boxy, trim and bold.
Even in the range-topping High Altitude with all the interior features including leather upholstery, the Patriot cabin feels like it’s about durability, not luxury.
The interior is useful, with rear seatbacks that easily flip forward to yield good cargo space. There’s decent room in front, but not much rear space for passengers to stretch out. Climbing in and out is very easy thanks to the high roof that also gives ample headroom front and rear. But there’s a boxed-in feeling, because the seating position is low, the dash high, and roof pillars thick.
There’s a Freedom Drive II package for buyers who take their Patriot offroad. It includes higher ground clearance, hill descent control, skid plates, tow hooks, and unfortunately the CVT, whose uncouth demeanor makes the Patriot less drivable on the road. It feels like a big rubber band, the fat Achilles heel of many CVTs.
The good news is that the available 6-speed automatic transmission works exceptionally well on the highway.
It’s all about the price with the Patriot. We can’t say it does much of anything better than its more modern competitors, but if you can get one for thousands of dollars less, it might work just fine for you. However if you go with the 2.4-liter engine and 6-speed automatic transmission, as you should, it might wipe out the price advantage.
Sam Moses contributed to this report.
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How Climate Change Influenced Australia’s Unprecedented Fires - 01/18/2020 - Yves Smith
Bill Black: Bank of England Says Authorities Mustn’t Fine Banks Because Groaf
Posted on October 21, 2016 by Yves Smith
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Yves here. It might be possible to see the Bank of England article that makes baseless arguments against fining banks for predatory and crisis-inducing conduct if it pointed out that imposing costs on corporations was a poor remedy and the right approach was to punish executives instead. But we see no such argument here.
This paper is particularly distressing since it walks back some of the work of the Bank of England’s former director of financial stability, Andrew Haldane, widely regarded as one of the most original and astute economists of his generation. In a Haldane paper I’ve cited often, The $100 Billion Question, Haldane treat the cost of periodic financial crises as an externality, just like pollution. The correct remedies, depending on the level of social costs versus private gain, are taxes or other costs to make the actual cost of the product reflect the true societal cost, or prohibition. With a simple back of the envelope workup, Haldane demonstrates that the the cost of financial crises are so high that making the banks bear them would wipe them out. In other words, banking as now constituted is destructive from the standpoint of the community as a whole. It is purely predatory. That means aggressively restricting bank risk-taking (prohibition) and regulating them so they operate as utilities is the preferred approach.
Yet notice how the Bank of England article whinges about requiring banks to bear far less then the true cost of their reckless and self-serving activities, and relies on dubious economic claims to justify its conclusions.
By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Jointly published with New Economic Perspectives
Elite bankers and the pathetic economists who serve as apologists for their frauds specialize in proving our family saying that it is impossible to compete with unintentional self-parody. The subtitle of the WSJ article providing the latest proof is “Fines on banks translate into $5 trillion of ‘reduced lending capacity,’ bank says.” The “bank” referred to is the Bank of England, which is supposed to be the UK’s primary bank regulator. To be kind, the “study” by BOE is so embarrassing that a better descriptor of the BOE would be “fraud enabler.”
“The roughly $275 billion in legal costs for global banks since 2008 translates into more than $5 trillion of reduced lending capacity to the real economy,” Minouche Shafik, a deputy governor of the Bank of England, told a New York conference of regulators and bankers Thursday.
BOE’s methodology and “logic” (which it did not make public) are easy to guess. It is not sufficient that elite banksters are able to become wealthy from leading the worlds’ most destructive financial frauds with impunity from prosecution, civil suits, and enforcement actions. It is vital that the banks no longer be fined for conducting these massive frauds. When banks are fined they lose some of their profits from these epidemics of frauds, bid-rigging cartels, predatory lending, aiding and abetting elite tax fraud, and money laundering for terrorists and violent drug cartels. For the sake of brevity, I will call these collectively “fraud proceeds.” Banks remain highly leveraged despite modest increases in capital requirements, so the BOE’s staff is assuming that each dollar of fraud proceeds that the banks lose to fines reduces total bank size by $18.18. They are assuming that the typical bank has a miserably inadequate capital requirement of slightly over five percent.
There are a number of fatal problems with BOE’s “logic” and (unstated) methodology. First, under the BOE’s “logic” the more profitable banks become by defrauding their customers the faster the economy will grow. The bank CEOs who led the three most destructive epidemics of financial fraud in history were apparently Soviet-style (pun intended) “Heroes of Capitalism.” Except, of course, what they actually drove was a massive financial bubble that produced the Great Recession. The projected loss of GDP in the U.S. due to the Great Recession is $24.3 trillion – and the loss of eurozone GDP is far larger because their economic losses have occurred over a far longer time and have been far deeper than in the United States. Only central bank economists would be so dogmatically divorced from reality and so moral challenged that they would think that allowing banksters to keep their fraud proceeds and avoid all accountability for their crimes would be good for the economy.
Why would making additional fraudulent and predatory loans be good for the economy? Unsurprisingly, the BOE leader did not even discuss this issue. They simply assume, contrary to the relevant criminology and economics literature, that when banks make more loans it means the economy most grow productively. The opposite is true when the loans are fraudulent and predatory.
Second, the BOE has falsely assumed that the banks are lending less because they are capital-constrained. Overwhelmingly, however, corporations are sitting on enormous cash positions. They are not investing because of their CEOs’ perverse incentives and because of weak demand arising largely from austerity. If the corporations are not eager to borrow, then lending by banks will be reduced. The WSJ journalists did make a related point about the BOE’s flawed logic.
In the U.S. at least, banks in recent years have attributed tepid lending growth to lack of demand, not their inability to supply credit.
If anything, banks have been awash in deposits, which they have struggled to put to work. Over the eight years since the crisis took hold in the third quarter of 2008, loans as a percentage of deposits have averaged about 74%, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. This means banks have had firepower to make additional loans.
Third, even if banks that committed these epic frauds were not lending because they were capital-constrained because of the loss of some of their fraud proceeds to fines, they could respond by raising their capital. That would be good for them and the world, but bad for bank CEOs. Bank CEOs make sure that their compensation systems are perverse, so increased bank capital (which reduces leverage) can reduce the bonuses of all bank officers and employees. Bank CEOs overwhelmingly structure the compensation systems to be perverse from the perspectives of the public and the shareholders. Bank CEOs ensure through these perverse incentives that banks will be run in their self-interest, so they typically oppose proposals to substantially increase bank capital.
The key question is whether the BOE presented this financially illiterate “logic” in order to signal that there should be an end to recoveries by UK victims of epic predation by all their major banks through the indefensible sale of payment protection insurance (PPI) and an end to the (rare) prosecutions of the world’s largest bid rigging cartels (Libor and FX). We know from releases of documents from the House Financial Services Committee that the UK successfully intervened to press the U.S. Department of Justice not to prosecute HSBC or any of its officers for its eager actions for roughly a decade to launder roughly $1 billion in drug proceeds for the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.
This entry was posted in Banana republic, Banking industry, Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Legal, Moral hazard, Politics, Regulations and regulators on October 21, 2016 by Yves Smith.
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Clive October 21, 2016 at 7:14 am
In the logic-all-of-their-own that central banks postulate when they have their ears bent by the Treasury, this paper and its conclusions does make a perverted kind of sense when you consider that the U.K. government is stuck with its vast holding in RBS. The only way it could ever be rid of the RBS albatross is for RBS to have some vague hope of (eventually) earning its way back to being something other than a complete basket case. Apart from, ironically, the central banks’ own ZIRP policy, the biggest threat to this is endless redress for wrongdoing. And permission to return to the good old days when the likes of RBS could operate with impunity as state-sponsored criminal enterprises would be icing on the cake.
So signals that regulators may now go easy on the banks in general — and especially RBS which is one of the biggest bad actors you can find — might be thought to help in the process of trying to nurse RBS back to being a vaguely plausible investment case.
The last thing the U.K. government would want to do is to find that it has to provide RBS with more capital if it can’t get shot of it before the next crisis hits (or even if it’s not a full-on crisis, merely fairly sizeable whacks to fixed interest asset classes). As the majority shareholder, it couldn’t not participate in any rights issue. Nor can RBS be put through any coherent resolution without the U.K. government having to write down billions.
Hence maybe this is why we’re now seeing smoke signals from the BoE that U.K. banks are to be — again — made fine-proof. If the markets (literally) buy it, it might help with an RBS float. But it’s pretty desperate stuff.
readerOfTeaLeaves October 21, 2016 at 12:47 pm
Clive, FWIW, I’m increasingly interested in the metaphors around banking, which seem to still come out of early 19th c invention of engines, all of which used ‘fuel‘ as a central tenet: ‘the money supply fuels the economy’. Economics seems drenched in outdated, antiquated metaphors where ‘fuel‘ is always and everywhere a good thing, with no polluting externalities, and no downside costs.
Hence, what matters is ‘efficiency’: it’s moneyAsEngineSpeak, so to speak.
Lordy, it’s all petrochemical: from a time when chemical and mechanical engineering (and physics) were in their relative infancies and whaling schooners were sailing out of Nantucket.
Fuels don’t lie, cheat, or steal — continuing to use fuel as a central metaphor enables banks, economists, and central bankers to put their fingers in their ears and howl “La! La! La! Using metaphors shaped by sail-powered whaling ships hunting for blubber is working just great for us!!” After all, calculus had been invented by the 1820s — so math + moneyAsEngineSpeak = economics.
Egads.
In that paradigm, Bill Black is a mere scold, an oddball, a scruffy prophet in the wastelands, so to speak.
If money were more widely regarded as a social tool: recognized as a tool that requires communication, social networks, and flourishes within civil society, then Haldane’s observations would be met with “Doh, you betcha!”
Then, also, Bill Black’s observations that crime actually does exist, and often looks exceptionally respectable, would be impossible to ignore.
Timmy Geithner is probably not a fan of: (a) Bill Black or (b) the idea of money as inherently social. Fuel is an emotionally sterile construct to work within; it enables one to avoid moral qualms, or any sense of personal responsibility when ‘engines blow up’, or when they ‘run out of fuel‘.
The fact that Haldane’s observations and analysis are not more widely embraced suggests that somehow the business schools, economics departments, and bankers all still use thought processes shaped in the era of whalers seeking blubber for lanterns and lamps. Also, they probably still receive endowments from the Kochs, Exxon, and other fuel obsessed interests.
Until the metaphors move to biology, with a concomitant recognition that some kinds of ‘fuel‘ (aka Coke, Fritos, Doritos, donuts) work for short-term energy bursts, but carry extremely negative longer term costs, I doubt that even the best attempts to muddle through will get us out of this mess. Without amendment, this system is going to do one of two things: (1) implode (not too violently) or else (2) blow up (social unrest).
I have no idea what the banker equivalent of ‘chard, lettuce, and celery’ would be, but some bright mind ought to be thinking about it. (You distinguish yourself as such a mind; I hope that my metaphor is not too offensive…)
I interpreted Brexit as a ‘tea leaf’ that the banks could no longer be made fine-proof without triggering social unrest. Then I read your comment, esp:
the U.K. government is stuck with its vast holding in RBS. The only way it could ever be rid of the RBS albatross is for RBS to have some vague hope of (eventually) earning its way back to being something other than a complete basket case. Apart from, ironically, the central banks’ own ZIRP policy, the biggest threat to this is endless redress for wrongdoing.
The way that I read this, contemporary economics and finance leads to utter, unmanageable disaster from which there is absolutely no way out. The engine ‘melts down’, so to speak. I feel as if I have spent the past 8 years watching systems nearly implode, be saved by extraordinary (lunatic) measures, and in the end the systems of thinking that created these problems are precisely the mental pathways that keep people stuck in a labyrinth of dysfunction.
Banking needs to be completely rethought, using the social sciences, which include the realities of criminal conduct corroding the system to such a degree that it is threatening to implode. I’m moving toward being agnostic as to whether this is a good thing, or not. Either way, the present systems as I’ve read you describe them do not seem even remotely sustainable.
Clive October 21, 2016 at 3:05 pm
I’ve been reading up on old — as in, ancient — banking history too (the Hoare family is very well documented for example). While by the standards of the time banking could be insanely profitable, it could — in the complete absence of any government backstop — be the cause of catastrophic ruin if mismanagement crept in.
And it is remarkably apparent that for the society of the time (17th and 18th centuries), banks were most definitely not seen as inherently integral or integrated into a nation’s economic development and certainly not monopoly suppliers of “fuel” to provide temporary goosing of industrialization. Or, in short form, today’s banking and financial emerged as a result of industrialization but did not create it.
So yes, tinkering at the periphery is not going to solve the current core problems.
RBHoughton October 21, 2016 at 8:02 pm
Bank of England became integrated right at the end of the 18th century. It was the single-handed act of William Pitt and a bit of legislative sleight of hand.
If you have half an hour to look at the economy chapter at http://www.houghton.hk you will see some revelation of how he did the dirty deed although you will need to read between the lines to achieve full penetration. Good luck
Many thanks to both of you!
I’ll try to get to the houghton.hk this weekend…
Skip Intro October 21, 2016 at 8:18 am
Are they trying to get out in front of the RBS revelations? What is the BOE liability for RBS problems these days anyway?
Shoulda read Clive’s comment…
Clive October 21, 2016 at 11:16 am
Nah, just send it to Mark Carney ( ;-) )
BecauseTradition October 21, 2016 at 8:37 am
That means aggressively restricting bank risk-taking (prohibition) and regulating them so they operate as utilities is the preferred approach. Yves Smith
I would think the preferred approach would be to eliminate the shame accounting, that is, to make bank liabilities with respect to the population genuine liabilities and not largely a sham.*
Besides, shall the rich still be the most so-called worthy, under utility banking, of what is, in essence, the PUBLIC’S credit, including that of the poor?
*This will be 100% evident if cash is eliminated and one tries to cash a check.
susan the other October 22, 2016 at 10:08 am
making banks utilities is the only solution that is not a contradiction because letting banks operate competitively for profits (which are directly based on their very own commodity – a commodity that they in fact create!) is like letting doctors profit by creating illness… only considerably more blatant
BecauseTradition October 22, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Your diagnosis is correct; “loans create deposits” but only largely sham liabilities wrt the population – so the accounting is bogus. So the solution is to make those sham liabilities real liabilities.
Don’t know what you mean by utility banking. Shall the rich remain the most so-called credit worthy? Please elaborate?
susan the other October 22, 2016 at 2:59 pm
But to actually make them real liabilities is beyond the realm of banking and ecomomix – as Haldane says – no banking system can absorb the liabilities of the system as it exists… I think
BecauseTradition October 22, 2016 at 3:08 pm
The liabilities of the banks are for good ole inexpensive fiat. So let’s create what’s needed and distribute it equally to all adult citizens and let the banks borrow it from us. Otherwise, the abolition of government-provided deposit insurance would be very deflationary.
That is, the PROPER abolition of government-provided deposit insurance would be very deflationary.
I think utility banking, as Yves talks about, means that banks are restricted to very specific boundaries and profits limited to stg. like 3% (or less now) and they serve their communities first and foremost; they cannot be gamblers and speculators and the firewall between commercial banking and investing is strictly enforced… you know – the way it used to be
… you know – the way it used to be
Suppose I live in a community and need a loan to automate the jobs of a local factory away? Is that just?
In the past that would be impossible or new jobs would be created to replace the old jobs (supposedly). These days? Apparently not.
So the way it used to be is just not adequate anymore. Nor was is ever just, for that matter.
Of course neither private credit creation nor usury should be illegal but why in the heck do we subsidize them? Since both loot the poor, the least so-called creditworthy?
Because progress? Yes, we’ve had progress – progress toward WWIII.
barefoot charley October 21, 2016 at 10:09 am
Yves, in your first paragraph let’s fine them, not fin them. Finning’s too good for them!
Yves Smith Post author October 21, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Aiee, thanks for the catch! Yet again my typo bane!
Chauncey Gardiner October 21, 2016 at 10:09 am
Disagree with Bill Black’s statement that the authors of this paper are financially illiterate. I believe they are very much aware of the probable economic and social effects of their proposal, know exactly what they’re doing and how inimical it is to the public interest.
Those who have coldly and deliberately caused others so much economic and emotional damage should be serving time, not being covertly accommodated and given a free pass by central banks to pave the way for their further recidivist criminal behavior. Further, these large financial intermediaries should be broken up and the deposit-taking side of their business legally separated from their speculations in derivatives and other nonproductive financial activities that place the payments system at risk.
Also appreciated Bill Black’s observation about secondary damage from government austerity policies.
Further, these large financial intermediaries should be broken up and the deposit-taking side of their business legally separated from their speculations in derivatives and other nonproductive financial activities that place the payments system at risk. Chauncey Gardiner
Speaking of the payments system, why must it work exclusively through the banks? A Postal Savings Service that made no loans and the end of government provided deposit means we would have TWO payments systems – an at-risk, not necessarily liquid payment that worked through lending institutions and a risk-free payment system that did not.
correction, should read: an at-risk, not necessarily liquid payment system that worked through lending institutions
Another correction, should read : government provided deposit insurance means …
Sheesh! Too many brain farts.
You made a good, and important point.
Totally overlooking minor typos ;-)
templar555510 October 21, 2016 at 11:44 am
This speech by Minouche Shafik would be hilarious if the situation weren’t so serious. The fact is QE has failed to have any significant positive impact on the UK economy so now the B of E thinks that if the banks’ capital weren’t to take such a big hit ( LOL ) from fines there would be queues of prospective borrowers around the block ready, willing and able to take on massive loans because the banks would be able to lend so much more money . Are they desperate or what ? It’s the system stupid !
Jay October 21, 2016 at 11:45 am
Bill Black: “When banks are fined they lose some of their profits from these epidemics of frauds, bid-rigging cartels, predatory lending, aiding and abetting elite tax fraud, and money laundering for terrorists and violent drug cartels. For the sake of brevity, I will call these collectively ‘fraud proceeds.'”
Why not just call them what they are—“Treason Profits.”
craazyboy October 21, 2016 at 12:00 pm
A Mafia Don always skims off the top of his organization. There might be a name for that that would seem to fit. Banksterism is a regulated industry?
Jim Thomson October 21, 2016 at 1:14 pm
It is called Executive Compensation.
JEHR October 21, 2016 at 12:33 pm
You see, Goldman Sachs is everywhere and doing exactly what it wants with world finances.
lyman alpha blob October 21, 2016 at 1:52 pm
This may be a simplistic argument, but here’s another reason the banks rationale is a bunch of BS. If the banks hadn’t stolen so much due to fraud, the rest of the private sector would have more cash and would be less likely to need a loan in the first place. But not needing a loan is anathema to these jerks.
larry October 24, 2016 at 4:12 am
Bill, in saying “loans as a percentage of deposits have averaged about 74%, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. This means banks have had firepower to make additional loans”, are you saying that they can use deposits to make loans? I’m not certain I understand what you are saying here.
Yves Smith Post author October 24, 2016 at 4:19 am
Banks do not make loans from deposits. Their loans create new deposits. Loans precede deposits.
BecauseTradition October 24, 2016 at 11:20 am
Loans precede deposits. Yves Smith
Unless the deposit is from Federal spending, then the deposit has no corresponding loan from a bank.
Otoh, I suppose one might say that Federal spending provides tax credits and so is a loan to the public but that’s another story …
Maybe Bill is saying that 26% of bank deposits are the result of Federal spending and since Federal spending creates new reserves 1-for-1 with the new deposits that the reserve ratio (reserves to deposits) is 26% – very high compared to the legal requirement (do we still have one?)
But banks are not reserved constrained since they can borrow them from each and since the Fed stands by to make sure the system has adequate reserves anyway.
So the mystery remains.
I know that, but it wasn’t clear to me that that was what Bill was saying in what I quoted. But I take it from your comment that you think that Bill was saying what you just wrote. If so, then fine.
I was (and still am) confused too.
Can someone please explain how what Bill Black said squares with MMT?
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Harvesting more energy from photons
(Nanowerk News) Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found a way to significantly boost the energy that can be harnessed from sunlight, a finding that could lead to better solar cells or light detectors.
The new approach is based on the discovery that unexpected quantum effects increase the number of charge carriers, known as electrons and “holes,” that are knocked loose when photons of light of different wavelengths strikes a metal surface coated with a special class of oxide materials known as high-index dielectrics. The photons generate what are known as surface plasmons — a cloud of oscillating electrons that has the same frequency as the absorbed photons
The surprising finding is reported this week in the journal Physical Review Letters ("Quantum-Spillover-Enhanced Surface-Plasmonic Absorption at the Interface of Silver and High-Index Dielectrics") by authors including MIT’s Nicholas Fang, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, and postdoc Dafei Jin. The researchers used a sheet of silver coated with an oxide, which converts light energy into polarization of atoms at the interface.
Quantum process increases the number of electrons produced when light strikes a metal-dielectric interface (Illustration: Christine Daniloff/MIT)
“Our study reveals a surprising fact: Absorption of visible light is directly controlled by how deeply the electrons spill over the interface between the metal and the dielectric,” Fang says. The strength of the effect, he adds, depends directly on the dielectric constant of the material — a measure of how well it blocks the passage of electrical current and converts that energy into polarization.
“In earlier studies,” Fang says, “this was something that was overlooked.”
Previous experiments showing elevated production of electrons in such materials had been chalked up to defects in the materials. But Fang says those explanations “were not enough to explain why we observed such broadband absorption over such a thin layer” of material. But, he says, the team’s experiments back the newfound quantum-based effects as an explanation for the strong interaction.
The team found that by varying the composition and thickness of the layer of dielectric materials (such as aluminum oxide, hafnium oxide, and titanium oxide) deposited on the metal surface, they could control how much energy was passed from incoming photons into generating pairs of electrons and holes in the metal — a measure of the system’s efficiency in capturing light’s energy. In addition, the system allowed a wide range of wavelengths, or colors, of light to be absorbed, they say.
The phenomenon should be relatively easy to harness for useful devices, Fang says, because the materials involved are already widely used at industrial scale. “The oxide materials are exactly the kind people use for making better transistors,” he says; these might now be harnessed to produce better solar cells and superfast photodetectors.
“The addition of a dielectric layer is surprisingly effective” at improving the efficiency of light harnessing, Fang says. And because solar cells based on this principle would be very thin, he adds, they would use less material than conventional silicon cells.
Remarkable color change when different dielectric thin films (low-index dielectric SiO2 and high-index dielectric TiO2) are deposited onto noble metals (Ag and Au). The color change is due to the light absorption via surface plasmons, which are strongly enhanced by the quantum spillover effect at the interface of a noble metal and a high-index dielectric.
Because of their broadband responsiveness, Fang says, such systems also respond much faster to incoming light: “We could receive or detect signals as a shorter pulse” than current photodetectors can pick up, he explains. This could even lead to new “li-fi” systems, he suggests — using light to send and receive high-speed data.
N. Asger Mortensen, a professor at Danish Technical University who was not involved in this work, says this finding “has profound implications for our understanding of quantum plasmonics. The MIT work really pinpoints … how plasmons are subject to an enhanced decay into electron-hole pairs near the surface of a metal.”
“Probing these quantum effects is very challenging both theoretically and experimentally, and this discovery of enhanced absorption based on quantum corrections represents an important leap forward,” adds Maiken Mikkelsen, an assistant professor of physics at Duke University who also was not involved in this work. “I think there is no doubt that harnessing the quantum properties of nanomaterials is bound to create future technological breakthroughs.”
The team also included postdoc Qing Hu and graduate student Yingyi Yang at MIT, Daniel Neuhauser at the University of California at Los Angeles, Felix von Cube and David Bell at Harvard University, Ritesh Sachan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Ting Luk at Sandia National Laboratories. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Source: By David L. Chandler, MIT
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Charge model for calculating the photoexcited states of one-dimensional Mott insulators
Programmable nests for cells
3D printing with applications in the pharmaceutical industry
A wearable gas sensor for health and environmental monitoring
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How sensitive can a quantum detector be?
A superlattice based STT-MRAM with extra-high performance
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Colloidal quantum dot photodetectors can now see further than before
Pretty with a twist
Brain-like network uses disorder to create order
Decontaminating pesticide-polluted water using engineered nanomaterial and sunlight
Imprinted structural color patterns
Reinventing the computer: Brain-inspired computing for a post-Moore's Law era
Nanoengineering technique could aid exploration, scalability of next-gen electronics
The mysterious movement of water molecules
Sniffing out cancer is as easy as breathing
A tool to democratize nanopore research
Colloidal quantum dot laser diodes are just around the corner
MOSHEMT - innovative transistor technology reaches record frequencies
Silica particles may lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes
Most engineered nanoparticles enter tumours through cells, not between them
Physicists prove that 2D and 3D liquids are fundamentally different
Surface acoustic waves in graphene: straintronics with nanoquakes
Nano-objects of desire: Assembling ordered nanostructures in 3D
Engineers develop 'chameleon metals' that change surfaces in response to heat
Bacteria shredding liquid metals to fight drug-resistant superbugs
Divorce in a one-dimensional world
Generation and manipulation of spin currents for advanced electronic devices
'Superdiamond' carbon-boron cages can trap and tap into different properties
An 18-carat gold nugget made of plastic
Growing strained crystals could improve performance of perovskite electronics
Molecular factories: The combination between nature and chemistry is functional
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Illuminating the world of nanoparticles
A new method to study lithium dendrites could lead to better, safer batteries
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Book Reviews: 'A Gesture Life,' 'Maggie, A Girl Of The Streets,' 'Call It Sleep' Every new generation of immigrants must meet the age-old challenges of building a new home — assimilation and conformity, old habits and new cultures, adjustment and isolation. Author Helene Wecker shares with us three books that explore the complexities of life on foreign shores.
Three Books...
One theme, three great reads
Pack Your Bags: 3 Books About Coming To America
Helene Wecker
Old suitcases displayed in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Old suitcases displayed in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City.
Can there be any experience more kaleidoscopic in its emotions, more full of hopes and fears and just plain confusions, than that of coming to America? I'm no expert, certainly — but my research on immigration for my recent novel, as well as my own family history, points to a process of continual surprises, endless adjustments, and, at times, exhausting isolation. Old habits crash up against new ideas; the desire for a "clean slate" is betrayed by the inevitable baggage of a former life. The three books in this list (two classic and one modern), besides simply being fantastic reads, lay bare the complexities of immigrant lives in all their panoramic variety.
by Chang-rae Lee
Hardcover, 480 pages, Wheeler Pub Inc, $29.95, published December 1 2002 | purchase
Buy Featured Book
Franklin "Doc" Hata is a familiar face in Bedley Run, the genteel New York suburb where he's lived for 30 years. A Japanese man of Korean descent, Hata whiles away his retirement in quiet solitude, until a series of small events — the shuttering of his former business, a fireplace that blazes out of control — begins to disturb his composure. Chang-rae Lee builds a tense portrait of a man who's spent his life erasing parts of himself, first to hide his Korean heritage and then to gain acceptance in his new American life. Interwoven with Hata's story are memories of his time in the Japanese army, and the atrocities he witnessed (and tacitly allowed) as the medical officer for a group of Korean "comfort women."
Maggie, a Girl of the Streets
by Stephen Crane
Paperback, 158 pages, Lightning Source Inc, $20.75, published May 30 2009 | purchase
It's the early 1890s, and the Bowery is the most notorious street in New York, home to the poorest of the newcomers. Young Maggie Johnson, the daughter of Irish immigrants, dreams of rising out of the slums. Instead, she's slowly pushed towards destitution by her monstrous mother, her street-tough brother, and her jerk of a boyfriend. Like his own characters, Crane pulls no punches; in the memorable first chapter, the Johnson children come home from a gang fight only to hide in terror from their brawling parents. Maggie can seem quaint and dated: there's condescension in Crane's high narrative perch, and in the pidgin dialogue littered with "Hully gee"s and "Ah, what deh hell"s. But there's a distinctly feminist message in Maggie's fall, and in Crane's slamming of the moral code that shuns "ruined" women while giving no blame to the men.
Call It Sleep
by Henry Roth
A classic of Lower East Side Jewish life at the turn of the 20th century, Call It Sleep centers on David Schearl, a sensitive young boy fresh off the boat, and his initiation into the realities of adulthood. As a new American, David must contend with the privations of the tenements, the cantankerous rabbi who teaches him Hebrew and the constant threat of his father's anger. But the real star of this book is the language. Roth writes the Schearls' arguments and expostulations in distinctly Yiddish flavors and cadences, drawing you in so deeply that whenever the characters are forced to speak in their rough English, it sounds as jarring to you as it does to them.
Like the best books, these immigration tales offer something more than just a good story. They explore issues vital to every new generation of American immigrants: assimilation and conformity, language and culture and the inability to ever truly erase the realities of one's past.
Helene Wecker is the author of The Golem and the Jinni.
Three Books... is produced and edited by the team at NPR Books.
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Matthew Good News
2017 Tour: Beautiful Midnight Revisited
By gursky, November 14, 2016 in Matthew Good
gursky 66
Being of Audio
NF Contributors
350 NF$
Location:Edmonton
Name: Sean
2017 tour has been announced and it is all about Beautiful Midnight Revisited. Shows are posted here, news of the announcement is here.
To celebrate the release of the new EP, titled I Miss New Wave: Beautiful Midnight Revisited, Matt will embark on a cross Canada tour in 2017. With every ticket purchased on this tour, you will also receive a digital copy of the new EP, which will be released on December 2.
Ticket and VIP pre-sale will start at 10am local time on Tuesday November 14. Public on-sale will start at 10am local time on Friday November 18. Visit the shows page on Tuesday morning for all links and password information.
VIP packages will also be available in select markets. The following will be included in the package.
- Intimate soundcheck performance; 3 songs with the full band
- Chance to vote for one (1) of the soundcheck songs that Matthew and the band will play
- Commemorative VIP laminate, signed by Matthew
- Group photo opportunity with Matthew, the band and fellow VIPs
- Crowd-free, first access to merchandise shopping
- Front of the line entry to the venue
February 11, 2017 - Victoria, BC - Alix Goolden Performance Hall
February 12, 2017 - Campbell River, BC - Tidemark Theatre
February 14, 2017 - Nanaimo, BC - The Port Theatre
February 17, 2017 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom (VIP Available)
February 19, 2017 - Kelowna, BC - Kelowna Community Theatre
February 21, 2017 - Red Deer, AB - Red Deer Memorial Centre
February 22, 2017 - Grande Prairie, AB - Better Than Fred’s
February 24, 2017 - Calgary, AB - Grey Eagle Resort & Casino Event Centre (VIP Available)
February 25, 2017 - Edmonton (Enoch), AB - River Cree Resort & Casino (VIP Available)
February 26, 2017 - Saskatoon, SK - O’Brians Event Centre
February 28, 2017 Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre (VIP Available)
March 3, 2017 - London, ON - London Music Hall
March 4, 2017 - Hamilton, ON - Hamilton Place Theatre (VIP Available)
March 6, 2017 - Waterloo, ON - Maxwell’s Concerts & Events
March 7, 2017 - Sarnia, ON - The Station Music Hall
March 8, 2017 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall (VIP Available)
March 11, 2017 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall (VIP Available)
March 13, 2017 - Picton, ON - The Regent Theatre
March 14, 2017 - Peterborough, ON - Showplace Performance Centre
March 16, 2017 - Ottawa, ON - NAC – Southam Hall
March 17, 2017 - Oshawa, ON - The Music Hall
March 18, 2017 - Montreal, QC - Corona Theatre
March 21, 2017 - Fredericton, NB - Fredericton Boyce Farmer’s Market
March 22, 2017 - Charlottetown, PEI - PEI Brewing Company
March 24, 2017 - Moncton, NB - Tide & Boar
March 25, 2017 - Halifax, NS - The Marquee Ballroom (VIP Available)
I have a conflict on February 25 so I will try and get to the February 21 (Red Deer) and February 24 (Calgary) show.
Guest girl
It's really nice to see Saskatchewan on the tour. They deserve it.
emmit643 64
Haven't Slept In Years
NF Fanatics
Location:Ottawa
Name: Emma
No VIP for Ottawa and none for Montreal this time :/ guess I'm going to Toronto.
hoogie 19
Euphony
Name: Matt
Damn, no VIP in London this time either. I was thinking I could justify it this time. Maybe I'll try Hamilton, since it is a Saturday night.
Very excited, regardless.
Some Random 1
Stupid Club for Jerks
5,171 NF$
playing the shitty marquee ballroom in halifax again. sadly, i'll pass on this one. count yourself lucky if you get to see him in a good venue.
edit: doubly sad, as i'd love to hear born to kill live.
Edited November 14, 2016 by Some Random
Sound of Reason
Name: Tips
Although at first I was doubtful of the whole thing, I now disagree. It was another era and the BM tour was awesome but the songs themselves have a soul that can be revived with that kind of thing and I like that. I wish he would do the same with some of AOB which sadly has been burried under the band's conflicts.
You should go then. That is the epic song that drew me in in the first place at a Matthew Good Band summer concert in 2001. Especially at the part of Born to Kill where the music notes are steadily going up in a crescendo, I was totally lost in the music. The only way I can describe it is that it was like a heavenly experience. You won't regret it, my friend. I promise. They played it at the Stampede Coral. It probably wasn't the best of Calgary venues, but it was the best concert I've ever been to in my life.
Edited November 14, 2016 by girl
russic 16
Name: Russic
To be fair Carmelina, Tripoli, Advertising on Police Cars, Truffle Pigs, The Rat Who Would Be King, and Sort of a Protest Song have been rolled into live performances since that album came out. Given how Matt talks about the album from time to time, I'm impressed we hear as much as we do. I agree with you though, it'd be cool to hear that album reworked and toured.
For the time being though Beautiful Midnight is my favourite album of all time, so this is bloody brilliant to hear. Only having to wait 2 weeks for the EP is pretty exciting as well. Should be a fun winter.
Idioteque 71
Near Fantastican
I dont think there's a single shitty venue on this planet that could keep me from seeing my favorite band.
Matt is playing the infamous Commodore Ballroom, expect a very LOUD audience of drunk adults who know every word.
RANT: I truly hate complaining about VIP but it's been pretty lackluster the past few years. From small indie bands to headlining acts, there's a new VIP standard of what $100-$200 dollars can/should get you but it's always hit & miss here.
Group photos are normally the nail in the coffin for me. You'll always be the blurry face in the back being covered by 3 other people.
But not even a physical copy of I Miss New Wave?(which will probably be sold at merch).
It went from actually meeting Matt at a meet & greet to now just being in the same room as him, with 40 other people.
I hate that feeling of being a wallet, constantly ushered around & told when to talk, sit, buy.
There's always a mutual benefit with the fans by giving them 15 seconds of signing items they cherish, small talk & a quick photo. That will always feel like a million bucks.
My last experience, we all missed half the soundcheck because the usher made us buy at the merchandise table first, Matt flubbed a few acoustic songs (not complaining), and if you don't get a question answered during Q&A then how is that suppose to be a fun experience worth the money?
Considering the significance with this tour, all of the old fans coming out of the woodwork, all the new vinyl reissues that will sell like hot cakes during this tour, how is the VIP not Matt just walking around the Commodore floor for 30 minutes greeting & signing. People would pay more for something like that.
Of course the possibilities of germs or getting tired yes. But the VIP is so limited, why not make them actually interesting events celebrating the album.
Because you can pull off a soundcheck & group photo in every city.
Devin Townsend (Vancouver artist) is the last concert I went to, this is what they offered for $100. Take away the opening band stuff, add Beautiful Midnight merchandise & a couple soundcheck songs, who wouldn't pay +$200 for all that.
I'd like to add please don't consider this to be whining, this is from a huge fan who wants to spend alot of money on Matt, I put away quite a bit of change just to spend on his shows. But least meet the fans half way with some interesting things that can add to the experience.
Oh sure but knowing how he dislikes AOB I wish he'd re-record those as he would want them to be.
adam_777 134
Name: Adam MacGregor
Looks like I'll be attending four shows. Can't wait! I notice the advertising for this does not specifically say "Beautiful Midnight played in it's entirety" I know Matt mentioned here that it would be, but why not advertise that fact, seems like a major draw if you ask me.
I'm perfectly happy with the VIP the way it is. On the AoD tour I remember you got a copy of the record, which was pretty cool and you got to meet Matt for a few seconds take a picture or whatever. I enjoyed the whole soundcheck bit last year so much more. I'm a fan of the music. Sure I'd love to sit around and shoot the shit with Matt talk some Led Zeppelin, baseball or bash on Rico, but that isn't what happens in the Meet and Greets. It's more like a "Hey, OMG, Love, Your stuff man, great show" Smile! Thanks. So to me, getting to hear a few songs in soundcheck, especially if they differ from what might be played during the show...awesome, I'm there!
As for the merch booth comments..I dunno I've never had an issue getting to the front of the line at the merch booth by just showing up at doors. The tour is starting out West, so for anyone on the West Coast its unlikely they'll be plum out of sizes and stuff by the time the tour hits Vancouver three shows in.
One last thing, what is this fan club presale business? How does one get the presale code for this?
Edited November 14, 2016 by adam_777
Gomo 22
I haven't seen an MG show since he did a one off acoustic set in NYC a couple years ago. And I haven't seen full band since 2010. Never seen him in Canada. I think the Toronto and Montreal dates would work for me logistically and geographically. Will try to make that happen.
Anybody have any notion of how to take advantage of the pre-sale on Tuesday? Is there a password or code available anywhere?
Edited November 14, 2016 by Gomo
It should be released in an email if you're signed up to his website.
Ah ok. I just opted into the emails earlier. Thanks!
Matt Good on twitter:
"To answer a question: yes, each show will be Beautiful Midnight played front to back in sequence and in its entirety."
Yeah, I do miss the idea of a meet and greet.
I like this idea of Matt walking around the floor for 30 minutes greeting & signing. I went to Jann Arden's jewelery fundraiser for the charity Dogs with No Names recently, and she did just that. There were 100 guests maximum, and she was mingling and having casual conversations with everyone. I also enjoyed the complimentary glass of wine, and appetizers were served as well. Jann is so down to earth and a cool lady. A lot of people had their pictures taken with her. It was a fun experience overall. It would be cool if Matt did something like that.
nmf 1
34 NF$
Sorry if I missed it, but are VIP prices listed somewhere? And will they be sold on Ticketmaster or somewhere else?
And passwords for the presale will be on the shows page tomorrow morning?
Super excited about this tour. Not so excited about the distance I'm going to have to travel.
IamNick 15
NF Addict
Name: Nick
Commodore Ballroom is my favourite venue in Vancouver, because it's general admission 19+.
the Presale code will be on the Shows page on the website tomorrow morning. Don't rely on getting an email. The notification for the demo on the Bad Guys Win post went out a day later, after it had already come down.
I tried to take the morning off to get my tix tomorrow. No luck. Hoping to sneak off to the bathroom with my phone. Also hoping there's none of that Amex Front of the Line garbage. I want my front row at the NAC lol.
my tentative plan is Ottawa (cause I live here), VIP at the Danforth on the saturday, and Montreal. If Kingston was on the list I'd hit it too.
also it sucks that there's no VIP for Ottawa. I'll bet you a million bucks it's because the NAC is such a notoriously difficult/uppity venue... :/
Thanks for the info emmit. I think I'm gonna try to secure 2 tickets in either Toronto or Montreal and then work out all the logistics later. If my girlfriend can't come, I'll have a ticket to sell. If she can come, great. But I will get the tickets either way to make sure I see this. I've missed the last like 3 tours for LOES, Arrows, and CN so I don't want to miss this.
jaydee 0
Name: Jay D
What do you think the chances of a DVD/ Live recording would be? For it is the album that got me into Matt, & one of my all time faves.
I live in Australia, and made the trek to Canada to see a few shows on the Hospital Music tour (Awesome!) but can't make it work this time...
Matt keeps hinting of coming to Oz, but nothing seems to eventuate - so a DVD just for me please?
Even a youtube tour series, that would be very interesting. Maybe recording a live performance for the end of every video, then by the end of the tour it can be compiled into a full concert performance.
You could even add that into the VIP experience too, you will be featured in the video of your tour date.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1XNqDAmXLc
Also, I think a great idea for a music video for one of the revisited songs on "I Miss New Wave" is to let fans bring signs saying what "Beautiful Midnight" meant to them, splice it all together, BAM.
Prairieboy 17
Name: Everett
Lol we sure do! ;) Saves me the 6 hour drive to Calgary
Interesting video example. I liked seeing the setup of their Meet and Greet. It seemed like an intimate, informal setting.
Yeah, passing through and skipping an entire province in order to tour another province always made me feel a little bad for you guys.
Meh...hasn't been the best track record for Matt when he's toured here. Seems like we've had more than our fair share of idiots at his shows. I'd go regardless (Calgary or Saskatoon) - nice that the drive will be a bit shorter though. Less money on gas = more for merch :)
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Port Moody Mayor Rob Vagramov reads a statement during a news conference after being charged with sexual assault, at City Hall in Port Moody, B.C., on Thursday March 28, 2019. A sexual assault case involving the mayor of Port Moody, B.C., will return to court on Nov. 13, but the politician’s lawyer says "alternative measures" are being pursued that could see it resolved outside court. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Port Moody mayor goes back on unpaid leave during sex assault investigation
Rob Vagramov said he intends to return as mayor in three or four weeks
Katya Slepian
The mayor of Port Moody is going on leave, again, while an investigation into sexual assault allegations continues.
Mayor Rob Vagramov was charged in connection with an alleged incident in Coquitlam in April 2015 when he was a city councillor. He was elected mayor in October 2018.
READ MORE: Port Moody mayor takes leave of absence to fight sex assault charge
Vagramov initially took a leave in March when the sexual assault charge came to light. He has denied the allegations and returned to the mayor’s seat in September, despite the investigation still ongoing.
Last week, councillors voted 4-3 in favour of a motion that called on Vagramov to resume his unpaid leave.
In a statement Wednesday, Vagramov said the city needs to “turn down the dramatics, and focus on the work at hand.”
“There is no legal requirement for me to be away from my elected role, but today I am exercising my discretion to go back on leave without pay until I am cleared of the charge held against me,” Vagramov said.
Coun. Steve Milani will step into the acting mayor role, but Vagramov said he plans to return to the mayor’s seat in three to four weeks.
@katslepian
katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca
Pot use admission at U.S. border snagging Canadian boomers, says lawyer
B.C. principal suspended for failing to help student who reported inappropriate touching
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ARTS PAPER
Citizen Contributions
Member Orgs
News From The Pews
Queen Of The Week
Youth Arts Journalism Initiative
Nearly 2,000 Walk To End Alzheimer's
Jamiah Green | September 30th, 2019
Culture & Community | Lighthouse Point | Morris Cove | Public Health
Denise Loeb, Kyley Reed, Dorothy Franco-Reed, and Robin Sharp. Jamiah Green Photos.
Kyley Reed felt helpless when her mother Dorothy Franco-Reed started experiencing symptoms of Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease five years ago. Now, both of them are walking so more families don’t have to experience that fear—or that fight—alone.
Sunday morning, Reed and her mom joined over 1,800 participants at the Walk to End Alzheimers—New Haven, a fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association held at Lighthouse Point Park. With a total of 257 teams participating, the event raised a total of $285,209, which is 75 percent of an overall $380,800 goal.
Walk Manager Denise Loeb and Executive Director Robin Sharp said that the funds will go directly to research into the causes, treatment and prevention of the disease. They noted that thousands of Americans don’t know how to recognize symptoms or seek support for Alzheimer's and dementia, which is why the association has a 24/7 hotline and offer information and data on its website.
“The biggest roadblock is getting people to know how to do it,” Loeb said.
Part of spreading the message, Loeb added, is having participants tell their stories. Sunday, Reed became emotional as she recalled noticing the signs and symptoms of Early-onset Alzheimer’s in her mom, who was diagnosed at the age of 59 in 2018.
Beside her, Franco-Reed listened intently, describing her own experience with the disease. Despite a diagnosis last year, she is remaining active, determined to fight it for as long as she can. As a dedicated daughter, Reed is doing everything she can to slow the disease down.
“We didn’t ask for this disease,” Franco-Reed said.
Other walkers came out because they had lost family members and friends to Alzheimer’s. April Martindale, a participant in “Team Prunes,” lost her father to the disease. Now, she said, she walks to show support for other victims of the disease (the Alzheimer’s Association describes it as an epidemic), which impacts both patients and their families.
She added that she was touched by the level of community support at the event, which included a “Promise Flowers” section, two-mile course and welcome ceremony.
At the “Promise Flowers” stand, participants could pick out flowers with color-coded meanings: blue for a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia, yellow for a caregiver, purple for a participant who has lost someone to Alzheimer’s, and orange for anyone who supports “seeing a world without Alzheimer’s.”
"The saddest thing to witness every year is seeing someone or a family pick up a purple flower for the first time," said a volunteer named Wendy.
“Keep learning and keep pushing,” added Co-Tech Traci O’Brien.
Arts Workforce Initiative Sponsorship
Milton Fisher Scholarship
Arts Awards
Make Music Day
Copyright 2020 Arts Council of Greater New Haven. All Rights Reserved. Website Design by IMPACT
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Hunterdon County's START program going statewide
People throughout New Jersey battling addiction or other crises will now get a fresh START.
Hunterdon County's START program going statewide People throughout New Jersey battling addiction or other crises will now get a fresh START. Check out this story on mycentraljersey.com: http://mycj.co/2f6pSIb
Mike Deak, @MikeDeakMyCJ Published 5:49 p.m. ET Oct. 31, 2016 | Updated 5:54 p.m. ET Oct. 31, 2016
Hunterdon County's START program, which gives information to those battling addiction and other crises, will be expanding throughout New Jersey.(Photo: ~File)
FLEMINGTON - Thanks to a program pioneered by the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office, people throughout New Jersey battling addiction or other crises will now be able to have a fresh START.
The three-year old START (Steps to Action Recovery and Treatment) initiative, which provides a packet of direct referral information, will now be available to people throughout New Jersey, said Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III.
And there is a possibility that federal agencies may also adopt the program.
START recognizes the importance of letting drug users know that they can safely seek treatment and encourages them to take the first step on the journey to recovery. It is one of the primary weapons in the arsenal in the county's escalating war against the use of heroin and other opiates that has reached record numbers.
READ: A new START for Hunterdon addicts
READ: Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies fighting substance abuse
“The START Initiative is endorsed by the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police and is going operational in other counties," said John Kuczynski, chief of detectives in the prosecutor's office. "The response has been excellent. Law-enforcement agencies throughout New Jersey have embraced the START program concept. Police officers and troopers deliver the referral and resources packet to families and victims at the time of their crisis. We are enthusiastic about expanding the program throughout New Jersey and beyond.”
START, designed in collaboration with the Safe Communities Coalition, has distributed more than 2,000 packets of the potentially lifesaving information in the last three years.
In the past, the START packets have been given to people who have been arrested on drug charges or treated in emergency rooms.
READ: Raritan Township man accused of selling $20K of heroin to undercover cop
READ: 2 heroin overdose victims saved in 10 hours
But in the past three weeks, Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office detectives placed more than 500 START packets in the county libraries, other community locations, and replenished local police and State Police agencies.
The new START packets, said Lesley Gabel, Safe Communities Coalition project director, not only will have information on addiction services, but includes information on prescription pill safety and pill disposal, as well as other mental health issues.
“Getting the message out to the public and letting them know about the valuable resources that are available is vital to helping people prevent addiction, overdoses and cope with their problems," Kearns said. "Our core responsibilities are to enforce the laws, while at the same time, striving to save lives. Law enforcement will not be able to arrest our way out of this epidemic. We will do justice and seek to preserve the quality of life that we enjoy here in Hunterdon County and throughout the state.”
Community partners, such as Hunterdon Healthcare, the clergy from Hunterdon’s One Voice and various other human services groups in the county, are participating. The Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office has also partnered with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Community Outreach Program and has provided the START initiative to outreach representatives in every county in New Jersey.
“Because the heroin epidemic is nationwide, the START Initiative is also being provided to United States Department of Justice’s National Criminal Justice Reference Center. We had discussions last week with our federal partners about START and our Diversion Program for Adolescents known as LEAP (Law Enforcement Adolescent Program)," Kuczynski said.
The START initiative will also be presented to the New Jersey Traffic Officers Association on Wednesday.
The START referral packets are assembled and provided by the Safe Communities Coalition staff and volunteers.
For more information, visit www.safecoalition.org.
Download our apps and get alerts for local news, weather, traffic and more. Search “MyCentralJersey” in your app store or use these links from your device: iPhone app | Android app for phone and tablet | iPad app Don't forget to 'like' us on Facebook!
Read or Share this story: http://mycj.co/2f6pSIb
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Two-year home improvement battle solved in two weeks with NBC12
Solving home improvement disputes
By Diane Walker | February 14, 2019 at 9:17 PM EST - Updated February 14 at 9:19 PM
RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - A two-year battle over home improvements was solved in about two weeks once NBC12 On Your Side Investigators stepped in.
Probably the best way to ensure everything goes smoothly during home improvements is to be home when a pricey job is being done. David Binhammer was not.
He says he wasn’t home because his wife was in New York and she needed him there. David trusted Lowe’s implicitly and says he did business with the one at Winterpock in Midlothian for 25 years.
“The actual Lowe’s employees come and fish when I’m not here," said David. “They had a boy scout jamboree here one time when I was in Canada.”
So, with confidence he paid $13,950 with his number one credit card - Lowe’s American Express. David says he had no reason to fear anything would go wrong with siding and trim installation on his garage, but says it was nightmarish the times he was home.
“I saw them with step ladders against the siding with no like towel or a cushion," he said. "There’s dents and scratches in the siding. There’s another bent over nail. Like right in your face. They are all like this. I saw them, Diane, carrying cases of this really expensive materials. More than one guy carrying it and then just throwing it on the ground.”
Lowe’s and the Virginia Board of Contractors put a different gloss on David’s concerns. In a letter, the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation stated it did not violate regulations suggesting it was cosmetic.
“When you tear somebody’s roof, how is that cosmetic?” David asked.
David claims the contract terms were not followed which provided for window caulking, a final walk through and a barrier to keep water from falling behind the siding. In addition he says the subcontractor’s crew disrespected his property.
“Somebody’s gone to the bathroom and wiped himself with the card board boxes and left it all right there. Wow. Who cleaned that mess up?” said David while pointing to himself.
NBC12 contacted that subcontractor, Adams Home Exteriors, Wednesday night. We were told no comment and that their attorney would be calling Thursday. So far, no call.
The resolution with Lowe’s is welcomed news. The Home Improvement giant apologized for the delays. David is satisfied but can’t disclose the details. He said he had not heard from Lowe’s since last June and NBC12 was his last hope.
“You all are going to be the only people who make them make it right." he said.
Diane Walker
Anchor/investigative reporter
Diane Walker is an anchor for NBC12 and Fox News at 10. She is also the 12 On Your Side Reporter investigating consumer issues and solving problems.
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MMSD begins first steps in finding an interim superintendent
MMSD School Board Members on Superintendent's Legacy
Community leaders look forward to new MMSD superintendent
Posted: Mon 8:58 PM, May 13, 2019 |
Updated: Mon 9:42 PM, May 13, 2019
In a Special Board of Education meeting Monday night, the Madison Metropolitan School Board met to being talking about what the process should look like when hiring an interim superintendent. Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham resigned May 6 during a closed meeting with the board.
Discussion at the board meeting included if the community would have input on the interim superintendent, when the interim would be named, and if the interim should come from within MMSD or outside.
Four of the board members voiced strong support that the interim superintendent should be an internal candidate coming from within MMSD. Other board members said they were open to the idea of both internal and external candidates.
Earlier the board had said it would like to name the interim by the end of May. At Monday’s meeting, there was talk of wanting to name an interim between June 1 and July 1.
While Cheatham was present in the meeting, she was only being used as a reference point in the discussion. She voiced her support and concerns for finding an interim.
“I will work with whatever [the MMDS board] layout,” said Cheatham. “I will make sure that the transition is smooth and successful.”
Cheatham expressed to the board that there is concern when it comes to the overlap of her exiting and the interim taking over.
“I want to be the only superintendent for as long as I can be that person,” said Cheatham. “I need to be able to lead.”
Right now, Cheatham will stay on as superintendent until the end of August. At that time, she is leaving for a faculty position at Harvard University.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Mary Burke, board president, said she would take the notes from the meeting and draft a timeline for what is next.
To watch the full discussion of the open meeting from Monday night, click here
Final candidate for Madison school district superintendent meets with community
Search for new Madison school superintendent continues with second of three finalists
Wisconsin choice schools win lawsuit over virtual learning
"Day in the District" visits begin in search for new Madison School District superintendent
Public has the chance to meet finalists for Madison superintendent this week
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Sports TV/Radio listings
A look at the upcoming sports broadcast schedule
Sports TV/Radio listings A look at the upcoming sports broadcast schedule Check out this story on news-leader.com: https://www.news-leader.com/story/sports/2014/06/09/sports-tvradio-listings/10261175/
Published 7:33 p.m. CT June 9, 2014 | Updated 7:53 p.m. CT June 9, 2014
File Art(Photo: News-Leader)Buy Photo
MLB: Regional coverage, L.A. Dodgers at Cincinnati or Boston at Baltimore, 6 p.m. — MLB Network
Interleague: St. Louis at Tampa Bay, 6 p.m. — Fox Sports Midwest, KTXR 101.3 FM
American League: Cleveland at Kansas City, 7 p.m. — Fox Sports Midwest Plus, KADI 1340 AM
Texas League: Tulsa at Springfield, 7 p.m. — KWTO 98.7 FM
NBA playoffs: Finals, Game 3, San Antonio at Miami, 8 p.m. — ABC
Criterium du Dauphine: Stage 3, Ambert to Le Teil, France (same-day tape), 5 p.m. — NBCSN
American League: Minnesota at Toronto, 11:30 a.m. — MLB Network
American League: Cleveland at Kansas City, 1 p.m. — Fox Sports Midwest, KADI 1340 AM
American League: Boston at Baltimore, 6 p.m. — ESPN
Texas League: Northwest Arkansas at Springfield, 7 p.m. — KWTO 98.7 FM
Criterium du Dauphine: Stage 4, Montelimar to Gap, France (same-day tape), 5 p.m. — NBCSN
NHL playoffs: Finals, Game 4, Los Angeles at N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m. — NBCSN
MLS: Dallas at Portland, 9 p.m. — ESPN2
Bobby Petrino will be MSU's next football coach
Bobby Petrino's contract details at MSU
LIVE: Semifinal night at Tournament of Champions
LIVE: Opening night of Tournament of Champions
5 things to know about MSU coach Bobby Petrino
What the national media says about Petrino
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Woman Talks Back to Harasser; He Hits Her in the Face
The attack coincides with legislation outlawing 'street harassment' in France
By Luke Roney, Newser Staff
(The Guardian via YouTube)
(Newser) – Surveillance video footage of a 22-year-old woman being hit in the face in front of a Paris café has again pushed the issue of sexual harassment to the forefront in France, the Local reports. Marie Laguerre was walking home on July 24 when, she says, a man passed her on the sidewalk in front of a café and made lewd noises and comments. Her response: "Ta gueule!" (shut up). They kept walking in different directions. But the man picked up an ashtray from a table and threw it at Laguerre, who yelled at him. "I felt hatred. I refused to be demeaned," she told Le Parisien, per the Guardian. Then the man walked back to Laguerre, hit her in the face, and walked away. Since the attack, Laguerre says she has suffered headaches and neck pain. The video went viral after Laguerre got it from the café owner and posted it online.
So-called "street harassment" is an ongoing issue in France; in a 2015 survey, 100% of female commuters polled said they had been sexually harassed. Regarding the attack on Laguerre, French Equalities Minister Marlène Schiappa said she was outraged, but not surprised. Schiappa was the driving force behind new legislation that will impose fines of $105 to $878 for annoying, following, and threatening women. She tells the BBC that authorities should start handing out fines this fall. As for Laguerre, "I am sick of feeling unsafe walking the street. Things need to change, and they need to change now," the Guardian quotes her as saying. Though an inquiry has been opened, authorities have yet to identify a suspect. (Read more assault stories.)
Next on Newser: No Charges for Minnesota Cops Who Fatally Shot Man
JOSEPH ANGEL
Aug 1, 2018 12:37 PM CDT
The salient fact left out of this story by the wretched 'journalist' is that the 'Frenchman' perp is a muslim.
Joseph Burnside
I noticed none of the French "men" came to her aid. That guy would have gotten his ass kicked in any city in the USA.
Best to ignore comments whatever situation;
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Simon Bridges suggests New Zealand teams up with India on space exploration
Dan Satherley
Watch: Rocket Lab successfully launches Electron rocket. Credits: Video - Newshub; Image - Getty
Simon Bridges has proposed New Zealand team up with India on "space cooperation".
The National Party leader has just wrapped up an "invigorating, exciting" trip to the subcontinent, saying everyone there is "crying out for our products".
"A high-quality comprehensive free trade agreement is where our sights should be," he wrote on Facebook on Saturday, bemoaning the cost of Kiwi wine in the world's largest democracy.
"Tariffs on the wine are 150 percent, so I haven't been reaching for the Oyster Bay sav while I've been here."
He said just "selling more stuff" to India wasn't an option, "particularly dairy. We are not and will never flood this market. We want to do more with India, not just sell more".
Bridges suggested New Zealand could find more opportunities in things we have in common, like a love of cricket.
"How do we work together on that? Youth exchanges? And what about something as left-field as space cooperation. India will any day now become the fourth country to land on the moon. New Zealand manufactures components for space exploration, it may be a fertile area for us to explore."
India's first attempt at landing a probe on the moon was declared a failure less than an hour-and-a-half after Bridges' Facebook post however, scientists losing contact with the Vikram lander about two kilometres from the moon's surface.
Has Rocket Lab made New Zealand a launch pad for United States defence satellites?
Rocket Lab set to put NASA satellites in orbit
Rocket Lab's latest launch a success
New Zealand became the 12th country to put satellites in space last year, with the launch of Rocket Lab's Electron. India was the seventh, achieving the feat in 1980.
Non-space flights a 'logical next step'
Bridges said direct flights to India - presumably in planes, not spaceships - would be a "logical next step".
"The Prime Minister and her ministers should visit India often," he wrote. "I would if I was Prime Minister."
Accompanying Bridges on his week-long trip were National MPs Gerry Brownlee and Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi.
"India is an exciting place. It is the biggest population of under 35-year-olds in the world and growing, reportedly needing a million more jobs each month for that younger demographic," Bridges said.
"Our countries have plenty we can offer each other and we need to realise the potential."
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Category: Jay Lindgren
Nicholas Alahverdian | A Victim of RI State-sponsored Torture
Nicholas Alahverdian was hired at the tender age of 14 as a legislative aide for the House of Representatives in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He wanted nothing more than to go to school and work at his State House job. Nicholas loved working in the House Chamber and serving the members of the RI General Assembly.
New book out now from Nicholas Alahverdian: “Dreading and Hoping All” — Read the first chapter for free by clicking the image above
A dysfunctional family
Alahverdian had a problem. His mother and stepfather drank heavily. This worsened after they split and Nicholas lived with his alcoholic mother. Her drinking became worse when Alahverdian’s grandfather died.
VIDEO: Nicholas Alahverdian – Tortured, Abused, and Exiled for Political Activism
She did not bring him to school. Instead, he spent his days at the library and then went to the Capitol in the afternoon. Nicholas Alavherdian made his way to the Rhode Island State House on the RIPTA bus. He traveled to downtown Providence on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays when the House and Senate met for legislative business and committee hearings.
From left: Rep. Frank Montanaro, Lobbyist Nicholas Alahverdian, Rep. Paul Moura, and Sen. John Tassoni in a Providence Journal photo essay from 2002
Life at the State House
Some people would find working in the labyrinth that is the Rhode Island State House to be daunting and harrowing. Ever the quick learner, Nicholas didn’t feel that way. He swiftly learned how a bill became a law, who the power players were, which clerk had the best chance of putting a bill first on the committee docket, and other details that most lobbyists take years to learn. Alahverdian learned from the best.
Nicholas refused to stay at the DCYF Headquarters during the day because he was a Rhode Island Government employee at the State House
Alahverdian charmed the legislators he worked with. He was invited to fundraisers and the representatives and senators enjoyed his presence. Knowing that he was often left hungry because of his mother’s alcohol addiction, the state legislators even gave him money or invited him to their homes for meals. They wanted to make sure he would have the basic necessities of life.
Nicholas was being abused and neglected at home, and this was common knowledge. But what happened next would spark the most heinous case of torture and abuse that the child welfare system has ever seen. Alahverdian began to demand that he be given a normal and consistent school placement. This occurred after he was taken from his mother due to her parental incompetence.
A portrait of Nicholas Alahverdian. © 2019 The Nicholas Edward Alahverdian Trust.
“A waste of taxpayer money”
The officials in charge of his case, among them a corrupt social worker named Ron Razza, called Nicholas Alahverdian a “waste of taxpayer money.” Other DCYF staff including Mike Burk (the same Michael S. Burk of the Tiverton, RI Democratic party and longtime assistant to the Executive Director of DCYF) even lobbied state representatives to get him fired from his job with the House of Representatives.
Ron Razza, Rhode Island DCYF
Nicholas Alahverdian took matters into his own hands and left the Rhode Island House of Representatives Legislative Aide position on his own accord. He thought it would be a temporary leave of absence.
The youngest lobbyist in history
Nicholas became a registered lobbyist in 2002 and advocated for foster care reform and a permanent school placement. This was not just for him — it was a mission to improve care for all children and adolescents in DCYF care. When Alahverdian registered as a lobbyist, he became the youngest lobbyist in the history of the State of Rhode Island.
Nicholas testified before committees and commissions. He issued detailed briefs on the pitfalls and failures of the state agency charged with caring for neglected and abused children. Alahverdian exposed the wrongdoings of staff and the criminal records of employees and contractors. He made a concerted effort to illuminate the inconsistencies in providing education. This was mainly due to the inherent instability provided by the cruel and abhorrent practice of night-to-night placement.
Alahverdian continued his advocacy work while in the night-to-night program where he was denied a permanent home and academic placement. Nicholas began to draw attention from more representatives and senators who demanded that Judge Jeremiah order a permanent home to be found for him. But Judge Jeremiah and Governor Carcieri had other plans for Alahverdian.
Nicholas Alahverdian began to get more and more attention. His case was covered by The Providence Journal, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, and Cumulus Broadcasting, among others. Nicholas was even scheduled to appear on The O’Reilly Factor and the Today show on NBC.
However, Rhode Island officials had enough of the embarrassment. The corrupt officials, namely Judge Jeremiah, Governor Donald L. Carcieri, DCYF Director Jay Lindgren, and others worked to snuff Alahverdian and his story out of the press to protect their reputation.
Rhode Island Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah
Alahverdian was sent far from home where he was allowed to contact no one at all. He was refused communication with the legislators who had fought on his behalf. He was refused contact with lawyers. Alahverdian was refused to file a lawsuit or contact the courts to contest the lockdown placements where he was unlawfully held.
The torture of Nicholas Alahverdian
When Nicholas Alahverdian was sent to Nebraska and Florida, the state officials knew these facilities were dangerous. This knowledge was supplied to the state officials in the form of grand jury reports issued by the respective states through what is called the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.
Governor Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island was responsible for one of darkest periods in Rhode Island DCYF history
Nicholas was sent far from home in violation of Rhode Island General Laws as well as U.S. federal law. Rhode Island law holds that a child be placed in the least restrictive setting possible. Instead, Alahverdian was placed hundreds of miles from home in places where he was allowed to contact no one and where he was beaten on a daily basis.
Nicholas was also raped on multiple occasions at the facility in Florida, and news articles covering the crime exist to support the claim made in Alahverdian’s lawsuit. The rapist, Rhonda Smith, pleaded guilty in a Florida court.
The Bradenton Herald reported on October 23, 2004:
A technician at Manatee Palms Youth Services was arrested Thursday on a charge she sexually battered a 17-year-old male at the facility.
Rhonda Smith, 23, of Bradenton was accused of molesting the teen on three separate occasions, according to an arrest report filed by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. Smith admitted to the battery, the report said, and she was arrested on a charge of sexual battery.
According to the report, Smith was a clinical health technician at Manatee Palms Youth Services, placed there by Advance Personnel Services Inc. Advance Personnel Services officials said the woman is no longer employed by the company and that she was applying to the sheriff’s office the day the teen told authorities about the battery. She is free on bond.
Officials at Manatee Palms Youth Services directed questions to a corporate office. An official at its corporate office said the company is cooperating with authorities but had no further comment.
The Bradenton Herald also reported on another abusive individual hired by the Florida facility and published it in the same article:
In August 2003, an off-duty Manatee Palms Youth Services mental health technician was arrested for asking a 15-year-old girl to have sex with him on camera, an arrest report said at the time. The case against Jaimie Rivera, 43, is still pending.
Alahverdian was left at the Florida facility even as his RI DCYF social worker demanded that he be removed due to the torture he was enduring when she visited. The social worker remarked in official reports that Alahverdian was chemically sedated beyond recognition. Nicholas was covered in contusions, scars, fresh bruises, broken teeth, fingerprints around his neck, and black eyes.
Nicholas remained in the facility for six more months as the torture, beatings, and abuse continued.
When Nicholas Alahverdian was finally released and flown back to Rhode Island in June 2005, he was a shell of his former self. No longer was he the auspicious young man who carried loads of books in his briefcase on his way to the State House with stacks of legislative bills in the other arm. Nicholas was reduced to a zombie. His cognitive functions and motor skills were impaired. Alahverdian was a vegetable.
Alahverdian was unable to read or write. Nicholas was exactly where Judge Jeremiah and Governor Carcieri wanted him: first, in a place where he could not physically or verbally expose the truth. Second, in a mental state that rendered him incapable of expressing what the hell happened to him in these facilities that were absolute hell holes.
What happened to Nicholas Alahverdian should never happen to any other kid — anywhere — ever again.
Nicholas Alahverdian endured torture as a 15-year-old political prisoner
torture (noun) The action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something.
‘the torture of political prisoners’
‘confessions extracted under torture’
1.1 Great physical or mental suffering.
1.2 A cause of great physical or mental suffering.
Nicholas Alahverdian is a political prisoner. He was tortured by the direct orders of Rhode Island state officials. These officials are acting under the color of law as a result of Alahverdian’s political activism. They aim to further their own personal and public interests.
Posted on September 12, 2018 October 28, 2019 Author Doris SimonCategories DCYF, Jay Lindgren, Judge Jeremiah, Mike Burk DCYF, Nicholas Alahverdian, TortureTags abuse, Donald Carcieri, Family Court, Judge Jeremiah, Mike Burk, Mike Burk DCYF, Nicholas Alahverdian, Rhode Island, Ron Razza, Tiverton Democratic Party, torture
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Contact Us Online Form Staff Directory
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Meet Ali Motallebi – Local promoter of Persian culture and community builder
Our People & Programs
Bringing cultures together at Centennial Theatre
Ali Motallebi loves his North Shore community. Originally from Iran, he has built a successful business and raised a family here. He says, “Here, I’ve experienced the best quality of life for me and my family.”
Community in a store
Twenty-three years ago, Ali bought a grocery store on Lonsdale Avenue that specialized in international foods. It quickly became a gathering place for the Persian community on the North Shore who were nostalgic for tastes from their homeland. Ali would also help them find services in the community and ways to connect to others.
Over the years, Ali has watched his clientele grow increasingly diverse. Ali estimates that over 40% of his customers are non-Persian today, a fact he’s proud of. He enjoys the cultural diversity he encounters in his store and on his daily walks on the seawall. “That’s why I love the North Shore.”
Celebrating Persian culture on the North Shore
A number of years ago, Ali had the idea to promote his rich heritage and bring Persian cultural events to the community he loves.
Ali started booking musical acts at the Centennial Theatre. Over the years he’s worked tirelessly with entertainment promoters to bring shows and performers that would appeal to his friends and customers. He wished to bring the vibrancy of Persian culture – the singing, the music and rich history – to the North Shore, for newcomers from Iran as well as for the greater community. He’s very proud of the thriving Persian cultural and musical scene that exists on the North Shore today.
Grateful for Centennial Theatre
Ali booked the first Persian musical acts at Centennial Theatre and promoted and sold tickets for the shows. He believes the Centennial Theatre, operated by North Vancouver Recreation & Culture, has brought his community closer and is grateful for the space. He has come to know the theatre’s staff well, praising everyone who works there, from the greeters and ticket takers to the theatre manager. He is grateful for their help and says, “We are a team!”
Ali can’t imagine his community without Centennial Theatre. He knows how much it means for people to be able to enjoy live music and cultural events at a reasonable cost. He says, “Centennial will always be my home.”
Continuing to build community
With Ali’s help, Persian music, arts and culture are alive and well in our community. Increasingly, the shows are being attended by people from many cultural backgrounds - a triumph for cultural diversity in our community.
Ali says, “I hope we can keep making our community a better place – we all have to work on it together.” The NVRC couldn’t agree more!
Welcome to North Vancouver Recreation & Culture. We are here to help you make friends and be healthy and active. Learn more
© 2020 North Vancouver Recreation and Culture Commission
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Television|Review: ‘Sally4Ever’ Sends a Black-Hearted Valentine
https://nyti.ms/2yY8Vum
Review: ‘Sally4Ever’ Sends a Black-Hearted Valentine
Catherine Shepherd in “Sally4Ever.”Credit...Sky
By James Poniewozik
There is comedy, and then there is dark comedy, and then there is Julia Davis’s comedy.
The British actress creates and stars in series in which people are either predator or prey. Her shows are essentially social-comedy horror stories, and Davis likes to play the monsters: emotional parasites who worm into other people’s lives and devour them from the inside out.
In the laceratingly funny “Nighty Night,” she played a beautician seeking a replacement for her cancer-stricken husband while he was still alive. In “Hunderby,” a Gothic melodrama parody, she was a housekeeper out to undermine the marriage of the minister she worked for. In “Camping” — whose American adaptation is now on HBO — she was the libidinous outsider who upended an outdoorsy group vacation.
It’s not pretty, but in Davisworld, that’s life. It’s awful, in the best way.
In “Sally4Ever,” a British coproduction beginning Sunday on HBO (and paired with “Camping”), Davis does not have the title role. That unfortunate is Sally (Catherine Shepherd) a marketing executive living a life of quiet dissatisfaction with David (Alex Macqueen), her boyfriend of 10 years and a simpering milquetoast, heavy on the milque.
Sally’s life is like a picture-dictionary definition of “settling.” She sleepwalks through her days at her stultifying office, busy with a campaign to “put the sexy back in eggs.” She has dull meals and boring sex with David. She seems quietly horrified by her life, as if she’s just resigned herself to get from here to the grave with a minimum of fuss.
Yet she agrees to marry David, whom she’s put off for years, after a wretched proposal in which he breaks down in tears. “I’m so ill, please!” he wails. “You’re not getting any younger! You’re not going to meet anyone else!”
There he’s wrong. She meets and falls madly — well, in lust, at least — with Emma (Davis), a magnetic singer and would-be actress. Sally has the best sex of her life (possibly the only good sex of her life) in a scene, directed by Davis, that intercuts their anatomically thorough lovemaking with images of David vigorously flossing his teeth. (All of it is scored, perfectly, to the ’80s power ballad “China in Your Hand,” by T’Pau.)
“Sally4Ever” is not a comedy you’ll want to watch for a nuanced, empathetic drawing of its characters. Everyone around Sally is a grotesque: her co-workers, her parents and David, who’s less a person than a collection of warning signs. Emma quickly progresses from sexy and exciting to smothering, selfish and scheming — the sort of walking appetite that Davis has made an art form of portraying.
The exception is Sally, who’s as close to a rounded person as exists in Davis’s brand of comedy. In some ways, she’s a passive doormat, whom Emma is able to prod into asking David to sign over his house to them over an epically uncomfortable dinner. (“Just to ask you, really, if it’s O.K. we have it,” she finally blurts out.)
But she’s not stupid. It starts to dawn on her what bad news Emma is. (For instance, when Emma brazenly flirts with a married director, in front of Sally, to entice him to cast her in his next movie.) Bad news, however, is sometimes better than no news. Shepherd’s measured performance makes an absurd situation understandable; Emma is the hot stove that Sally needs to touch to remind herself that she’s alive.
The true stars here, though, are the failings of human nature. “Sally4Ever” is the kind of comedy so dark it pushes straight through bleakness to a morality-play clarity: It’s an unflattering, fluorescent light on the manifestations of human self-interest and weakness.
This works better than HBO’s translation of “Camping,” which nudges the story toward sympathy for the characters but stalls unsatisfyingly in between. It can be a lot to take, though, and even after three episodes (of seven altogether), the relentless cynicism can start to feel cruel, or at least repetitive.
But it’s impressive how committed Davis is to her character, powered by blinkered confidence and an utter lack of self-awareness. When Sally arrives for their first rendezvous, Emma says she knew that Sally would show up, declaring, with a worldly air, “I’ve just got a fifth sense for these things.”
What “Sally4Ever” has a sense for, instinctually, is the comedic power of human shamelessness. There’s no shame in that.
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Hunting snipe
Snipe-hunting on subantarctic Campbell Island
July - Aug 2006
Haast Coast
1913 Strike
Banabans
Let’s break out the alcohol
While I was chatting recently with Erick Brenstrum from MetService (who writes our weather columns), he told me that the April 2006 temperature for Svalbard Island was 12.4°C above the 1961–1990 average. In fact, every one of the last six months has been significantly warmer than normal. Although the island is at 80°N—well north of Norway—the surrounding sea was ice-free in January. Global warming is predicted to be more rapid and severe in the Northern hemisphere than the Southern because land heats more rapidly than ocean and there is a lot more land in the Northern hemisphere. Nonetheless, researchers are taken aback by the magnitude of apparent warming in the Arctic. The North Pole could be free of ice in summer within 10–20 years! Many scientists and activists are insistently convinced the world needs to take urgent action to avoid uncomfortable warming. The Kyoto Protocols increasingly look too little too late, and New Zealand has so far done little to reduce its production of greenhouse gases. In the GeoNews section of this issue is an account of a detailed proposal by a new NZ company, BioJoule Technologies, to produce fuel ethanol from plantations of special willow cultivars. BioJoule is being set up by Genesis Research and Development of Auckland, established in 1994 as the country’s first biotechnology company. Last year its founder, Jim Watson, was president of the Royal Society of New Zealand, an indication of the esteem in which he is held. The BioJoule proposal deserves to be taken seriously. Ethanol is a proven fuel for vehicles—we even had a few buses running on the related methanol on the streets of Auckland back in the days of the Liquid Fuels Trust Board in the 1980s. Producing ethanol from plant cellulose as BioJoule proposes has only become economically feasible since fuel prices have risen so dramatically. The economics of the project are strengthened because a useful sweetener (xylitol) and natural lignin—a wood-derived replacement feedstock for many chemicals and plastics—would be simultaneously produced from the willows. Since the fuel is being produced from plants, it recycles atmospheric carbon rather than adding more, as happens when fossil fuels are burned. But not only does ethanol have the potential to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, it would save foreign exchange (remember our current accounts deficit), create local industry, provide a new economically viable agricultural enterprise and by supplanting some animals, help to reduce eutrophication of lakes and waterways. Biojoule estimates that to replace 10 per cent of our petrol with ethanol (320,000,000 litres annually) would require 76,000 ha of energy plantations and about 30 $50 million bio-refineries, although fewer, larger refineries could prove more economic. Vehicles can be modified to run on pure ethanol, however the present proposal is for a 10 per cent ethanol 90 per cent petrol blend initially, but the ratio could be easily increased later. BioJoule has willow trials underway already and now seeks $5 million to construct a pilot plant for making ethanol, xylitol and lignin. I don’t think there are many downsides. Some would lament the loss of land from more traditional agricultural products. There have been suggestions that ozone and some other organic chemical undesirables are produced at higher levels by ethanol-fuelled engines. Social engineers may not like ethanol because it could enable a continuation of our profligate ways with cars. Some would like to see the use of private motor vehicles curtailed, peri-urban sprawl reined in and public transport re-enfranchised. Despite these quibbles, I think that the BioJoule proposal deserves our strong support. Liquid fuels represent only a portion of our energy requirements. Although there are trials in Europe using willows as fuel for power plants, better possibilities may exist. For New Zealand, with a small population and a windy aspect, wind and perhaps tidal power might just suffice. Where populations are dense and wind and water in short supply, other measures will be needed. Solar panels remain expensive, although supposedly always on the cusp of major cost reductions. However, by far the most interesting possibility I have read of in the last six months is a modified form of nuclear generation. Nuclear is, of course, the energy of the universe. It heats the deeper layers of the Earth, fueling volcanism, and powers the Sun and stars. Surely to be pro-solar and anti-nuclear is the ultimate in NIMBYism! Last December’s Scientific American contained an article dealing with advanced liquid-metal cooled reactors (ALMR), in which fast neutrons heat liquid sodium to eventually produce the usual steam. Almost all of the world’s 440 reactors use slow neutrons to heat water, a different process. These reactors offer several significant advantages. Present reactors use only about five per cent of the energy present in their radioactive fuel—the rest ends up as waste. ALMRs use 99 per cent—they burn almost all the fuel. A large power station would produce half a cubic metre of radioactive waste a year and that waste would only need to be stored for 300 years. Furthermore, most existing radioactive waste could be reprocessed into fuel for these plants so no new uranium would need to be mined for hundreds of years. Finally, they can be run so as to produce no plutonium suitable for weapons manufacture. And no greenhouse gases. A tantalizing prospect indeed.
Lost and found on the Chathams
Over the last few years, several worthwhile scientific/ biological discoveries have been made at the Chatham Islands. While these finds may shape the future of conservation and research efforts, they also serve as a vivid reminder that there are still a lot of rocks left to be turned—and not just on the Chathams…
Willow energy
The world’s thirst for transport fuels shows no sign of slackening anytime soon. Indeed, with affluence rising across much of Asia and Eastern Europe, vehicle numbers are steadily increasing. Almost all the demand for fuel is met from petrol and diesel refined from crude oil, a fossil fuel. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon into the atmosphere, where carbon dioxide levels are steadily rising and, in the opinion of many, contributing to global warming. At the same time, oil reserves are becoming depleted and political instabilities in several major oil-producing countries are exacerbating supply worries, leading to escalating prices. Many countries around the world, including New Zealand, are looking to reduce their dependence on foreign oil supplies both to increase energy security and to reduce the burgeoning economic strain of paying for all that expensive imported oil. Further oil discoveries in New Zealand would offset the cost of importing oil, but would not reduce the price motorists pay at the pump nor ameliorate the carbon dioxide problem. (An average vehicle is estimated to emit 53,000 kg of carbon dioxide over its lifetime). In 1994, Jim Watson, a biology professor from Auckland University, founded New Zealand’s first biotechnology company, Genesis Research and Development Ltd. The company’s latest interest is in developing economic biofuels that could be produced locally to replace imported petroleum. After considerable investigation, it has determined that ethanol is an acceptable replacement fuel for petrol and willows belonging to the genus Salix have clear advantages as a raw material for producing biofuels. In conjunction with The Lake Taupo Development Company, Genesis is setting up BioJoule Technologies Limited to manufacture ethanol and other products from plantations of special willow cultivars they are establishing in the Taupo district. What makes ethanol—an alcohol identical to that present in wine and beer—a potentially good fuel for vehicles? Unlike hydrogen or natural gas, ethanol is a liquid at normal temperatures, however it is less volatile than petrol so would require a cold starting system at temperatures below 13º C. Compared with petrol, it is higher in octane rating, but has only 66 percent of the overall energy content. This means many engines need modification to run on ethanol, including larger carburettor jets, higher compression, and altered spark timing. Ethanol also damages a range of plastics and rubbers commonly used in petrol-fuelled vehicles, but none of these difficulties are major. It is miscible with water, so washing away spilt fuel is easy, but it also forms a very stable mixture with 4 percent water, meaning it cannot be distilled to give 100 percent pure ethanol. Again, this is a nuisance but not an insuperable problem as molecular sieve technology can dehydrate the ethanol for blending with petrol. Ethanol is cleaner-burning than petrol in terms of some pollutants produced, although it releases a similar amount of carbon dioxide. However—and this is the big thing—if the ethanol has been made from plant matter, the carbon dioxide is not adding to the atmosphere’s pool, merely turning over carbon a plant earlier captured from the air as it carried out photosynthesis. Although much ethanol at present is made from oil, it can be readily produced from plants. Enzymes present in yeast easily convert plant sugars to ethanol, although simultaneously releasing carbon dioxide. But plants—including trees—always contain much cellulose, a very stable polymer of glucose. Although it cannot be converted directly to ethanol, microbes (but not animals) possess cellulose enzymes which break it down into glucose, and glucose can be readily fermented into ethanol. It is the economic conversion of cellulose to ethanol that is the holy grail with ethanol, and rising petrol prices are making it feasible. Not many plants have a lot of free sugar waiting to be turned into ethanol, and those that do (eg sugarcane) have competing demands for that sugar. But every plant is rich in cellulose and it is not currently used when crops are harvested. Cellulose is also available elsewhere. Waste paper is mostly cellulose and sewage contains a goodly amount of the stuff as well. Another advantage of ethanol as a fuel is that it can be introduced to the market gradually. As long as ethanol is free of water, it can be mixed with petrol in any proportion. Engines burning low percentages of ethanol (eg 10 percent ethanol, 90 percent petrol, E10) require no modifications at all. In Brazil, sugarcane waste is used to make ethanol and cars run on petrol containing 22 percent ethanol. Some vehicles are now being manufactured that can run on either petrol or pure ethanol or any mixture of the two. BioJoule began a 2 ha trial of Salix cultivars in September 2004 on land provided by a Tuwharetoa farm trust and a second, much larger series of trials was initiated in September 2005 on 6.6 ha. On three separate sites, the performance of up to seven different Salix cultivars planted at a density of 12,000 stakes per ha has been compared together with such things as fertilizer trials, land preparation methods and weed management regimes. A third series of trials are planned for setting out in July, 2006 on a further 2.3 ha of land with 24,000 more plants. High biomass yield is the most important trait for a bio-energy crop. Salix has been chosen because of its rapid growth rate in a wide range of climatic and soil conditions. It can produce up to 16 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year without the addition of nitrogen fertiliser. Conventional plant breeding has been used to enhance biomass productivity and significant yield gains have been achieved by crossing Asian Salix clones with European clones. Further gains through breeding programmes are assured. But why use Salix at all? Why not Pinus radiata or maize? Hardwood trees offer certain advantages over other plants. Some of them, including Salix, coppice— sprout again from the roots after felling. The existence of a large established root system means that trunks regrow much faster than those of newly-planted trees. However, grasses also regrow once mown, and some biofuel feedstock options involving use of switchgrass are being promoted in the US. Grass contains much less lignin than trees. It is worth noting that wood and plant cell walls are composed of three main materials—a core of cellulose (50 per cent of the dry matter) wrapped in protective layers of hemicellulose and lignin (each about 20 to 30 per cent). While cellulose can be broken down into glucose and fermented to ethanol, the sugars that make up hemicellulose (mainly xylose) are not so easily turned into ethanol. Lignin is not sugar at all but a complex of polyphenols. In hardwoods, the lignin is mostly in the S form which is more amenable to processing than the G form found in softwoods. Lignin and hemicellulose must be removed before the cellulose can be processed. Most companies interested in obtaining ethanol from cellulose regard lignin and hemicellulose as obstacles. At best, they burn lignin to provide energy for processing. BioJoule sees things differently. It intends to salvage the xylose from hemicellulose and the lignin. Xylose, processed to xylitol, is a sweetener like sucrose, but does not promote either diabetes or tooth decay. Lignin can be used in place of oil products, as a source of raw materials for making paints, resins, plastic films, adhesives and more. Low temperature pyrolysis of lignin yields such basic organic chemical feedstocks as toluene, ethylene and propylene. Hence Biojoule plans multiple income streams from its wood processing— willow stake sales, ethanol, xylose and lignin—and hopefully more. It is for this reason, total biomass refining to multiple products, that makes Salix such an attractive material. So far the company has made Salix selections and determined how it will process the wood, using its scientific and engineering resources and laboratory-scale experiments. The next step is to construct a pilot plant that can process up to 1000 kg of dry matter a day. The processing of woody biomass from corn and forest trees to produce bioethanol has been investigated for more than 30 years worldwide. Current technologies use a variety of high pressure chemical processing systems to disrupt the structure of the wood to remove lignin. These processes expose the cellulose for enzymatic degradation to sugars. BioJoule have evaluated, at laboratory-scale, the operation of the out-of-patent Organosolv process and have shown that this process efficiently separates lignin from Salix cellulose. Incidentally, using pine, a softwood, the process does not work nearly as well. It involves treating willow chips with 50–70 per cent ethanol at high temperature and pressure in a digestor designed by BioJoule. In contrast to lignin produced from the pulp and paper industry, the BioJoule lignins released are sulphur-free natural lignins that are insoluble in water and suitable for use as raw materials in paint, resin and plastic fi lm manufacture. A subsequent treatment of the chips with high pressure hot water solubilises the xylose. The remaining insoluble solids are mainly cellulose. Cellulose enzyme (initially purchased commercially but later perhaps produced by BioJoule generated yeast strains that secrete celluloses) are added to break the cellulose down to glucose, and then yeast ferments the glucose to ethanol. Biojoule believes it can improve the processing pathway in several ways. Firstly, by using an advanced biological pretreatment step to enhance the release of lignin from cellulose, secondly by streamlining the processing to make more use of local sources of cellulose enzymes to degrade the cellulose into fermentable sugars, and finally, by finding microbes that convert several types of sugars to ethanol more efficiently. In addition, the company would like to modify the whole process to run as a continuous flow system rather than batchwise, which is how other experimental cellulose-to-ethanol plants overseas currently operate. New Zealand was the first country to implement continuous flow beer brewing, and we also have great experience in milk processing and papermaking, both industries with engineering parallels to ethanol production. BioJoule actually aims to develop licensable technologies for efficient bio-refineries. These technologies will encompass know-how and intellectual property spanning the development of biomass, including micropropagation, nursery and plantation development through to engineering issues associated with processing and refining of the biomass to generate products including ethanol, natural lignin and xylose. The company hopes to license the technology overseas and generate revenue internationally—once it has proved the system locally. The Salix cultivars it is testing can be harvested at any time of the year and will grow in any temperate country. No other cellulose-to-ethanol operation is also producing xylose and natural lignin, products for which there are substantial markets and which will also greatly improve the economics of ethanol production. Modelling suggests that a biorefinery should, ideally, be located within a 20 km radius of Salix plantations. In Sweden there are 15,000 ha of Salix plantations. The trees are burned to generate electricity and a similar scheme is being tried in Britain. A plantation of 2600 hectares would provide 100 dry tonnes per day for processing with an output of 30,000 litres of ethanol per day, plus lignin and xylose. A refinery of this size is estimated to cost $50 million. In New Zealand, 42 per cent of energy use is for transport fuels. We import 3,200,000,000 litres of petrol annually. The government has introduced legislation allowing the sale of E10 blends, and E3 blends have also been discussed. It has also committed to zero transport tax on ethanol fuel sales. So far, it has not set a timetable for introducing ethanol blended fuels. Moving to E10 fuel means that we would require 320,000,000 litres of ethanol a year. One $50 million plant could produce about 11,000,000 litres of ethanol annually, so we would need 25 such plants of this size, although larger plants may prove more economic. The willows needed to fuel these plants would cover 76,000 ha. For comparison, forestry covers 1.9 million ha, dairying 2 million ha, sheep and beef 10 million ha, horticulture 110,000 ha. In the Taupo area, 76,000 ha of land is suitable for growing Salix. The small trees would be very densely planted, and mechanically harvested, so slopes up to 15 degrees would be suitable. A number of plastics and similar industries are setting goals of adopting P10 (10 per cent of raw material from renewable sources) to reduce dependence on petrochemicals from fossil sources. Biojoule estimates that farmers could make $300—350 per ha per annum from Salix growing—more than most make from sheep and beef farming at present. The Taupo area offers a couple of advantages to BioJoule. Geothermal steam energy could be available for processing, reducing energy costs. There is much concern about eutrophication of the lake water through agricultural runoff. Converting farmland to trees would reduce this problem substantially. The matter of reducing processing energy is worth a comment. Some people hold that the whole business of converting plant matter to ethanol is a nonsense, because the process consumes more energy than is finally present in the ethanol produced! In contrast to maize where for each Joule of energy used in the process only 1.6 joules of energy are produced, Salix produces an amazing 11 –16 joules. Indeed, the International Energy Agency (www.iea.org) projects that woody crops such as Salix will be major contributors to fuel production from biomass in the future. The world market for ethanol is potentially vast. The gap between the current level of fuel ethanol production and amounts countries around the world aspire to use as a petrol replacement by 2010–2012 exceeds 50 billion litres. Higher targets for 2020 will increase this amount substantially. Globally, energy security is increasingly seen as an intrinsic part of national economic prosperity. Until an alternative new fuel emerges, ethanol will likely contribute to economic growth in virtually every economy. In New Zealand we are witnessing a confluence of the need for energy supply at reasonable cost, the need to remediate waterways and lakes threatened by eutrophication due to fertiliser use and animal effluent, and concern about likely global warming due to the burning of fossil fuels. BioJoule’s proposal offers real progress on all these issues.
The menhirs of Rodney County
Far too many folk know I was once a geologist. For such folly, I am often quizzed about this or that rocky feature. Some striking roadside formations in Rodney County are a recent case in point. A certain editor must have had too much time on his hands some months back. He found himself on Rodney Road, a dead-ender running west towards Mount Tamahunga off the summit of the Leigh–Pakiri road, 100 km north of Auckland. The views from here are fabulous, taking in Whangarei Heads and the Hen and Chicken Islands to the north, Little and Great Barrier Islands and the Coromandel across the water to the east, and the islands and headlands of greater Auckland’s eastern reaches, with the Hunua Ranges beyond, to the south. A picture-postcard spread of Whangateau and Tawharanui Regional Park occupies the southern foreground. The white sands of Pakiri glisten below to the north. Near the end of the road, the editor reported finding, “large rounded rock masses...piled up in the paddocks and along the road side...shaped like squat bananas... formed in light coloured rock”. The largest he claimed to be over 3 m high. They were quite unlike the well-known spherical mega-concretions of Silverdale that resemble giant marbles, he declared. So what were they? My partner and I had planned a weekend away from the computers and the Leigh hinterland offered as good an escape as any. With the weather hot and sunny it was a grand occasion to go forth and examine the nature of the editor’s rocks. However, although 37 years chasing students around lower Northland had left me with a reasonable knowledge of its highways and byways, Rodney Road had passed me by. Confirming we had the right location was not straightforward, given that a crucial signpost had been vandalised in the way of today’s world. It was a typical Kiwi metal road, the sort that used to be described as Grade III in my youth, when I walked such stony trails. Some nice homes occupied the first kilometre or two, and we noted some interesting, partly grassed road cuttings containing large rock masses worthy of later inspection. We were perplexed when it seemed we may have missed our target rocks, but then we swung round a corner, drove up a slight incline and there they were—like mushrooms sprouting after summer rain. Over many years I had learned not to rush to judgement and to refrain from making geological identifications from a car window. We stopped. We got out. We browsed. We mused. We photographed. And then we had lunch. Some of the rocks were oval, others amygdaloidal, one or two crudely cylindrical—the editorial bananas. A few were spherical but most were discoid. Sizes varied. The most curious feature was that all were perched on edge in a most unnatural-looking manner. At the end of the road one shattered example lay inside a gateway. Its interior showed it to consist of very coarse, crudely layered, muddy sandstone containing numerous large pebbles. A second boulder, intact, was perched alongside on its narrow base, surrounded by freshly dug earth. Scars on its surface from steel hawsers and chains were clearly visible. Mystery solved. It had recently been erected. We were looking at standing stones, or menhirs; that is, blocks of stone removed from their natural location and erected on another spot. As we wandered back up the hill we examined others. Clearly, a local landowner, with a lot of time on his or her hands, had been indulging in a little free-stand landscaping. Over a dozen boulders had been heaved upright and each balanced in a relatively small hole, in a manner similar to that in which the European megalith builders of 3000 years ago stood their monuments. On one vacant lot for sale, a foreshortened avenue of stones extended either side of the gate. Finally, on the road out, our eyes now wide open, we noted two recently erected small stones near the front entrance of an up -market property. The source of the stones is the hills themselves. The parent rock of much of the area, including the main ridge and presumably Mt Tamahunga, is 20-million-year-old Waitemata sandstone, laid down in very thick, coarse beds. This rock is relatively impervious to water, but the beds have been broken into large blocky slabs by ancient movements of the earth’s crust. Water percolates down the fractures that separate the blocks and initiates weathering on and along the blocks’ surfaces. Gradually the blocks’ outer surfaces alter. Clay minerals form, their presence causing the outer layers of the blocks alternately to shrink and swell as the supply of ground water decreases and increases with seasonal rainfall. This slight movement is sufficient for the outer altered skin to crack and expose fresh rock beneath, allowing the alteration process to start anew. As the years go by, more and more altered layers develop about each block, like so many onion skins. The process is known as spheroidal weathering. Where erosion of a slope occurs, blocks may become exposed on the surface. The outer layers now slough off under the influence of sun and rain. The relatively unaltered inner rock remains. For obvious reasons these residual masses are known as core stones, and it is just such core stones, in their wide variety of shapes, that have provided an outlet for someone’s creative urges. Those wanting to see the various stages of core-stone production could do worse than visit Buckleton Beach, 20 km south on the northern side of Kawau Bay. At its south-western end, rocks in the intertidal zone and the cliffs consist of fractured, coarse Waitemata sandstone. Wave-cut sections through the blocks show all the stages of spheroidal weathering. Visitors to Rodney Road can inspect large, onion-beskinned blocks of the same coarse sandstone in roadside cuttings, but this isn’t an entirely safe place for recreational viewing. The road is narrow and local vehicles travel fast. Auckland history buffs may recall that in the 1840s and ’50s, buildings throughout the region made use of sandstone won from Mahurangi—the same sandstone of which Rodney’s menhirs consist. The chimney and pump house of the Kawau Island copper mine were constructed from this material, as were the window lintels and sills of St Andrew’s Church in Auckland’s Symonds Street. After a few months’ exposure to the elements, these structures began to degrade. The church’s lintels and sills required patching within a few years, then coating and, in some cases, finally replacing with concrete. A similar degradation awaits Rodney’s standing stones, but for the moment they provide a grand echo of the past—and leave me in profound admiration of those ancestors of mine who built the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge. Not only do the sarsen stones of these prehistoric structures consist of extremely hard quartz sandstone that has withstood the elements for millennia, but there was nary a JCB or D8 in sight to assist the ancient master builders transporting and manhandling them. Each stone mass was dragged into place and erected by hand—along with much sweat, blood and tears. The average weight of each Ave-bury sarsen is 40 t. Recently a 100 t monster has been located buried near the main circle. Readers who opt to inspect Rodney’s new menhirs may like to estimate their weight while they picnic and contemplate the magnificent views on offer.
The endless race
The 230-year-old fish
Penguin of the north
Whakātane community furious over destroyed kiwi nesting home
A long-running myth
Kauri dieback: Track upgrades, more access to Waitākere Ranges
Jan - Feb 2020
May - Jun 2019
Mar - Apr 2019
Nov – Dec 2016
Jul-Aug 2016
Sept - Oct 2011
Jul - Sep 2000
Apr - Jun 2000
Jan - Mar 2000
Jan - March 1996
Sep - Dec 1992
Spring in Haast
While all of Westland tends to be damp, southern Westland is moister than elsewhere. Haast receives a healthy 3500 mm of rain a year, but it is more than local precipitation that makes this area wet. A series of major rivers, their headwaters draining the Main Divide from Mt Cook down to west of Mt Aspiring, converge here to empty into the Pacific along only 50 km of coast. Over the last 6000 years, the debris they have carried has built the country's largest wetland plain. Lake Moeraki provides a foretaste of the area to those arriving from the north.
A land transformed
What would have greeted you, stepping out of a waka 800 or so years ago? As familiar as we are with this land under our feet—its outlines and hues, sounds, aromas, the critters that share it with us—our familiarity is with a land that has undergone gross transformation in a relatively short space of time. Step out of a boat today and you will encounter patches of bush, perhaps, or more likely rolling hills of green pasture, salted with sheep and peppered with fences. Roaming these hills a geological blink ago were unique flightless birds, many of them giants of their types, dwelling under a thick canopy of massive trees and prehistoric ferns, forests that were interspersed with extensive wetlands. Present day bush containing stands of native trees are only remnants of the great forests of kauri, kahikatea, totara, beech and rimu that once were. The modern dawn chorus is, likewise, a faded echo of past times, diminished in volume and with some tonal ranges now completely missing. Where, these days, might you find a choir incorporating the boom of moa and kakapo, the ululation of laughing owl, the grating exclamation of adzebill and a panoply of defunct or near defunct songbirds like huia, kokako, saddleback? Te Papa—that’s where! Blood, Earth, Fire is the label of a new, long-term exhibition on Te Papa’s Level 3. It examines the impact of human settlement on the land and the struggle to survive these changes for these hitherto untouched islands’ ark-load of native species. This is an ambitious project given the extent and momentum of change and the time spans involved, but then, Te Papa, with its resources and expertise, is certainly better equipped to tackle such a challenge than most. Beginning with Maori exhibits—intricately carved burial caskets for afterbirths and a selection of worked stones such as pounamu—a thread of settlement-exploitation-miscalculation-mishap moves us quickly to alien introductions. Organisms like kiori and other more recently introduced species of rat, domestic animals, livestock released for decoration or as game, and a long list of pests and biological invaders, are posed provocatively together to hint at the size and spread of this unlikely army. Value judgements are cast aside in labelling family pets, farm and work animals with vermin. All are equal, being equally alien, thus challenging natives for their livelihood. Exotic flora and associated products including fruit and vegetables, many of which are mainstays of our economy, are also packaged with their pestiferous enemies and you can even walk through a quarantined container where fruit fly maggots are writhing among imported foodstuffs, or pause to consider a blender allegedly containing rabbit calicivirus, an introduced disease to control an introduced pest. This, then, is one barrel of the smoking gun. In an adjoining space: the other barrel. The orchestrated process of breaking in the land for human habitation is documented, starting with deforestation and general land clearance which had a duel purpose of sourcing timber for construction while making the land receptive to cultivation and animal husbandry. Farming and rural sector industries are looked at closely. There is even a running collage of 60’s and 70’s TV images: Fred Dagg, Country Calendar, Chesdale Cheese, Scotty and Crumpy, the tailored version of rural life which has been digested and processed into our self-image by an increasingly urban population. A shadowy alcove houses the land that was, replete with life-sized and life-like fauna. Te Papa claims a first—they have deduced through research that the moa (in this showcase, a family of stout-legged moa) was hunched and long, dinosaur-like rather than giraffe-tall in bearing. This doesn’t actually seem like anything more than commonsense. Perhaps their research was based on Issue 12 of NZ Geographic from 1991, which showed and explained why the moa would adopt this pose? But let’s not be picky, these are fine models, hardly discernible from exhibits composed by taxidermy, and they are accompanied by the sounds that these creatures might have produced. The dawn chorus they have recreated is vivid and unique, and the overall effect of this exhibit is rather similar to our Extinction in the Land of Birds poster from issue 44, where an unlikely gathering of different species of birds share a small clearing. In a small theatrette, a looped film called My Place singles out small corners of New Zealand as the (now not so) secret places of artists, adventurers and others who have cultivated a special bond with the land. Particularly notable is the manic passion of a man who throws himself off high ledges in a remote West Coast location to see if his parachute will work. In inimical Te Papa style, the whole exhibition is littered with virtual entertainments, from sawing down your own giant tree to experience the effort required, to prompting a moa to pass faeces with farts and comical expressions and then studying the dung pile for its dietary secrets. This will surely be popular with youngsters. Many of the displays are augmented with excellent maps produced by GeographX, who incidentally provide cartographic services for this magazine. While generally light on accompanying explanatory detail, this is a visually and aurally evocative exhibition, an education and an entertainment, clever in the way it combines so many disparate yet familiar elements into a strong thematic experience. While there is clearly a sense of sadness attached to extinctions and other losses highlighted in this exhibition, there is also an attempt to celebrate conservation efforts and to illuminate as positive developments some of the changes that have been wrought on the landscape. The conjoined Maori perspective lends another resonance to the overall enterprise. As this is the first in a series of long-term exhibitions, you have—presumably—plenty of time to see it. Admission is free.
The memory tree
Kairara: one blink and you will miss it. It’s nothing more than a few farms scattered at the base of Tutamoe Mountain, about 20 km north of Dargaville. Not a tourist in sight on the day I passed through—or on any other day for that matter. Kairara is, for want of a better word, obscure. But behind this out-of-the-way settlement lies a secret from the past—a secret that I had long wanted to discover for myself. However, “wanting” and “doing” can be two entirely different matters, and I pondered this fact as I wound my way through the dusty roads to the base of Tutamoe Mountain in late March. Was my quest inspirational, or just plain foolishness? The closer I got to my destination, the more it seemed like the latter. Not that I hadn’t planned things. Before setting out I had enlisted help, the best help. Renowned conservationist, Stephen King, and local kaumatua, Davis Paniora (Te Roroa), had agreed to be my guides for the day. If anybody could track down the secret of Kairara, surely they could. But did I really know what I was looking for? If the mountain had any answers that day, it wasn’t giving them away. Though bathed in warm sunshine, Tutamoe’s rugged flanks looked dark and forbidding. Only the occasional lone kauri dotted through the paddocks offered any clues of the purpose of our visit. At the bottom of Tutamoe the grasslands were abruptly replaced by forest. Not kauri, however, as you might expect, but pine. Here, as elsewhere in New Zealand, it is a familiar story: native forest logged or burned, and replaced by the “miracle timber tree”, Pinus radiata. We got out of our vehicles and proceeded on foot. I felt oddly cheerful. Beneath the pines the light was soft. Thick layers of pine needles, which had suppressed most of the undergrowth, made for easy walking. We talked as we trekked upwards, ruminating on the past and its legacy: the kauri bonanza of the 19th century, the logging, the gum-collecting and, most shockingly of all, the burnings. In the late 19th century the drive to clear land for new farms reached a crescendo in New Zealand and the match was quicker than the axe. Summer after summer the settlers’ fires raged, and vast stands of kauri (and other valuable timber trees) simply went up in smoke. In a few short decades the kauri forests were decimated. No one knows exactly how much kauri was lost, but the forests that survive today are mere fragments of what existed. Mature, large kauri are especially rare; incredibly, they are to be found over only 1 per cent of their pre-human area. Tutamoe had once been home to large kauri. Even at the end of a dry summer, the slopes were cool and damp. It seemed difficult to believe that indiscriminate fires had raged here, too. Then, just ahead, we saw the proof: blackened stumps. They were kauri, unmistakably. Massive stumps dotted between the pine trees like ancient gravestones. Suddenly, the pines seemed like very poor substitutes. Further on, there was more proof. Rising above us, like apparitions, were the ghostly trunks of large kauri. The charred remnants of the trees rose upwards—six, eight, even ten metres, and then stopped. In the dim half-light of the forests they seemed unreal. Frozen in time, their trunks burnt hollow, unchanged for over 100 years except for the mosses that covered them. Our mood was sombre as we passed by these cremated ruins. I had seen for myself the sad truth: that the slopes of Tutamoe Mountain had once been full of kauri—giant kauri. Yet even as I reflected on their demise, I pondered on their beginnings. I put the question to King: why did kauri grow to such massive proportions on Tutamoe? Was it luck? Was it genetics? Or were there other factors? According to King there are various theories, of which genetics certainly plays a part. But on Tutamoe there were probably two main factors. The first is the soil. Tutamoe is composed primarily of soft sedimentary soils, which enable kauri to establish deep roots and gain good access to summer moisture. Basalt rocks also abound on the slopes of Tutamoe. Originally from the ancient Waipoua volcano, the rocks are rich in minerals which, over the course of time, add fertility to the soil. Almost all the really large kauri today are found on sites with deep, relatively fertile soils. The other important factor relates to the kauri’s longevity. Of all the 15 kauri species found in the Pacific, the New Zealand kauri (Agathis australis) is not only the largest, it is by far the longest living. Extreme longevity, however, poses certain challenges. It means that a tree must be able to survive catastrophic natural disturbances such as floods, fires, landslides and extreme winds. Ecologists now know that natural disturbances have been a major influence in vegetative patterns and processes in New Zealand’s pre-human history. Only kauri that were lucky enough to avoid these natural disasters could reach great size and age. Good luck for a kauri often meant a good location. And Tutamoe Mountain, as it happens, had good soil and good location for long-living kauri. For a start, the bulk of the Tutamoe Range provides good protection to its southern side from cyclonic events that periodically batter the northern North Island. Neither was the mountain at risk from flooding. Even more significantly, Tutamoe’s cool, moist slopes would have offered natural protection from fires and drought, the latter being a primary limiting factor for tree size and longevity. Thus, blessed with a favourable location, some kauri were able to grow undisturbed for thousands of years. Thousands of years? Remarkable, but true. Worldwide there are few trees with lifespan measured in thousands of years, but the kauri is one of them. Only 20 km north of Tutamoe stands Tane Mahuta, the largest living tree in New Zealand. Its age is estimated to be at least 2000 years; nearby, Te Matua Ngahere is thought to be about 3000 years old. And there were others that lived even longer... Proceeding up the south-eastern flanks of Tutamoe Mountain we left the pines and entered regenerating native forest. Here the undergrowth was thick. Suddenly, walking became difficult. The forest seemed to close in around us, and although I was relishing the native bush, I felt my spirits beginning to flag. Perhaps the last part of our journey would be too difficult. There was a clearing ahead of us, a chance to stop and reassess our situation. Maybe cut our losses and head back. I glanced ahead to King. He had stopped on the edge of the clearing and was smiling back at me. I felt momentarily puzzled, but as I drew nearer, King nodded. My pulse quickened. Was this really it? Was this the tree? I looked upwards, upwards...And there, towering above me was...nothing. There was no tree. Only empty sky—and the memory of something that had existed. But I imagined the tree. I imagined it above me, filling the sky. “Kairaru” they called it: the largest kauri ever officially measured in New Zealand. It was big, so big that when Percy Smith first discovered it in the late 19th century, he mistook the trunk for the side of a cliff. Which is not surprising when you consider how big it actually was. In height and girth it was almost half as big again as the legendary Tane Mahuta. Even more incredibly, its timber volume is estimated to have been triple that of our largest living kauri. But not any more, for Kairaru, like so many of our kauri giants, is but a distant memory. For 4000 years or so, it grew safely on the slopes of Tutamoe. It pre-dated the early civilisations—the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans—and outlived them by more than 1000 years. By the time Maori first arrived in Aotearoa, it was a giant. And so it kept growing, slowly, as the centuries rolled by ...until one day, in the smoke-filled summer of 1891, it fell victim to a careless fire. The loss of Kairaru hung heavily over me that day. It seemed as senseless and wanton as the sacking of Persepolis. Yet standing in the place where Kairaru was once rooted gave me strength, too. Like past civilisations, a mighty tree can have a great power, even in memory. That strange power, fuelled by the memory of something both ancient and wondrous, is perhaps the greatest legacy of Kairaru. I had discovered for myself that there is more to a tree than meets the eye. And it was fi tting, I thought, as I paid tribute to our greatest invisible tree, that I should be standing shoulder to shoulder with King and Paniora. They understand the ancient power of the kauri. And their work, for the Waipoua Forest Trust,is all about protecting and restoring the kauri forests for the new millennium. One day, perhaps, there will be a new Kairaru.
Wellington at war—the 1913 Strike
Two roads to Paradise, Lost
Our islands were the finish line for the longest and closest race in human history. A hundred thousand years and more out of Africa, the modern human odyssey of global colonisation ended when the inheritors of two different maritime technologies reached these shores. And the contestants reached the line just 350 years apart, a veritable photo-finish in geological and evolutionary time. The competitors in the human race to Aotearoa/New Zealand started out in opposite directions. It was a handicap race as well, with the longest head start in history. Very early on in the story of modern humans, maybe 100,000 years ago, ancestors of the first group left Suez and walked east, right across Asia. When they were finally confronted by the Pacific, they spread along its shores, heading first, so far as we know, south and east. Their advance did not stop until people were walking on Bondi Beach and watching birds of paradise in New Guinea. Before their odyssey ended, and 50,000 years after their ancestors left Suez, these travellers had made the first truly deep water crossing in history, across the Timor Sea. As people spread across the driest continent, their fi res and appetites changed Australia’s environment, fauna, and flora forever. But the sea barrier of the Tasman was too wide to cross with their technology, so the travels and the changes stopped—for the moment—on its western shores. Nearly 40,000 years after people first camped in Kakadu, and as the most recent Ice Age waned and the great ice sheets of Canada and Scandinavia melted, a final pedestrian human occupation of new territory heralded the end of the American wilderness. Within the geological blink of an eye, people advanced across the dry land of Beringia—now the shallow Bering Sea—passed down the opening corridor between the massive Rockies and Laurentide ice sheets and walked from Alberta to Tierra del Fuego. The mammoths, mastodonts, sabrecats, lions, cheetahs, horses, camels, giant sloths, and other naïve fauna ebbed away. By 10,000 years ago, all were gone, and people were the top predators in a depauperate New World. Europeans have always regarded the cultural, altered landscapes they wrested from the native Americans as a primeval world. In truth, the “American wilderness” that greeted French voyageurs, Hudson Bay Company trappers, and Lewis and Clark was a chimera; the real wilderness was long gone. Wait another 4000 years. The world is warmer and more benign than it has been any time in the previous 100 millennia. A group of fishers at the western limb of the Pacific human arc that spreads from Australia to Patagonia invents the sail, and learns to harvest the wind’s power. With lateen sails on their outrigger and double-hulled vessels they venture offshore. Now, they can travel farther, faster, and safer than almost anyone else, and they become masters of the Pacific’s vastness. These voyagers, the founders of the Austronesian peoples, spread out and down along the already occupied coasts of South East Asia, along New Guinea’s northern coast, meeting and consorting with the descendants of the first migrants, until in the Solomon Islands they were at the end of a springboard to the Pacific. From the Solomons they crossed and recrossed the vast open waters between braids of islands, peopling almost 25 per cent of the globe within just a couple of thousand years. They settled on the scattered shards of land, exploited the virgin resources, changed the landscapes, and made the Pacific their own. By the time William of Normandy was listing his English conquests in the Domesday Book, their travels had taken them from the Straits of Formosa to Easter Island (and probably South America, too), and north to Hawaii and south to the southern Cooks. The other group destined to make our history invented their own sails, probably in or about the Nile valley and eastern Mediterranean, at about the same time as their distant cousins to the east. Gradually, these western sailors ventured along the coasts of the inland sea and then through its narrow western portal, west to the Canary Islands, and north to the Baltic and beyond. Still others went east, down the chute of the Red Sea and out into the Indian Ocean, maybe even all the way around Africa and home again past the Pillars of Hercules. Both these traditions established their own patterns of discovery, occupation, and trade. Arabia, India, and East Africa came into the orbit, and developed their own ways of navigation, based largely on the lateen sail, and linked eventually with square-sailed navigators coming from eastern Asia. Southern offshoots of the lateen-tradition reached the north and west of Australia, and initiated a new era of change, wrought largely by the dingo, but that still did not reach beyond the Tasman’s western shores. Having experimented and explored their abilities, the exponents of eastern and western sailing technologies then shrank the remaining untrodden planetary wildernesses to the South Pacific and remote, inhospitable Antarctica itself. After a brief pause, as if to catch breath before the final effort, people from the Pacific and from Europe set out to conquer the final frontier. And the largest habitable land on that frontier was Aotearoa/New Zealand. The final thrusts of this global pincer movement were made from the north-east and south-west. First, about AD 1290, a bare 50 years before the Black Death brought Europe to its knees, people from the southern Cook Islands established permanent settlements here. That epochal event ended forever the supply of significant, habitable, places on the planet where humans had not diverted life’s evolutionary stream, and nutrient flows to their own ends. It was, literally, the end of the “natural” world. And the Polynesian settlers nearly met their competition head on. Only a hundred years after people began living at Wairau Bar, near Blenheim, an unparalleled, concentrated burst of technological innovation and fervour for exploration and gain began on the other side of the world. Western Europeans spread rapidly and suddenly—within a span of 150 years—west, south, and east. They entered the Pacific through its three easiest doors: Magellan’s Straits, across the swamps and mountains of the Darien at America’s waist, and down the old Austronesian track from Asia. By the early 17th century, the annual bullion runs of the Spanish “Manila” galleons were taking spoils from the American colonies west from Acapulco, Dutch and English ships were coasting western Australia, and Drake was surprising—and upsetting—Spanish shipping off Peru and Panama. Then, just before Christmas 1642, the pincers closed, in a meeting off Golden Bay that was marked by mutual xenophobia and misunderstanding. The near synchronicity of the arrivals is stunning, but much had happened here in the bare 350 years between Polynesian colonisation and European contact. The New Zealand megafauna and much of its most productive vegetation had gone forever. The first colonists had, in that brief period of history, by necessity come to terms with life “the morning after” in the coolest and least productive environment they ever settled. Archaeology is, ultimately, the scientific and sociological plotting of the progress of modern humans from Africa to Aotearoa/New Zealand. The many diversions and delays while technology caught up with ambition and temptation are just embellishments of the record, until history takes up the human tale. The growth of wealth and power in Europe, and of trans-oceanic transport on a comparative shoestring in the Pacific, allowed humans to overcome, eventually, all geographic barriers. The Americas not only acted as entrepôts, they provided the treasure that was both goal and resource for European expansion, and a staple foodstuff for the final Polynesian voyagers. The South American sweet potato was the final horticultural innovation for the eastern migrants. Brought back across the ocean, it then fed New Guinean highlanders as well as Peruvians; a gift from the occupants of the New World to the oldest refugees of the Old. For humans, the 2000 km of ocean around Aotearoa/New Zealand proved to be the most durable geographic barrier of all. It took almost 50,000 years from the first footprints on Bondi until human eyes could gaze out west across the Tasman Sea. The monumental flanking assaults on the final wilderness were over. But once Aotearoa/New Zealand’s isolation had ended, there were no more wildernesses, just different patterns of human involvement with different environments. So, we have the privilege of being closest in time to the final true pioneers, and the final example of an untouched world. We should cherish and honour both heritages, as joint stewards and near-simultaneous discoverers—and exploiters—of the last wilderness. And for the human side, mostly we do. But often more in the breach than the observance. Take, for instance, the oldest substantial dwelling identified so far in the South Island. An East Polynesian-style house stood on the lowest terrace north of the Rakaia River mouth. The land around it is now a 20 ha paddock and camp ground, but when it was occupied the moa ovens on the terrace above were fresh. Its postholes were revealed only when the foundations were being prepared for a new “amenities” building. Construction continued even as the site was excavated. Yes, we actually, knowingly, built a dunny over the remains of our oldest building. You could ask for no more potent symbol for how we, as a country, really feel about our own past in this new land. But, cultural disasters such as this, and the impending loss to “development” of the 700-year-old cultural landscape at Ocean Beach, near Hastings, are nothing to the neglect and mistreatment suffered by the remains of the last world wilderness. Even learned institutions demean it by trivialisation, and we uniformly despise it when it looks like getting in the way of development. The remains of our pre-human past and the sites where they have been preserved enjoy no specific protection in law, and precious little in the public psyche. We have an insatiable appetite for news of new discoveries, but for the moment only, for the post-weather “odd spot” on TV news, and for the exotic. There is little interest in the meaning and significance of the record of our recent past, and little understanding yet of its relevance to the here-and-now, even amongst ecologists. Hence, the record itself is unprotected, except for the scant umbrella for sites provided by some provisions of the Resource Management Act. The only direct legal barrier to overt exploitation has been one provision of the Antiquities Act. And that sometimes fails spectacularly, as a few years ago when a major collection of moa remains was exported without permit and auctioned openly in London, with no repercussions there, or here. The richest recent fossil record in the world—the extraordinarily well-preserved remains of the last wilderness—is therefore in the hands of landowners. Some—the interested few—take great care of the heritage in their hands; most others would if they knew its value; a few actively destroy it to avoid delays in getting returns on investment. While even institutions such as museums and universities emphasise the trivial and sensational and avoid engaging with the values of our older natural heritage, it is unlikely that landowners will get the support they, and the sites they hold in trust, deserve. Even the Department of Conservation, which ministers to the country’s largest estates and the greatest number and variety of sites and resources, still lacks the capacity to understand and conserve the sources of information that should underpin their management and restoration programmes. There is empathy for that record in the conservancies, and some are trying to protect the more important sites. There is little or no support from the centre. It would be much easier to get funds to do even the basics, if the sites contained McCahons. Every art gallery has its catalogue but there is no inventory of Quaternary fossil sites or their values here. We simply do not know what we, and the world, are losing, but judging by the tip of this particular iceberg, it is a lot. Quite simply, these sites and the materials such as bones and other fossils and ancient DNA itself, are our only sources of hard information on what happens when climates change, and New Zealand’s animals and plants and ecosystems have to live in warmer or cooler climates. They are the sources, too, of a rapidly expanding body of information on the way the ecosystems themselves worked, and how they have changed with the arrival of humans on the planet and in Aotearoa/New Zealand itself. Dead bones hold information on environmental temperature, annual and seasonal rainfall, the rate that nutrients such as nitrogen flowed through ecosystems, and the sources of the nutrients themselves. Here are whole encyclopaedias of the past. Pages are being torn from those books daily. Whole volumes are being discarded annually, by well-meaning professionals in other fields, learned institutions, as well as by developers, drainage contractors, and feral goats and possums. If the human inhabitants of Aotearoa/New Zealand, who arrived at its front door almost at the same time, want really to come to terms with their home and to transform the pioneering acquisitiveness of the past (and present) into a mature stewardship of the land, they have to begin by cherishing and understanding the non-human part of the land’s recent past. Regional and national government will have to accept that fossil bones and the swamps and caves they have been archived in are not just curiosities to hoard and to gawk at, but vital links in our chain of being, from the amazing advances of the past, to a fully sustainable future.
The Banabans of Rabi
Decades of phosphate mining on Banaba/Ocean Island left it unfit for growing and gathering food, so the islanders who lived there were resettled on Rabi in the Fiji group after WWII. Most remain on Rabi living a subsistence existence but some still dream of far-off Banaba, now part of Kiribati.
Explosive Cyclogenesis
Although New Zealand is not a large country, its mountainous terrain usually breaks up the weather so that there are marked contrasts between what happens in the north and south, or between east and west. However, a deep low, such as the one that crossed the country on Sunday and Monday the 11th and 12th of June, can deliver drama to pretty much every nook and cranny of the country, albeit with different flavours in different provinces. As the low approached, warm moist north-westerlies ahead of it produced very heavy rain in the west of the South Island, some of which spilled over the Alps into the headwaters of the hydro-lakes. Colliers Creek in the hills behind Hokitika received more than 350 mm of rain over the two days while Franz Josef had over 400 mm. East of the main divide, some 200 mm fell at several sites in the headwaters of Canterbury’s Waimakariri River, over 100 mm descended on Mt Cook Village above Lake Pukaki, and around 90 mm fell at Makarora at the head of Lake Wanaka. Heavy rain also fell over the ranges in Kahurangi National Park, in north-west Nelson, and across the high country of the North Island from Mt Taranaki to East Cape as well as in the Tararua Range. Damaging winds ahead of the low affected much of the North Island, knocking over trees in many districts and blowing the roof off a house near Wellington. In Greymouth, a small tornado ripped off the porch and front wall of a house and snapped a number of trees off at their roots. But the wind’s greatest trophy was the Auckland power supply. After blowing a few Auckland windows in and dropping some trees over roads and power lines, the wind snapped off a small earth wire which fell over high voltage lines cutting power to over 700,000 people. Trains were stopped and buildings plunged into darkness. People were trapped in lifts until the Fire Service could rescue them. Around 300 sets of traffic lights failed causing major traffic jams. Some drivers left their cars and stood in the rain to direct the traffic, while others improvised their own solutions by driving down the wrong side of the road. Petrol stations were unable to pump fuel and many schools and businesses closed, at an estimated coast of over $50 million dollars in missed trade. And then the snow started. Warm moist air wrapping around the low climbed over cold southerly air sliding up the South Island east coast resulting in the heaviest snow in Canterbury since 1992. Roads and airports were closed and many power lines brought down by falling branches or the weight of the snow on the lines. Fortunately for farmers, it was early in the winter and lambing was still many weeks away. Consequently stock losses were small, although fields are expected to cut up and become muddy once the thaw comes. The melt-water, however, is expected to have a significant impact on depleted groundwater that has been at the lowest levels since records began in 1970. After the 1992 snowfall, some deep wells rose by as much as 5 metres, although it may take three to six months for the water to percolate down. Melting snow will also help lift levels in the hydro lakes that were already boosted by the northwest rain. In Timaru, where the snow was the heaviest to fall in 60 years, the weight of snow collapsed the showroom roof of Hervey Motors and part of Fonterra’s drystore. Hundreds of house verandas and guttering systems were also wrecked. Of course, skifield operators were delighted with the snow. Over half a metre fell on most of the Canterbury skifields and 30 to 40 cm on the Otago skifields, most of which are getting ready to open. Some keen snowboarders even got in practice while being towed behind cars through the streets of Timaru. As well as knocking out power supplies, the snow also toppled some cell phone towers cutting communications in many rural areas. Not all of these services had been restored by the time another, smaller, snowfall occurred just over a week later. The low that brought all this excitement deepened so fast as it moved southeast across the Tasman Sea and New Zealand that it qualified as an example of “explosive cyclogenesis” otherwise known as “a bomb.” This term was coined it the 1970s by meteorologists in the USA studying the development of depressions off their east coast, some of which deepen by 60 hPa in 24 hours—thanks in part to heat from the Gulf Stream. A study of rapidly deepening depressions in the Southern hemisphere found that one of the main source regions for them is over the ocean just east of Australia. Here there is a warm ocean current to help inject heat and moisture into the air, both of which are key ingredients for deepening lows. Also, there is a mountain chain just to the west that helps impart vorticity to airstreams as they rise over them. Another factor is the strength of the upper wind system known as the sub-tropical jetstream. So much air rises over Asia during the monsoon that some of it spills across the equator at high levels into the Southern hemisphere. As it moves towards mid-latitudes the air accelerates into the sub-polar jetstream. This year, as it happens, the Asian monsoon has been particularly active, starting early and causing widespread heavy flooding in many countries. Consequently, the subtropical jetstream in our region has been very strong, reaching speeds of over 300 km/h. A strong jetstream helps deepen lows by more rapidly transporting high-level vorticity downstream from the troughs that move through the mid-latitude westerlies from time to time. All of this geography coming together makes the Tasman Sea a hotbed of weather action. And what an intriguing example of the interconnected nature of the world’s weather—that the heat of the Asian monsoon can contribute to creating the cold of a New Zealand winter.
Greyhound racing in New Zealand
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Two men charged over murder of Mitchell Paterson
21 Jul, 2018 1:42pm 2 minutes to read
Fatal crash despite ongoing safety changes
Natalie Ritchie: PM Jacinda Ardern urged by Aussie journalist to 'lead like a woman'
21 Jul, 2018 2:00pm
PM Jacinda Ardern's plans to juggle motherhood and her job have been questioned by an Australian author.
COMMENT: Prime Ministerships are for women—so why is New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern acting like they're not?
It won't be long now before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern comes out with a statement about how she wants her baby daughter Neve to "grow up knowing she can be anything
— even a Prime Minister and a mother!"
Good luck with that, Neve.
After more than half a century feminism, Neve will grow up to enter a workplace that acts like mothering doesn't exist.
Natalie Ritchie is the author of Roar Like a Woman: How Feminists Think Women Suck and Men Rock. Photo / Supplied
And that world will be the legacy of her mother.
Seven months' pregnant at the April 20 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting state dinner in London, Jacinda looked ravishing.
However, those images of that Maori korowai forming a sheltering vignette around her near-term tummy sent two conflicting messages, one a positive: "Look! Mothers can lead a country!", and one a negative: "Long-haul travel? Intense schedule? Easy. Motherhood is nothing."
Back home, Jacinda showed worrying signs she sided with the latter view. She continued to travel and to post what appear to be personally written updates on Facebook until June 18, a few days before the birth, with scarcely a word about fatigue, excitement, or bub-preparations.
What the women of New Zealand would have loved to hear was defiant honesty and connection — "Does this feathered cloak make my ankles look puffy? Put your feet up, mums-to-be of NZ! Pregnancy is harder than being PM! #bumpnation"; "Fave nursery colours? Send your tips!"; a pic of partner, Clarke Gayford, making dinner with the hashtag, #closingtheunpaidgendergap, that kind of thing.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern looked ravishing at The Queen's Dinner during The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Buckingham Palace. Photo / Getty
Yet they mostly got silence. The NZ Government announced on May 14 that Jacinda would work until her due date, with no apparent concessions.
Editorial: Prove your motherhood critic wrong, Jacinda
21 Jul, 2018 5:00am
Butt out of advice for Ardern, urges Shipley
Watch live: Acting PM's weekly press conference
In her handover letter to Acting PM Winston Peters, Jacinda could not even bring herself to write the cringe-worthy words, 'maternity leave'. She called it a 'leave of absence'.
This long feminist tradition of walling out mothers' reality was recapped by former PM, Helen Clark, in an article in The Guardian on June 21, the day Neve was born: "Arrangements were made for Ardern to work until very close to the birth, and then for the deputy prime minister to act in her place while she takes some six weeks maternity leave – although no one really believes that Ardern will be far from her phone! After that, Gayford takes over as primary carer for the foreseeable future," she wrote.
Yet Jacinda seems to have made few 'arrangements' beyond a paltry six weeks of maternity leave.
To dump the care of a newborn on the child's father, and then crow, as Helen Clark did, that "having a baby while being prime minister can be managed," seems to broadcast the very opposite—that having a baby while being Prime Minister can't be managed.
Flipping the script is no solution. It keeps the old patriarchy firmly in place, while pretending to do away with it.
If Jacinda truly believes the Prime Ministership is for women, she will unlock the role from a timetable and conditions designed for a man with a 24/7 wife at home.
How? She will step the PM's workload back to something like 25 to 30 hours, and step up the role of Deputy PM.
She can get a second Deputy. The PM role surely has some trimmable fat: all those ribbon-cuttings, medal-awardings to the rugby under-14s, and stagey 'community' photo opps drop-ins could be offloaded to others.
On duty, she could work from home, or bring Neve to the office.
Is the PM's job too weighty to be part-time? Maybe. Maybe not. Is there a universal algorhythm that says running a country takes around the 60 to 80 hours a week that a male PM works?
Or is that just the comfortable limit of a man's week (when we excuse him from his 'equal' 50 per cent share of the housework and parenting)?
Shrinking the PM's duties to accommodate mothers may seem radical now, but the day must come when we will shake our heads at those dark days when a PM was forced to expel her six-week-old baby from her company in order to kiss other people's babies.
In 1893, New Zealand made history as the first country to give women the vote. It would be great to think that Jacinda can make history again.
What if she led like a woman by forging the first nation to boast a truly female Prime Ministership that accommodated motherhood's sleeplessness and physical debilitation, the time-consuming and unpredictable daily childcare routine, and a child's need for a mother's presence?
Will you do it, Jacinda? I doubt you will. Prove me wrong.
Natalie Ritchie is the author of Roar Like a Woman: How Feminists Think Women Suck and Men Rock, released in June 2018. She is a mother of two teens, and lives in Sydney. roarlikeawoman.com
Man found dead in Auckland motel room after report of injury
Police confirmed the death in Remuera but could not clarify if is was suspicious or not.
Cyclone Tino has forced hundreds of people to evacuate from their homes in Tuvalu
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Baby Accounting
Accounting Web
Following the Leave victory on Friday morning (24 June) and the Prime Minister’s subsequent decision to leave office in October, the government is likely to be in disarray for the next 3-4 months. Politicians and civil servants are trying to regain control of a chaotic situation with no visible long-term plan in place.
A large number of major policy consultations were put on ice during the referendum campaign. With attention diverted to more immediate concerns many of these policy documents may not be released.
The biggest question mark for accountants hangs over the long-awaited Making Tax Digital consultations - which those in the know were expecting to emerge in the immediate aftermath of a remain vote. But with so much else to contend with in Whitehall, the initiative could well be put on hold until a new Cabinet is in place.
The 2016 Finance Bill is already running behind schedule. And with a Conservative leadership election on the offing, it is entirely possible the Finance Act may not get passed as planned in early October.
“If Osborne clings on as Chancellor there is likely to be an emergency Budget sooner rather than later,” predicted AccountingWEB tax editor Rebecca Cave.
Then Cameron goes, Osborne is likely to go as well – so there will be new Chancellor,” she added. “A new Chancellor will have a new vision of what needs to be done - which equals a Budget.”
However George Bull of RSM said early indications are that there will not be an emergency Budget so soon after the referendum.
He added that the referendum has already held up 40 pieces of tax legislation which will now be reactivated.
“Most of these will come into force between late 2016 and April 2017,” Bull said.
Medium term
During the referendum campaign, the Chancellor collaborated on an illustrative Budget with former chancellor Alastair Darling that anticipated £15bn of tax rises and £15bn spending cuts.
If the emergency Budget follows this path, it will most likely crack the triple tax lock with rises in income tax and national insurance. The measures outlined in the Remain campaign Budget included a 2p rise in the basic rate of income tax, a 3p rise in the higher rate, and a 5% inheritance tax rate to 45p.
To keep companies in the UK who are tempted to leave, the rate of corporation tax will probably not be increased.
Looking to the medium-term, the changes we might see in the tax system revolve around the formal date of exit from the EU.
George Bull said in the period prior to exit, two key principles guide the application of taxes within the UK:
“First, direct taxes. These are imposed by UK law but must be operated in accordance with EU law. Second, VAT. This is both imposed and operated in accordance with EU law. For direct taxes particularly, within these broad constraints the rates of tax and structure of the tax system will be set in accordance with the requirements of the tax raising powers of the parliaments in Westminster, Holyrood and Stormont,” he said.
Long term - the future of VAT
The process of divorce from the EU (under article 50) is likely to start in late 2016 and continue to late 2018, or possibly longer.
In the short to medium term, tax and regulations tied to European law - VAT, for example - won’t change.
Changes on VAT on domestic fuel were promised by the Leave side, but are unlikely to happen as VAT has been proven to be the most efficient taxes around the world and collects £115bn a year for the UK government.
Ultimately the VAT rate could even go up as it is relatively easy to implement the change.
ICAS director of taxation Charlotte Barbour told AccountingWEB: “One of the key European taxes is VAT and this collects an enormous amount of revenue. It is difficult to see how this could be radically changed in the short term. In the longer term, of course, there will be no need for referrals to the European Court on VAT matters so in time this tax is likely to become a more distinct and bespoke tax in the UK.”
VAT specialist Rhona Graham said the first casualty may be a proposed change in VAT rate from 1 August 2016 on installation of solar panels and other energy-saving things. A CJEU ruling had required that UK put up the VAT rate from 5% to 20% on such supplies, but this change is not in Finance Bill 2016, so may not now happen.
The UK will be free to extend the scope of zero rating and exemptions from VAT without the fear of a referral to CJEU.
Intrastat returns will cease to apply at the point UK leaves the EU; all sales into and from EU countries will be exports and imports, not intra-EU movements, and will be subject to a different VAT treatment; and VAT on expenses incurred in other EU countries may be more difficult to recover.
VAT MOSS will continue to apply to UK businesses selling digital services into EU, but UK businesses will be on a non-EU basis, so the operation of VAT-MOSS is are likely to be more difficult for UK small businesses.
The tour operators margin scheme (TOMS) will not be so easy for UK businesses to operate.
VAT is likely to become more political without the restriction of EU rules, so changes may be introduced in response to pressure groups.This could introduce more complexity to the system rather than simplicity.
After exit George Bull said the UK has had a number of disagreements with the EU over the scope and operation of UK taxes, including patent box, changes to the taxation of controlled foreign companies, differential rates of insurance premium tax and capital duty.
Bull said: “After the UK has ceased to be a member of the EU, both the tax rates and the structure of the tax system will be determined according to the needs of the parliaments in Westminster, Holyrood and Stormont, subject to the terms of the UK’s settlement with Europe.”
On the direct tax front, Bull said a number of changes are likely around transfer pricing, EU state aid rules, incompatibilities between UK tax law and the EU, and UK tax reliefs, allowances and benefits.
Finally after the UK achieves exit, the government will no longer need to seek European approval in respect of state aid on tax incentives such as R&D tax credits, the patent box, and executive investment schemes (EIS & SEIS), but we may well see more tax incentives introduced to encourage investment in the UK.
George Bull added: “The next few years promise to be very challenging for individuals, businesses and tax practitioners alike.”
What do you think are the key short, medium and long-term tax implications of Brexit?
News: Oakes Accounting
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Movie review: There’s not much good in ‘The Greatest Showman’
Dec 20, 2017 at 11:54 AM Dec 20, 2017 at 11:54 AM
Sometimes plans with good intent can backfire. Take my predilection for knowing as little as possible about movies before seeing them. I don�t watch trailers; beyond knowing a title, who�s acting in the movie, and who directed it, I still thrive on the joy of being in the dark about anything else when the lights go down.
Of course, assumptions are often made. The title �The Greatest Showman,� and the practically unavoidable proliferation of posters showing Hugh Jackman dressed up in flashy ringmaster attire, strongly suggest it�s about circus impresario P.T. Barnum, whose rags-to-riches story would be great fodder for a biopic. Yes, it is about Barnum, and Jackman playing him was a good enough match for me. It didn�t matter that I�d never heard of the director Michael Gracey.
But, safe in my little bubble of unawareness, I�d also not heard that �The Greatest Showman� is a musical. Oh, no! With rare exceptions, I do not like musicals. They generally annoy me. Those rare exceptions? �One from the Heart,� �Phantom of the Paradise� �La La Land� are among them, and I don�t know why. �Rent,� �Chicago,� �Les Mis?� Headache inducing (for me, but lauded by others). Go figure.
So, when Hugh Jackman launched into a by-the-numbers, Broadway-like song at the start of �The Greatest Showman,� any excitement and anticipation I had faded away. In short order, when the film�s second song arrived, sounding similar, and going on and on, a headache began brewing, and I had thoughts of fleeing the theater and bagging the review.
But it�s been five years since I did that, ironically for �Les Mis,� which starred Hugh Jackman. I was determined to tough this one out. Too bad that, aside from a strong, confident, winning performance by Jackman as Barnum, who builds an entertainment empire from nothing, and an equally robust one from Zac Efron, as his business partner Phillip Carlyle � both of whom are graceful dancers � �The Greatest Showman� is far from great.
Its strongest points are found in the acting, even from the actors in roles of lesser characters; and the singing (I�ve got nothing against singing, as long as the songs are good) is top shelf. Kudos go to the vocal pipes of singer-actress Rebecca Ferguson as opera singer Jenny Lind, and singer-actress Keala Settle as bearded lady Lettie Lutz.
But the story I was hoping for is, as necessity demands in an under-two-hour movie, is skimmed over in order to make room for the film�s plentiful supply of mostly loud and mostly lifeless songs that are supposed to tell us of the hopes and dreams inside the characters� heads. Here�s some more irony: They were written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar-winning team who gave us such memorable songs in �La La Land.� Go figure.
A momentary positive note: There�s some very cool choreography, some of the best is seen on a rooftop near the beginning. But as the film progresses, the dance moves, along with the way they�re photographed, all seem to be of one piece. A few more good words: The film zips along nicely when Barnum, out of work but full of ideas, starts meeting up with performers � make that �oddities� � who he thinks people would pay money to see. Enter that bearded lady and the �Tattoo Man,� �Dog Boy,� and both the world�s �Heaviest� and �Tallest� men.
The story�s dramatic element is that Barnum�s show is a sham, but the public eats it up. Also, and explained to lesser degree, Barnum is consumed by his constant self-promotion and desire for fame, all at the cost of his family, whom he loves but unknowingly ignores. A hint of philandering is thrown in, but that plot thread goes nowhere. Neither does Barnum�s brief entry into high society, to the detriment of his relationship with the oddball performers who made him what he was. But if there�s an emotional dilemma in the film, it�s resolved before it can even take hold. The same can�t be said about the movie�s general problems. They remain upfront from beginning to end.
� Ed Symkus writes about movies for More Content Now. He can be reached at esymkus@rcn.com.
�The Greatest Showman�
Written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon; directed by Michael Gracey
With Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Rebecca Ferguson, Keala Settle
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You are here: Home / Recent News / 2019 / December
Distance mental-health provider Regroup merges
December 10, 2019 /in Frontpage Article, News /by Jayme Crawford
The Chicago-based startup has combined with an established player to form what it hopes will be an industry juggernaut.
Regroup Therapy, an innovative startup that uses technology to fill gaps in mental health coverage, has merged with established industry player InSight Telepsychiatry.
Regroup founder David Cohn will stay on at the combined company as chief growth officer, along with other Regroup executives who will be in senior roles.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it creates the largest company in long-distance psychiatry, Cohn said. Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based InSight got into the mental-health business as a brick-and-mortar provider but moved into telehealth.
Cohn declined to provide specific financials but said the deal creates a combined company that will have triple the revenue of Chicago-based Regroup and about 150 employees. The merger will not result in layoffs.
Cohn, who founded the company in 2011, says Regroup merged with InSight to bulk up ahead of what he sees as a consolidation wave.
Regroup had signed up both public and private customers, from correctional facilities to insurers, looking to offer mental-health services. It specialized in scheduled psychiatry appointments, delivered via secure video chat.
InSight had developed an on-demand service to provide services to patients on an as-needed basis, something Regroup’s customers were seeking, Cohn said. “On-demand is a winner-take-all business. They got ahead of this.”
InSight also has a direct-to-consumer business. InSight, founded 20 years ago, took its first outside investment last year from private-equity firm Harbour Point Capital.
Regroup is backed by investors including local venture funds OCA Ventures, OSF Ventures, Impact Engine, Wasson Enterprise, HBS Angels, Hyde Park Angels and Further Fund.
https://www.ocaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/regroup-400x400-1.png 400 400 Jayme Crawford https://www.ocaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.png Jayme Crawford2019-12-10 16:21:402019-12-10 17:04:41Distance mental-health provider Regroup merges
Genvid Technologies Announces Series B – Raises $27M to Accelerate Interactive Streaming Tools + Services
December 2, 2019 /in Frontpage Article, News /by rmackey@ocaventures.com
NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Genvid Technologies Inc., a developer of interactive streaming technologies for game developers, media companies and sports broadcasters, announces its Series B fundraise.
Genvid’s SDK enables creators to build rich interactivity across multiple streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube and more) on multiple infrastructures (AWS, Azure), and on multiple game engines (Unity, Unreal and proprietary engines).
Indie game developers and major game publishers are actively creating new streaming experiences that are only possible with Genvid’s tech stack. Genvid’s technology has already been used in many ways- most recently, powering the latest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive finals on Twitch, and various 5G showcases for Japan’s NTT Docomo.
The Series B funds will be used to further accelerate Genvid’s SDK feature development, as well as build an end-to-end services platform for developers who need live operations, integration, web development for their interactive streams. Additionally, the company will expand its business development efforts beyond the game industry into media and sports, since Genvid’s tech works as well with streaming video as it does with game-engine rendered content.
“We are already the standard toolkit for developers looking to bring rich, two-way, realtime interactivity to their games and broadcast,” says Genvid CEO Jacob Navok. “Our core tools will continue to improve as new features are added to take advantage of 5G, growth in interactive television, and to support the many new digital media formats being created by independent developers in partnership with Genvid, such as the metaverse-like experiences of Pipeworks Studio’s Project Eleusis.”
Leading the round is New York’s Galaxy Interactive, the division of merchant bank, Galaxy Digital, that focuses exclusively on the fast-growing interactive content and technology space, with an emphasis on investments in video game studios, esports, and more.
Sam Englebardt, head of Galaxy Interactive, will join Genvid’s board. “Galaxy Interactive and Genvid share the same vision,” says Sam. “We are strongly aligned around the belief that interactive streaming will be integral to the next major expansion of the gaming market. Genvid’s technology will significantly grow the overall user base beyond traditional gamers themselves and unlock powerful new forms of content creation, consumption and monetization. I believe every company in our portfolio, especially those which are utilizing blockchain and other technologies for the creation and ownership of digital goods, will benefit tremendously from the way Genvid’s technology will marry their products to the rapidly expanding streaming content infrastructure.”
All of Genvid’s existing investors- March Capital Partners, OCA Ventures, Makers Fund, and Horizons Ventures, have joined in this round. And Genvid welcomes additional new investments from Valor Equity Partners and K5 Global.
Together with Galaxy Interactive, Genvid’s board and investor base represent unprecedented game industry insight and influence/investment in esports, game, media companies and other emerging technologies like blockchain and virtual and augmented reality. Valor Equity Partners is led by Antonio Gracias, who sits on esports team Cloud9’s board, while March Capital’s investments into Genvid have been spearheaded by Gregory Milken, who is co-owner of esports team Immortals Gaming Club. Makers Fund is one of the leading game content funds in the world today. And K5 Global is headed by Michael Kives, the former CAA agent who brings a wealth of media and sports connections.
Additionally, Genvid is announcing two new advisors who have been assisting Genvid over the last year. Matthew Ball is the former head of strategy for Amazon Studios and a leading thinker in the media industry, while Anna Sweet spent six years driving the growth of the Steam platform at Valve, led content strategy at Oculus and is now a games industry investor and advisor.
“The media industry has spent most of the last decade focused on shifting content online and figuring out how to charge for it,” says Matthew Ball. “The next decade will be about reinventing this content and creating brand new formats native to digital delivery. Interactivity will be at the core of this opportunity. And Genvid will be one of the key enablers of and creative partners behind these experiences.”
Genvid is also announcing the establishment of its European office in Berlin for business development and technical support, and its live operations office in Irvine, California to oversee infrastructure for clients. The company has over 50 employees in six offices worldwide, including New York, Montreal, Santa Monica, Irvine, Berlin and Tokyo.
About Genvid Technologies
Founded in 2016 by game industry veterans and backed by Galaxy Interactive, Horizons Ventures, Makers Fund, March Capital Partners and OCA Ventures, Genvid offers an SDK for game developers to integrate into their games and allows game developers to make revolutionary broadcasts. The Genvid SDK is a simple-to-use middleware, flexible enough to run on any streaming platform and infrastructure that developers want to support. As a result, livestreams can be monetized through transactions that are uniquely targeted to the individual watching, leading to a significant revenue opportunity for game developers through sponsorships and in-stream purchases. The first interactive streaming tools built specifically for game developers, the Genvid SDK can be downloaded for free at https://www.genvidtech.com.
About Galaxy Interactive
Galaxy Interactive is the newest investment division of Galaxy Digital, a leading merchant bank founded by Mike Novogratz and dedicated to blockchain technology and digital assets. Investing from its $325 million Galaxy Digital EOS VC Fund (a partnership between Galaxy Digital and software development company, Block.one), Galaxy Interactive focuses exclusively on companies operating at the intersection of interactive content, blockchain and other technologies, with particular emphasis on video game studios, eSports, digital objects and related infrastructure tech. The division is based in New York City and is spearheaded by Galaxy Digital Co-Founder and Partner, Sam Englebardt.
SOURCE Genvid Technologies
https://www.ocaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/genvid-400x400-1.png 400 400 rmackey@ocaventures.com https://www.ocaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/logo.png rmackey@ocaventures.com2019-12-02 18:35:382019-12-02 18:35:41Genvid Technologies Announces Series B - Raises $27M to Accelerate Interactive Streaming Tools + Services
The story of two women who’ve raised more than $6 million to start their own ‘fem tech’ company for women and children’s health
Progentec Raises $5M in Series A Funding Led by Plains Venture Partners
10 tech startups focused on improving life for older Americans
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The story of two women who’ve raised more than $6 million to start their own ‘fem tech’ company for women and children’s health January 10, 2020
Progentec Raises $5M in Series A Funding Led by Plains Venture Partners January 10, 2020
Distance mental-health provider Regroup merges December 10, 2019
Genvid Technologies Announces Series B – Raises $27M to Accelerate Interactive Streaming Tools + Services December 2, 2019
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Power Rankings: Packers getting hot
The Green Bay Packers enter Week 16 at No. 12 in the USA TODAY NFL Power Rankings.
Power Rankings: Packers getting hot The Green Bay Packers enter Week 16 at No. 12 in the USA TODAY NFL Power Rankings. Check out this story on packersnews.com: http://pck.rs/2icpZBL
Aaron Nagler, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 2:06 p.m. CT Dec. 20, 2016 | Updated 3:46 p.m. CT Dec. 20, 2016
Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby (2) is surrounded by teammates after hitting a 32-yard field goal to beat the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.(Photo: Rick Wood, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
After their victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Green Bay Packers moved up one spot in the USA TODAY NFL Power Rankings. They enter Week 16 at No. 12.
Green Bay is preparing to face the Minnesota Vikings, who took the biggest tumble on the board this week. The Vikings find themselves at No. 22 after a six-point fall following their loss to the Colts.
Here’s USA TODAY's blurb about the Packers:
Sample size is scant (63 career carries), but Ty Montgomery averages more than 6 yards per. Has he made Eddie Lacy permanently expendable?
And the rankings had this to say about the Vikings:
Might we have just seen Adrian Peterson's final home game for Minnesota? If so, it would be an unfortunate curtain call for an all timer.
Elsewhere around the web, the Packers jumped a whopping 11 spots in ESPN’s power rankings, which puts them at No. 9.
From ESPN:
Do you think Aaron Rodgers has a flair for the dramatic? Over the past two seasons, Rodgers is 4-of-6 when passing 40 or more yards downfield in the final two minutes of regulation. The rest of the NFL is 2-of-39 in those situations. The Packers hope to not need a late-game bomb to win against the Vikings this week.
Over at NFL.com, Elliot Harrison moves the Packers into the Top 10 as well, raising them two spots to No. 10.
Scary stuff there for the Cheeseheads late in Sunday's contest. Don't freak out. A division win on the road is a division win on the road, particularly when it comes in balmy, nine-degree weather. Barring a major misstep against a freshly-blown-out Vikings squad, the Packers will be playing for their eighth straight playoff berth Week 17 in Detroit. How ridiculous was Ty Montgomery, a converted wide receiver, rushing for 162 yards and two tugs on 16 carries? Almost as ridiculous as throwing a ball 60 yards in the effing cold to essentially ice the game.
Finally, Pete Prisco moves the Packers up two spots in his rankings, bringing them to No. 16 overall, just barely in the top half of the league.
From Pete:
If they win their last two, they win the division. It's that simple. They are the team nobody wants to play.
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THE STANDARD IN PDF EDITING
STRUCTURED ASSETS
LIVE OBJECTS
WARPING AND 3D
STEP AND REPEAT
VISIT HYBRID SOFTWARE
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Prepress Inovation
HYBRID SOFTWARE LAUNCHES STATE-OF-THE-ART PACKZ WEBSITE
created: 6 Mar 2017
People could expect a rather special website when it has been created by one of the industry’s leading software companies and this is exactly what HYBRID Software has achieved with the launch of its new PACKZ website.
“This has been a really exciting project to oversee,” says Christopher Graf, managing director of HYBRID Software GmbH. “Being at the forefront in the development of software for the graphic arts market we wanted to build a site that provides a level of varied information which is accessible in an easy-to-use way that is not often encountered.
“The fully responsive site can be accessed from any mobile device such as an iPad or smart phone, with displayed information and images adapting automatically to the screen and platform being used. All of the data is available in its entirety in eight languages – English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Czechoslovakian and Portuguese – and these will be added to as time goes on. It’s a truly multi-language facility.”
HYBRID Software has created an extensive series of short videos to demonstrate the different features within PACKZ, which has established itself as a leading professional PDF editor for packaging and label workflows. The native PDF software, which runs on Mac OS X and Windows platforms and provides 64-bit multi-processing and multi-threading facilities, eliminates the need for file conversions or proprietary file formats. Today, there are more than 1,200 PACKZ licences in use around the world.
“The videos are very informative and easy to follow and have been designed to give the feel of a live demonstration,” says Christopher Graf. “For instance, if someone wants to learn more about the 3D warping facility they can read the technical specification and then watch those features actually being used. “In addition, the screen shots have been designed with a degree of detail rarely seen on a website so, for example, trapping, barcodes and text can be increased in size to reveal the smallest points that an operator might be interested in examining. Potential customers can visit the site and come away with a solid understanding of what PACKZ can do for their business.”
The new website has a wide range of clickable links to social media outlets and enables users to easily download free software, such as the PACKZVIEW app for previewing and inspecting production PDF files. Product brochures can be readily downloaded, while company, technical and support information is all clearly displayed, as well as the latest news on software developments and corporate announcements.
ABOUT HYBRID SOFTWARE
With offices in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the US plus a global partner network, HYBRID Software is a software development company focused on innovative productivity tools for the graphic arts industry. HYBRID Software’s CLOUDFLOW workflow, PACKZ editor and integration products offer a unique set of advantages that include native PDF workflows, vendor-independent solutions based on industry standards, scalable technology and low cost of ownership. These products are used by hundreds of customers worldwide in all areas of pre-press and print, including labels and packaging, folding cartons, corrugated, wide format and digital printing.
For more information visit: www.hybridsoftware.com
Philip Paris
Email: philip@philipparis.co.uk
Website: www.philipparis.co.uk
Guido Van der Schueren
Email: guido@hybridsoftware.com
Jan Ruysschaert
Email: janr@hybridsoftware.com
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Christopher Graf
Email: christopherg@hybridsoftware.com
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Email: miker@hybridsoftware.com
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HYBRID Software Inc.
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HYBRID Software celebrates sale of 100th PACKZ in Italy
GED it! 2017
PacPrint 2017 – HYBRID Software is on display on the Screen Australia booth
Let the show begin – HYBRID Software @ Expografica in Guadalajara, Mexico, from 17th – 20th of May 2017
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JPW Created with Sketch.
Home » Texas startup Kanarys debuts work transparency platform with university partnership
Texas startup Kanarys debuts work transparency platform with university partnership
Jobs Editor
Dallas technology startup Kanarys, Inc. and the University of Texas Austin's Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) recently announced a joint research partnership focused on workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.
Kanarys, a data-driven technology platform that aims to foster collaboration between companies and employees on workplace diversity, equity and inclusion issues, will work closely with the DDCE to analyze anonymous employee feedback, surveys and insights gathered on its platform to compile critical research and trends on workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives.
"We are excited to partner with the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement on this important initiative and are committed to building workplaces where everyone belongs," said Mandy Price, CEO and Co-founder of Kanarys. "Companies have historically focused on diversity but not as much on inclusion. With this research partnership, we collectively aim to transform America's workplaces so that they are truly diverse, equitable and inclusive to all."
"The partnership with Kanarys will give our graduate students access to an enormous amount of data that can be analyzed numerous ways to assess how inclusive organizations really are," said Leonard Moore, Vice President for diversity and community engagement at UT Austin. "Students from a variety of disciplines will have the chance to work with Kanarys analysts to help impact corporate cultures beyond those that partner with Kanarys. It provides the type of corporate exposure many don't get to experience until after graduation while also getting the opportunity to work on more scholarly papers and reports."
Price, along with co-founders Star Carter, Kanarys' chief operating officer and Bennie King, Kanarys' chief administrative officer, attended UT Austin as undergraduates. The three left their corporate careers to work toward building the "sense of belonging" that research demonstrates everyone needs to be most productive. Studies show that less than 30% of employees of color feel connected or heard in the workplace, costing companies as much as $144,000 per employee in attrition costs annually.
Kanarys is currently working with corporate early adopters and is scheduled to go live with its website this summer. On the platform, employees can anonymously share ratings, reviews and feedback on diversity, equity and inclusion issues to help companies address potential issues. Employees will also be able to rate their company on five key metrics and subsequently answer a series of questions that incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning. Data analytics collected from reviews and surveys will be made available via a company dashboard for corporate partners, so leaders can make informed decisions about how to improve the culture directly based on employee feedback and input.
"By relying on company-specific data and analytics, rather than solely on online reviews or a gut feeling, organizations can now use Kanarys' data to make informed strategic decisions to tackle equity and workplace fairness issues," said Price.
SOURCE Kanarys
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Man Fakes A Coma To Avoid Court
Jonathan Wolfe
Wales resident Brian Knight will be sentenced to prison next month after being convicted of scamming his neighbor out of almost $65,000. Knight was finally convicted after a two-year game of cat and mouse with authorities during which he hospitalized himself with a faux ailment every time he was summoned for court.
Knight gained access to the funds of elderly man Ivor Richards by taking care of Richards as he aged, The Guardian reports. Stories like this pop up from time to time – a person gains access to a senior citizen’s credit cards and bank information by running errands and making purchases for them. A court found that Knight swindled almost $65,000 from Richards over a three-year period and used the money on luxuries like vacations and nights out.
Knight concocted an elaborate story when he learned he was being investigated for his crimes. He and his wife testified that he was severely injured when he fall over backwards one day while trying to shut a garage door. The fall, Knight and his wife said, left him comatose for months and caused him to have violent seizures.
Each time Knight was summoned for court, he conveniently checked himself into a hospital and claimed his condition was worsening. Finally, police decided to track Knight in between his hospital visits. They monitored him by tracking purchases he made on his credit cart and then checking surveillance cameras at those stores. Sure enough, Knight was regularly seen walking around, shopping and carrying groceries.
Upon uncovering Knight’s lies, court officials told him he would be tried in court whether he showed up or not. Knight showed up, but he wore a neck brace and was wheeled in on a wheelchair. Presiding Judge Paul Thomas called his bluff.
“Attempts to make progress have been thwarted by Mr Knight pretending to be ill,” Judge Thomas said. “Although a very accomplished and determined actor, he is nothing in like the condition he claims to be, and the conditions he claims to be suffering from are simply non-existent.”
Knight was convicted by the court on theft and forgery charges, and he has a sentencing hearing next month. Judge Thomas told him to expect significant jail time.
Sources: The Guardian, Metro
Photo: Wales News Service
Ivor RichardsJudge Paul ThomasForgeryWalesAlan KnightfraudTheft
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St. Barts Villas and Vacation Rentals
Experience the famed St. Barths from one of our luxurious vacation rentals
St. Barthelemy, commonly known as St. Barths, is a beautiful French Island tucked northeast of the Caribbean Sea. Its mountainous landscape is lined by fourteen magnificent beaches that not only appeal for those seeking a relaxing time but also to surfers. The coastal strip features bays and coves with fringes of coral reefs and gigantic swells in the water make the island a beach combers paradise.
Besides the beaches, Saint Barths is a shopper's haven. It boasts of having a delightful shopping scene, making the island one of the best shopping destinations in the Caribbean. The areas in the quaint island feature streets littered with boutique fashion and shopping.
Shopping enthusiasts find St. Barths a paradise. Trading here is duty-free, meaning there are loads of products for the upscale shopper to explore. Its reputation as a shopping destination has made the island popular among visitors from U.S, Canada and other parts of Europe. When you plan to shop in St. Barths, expect a wide range of apparels and other interesting products that target the aristocratic travellers.
Fashion is a major drawer to Saint Barths, and you can venture out of your vacation rental and explore dozens luxurious retail stores selling different brands of clothing. As a French island, it is no doubt that fashion here is a lifestyle rather than a facet of outdoor attraction. Along the towns' streets, you can stop at a boutique shop and select the top brands by acclaimed fashion designers. That said, St. Barths earns the top spot as the best shopping destination among other Caribbean islands.
Taking time and touring the cities of St. Jean and Gustavia provides guests with limitless chances of purchasing their preferred clothes. However, it is essential to understand the time-schedule of the retail stores. Most shops tend to go for lunch from noon to about 3 pm, which leaves most of the shops closed. But you'll be able to shop till 7 pm, beyond which most stores are closed. On Wednesdays, it's a tradition for shops to close during the afternoon.
Gustavia, the beautiful capital of the island, has a rich historical heritage. Its winding streets tell a story from the pioneer days, but its glory as a shopper's choice makes it pose competition to other globally renowned destinations. As you stroll the streets, you'll find numerous duty-free boutique stalls with the latest products. There are three major streets in Gustavia where you'll rub shoulders with other high-end shoppers include the Quai de la Republique tucked in the harbor. Just like New York's Madison Street, you'll find fashion bigwigs including Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Gucci, Cartier, and Hermes among others.
The remaining two are Rue du General de Gaulle and Rue du Roi Oscar II. Even so, the Carre d'Or street near Quai de la Republique continues to receive an influx of shoppers who go for sprees in the upscale shops selling trendy fashions for ladies.
Lorient was the first place in St. Barths to be inhabited. That was during the 17th century. The town exudes a charming and inviting atmosphere with several retail houses and shops selling non-standard goods. One must-visit attraction in the city is the factory that manufactures cosmetic products on behalf of Ligne, a popular brand in St. Barths. Some Ligne products include perfumes, oils, soaps, and skin moisturizers.
Saint Jean is conveniently set near the airport and provides visitors an opportunity to shop by the beach, or go to city streets for high-end boutique shopping. La Ville Creole plaza in St. Jean has an excellent collection of shops and stores with renowned apparel brands including St. Tropes KIWI, Lili Belle and Black Swan. Gourmands can also shop for food ingredients at Marche U and Maya's On the Go. To have a delightful shopping experience, hop from one area to the other to have a feel of what shopping in these streets is like.
A vacation in Saint Barths won't be complete without checking out Vanita Rosa, a designer store. Founded in 2000 by Valerie Bourdin, Vanita Rosa's line of clothing features some of the best fabrics in the industry including silk, cashmere and linen among others. Shopping here puts you among celebrities who've once rocked a Vanita clothing. Examples include Ivanka Trump and Jane Fonda to mention but two.
St. Barths Island is a hidden gem in the Caribbean for beach lovers and staunch shoppers. Travellers can enjoy water sports or go shopping. Combining both is the perfect blend to have the real feel of the culture and natural beauty of the island.
The Best Time to Go Surfing on St. Barths
The most favorable time for surfing is from November all through to April. The winter mild winds move toward northeast Europe from US Eastern shores at 18 knots. Surfs can reach up to 12 feet at bay and cove breaks. In summer, surfers can find infrequent hurricane storms that cause huge waves on the southeastern exposed beaches. However, between November and March, winds tend to blow eastward. But if you wish to have the best surfing experience, try it during the wake of a storm, or after the turbulence.
There are a few kitesurfing beaches in Saint Barths. And if you're after kitesurfing, it limits you to the Grand Cul de Sac. For an exciting holiday, explore other water sports activities especially if you go on vacation with the kids. Big Cul de Sac provides both adults and children with a great chance of learning kitesurfing, sailing and windsurfing. Located in the lagoon, water depth in bay is quite shallow with virtually no waves. The easterly trade winds blow toward the West Indies Island, rendering it the perfect place for those willing to learn kitesurfing. There are various kitesurfing schools with lesson packages for each level so learners can enjoy the fun as they gain more experience.
Besides kitesurfing and sailing, hitting the waves using only the traditional board is another way of enjoying the shores of St. Barths. While most visitors think that all the beaches on the island present the same conditions for body boarding at all levels. It is critical to always seek insights from the locals on the best beach for you.
Best Beaches for Amateur Surfers
Below is a list of the best beaches for both first-time surfers and experts.
Plage de Lorient
Lorient beach is set in a secluded and quiet part of the coast. Its green, hilly surrounding combined with clear waters and a long strip of white sand makes up a relaxing ambiance. The waves roll gently at one end, making it perfect for surfing. On the other end, calm waters invite guests to go for snorkeling adventures, swim or fish.
A fascinating aspect of Saint Jean beach is that it consists of two stunning beaches separated by Eden Rock. Both beaches offer good conditions for swimming. Besides the many amenities and services, families flock the island. Both parents and their kids can have a great time surfing.
Flamands beach has the longest shoreline on Saint Barths. With great sunshine and white sands, guests bask in the sun with their lounge beds. Albeit recommended for boogie boarding, Flamands beach has moderately rough winds. Therefore, don't let toddlers get in the water.
Best Beaches for Professional Surfers
Beaches hidden on the eastern side of St. Barths have the most challenging conditions and only experienced surfers dare to boogie-board on such waters. Here are some options you can consider.
Only expert surfers have a chance to withstand the surfs on Washing Machine beach. Regardless, going on a trek on trails to the beach from big Cul de Sac is a memorable experience. Once at Washing Machine, wallow in the picturesque site of natural pockets of pools.
Pointe Milou
To the northeast of Plaque de Lorient lies Pointer Milou beach. Surfing here is limited to the pros. Guests come here to enjoy the sun, and sand as well as watching expert surfers gliding on raging waves.
Petite Anse
Just next to the rather longer Flamands, Petit Anse is popular for its clear blue waters and beautiful sea floor. Besides presenting the perfect snorkeling conditions, expert surfers frequent the beach to showcase their prowess.
St. Barths beaches offer more than just surfing. There are other low-spirited water sports that you can explore when you're in the mood for a laid back activity.
Trade winds keep on blowing on-shore and visitors can go for windsurfing all year round. From the calm Plaque de Lorient to Pointe Milou, you'll not miss a beach that accommodates your skill level in windsurfing. There are several agencies that can organize a great windsurfing experience. Most offer lessons to amateurs, link visitors to professional surfers and recommend the best beach for you.
Surfing, to many water-sport lovers, is an activity that gets your adrenaline rushing. Saint Barths has some of the best beaches for surfing in the world. There is a great coastal vibe in the island. Combine that with the windy weather, you'll be compelled to go boogie boarding.
Gustavia, St. Barts
Grand Cul de Sac, BL
Colombier, BL
Shell Beach, BL
Anse des Lezards, BL
Lurin, BL
Lurin, St. Barts
Petite Saline, BL
Toiny, BL
Marigot, BL
Lorient, BL
Vitet, BL
Corossol, BL
Montjean, BL
Petit Cul de Sac, BL
Corossol, St. Barts
Petit Cul de Sac, St. Barts
Lorient, St. Barts
Camaruche, BL
Marigot, St. Barts
Gouverneur, BL
Dévé, BL
Gustavia, BL
Anse des Cayes, BL
Pointe Milou, St. Barts
Lurin, SB
Salines, BL
Flamands, SB
Flamands, BL
Saint Jean, BL
Flamands, St. Barts
Grand Fond, BL
Pointe Milou, BL
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Kasha Cacy Appointed Global CEO of Engine
NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Data-driven marketing solutions company Engine today announced the appointment of Kasha Cacy as the company’s global chief executive officer, a new position. Effective Sept. 4, Cacy will oversee Engine’s 17 offices across North America, the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific, leading the company’s marketing solutions offering, from insights and content to distribution and technology.
Cacy joins Engine from UM, the full-service marketing and media agency network of IPG Mediabrands, where she served as U.S. CEO. She will be based out of Engine’s headquarters in New York, and will report to Engine Executive Chairman Paul Caine.
“I’m delighted to welcome Kasha to the Engine family,” said Caine. “Her talent, drive and vision will be tremendous assets as we enter an exciting time for the company and our clients. Kasha has deep expertise across media, data, marketing and consulting. She will be key in leading Engine as we build upon our differentiated offering of data, insights, content, distribution and technology, with the goal of helping our brand, publisher and agency partners succeed in driving business growth.”
“I am excited to join Engine because I think it has unlimited opportunity to serve clients’ marketing solutions needs,” said Cacy. “Individually, each of the practice areas is so impressive. And together, it creates the kind of solutions clients are going to be really excited about. I can’t wait to join the talented leaders and teams around the globe in leading a nimble, open ecosystem that will provide clients with a better way of working and greater value than ever before.”
In her ten years at UM, Cacy was most recently responsible for all U.S. operations, including more than 1,200 people in five offices, while also overseeing U.S.-based clients, including J&J, Chrysler, Coke, Hershey, Sony Pictures, USPS, CVS, and Charles Schwab. Prior to UM, she held positions at McCann Erickson, Ogilvy, Cheil Communications, Wunderman, and Accenture.
Cacy continued: “I thoroughly enjoyed my tenure at UM. I took great pride in leading the organization’s innovation and evolution, and I plan on doing the same at Engine.”
Under Cacy’s leadership, UM was named Adweek’s Global Media Agency of the Year and Ad Age’s Media Agency of the Year, among numerous honors. Cacy herself was recognized as “one of 2015’s most indispensable executives” on the Adweek 50 and as an Adweek Media All-Star.
Engine is a data-driven marketing solutions company. Powered by data, driven by results and guided by people, we help our clients make connections that count—leading to bottom line growth, an inspired workplace and business transformation. With global headquarters in New York and 17 offices across North America, the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Engine offers clients a vast range of marketing solutions—including insights, content, distribution, data and technology. Find out more at enginegroup.com or follow us @Engine_US.
Courtney Meola
DiGennaro Communications
courtney.meola@digennaro-usa.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a135b05d-aab6-4ed7-baa9-31c09ece0abf
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Inquiry into Feral Animals
Government Response - Feral Animals
Reference reported to House 5 June 2001, 2nd Session, Minutes No. 103, Item 8. Mr Richard Jones informed the House that General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5 resolved, on 30 May 2001, to inquire into and report on: the damage caused by feral animals to the environment across all land tenures, the current and future threat of feral animals to native flora and fauna across all land tenures, including national parks, private land holdings, other publicly owned land etc, the adequacy of current practices and resources for feral animal control, improvements for current practices, and alternative solutions for feral animal control, and any other relevant matters.
Mr Richard Jones informed the House that General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5 resolved, on 30 May 2001, to inquire into and report on: the damage caused by feral animals to the environment across all land tenures, the current and future threat of feral animals to native flora and fauna across all land tenures, including national parks, private land holdings, other publicly owned land etc, the adequacy of current practices and resources for feral animal control, improvements for current practices, and alternative solutions for feral animal control, and any other relevant matters.
05 Jun 2001 Referred
07 Feb 2002 Hearing - Cooma Ex-Services Club;106 Vale Street, Cooma, Sydney
25 Mar 2002 Hearing - Meeting Room 814-815, New South Wales Parliament, Macquarie Street, Sydney
03 Apr 2002 Hearing - Auditorium, Sydney
No. 60 The NSW Stud Merino Breeders' Association Limited
No. 78 Mr Tom Peadon
No. 83 Mr & Mrs Vesk
07/02/2002 Cooma Ex-Services Club;106 Vale Street, Cooma, Sydney Transcript
25/03/2002 Meeting Room 814-815, New South Wales Parliament, Macquarie Street, Sydney Schedule Transcript
03/04/2002 Auditorium, Sydney Schedule Transcript
Committee Report 29 October 2002 - Inquiry into Fe 29/10/2002 05/12/2002
Rebecca Main Director Committees 9230 3307 portfoliocommittee5@parliament.nsw.gov.au
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Multiple–Laser ZetaView® f-NTA Nanoparticle Tracking Analyzers for the clinical research on extracellular vesicles, virus nanoparticles and membrane encompassed nano-objects. Analysis of concentration, size, zeta potential, RNA/DNA presence and phenotype
Characterization of Extracellular Vesicles via fluorescence Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (f-NTA)
The task of differentiating between Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) and other nanoparticles (e.g. Nanobubbles, protein aggregates, inorganic salt precipitates) typically found within a biological sample…
Purity check of Extracellular Vesicle preparations by Particle Metrix ZetaView® Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis
Over the past decade Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) has emerged as an essential characterization tool for Extracellular Vesicle and Exosome research.
Identification of platelet-derived Exosomes in plasma samples with Particle Metrix ZetaView® Nanoparticle Tracking
Over the past decade Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) has emerged as a rapid, essential characterization tool for Extracellular Vesicle and Exosome research.
Identification of DNA / RNA containing Extracellular Vesicles with DAPI and Particle Metrix ZetaView® Nanoparticle Tracking
Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are known to play a crucial role in intracellular communication. They are released by most cell types during apoptosis. However, healthy cells also secrete EVs which…
Biological nanoparticles, such as extracellular vesicles (EVs), exosomes, lipids, viruses or proteins can be found in almost all fluids of living tissue. The Particle Metrix ZetaView® NTA technology is capable to characterize them reliably in water or physiological buffers. You can simultaneously get information about particle size, particle concentration and surface charge with just one single measurement of a particle sample. Similarly, cluster analysis based on similar properties is possible.
„Particle Metrix - frontier technology - cooperative spirit“
Fluorescence and electrophoresis NTA at
ZetaView® NTA-Simulator
ZetaView NTA-Fluorescence Flyer
You see what you measure:
Concentration and patterns are constantly measured
The size is derived from the Brownian motion
Z-NTA surface charge
Phenotype analysis by „F-NTA“ Fluorescence
Particle concentration
The concentration of the particles is determined by the number of particles detected by the camera in a calibrated sample volume that is illuminated by the laser of the ZetaView® instrument. It is always apparent and will be displayed as "live read-out" as soon as a particle sample is introduced into the instrument, even if a measurement has not yet started. The color coding of the concentration display in the ZetaView® instrument shows whether the particles in the sample are in the optimum measuring concentration. Thus, a concentration adjustment of the sample can take place before the measurement.
Determination of the particle concentration.
Pattern parameters such as intensity, surface geometry or shape of the particles as well as their temporal fluctuations are also recorded at each exposure. These parameters can be used to distinguish subpopulations, documented in the fcs format.
Subgroups of particles result from cluster analysis using the parameters exemplified above. They can be plotted against each other in a scatterplot.
An electrophoresis experiment showed that a considerable number of particles showed flicker behavior. This phenomenon was interpreted by the customer as incipient crystallization. In this figure one particle each from the two sub-populations is shown in the course of the video.
Determination of Particle Size
Due to Brownian motion, small particles in liquid move much faster than large particles. Each individual particle in the field of view of the camera is detected and tracked in its movement in a two-dimensional direction. The measured change in location within a certain time interval t gives a specific diffusion coefficient D for each individual particle. Using the Stokes-Einstein relation, the ZetaView® calculates therefrom the hydrodynamic particle radius r and thus the diameter of each particle. The results are summarized and presented in a particle size distribution.
Calculation of the hydrodynamic particle radius from the brownian motion
Zeta potential Z-NTA
What can affect the surface charge of BNPs and how strong? It is known that proteins have negative or positively charged end groups depending on the pH. These proteins are partly responsible for the fact that EVs usually have a certain negative charge. This is shown as zeta potential in the range between -30 and -36 mV. Any change in surface charge, such as changes in protein levels, flip-flopping of phosphatidylserine between the inner and outer membrane, or attachment of oppositely charged antibodies, will alter the zeta potential. There are therefore interesting possibilities to use the zeta potential as a monitor for influences on the particle surface. The proof is given by an electrophoresis experiment in which charged particles move according to the influence of an electric field E v. The measured electrophoretic mobility μe = v / E of each individual particle in the electric field represents the basis for the determination of the zeta potential.
Measurement of the ionic (electrical) surface charge by electrophoresis "Zeta potential"
Fluorescence nanoparticle tracking analysis (F-NTA): phenotyping using F-NTA on individual BNPs.
Biological nanoparticles, such as extracellular vesicles, can be conjugated to fluorescently labeled antibodies and then analyzed for size, concentration, and, if required, for zeta potential and other pattern parameters in ZetaView® fluorescence mode. The particles to be analyzed should be sufficiently well purified and the conjugated sample must be freed from macromolecular substances and remaining free fluorescence molecules as well as small protein particles and lipids. Both, membrane dyes and primary and secondary fluorescently labeled antibodies can be used. By using the TWIN-laser system even phenotyping experiments can be performed on extracellular vesicles with a double-stained sample. For an experiment like this, two different fluorescent dyes conjugated to different antibodies are used to bind specifically to tetraspanins at the membrane surface (e.g., CD63-Alexa405 & CD81-Alexa488).
Since the BNPs to be analyzed in the ZetaView® instrument are located longer in the laser beam (0.5-1 sec.) in contrast to flow cytometry, the selection of photostable fluorescent dyes is essential for the quantitative evaluation. In the following figure, some of the dyes are listed by their photostability.
Available laser wavelengths, longpass (LP) fluorescence filters, and dyes that are very good or less suitable for photostability for the NTA.
Evaluation of a Four Wavelength NTA Instrument for biomarker detection of cell line EVs
Shown with four-fold labeled EVs: Multi-wavelength NTA reduces total measurement time, minimizes the…
Researchers at Oxford Brookes University use the ZetaView® to study extracellular vesicles.
The particular area of expertise focuses on investigating the roles of extracellular vesicles (EVs)…
Multi-wavelength F-NTA tool for nanoparticles in their natural liquid environment
From the same sample you get the parameters: number concentration, size, electrophoresis surface…
Limitation of sample volume: How to recover a sample after NTA measurement
Full recovery of samples measured by a nanoparticle tracking analyzer (NTA) often becomes…
Product launch at ISEV 2019 in Kyoto of the ZetaView® QUATT
ISEV 2019, Kyoto
DKSH brings Particle Metrix’s system for nanoparticle tracking analysis to Japan
DKSH and Particle Metrix have signed a distribution agreement to provide sales and technical…
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Lake Taylor’s balanced attack carries it to Class 4 Region A title
By Bryan Black
757Teamz |
Nov 29, 2019 | 10:41 PM
| NORFOLK
Lake Taylor'sTarrion Washington-Jacoubs runs ahead of Churchland's Ian Mclaurin, Friday, November 29, 2019 at Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk. (Jason Hirschfeld/The Virginian-Pilot)
Lake Taylor used a diversified attack Friday on its home field to storm into the Class 4 state semifinals.
Quarterback Jeff Foster passed for 151 yards and three touchdowns, plus he ran for the Titans’ first touchdown in their 41-13 Region A final victory over Churchland.
Star running back Malik Newton rushed for 209 yards on 15 carries. He caught Foster’s first touchdown pass, a 13-yarder with 18 seconds left in the first half. Newton finished his night with a 44-yard touchdown run 39 seconds into the fourth quarter.
Fellow running back Tarrion Washington-Jacobs rushed for 101 yards on 17 carries. He scored Lake Taylor’s second touchdown on a 20-yard run halfway through the second quarter.
“Last game (a 21-14 win over Warwick), we didn’t put up that many points,” said Foster, who completed 9 of 16 passes Friday and also kicked four extra points. “So this game, we decided we were going to go back to how we usually run our offense and put up points like we usually do.
“My running started off slow, so I was like if I can’t run it, then I’m going to get it with some passing, and our receivers did a good job of going after the ball.”
Lake Taylor (11-2), which will host Patrick Henry of Ashland next Saturday in a state semifinal, led 21-7 at the half. Newton had 154 yards on 11 carries by halftime.
Foster threw touchdown passes on the Titans’ first two third-quarter possessions.
He hit Pierre Royster with a 21-yard scoring pass three minutes into the second half. Royster finished with six catches for 68 yards.
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Foster then connected with Darius Speight for 63 yards halfway through the third quarter, putting the Titans up 35-7.
“We can’t relax,” Foster said of the upcoming state semifinal. “We have to go into that game better than we went into this game. We have to keep the same mindset.”
Churchland finished 10-3. The Truckers struggled offensively all night.
Quarterback D’nardo Harrison had a 50-yard touchdown run late in the first half and finished with 62 yards rushing on nine attempts. He was sacked four times.
Harrison completed his first pass of the game for 25 yards but never completed another. He wound up 1 for 11 with an interception.
Churchland
Lake Taylor
VHSL playoffs
vpsports7
dpsports7
Most Read • 757Teamz
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Food & Drink Columnists
Oceanfront breakfast and brunch spot adds dinner hours
By Judy Cowling
The Virginian-Pilot |
| Virginia Beach
Raymond Labuen, chef and owner of Ray Ray's at the Mayflower, is photographed at his restaurant on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, in Virginia Beach, Va. (Kaitlin McKeown / The Virginian-Pilot)
Known as a hot spot for breakfast and brunch, Ray Ray’s at the Mayflower is now doing dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Owner Ray Ray Labuen is billing it Ray Ray’s After Dark and serving up pork lumpia and beignets for appetizers, then entrees like fried chicken pot pie, barbecue shrimp and grits, pancit and a six ounce burger on a pandesal bun with sweet potato tots.
You can also score breakfast at night, including biscuits and gravy, ube pancakes and the Ray Ray’s OG: two eggs hard, parmesan tomatoes, bacon and American cheese on an onion roll. Or how about a Loco Moco, two eggs sunny side up on a hamburger patty over white rice and brown gravy? That’ll fuel you for the evening.
Open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; and 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays.
Ray Ray’s at The Mayflower, 209 34th St., Virginia Beach, 757-937-3946, bit.ly/fbrayray.
ray ray's
Most Read • Food & Drink Columnists
Cocktails offered from heated rooftop igloos atop Oceanfront Hilton
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Regardless of how it's celebrated, Christmas is more often than not about consumption | Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
How Christmas is ruining the planet
Environmentalists call Christmas the world’s greatest annual environmental disaster.
By Eline Schaart
For many it's a jolly time to spend with loved ones, eating heaps of food and exchanging gifts — but some green groups are saying humbug! to Christmas, calling it the "world's greatest annual environmental disaster."
Christmas is celebrated across the Continent in many different forms: In Sweden celebrations kick off on December 13 with Santa Lucia while in Spain Christmas starts with the El Gordo (the big one) lottery craze.
Regardless of how it's celebrated, Christmas is more often than not about consumption.
The average household in eight surveyed European countries splurged €445 in 2017 on food and drinks as well as gifts — with the U.K. topping the list with €639, while the Dutch spent the least at €341.
Here are five ways in which the holiday is ruining the planet.
1. Mountains of waste
Every Christmas, the amount of waste produced in the U.K. increases 30 percent, according to a study by waste management company Biffa. That includes an estimated 365,000 kilometers of unrecyclable wrapping paper — enough to wrap around the equator nine times — and 1 billion cards that end up in the bin.
Environmental group Hubbub warned that an estimated 12 million Christmas sweaters were set to be snapped up this year by Britons — despite 65 million already hanging in U.K. wardrobes.
"The Christmas jumper is one of the worst examples of fast fashion, with two out of five jumpers only being worn once over the festive period," said Sarah Divall, project coordinator at the charity.
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Besides adding to huge levels of waste, the research by Hubbub also highlighted that most new sweaters contain plastic. Its analysis of 108 garments on sale this year from 11 retailers found that 95 percent of the jumpers were made wholly or partly of plastic materials.
On average in the UK, it's 365,000 kilometers of unrecyclable wrapping paper and 1 billion cards that end up in the bin at Christmas | Kena Betancur/Getty Images
2. Controversial Christmas trees
Real or fake is an evergreen dilemma.
According to Carbon Trust, a real Christmas tree has a “significantly lower” carbon footprint than an artificial tree, especially if it is disposed of properly. The organization calculated that a natural 2-meter-tall Christmas tree that is disposed of into a landfill has a footprint of around 16 kilograms of CO2, thanks to methane emissions as it rots. A tree that is disposed of by burning, replanting or chipping it has a footprint of around 3.5kg of CO2.
The organizationCarbon Trust calculated that a natural 2-meter-tall Christmas tree that is disposed of into a landfill has a footprint of around 16 kilograms of CO2 | Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
A 2-meter Christmas tree made from plastic, on the other hand, has a carbon footprint of around 40kg of CO2 due to the energy-intensive production processes, while a real pine or fir tree naturally absorbs CO2 and releases oxygen before it's chopped down. This means that owners of an artificial tree need to use it for at least a decade in order for its environmental impact to equal that of responsibly disposed natural trees.
3. Dangerous gifts
Most of the toys children will be playing with under the Christmas tree are made in China.
In 2017, the EU imported almost €7.4 billion of toys, while exporting only about €1.4 billion. According to Eurostat, 86 percent of these toys came from China.
However, some of these products can contain unsafe levels of banned chemicals. National officials have blocked 248 types of toys from sale in the EU this year (amounting to tens of millions of units) after tests found illegal levels of toxic chemicals.
Most of these problem items (88 percent) were shipped from China, according to an assessment of data from the EU’s Rapex alert system published by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), an NGO. Fifty-one percent of the products contained phthalates, a plastic additive that's classified as an endocrine disrupting chemical.
In 2017, the EU imported almost €7.4 billion of toys, while exporting only about €1.4 billion. According to Eurostat, 86 percent of these toys came from China | Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Last year, the Swedish Chemicals Agency tested 106 products from non-EU online retailers and found prohibited substances, such as lead, phthalates and cadmium, in 40 of them. In a similar study conducted in 2016, the agency found that 2 percent of the 44 surveyed sex toys imported to Sweden contained banned chemicals.
EEB chemical policy manager Tatiana Santos said that government officials are facing a "flood" of dangerously contaminated Chinese toys. "Where inspectors get the resources they need, they do a great job. But we wonder how many go undetected," she said.
4. Turkey dinner
The biggest environmental impact of Christmas dinner comes from meat, according to Christian Reynolds, who researches the environmental impact of roast dinners at the University of Sheffield.
The choice of meat, however, can account for as much as 70 percent of the environmental impact of an entire meal — with turkey having a lower carbon footprint than beef or lamb (and vegetarian options even lower than that).
For example, a kilogram of beef or lamb protein can generate from 643 kilograms to 749 kilograms of carbon dioxide — resulting in more greenhouse gas emissions than a passenger flying from London to New York. A Manchester University study found that an average turkey Christmas dinner has a carbon footprint of 20kg of CO2.
Maybe it's time to go Polish? The main dish on Polish tables for Christmas Eve is carp, and a U.N. study finds that those mud-dwelling fish have a carbon footprint of less than 2kg of CO2 per kilogram of flesh.
There's also the issue of food waste.
Approximately 2 million turkeys, 74 million mince pies and 17.2 million Brussels sprouts are thrown away in the U.K. every Christmas, according to a study from Biffa.
The biggest environmental impact of Christmas dinner comes from meat: turkey has a lower carbon footprint than beef or lamb | Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP via Getty Images
5. Flying home for Christmas
Over 250 million Europeans will be criss-crossing the Continent over the holidays to visit family and friends, according to research by MasterCard. The average European will travel 516 kilometers, around the distance from Paris to Amsterdam, with nearly a quarter taking to the sky.
Those kilometers will further add to Europe's greenhouse gas emissions and congestion.
Aviation’s carbon footprint has grown by 20 percent in Europe since 2005, and continues to increase at an average of 4 percent annually. It currently accounts for about 2.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. If it were a country, aviation would be the sixth-largest carbon polluter in the world, eclipsing Germany.
The average European will travel 516 kilometers, around the distance from Paris to Amsterdam, with nearly a quarter taking to the sky | Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images
This article is part of POLITICO’s Sustainability Pro service, which dives deep into sustainability issues across all sectors, including: circular economy, waste and the plastics strategy, chemicals and more. For a complimentary trial, email pro@politico.eu mentioning Sustainability.
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POLITICO’s working group : Sustainable cities – How can cities reduce their carbon foot print?
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Frankenbok
Hard Heavy
190108_frankenbok-075_1.jpg
Forming in 1997 in an era that had little pretentiousness or gimmickry, Frankenbok have always known one way. Straight ahead, uncompromising and one which emphatically makes the statement that they are the sum of all of their musical parts not merely a pawn in the musical machine.
At times it has seen them shunned from the mainstream, but more often it has seen them grow into a band who doesn't play by the rules - they make them.
Frankenbok have walked a path that has seen them share the stage with bands of the calibre of Slayer, Fear Factory, Machine Head, System of a Down and Exodus, but rather than rest on their laurels and commit these memories to an impressive list of achievements, they have continually raised the bar with the belief that their best is firmly in front of them, not behind.
With this in mind the band have ushered in 2019 by going back to the future of sorts, reinstating the brutally uncompromising beast that is Dan McDougall to vocal duties after he left the band briefly in 2015.
McDougall reunites with Azza Bok, the only remaining original member, whose position in the band transcends more than that of a guitarist. Rounded out by the man of 1000 faces, Tom Rossell (formerly House of Thumbs) on drums and Ricky Barbour (Isolar) on bass, Frankenbok has ramped things up with a fresh lineup to ensure that their existing legacy is not only built on, but surpassed.
Listen back to Frankenbok's Studio 5 Live session. Proudly brought to you by Mountain Goat.
frankenbokmtr.m4a
Tune into Pojama People to hear Yawning Man play live for Studio 5 Live. Proudly brought to you by Mountain Goat.
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In 2022, Apple's AR Glasses Will Be Perfectly Timed for 5G
Apple doesn't release products early; it releases them when supporting technologies are ready.
By Sascha Segan
(Photo by Liu Zhankun/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Apple's much-rumored AR and VR headsets will arrive in 2022 and 2023, according to a new report from The Information, which gives a much longer time frame than analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said the first version was coming in mid-2020. I think The Information is right, and one of the reasons is 5G.
Phone-based AR and VR had a quick boom and bust over the past few years, with Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream both abandoned as it became clear they were too heavy, uncomfortable, proprietary, and battery-hungry. Standalone mobile VR devices, so far, have barely held on, suffering from the same problems. VR's one area of success so far, if you can call it that, has been in PC gaming, where battery consumption isn't a relevant question.
Why Apple's AR Headset Needs 5G
5G is poised to change that, letting manufacturers build much lighter, more responsive headsets.
The key technology is split rendering, which offloads a lot of the AR and VR processing power to the cloud. It streams a lot of your augmented and virtual reality content from a server rather than rendering it on-device. That would let a standalone headset, or an attached phone, go light on its processor, and thus its battery, relying on its 5G modem to do most of the work.
Today's 4G networks don't have low-enough latency or high-enough reliable, sustained transfer speeds to do this trick. That means 4G phones and headsets had to do a ton of processing on the phones and headsets, which made them heavier, more complex, and more battery-hungry than a cloud-based headset would be.
Apple doesn't mind making accessories dependent on your phone, but it's also smart about battery drain. Having a phone rendering AR for hours at a time really taps out the battery in both your headset and in phones Apple is trying to avoid making thicker. Remember, battery chemistry isn't advancing particularly quickly; as devices get more powerful, they need to learn how to do more with less power. Streaming, rather than entirely computing the AR experience, gets around a lot of the power-consumption issues.
If the headset is phone-dependent, we also need to think about the connection between the headset and the phone. That's likely to be some form of 802.11ad, or WiGig, a high-speed, short-range networking standard that's been kicking around for a few years. WiGig functions at similar frequencies to the millimeter wave forms of 5G, so we're probably going to see it integrated into more devices as 5G becomes more common.
An Apple AR headset might not be standalone; it might, for instance, rely on an 802.11ad short-range connection to stream data from a phone with a high-speed 5G connection and 3-5ms latency. That would make for a much lighter, simpler headset than we've seen so far.
Okay, So Now We Need Those Networks
In the US, we are nowhere near having 5G networks that could support these experiences. To get the low latencies you'd need to stream AR and VR to Apple's standards, we're going to need standalone 5G networks that don't rely on 4G to establish connections, as the current ones do. That already bumps us to the end of 2020.
To get the massive bandwidth we'll need to stream high-resolution AR and VR experiences, we need networks with at least 100MHz of clear 5G spectrum each. That means either millimeter-wave, which will take years to build out because the teeny little cells only have 800-foot radiuses, or, in the US, it means C-band mid-band, which will probably be auctioned in 2020 for 2021 network launches.
Let's throw another factor into the mix: Apple has an at-least-three-year contract with Qualcomm right now to deliver modems for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 iPhones (and maybe more) as Apple ramps up its own modem unit with the staff it hired away from Intel's failed consumer 5G projects.
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So you see how this is all saying 2022 or 2023? By 2022, the current 5G standards chaos will have settled a bit. 2022 is the first year when Apple might have its own integrated networking hardware, which could be integrated much more tightly with Apple's other silicon than Qualcomm's discrete modems can be, allowing for super-compact and power-efficient glasses. And 2022 is the first year when Apple will be able to assume most Americans will be able to hook up to broad, powerful 5G networks giving them augmented reality outside their homes.
Apple would need new processors and screen technologies for these headsets, too. I'm not an expert on those, but I'd agree from what I've seen in the industry that we haven't seen the right ones yet. We're close, but we aren't quite there.
So, I agree with The Information here. Apple doesn't like to release products before their time. The time for this one is a ways away.
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About Sascha Segan
PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 13 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, hosts our One Cool Thing daily Web show, and writes opinions on tech and society. Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer. Other than his home town of New York, his favorite cities are Barcelona and Hong Kong. While he's a fourth-generation Manhattanite, he now lives in Queens with his wife and daughter.
Read the latest from Sascha Segan
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My plan as new head of Yoruba association – Banji Akintoye
September 12, 2019 Ifeoluwa Adediran
Prof. Banji Akintoye (Photo Credit Saharareporters)
The new head of a Yoruba association has spoken on his plans for his new position.
Banji Akintoye, a professor and former senator, was on August 22 appointed the head of the Assembly of All Yoruba Groups Worldwide.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Mr Akintoye said he accepted the position after consulting with his family and close friends and with a broad spectrum of notable Yourba personalities.
“I hereby humbly respond ‘Yes’ to your call, fully and gratefully confident that you all will rise and work dedicatedly and faithfully with me in all efforts to advance the best prospects, the best achievements, and the right destiny, for our Yoruba nation,” he said.
The delegates of the Yoruba groups who converged in Ibadan on August 22 chose Mr Akintoye for the position.
Mr Akintoye was nominated by Abdulraheem Aduamigba, the Chief Imam of Yoruba in Ilorin, based on what was described as his contributions to the development of the Yoruba race.
He was elected at the age of 84 to lead the group.
Mr Akintoye on Thursday expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for considering him worthy of the position.
READ ALSO: SPECIAL REPORT: The truth about mosque ‘demolition’ by Rivers government
“I am glad that those who assembled at the Ibadan meeting and took the decision are all in agreement with me in my firm and unshakable conviction that what we, the Yoruba nation, need most today is our unity – our unity and collective resolve to stand together in order to demonstrate to would-be invaders of our land that though we are a civilised people who love the beautiful life, we are nevertheless a very strong nation, that the threats to come and “kill, maim and destroy” on our land, the threats to come and “banish” us from our land, do not frighten us – and that we will very definitively and decisively crush any invaders of our homeland – just as we did before in 1840.”
“I perceive that the real meaning and intention of your action was to serve on me a special clarion call to rise to sharply increased levels of intensity and quality of servanthood to our nation in the things that you have hitherto seen me doing and more, things over some of which very many of you have fruitfully worked with me.”
The new leader said he will increase the frequency of his public speeches and statements in order to reinforce awareness about the challenges facing our nation.
“We shall evolve a powerful drive for arousing our state governments and our people to revive our endangered Yoruba
language, and to revive the teaching of our nation’s history to our children in our schools.”
He added that the perception of the leadership of today’s Yoruba nation shall be that it does not interfere with partisan politics and politicians.
“I commit myself to continue as resolutely non-partisan as I have been for decades, and to join, support or oppose no political party, so that I may be able to move and communicate without inhibition among all our people, towards the advancement of our Yoruba positions and goals in Nigeria, and towards enhanced progress, prosperity and the right destiny for our Yoruba nation.”
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INEC issues certificate of return to Hope Uzodinma as Imo governor
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King George Vi & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Enable To Prevail Again
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes: Enable to prevail again
By: Timeform Time published 2019-07-24 at 04:36 AM (GMT +10:00)
It’s perhaps something of a surprise that Enable is back in training this season.
She achieved everything that there is to achieve last term, becoming the first Arc winner to follow up in the Breeders' Cup the following month – a feat which had been attempted by eight others before her.
Enable winning the Coral-Eclipse (Group 1) Picture: Pat Healy Photography
However, the lure of becoming the first ever horse to win three Arcs has proven to be too strong a temptation, and John Gosden's star mare returned from a 245-day absence to pick up her tenth straight success in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown earlier this month – and she did so in fine style, never looking likely to be beaten despite the trip perhaps being a touch on the sharp side. Strictly on Timeform ratings, the form she has shown both this season and last is short of the dizzy heights she achieved as a three-year-old, but she is a long way clear of the field nonetheless, and the return to a mile and a half here only strengthens her case. Of course, a tilt at Arc win number three is the ultimate aim, but she is the one to beat in a race which she won as a three-year-old back in 2017.
CRYSTAL OCEAN winning the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot in England. Picture: Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images
The biggest threat to Enable will undoubtedly come from Crystal Ocean , who picked up his first Group 1 success in her absence in last month's Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot. The two have met before, when Enable readily dispatched her rival on favourable terms when winning on her reappearance in the September Stakes at Kempton last season, but Crystal Ocean has taken big strides forward since, proving better than ever when scoring last month. Admittedly, Frankie Dettori produced an excellent ride on the day for him to do so, making use of the pacemaker's services to maximum effect, but it was a top-class performance nonetheless, and he will be ready to capitalise should Enable falter – in a race in which he was only narrowly denied 12 months ago.
Anthony Van Dyck Picture: Pat Healy Photography
Only one other runner of the 11-strong field is a single figure price in the betting at the time of writing, this year's Derby hero, Anthony Van Dyck . Having fallen just short at the top level as a two-year-old, he put his abundance of stamina to good use when coming out on top in the Epsom classic last month, and although he was unable to follow up in the Irish equivalent four weeks later, he has valid excuses for that considering he was left too much to do that day, when stablemate Sovereign slipped the field. He has something to find with both Enable and Crystal Ocean for win purposes, however, and a place is perhaps the best he can hope for.
DEFOE Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
Next in the betting are Defoe and Waldgeist. The first-named perhaps failed to quite kick on as expected at the top table last season, having promised so much the campaign before, but he has been in good heart so far this term, and picked up his first top level success in the Coronation Cup at Epsom in May (Salouen third, Morandoeighth), winning readily. He didn't need to be in the same form to follow up in the Hardwicke last time out, and the fact that the Epsom form didn't particularly work out in the same race (Morando fourth, Salouen seventh) means that he will require more to trouble the principals. Waldgeist won the Prix Ganay at Lonchamp in April, and ran respectably in the Prince of Wales's last time, making his challenge from further back than ideal, though like Defoe, his very best form is a little shy of that achieved by both Crystal Ocean and Enable.
Another to note is the Japanese raider, Cheval Grand. He is a very smart performer, winning the 2017 Japan Cup at Tokyo, and he ran well on his first start outside of Japan when second to Old Persian in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March – for all that he was no match for the winner on the day. This is a different task altogether on his European debut, but he is a fascinating inclusion, and connections will be hopeful of hitting the frame. Meanwhile, both Morando and Salouen have place claims at best.
The field is completed by Anthony Van Dyck's stablemates, Hunting Horn, Magic Wand and Norway. All three are smart performers in their own right, but have a considerable amount to find for win purposes, and it seems likely that one of the trio will be required for pacemaker duties – something Norway shared with the ultimately victorious Sovereign when a commendable third in last month's Irish Derby.
In conclusion, it is very difficult to look past Enable, who added yet another Group 1 success to her collection when making a winning return in the Coral-Eclipse earlier this month, and she will be very difficult to beat if in the same mood here. Crystal Ocean is the main danger having picked up a first Group 1 success at Royal Ascot last month, while Anthony Van Dyck, Waldgeist and Defoe seem the most likely to battle it out for third.
Reply as Anonymous
Updated one month ago
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LGBT people
Gay/Bi/Queer Men
“Gays and Lesbians make bad parents”: There is no basis in the scientific literature for this perception.
“It wasn’t ‘let’s get pregnant and go do it'”: Decision making in lesbian couples planning motherhood via donor insemination
“Unleashing the Unpopular” : Talking About Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in Education
“The Lady Vanishes? Reflections on the Experiences of Married and Divorced Non-Heterosexual Fathers”
(How) Does It Make a Difference? Perspectives of Adults with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Parents
A Gay Couple’s Journey through Surrogacy: Intended Fathers
A Guidebook for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer People on Assisted Human Reproduction in Canada
A la rencontre du milieu LGBT
ABC a Family Alphabet Book
About Bisexual Health (English)
About Gay Health (English)
Adoption and Co-parenting by Same-Sex Couples
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Rak Academy Schools (RAKA)
British School Khuzam (BSK)
International PrimarySchool Khuzam (IPK)
International Sec School Khuzam (ISK)
British School Al Hamra (BSH)
British School Al Rams (BSR)
About RAK Academy
RAK Academy is pleased to announce that it is planning to open two new Primary Schools in Ras Al Khaimah for September 2018.
One school will be located in Al Hamra, to the south of the city and the other at Al Rams in the north.
RAK Academy is one of the most prominent schools in this Emirate and had its beginnings in 1975 when it started in the Khuzam area of the city with only 7 students. There are now over 3,600 students spread across the three schools that make up RAK Academy. It is also one of the first schools to offer an ‘international’ curriculum in the Emirate.
RAK Academy is now recognized internationally with full accreditation by the Council of International Schools (CIS), British Schools Overseas (BSO) and the International Baccalaureate (IB).
RAK Academy provides an ideal setting in which children can learn, grow and develop into responsible and responsive self-starters, which is what we believe the new millennium is seeking. At the same time we share the goals and aspirations common to all schools to nourish individual ability within a responsible community and to encourage not only academic success but physical health, moral stability and creativity.
To help us achieve these goals you can expect to find a wide range of educational facilities, well qualified teachers and recognized educational programmes available at any RAK Academy school.
About The New Schools
The new schools will come under the umbrella of RAK Academy and share the same vision as centers of Excellence in Learning at the Heart of the Community.
When the admission process begins, both schools will accept enrolments from ‘Pre K’ (UK Nursery) up to ‘Grade 2’ (UK Year 3), and in subsequent years we foresee the schools accepting admissions up to ‘Grade 5’.
The ‘Early Years’ programmes in RAK Academy Schools will follow the principle of creativity and ‘learning through play’ and provide a strong focus on literacy and numeracy. This will provide a good foundation to enter either the Primary Years Programme (PYP) or the British Curriculum School in the future. Grades 1 and 2 will initially follow a ‘British’ based curriculum.
Students currently in RAK Academy
Students currently enrolled in RAK Academy that are at an appropriate age can apply to transfer enrollment to either of new schools. These students will be given priority of placement.
The quality of facilities, school organisation and level of care will be similar to that found in RAK Academy. The new schools will have an auditorium, medical center with nurses and doctor’s room, music and technology suites, cafeteria, covered outdoor play areas and an indoor sports area. Both schools will have internationally qualified teachers with appropriate specialist subjects and trained support staff as found in progressive international schools.
Both schools are scheduled for opening in September 2018.
Al Rams Location Al Hamra Location
How to Apply - Primary
How to Apply - Secondary
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Tony Flammia Named To Manage Commercial Channel For PreSonus
Working closely with PreSonus/WorxAudio division on new loudspeaker systems that integrate AVB and Dante networking technologies
PreSonus has announced that Tony Flammia has accepted the position of commercial channel manager.
Flammia will work closely with PreSonus/WorxAudio Loudspeaker Division managing director Hugh Sarvis on new loudspeaker systems that integrate AVB (Audio Video Bridging) and Dante networking technologies. In addition, he will train systems integrators to install and use these systems.
Flammia is well suited for his new responsibilities, having spent most of his career as a systems integrator, designing and installing AVL (audio, video, and lighting) systems in churches all over the U.S., including many WorxAudio systems. He also has the distinction of completing the first AFMG FIRmaker beam steering project in the world.
Flammia founded Creative Sound Solutions of Cape Coral, Florida in June 2007 and turned it into a highly successful systems integration company.
“WorxAudio and PreSonus offer multiple products that are sold into permanent installations and live-sound applications, and we want to better understand the needs of these customers,” states PreSonus VP of sales Rick Naqvi. “As commercial channel manager, Tony will help us become even better partners to our dealers who do commercial installations. We are excited to have him onboard to lead this initiative.”
New Meyer Sound Compass 4.6 Software Offers Milan Integration & Streamlined System Configuration
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℗ 2016 Queen Elisabeth Competition
Live at the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2016
Alberto Ferro
Available in 88.2 kHz / 24-bit AIFF, FLAC high resolution audio formats
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, KV. 467
I. Allegro maestoso
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Alberto Ferro
II. Andante
III. Allegro vivace assai
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 in C Sharp Minor, S. 244/12
Franz Liszt; Alberto Ferro
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F Sharp Minor, Op. 1
I. Vivace
Sergueï Rachmaninov; Alberto Ferro
III. Allegro vivace
This release from Italian pianist Alberto Ferro was recorded at the 2016 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition, considered to be one of the most prestigious competitions for instrumentalists. In this programme, Ferro tackles two demanding piano concertos, Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in C major, KV. 467 and Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1, linked by a musical and technically accomplished rendition of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 in C sharp minor, S. 244/12.
88.2 kHz / 24-bit PCM – Queen Elisabeth Competition Studio Masters
Pesson, Abrahamsen & Strasnoy: Piano Concertos - Abrahamsen: Left, alone: V. Prestissimo tempestuoso (Single) Alexandre Tharaud; Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Jerome de Bromhead: Orchestral Music Alan Smale; RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Colman Pearce
Transformations Alexander Ffinch
Fasten Seat Belts: Virtuoso Pieces for Solo Violin Aleksey Igudesman
Pieter Bustijn: 9 Suites Alessandro Simonetto
Légende (HD) Alison Balsom; Tom Poster
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 3-5 Alexandre Kantorow; Tapiola Sinfonietta; Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Frédéric Chopin: Études Amir Katz
Alio modo Amaya Fernández Pozuelo
Beethoven: Clarinet Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 38 - Brahms: Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 Alexander Bedenko; Kyril Zlotnikov; Itamar Golan
Constellations (Single) Alex Baranowski
Buxtehude, Bach, Pachelbel & Telemann 2GUITARS
The Spy's Choirbook Alamire; English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble; David Skinner
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Home ConnecticutCT 06489
Chronic Pain (Fibromyalgia)
Guiding Minds
Southington, Connecticut 06489
"Therapy that fits YOUR schedule. Flexible scheduling, short notice and weekend availability. Therapy can be the place to look at the things that are not working and build on the things that are working. I offer a safe and secure environment where you can feel comfortable expressing yourself. You deserve to be your happy self, let's get you back there."
Lauren K. Johnson
"Hello and welcome! I’m Lauren. I’ve been working as a therapist in Connecticut for 4 years providing outpatient psychotherapy to youth and adults, in-home counseling for foster-families with children who have experienced trauma, and in-home crisis and stabilization for at-risk youth. I am not currently accepting new clients, but I am available to help connect you to a therapist or other resources you may need"
Audrey Elbert
"When people and families are experiencing stress, it is common to feel lost and unsure. My passion is helping people heal and grow from adversity; whether that's family conflict, marital issues, major life changes or general feelings of being overwhelmed/stressed. I have dedicated my career to helping people of all kinds, including teens, adults, couples and families. I look to help them build healthy perspectives, strengthen their relationships and grow according to their personal goals so they can feel happy, peaceful and connected to the world around them. "
Find Psychiatrists Life Coaching in 06489
No more Life Coaching Therapists in 06489 - Try other Therapists below
Connecticut - CT
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, EMT, CPT, LCSW
"Stuck. Fearful. Insecure. No boundaries. Can't say no. No self-care, self-worth, and self-confidence. Coming last, behind everyone and everything. How much does this resonate with you? It is so easy to fall into routines of going through the motions of everyday life, thinking you have to just deal with 'it.' Aligning yourself with false beliefs and distorted expectations, working so hard on who you think you're supposed to be, instead of being you are meant to be - it's exhausting. Let's work together on getting honest and discovering your most authentic, unique, incredible self."
Tides of Mind Counseling
"Tides of Mind Counseling is among Connecticut's top counseling centers dedicated to providing excellence in mental health care. Our offices are located in Waterbury & Torrington where our licensed professionals work extensively with you to manage life's challenges, promote healthy relationships and encourage inner healing. Tides of Mind is unlike the common "counseling clinic" in that we offer creative & holistic therapeutic techniques in an office that is private, relaxing and has a spa-like feel. Our therapists work very hard to provide a holistic approach to treatment and ensure that you feel supported throughout all aspects of life."
"Our lives are composed of many pieces, stages of growth and change. How do we gather these and make sense of them among life's many stresses and challenges? By working together in a supportive and collaborative environment, I will help you to discover meanings and solutions to integrate these elements into a satisfying whole."
Stacie Cull
"We will partner so that I can understand who you are, what experiences you've had and what your strengths are. By using various therapy methods, I guide my clients into feeling in control of their futures. Working with individuals, families and groups, I have created a practice that is driven by taking the journey with you to personal development and growth."
The Wellness within You
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW, MSW
"We specialize in customized mental health care for adults with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma. With over 15 years of experience, we've also treated a wide range of additional mental health conditions. Most of all, we meet you wherever you are now, and we’ll work together with you along every step of your healing process. We celebrate all the effort you make in therapy, because every little step can make a big difference in your well being! "
Tatum Wrobel
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
"I am a clinician that takes a holistic approach to treatment. I work with the entire person, body, mind and spirit. I have a background in structural family therapy and work with families, couples, and individuals. I specialize in couples work as well as woman's issues. I am truly about the journey and am humbled that I can be present with individuals as they make a new path. I also do life coaching for those looking for support around skill setting and being successful in managing life on life's terms."
Shawniel Chamanlal
"**Not accepting clients until Spring 2020** Hello, I’m Shawniel Chamanlal (pronounced shuh-NEEL CHAH-men-lahl)! I help people to become their truest, most authentic selves, getting to the heart of the matter, and moving beyond limiting beliefs. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), I specialize in helping people gain confidence, focus on personal wellness, grow their relationships, and reach new levels of personal success. For the past decade, I have enjoyed working with individuals, couples, and families to achieve their goals in a variety of settings, including in hospitals, in outpatient clinics, and in their home."
Ashley Keith
"Taking the first step in getting help and finding a therapist can be challenging and overwhelming. I'll provide a safe, non-judgmental place for you to get the help you need to start your self-growth journey."
Margit B LPC
Counselor, MA, LPC
"Have you experienced a loss? Are you dealing with grief? Are you struggling with relationship issues? "
Alisa Palmer-Winston
"**Daytime availability only at this time** It takes courage to begin the process of attending therapy, therefore simply by exploring this possibility, you have already initiated change. While therapy is meant to be a safe and a non-judgmental space, it is also one that should enable healing, encourage empowerment, and promote independence. If this is what you are seeking, take a moment to appreciate that you have already taken the first step toward making real changes in your life."
Renee Alberino
"I look forward to guiding you along your journey. We will explore whatever obstacles you have experienced that may have kept you from reaching your goals. We will incorporate modalities that will be most beneficial to you. I use many creative therapies, as well as the more traditional. Please contact me and let the healing begin..."
Maryjeanne Chichester
"**ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS** Are you considering therapy but nervous about finding the right therapist? Whether you're seeking a therapist for the first time or re-engaging, the process can seem daunting. Reflect on what qualities would most suit your needs as the client: a therapist who is compassionate, reflective, challenging, empowering, and/or collaborative?"
Jennifer Shatas
"Do you ever hear people tell you, you seem sad and ask why you haven't been coming around lately? Do you tend to isolate yourself because going out is "just too much right now" or "too stressful"? Those emotions can feel overwhelming but there are ways to work through them and feel more invigorated and engaged with life."
Cindy Jo Olsen
"**ACCEPTING NEW CLIENTS!** Do you sometimes feel as if you're caught up in an internal emotional struggle? Or a struggle with a loved one? Or maybe with life's challenges in general? Wouldn't it be nice to have the skills to manage those feelings without being thrown off kilter? Well, I would like to help you find that balance."
Laura Jakabauski
"I have been a Licensed Professional Counselor for over fifteen years. In that time, I have worked with a wide variety of behavioral health issues including depression, anxiety, grief, PTSD, sexual abuse, domestic violence, marital problems and trauma."
Kate Tansley
"I have extensive training and clinical experience with anxiety, depression and multiple levels of trauma. I also specialize in grief counseling, behavioral services and emotional regulation support. I have clinical experience working with children and adults who struggle with effectively managing their day-to-day tasks and regulating their emotions related to current life stressors, past trauma or underlying symptoms of anxiety and/or depression."
Sharon Your Best Life Llc
"*Currently not accepting new clients* It is a normal part of being human to sometimes feel stuck, unhappy or discontent in life, and it can be hard to see a way out of these feelings. These experiences can often be overcome with the support and guidance of a therapist. Whether you would simply like someone to listen or someone to lend clinical expertise, I would be happy to help."
Life Coaching Therapists
If you're looking for help with life coaching in 06489 or for 06489 life coach these professionals provide life counseling, personal counseling and career counseling. They include 06489 life coaches, career coaches, career counselors and life counselors plus life coaching therapists, life coaching psychologists, life coaching psychotherapists and life coaching counselors. They can help with all aspects of life counseling, work counseling and business counseling.
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Aspen’s Memorial Day Observance remembers the fallen and ‘those who did come back’
Scott Condon
Palmer Hood, left, and Bob Perigo of the Roaring Fork Valley Veterans Honor Guard undertake the Presentation of the Colors at Aspen's Memorial Day Observance on Monday. Both men were U.S. Navy veterans.
Scott Condon / The Aspen Times
Members of the local troops of the Scouts undertake the Laying of the Memorial Wreath at Aspen's Memorial Day Observance on Monday.
Scott Condon/The Aspen Times
Members of the local troops of Scouts work with Marine Corps veteran Dick Merritt on the Laying of the Memorial Wreath at Aspen's Memorial Day Observance on Monday.
U.S. Army veteran Charlie Hopton (center) gives an emotional tribute to the late Pepper Gomez at Aspen's Memorial Day Observance on Monday as veterans Dick Merritt (left) and Dan Glidden bow their heads. Gomez passed away last May.
Bob Perigo and Palmer Hood undertake the Retirement of the Colors at Aspen's Memorial Day Observance on Monday.
Aspen’s annual Memorial Day Observance was a stirring mix of honoring the dead for their military service and encouragement to help survivors who are struggling because of their experiences.
“Today is traditionally remembering those who didn’t come back but we also have to take care of those who did come back,” said Charlie Hopton, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and now volunteers with the Western Slope Veterans Coalition, an organization that helps veterans in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties to pursue the benefits to which they are entitled.
“Let’s take care of our vets,” Hopton told a crowd of between 150 and 200 who attended the ceremony in Conner Park adjacent to Aspen City Hall.
Paul Andersen, founder and executive director for the nonprofit Huts for Vets, said the trauma of war has haunted warriors since ancient times, though now there is greater understanding of the mental toll. Their experiences can lead to a “moral injury” where life isn’t held in high regard any longer, he said.
There were 20 suicides per day among U.S. veterans in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
Huts for Vets uses wilderness and communal experiences as therapeutic healing for veterans and active-duty service members at no cost to them. The wilderness therapy has so far served 128 veterans who have hiked 2,770 miles in the wilderness around Aspen. The experience is designed to provide a life affirmation for mind, body and spirit.
“At Huts for Vets, we offer a new start, maybe,” Andersen said.
Pitkin County Veterans Service Officer Janine Barth outlined additional ways that people can help with veterans.
Aspen’s observance culminated with veteran Darryl Grob’s roll call of the Roaring Fork Valley servicemen killed in the line of duty, followed by the playing of taps by trumpeter Dick Sundeen and the Retirement of Colors by Bob Perigo and Palmer Hood, two Navy veterans in the Roaring Fork Valley Veterans Honor Guard.
As always, audience members were encouraged to come up and pay tribute to someone special to them who served in the military. Several speakers remembered Sgt. James Edward “Pepper” Gomez, a longtime Aspenite who served in the distinguished Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery from 1963-66. Gomez, who died last May, was active in local veterans’ affairs and was a well-known and popular Aspen resident.
Hopton delivered a tribute to Gomez by noting what an emotional toll it would take to participate in so many burials of soldiers.
“I can’t imagine a harder job to do,” Hopton said. “He would have been better off in combat.”
Jean Owen gave a stirring remembrance of her late husband, Cody Owen. He was a young solider in the mid-1960s who immediately was in the thick of combat in Vietnam. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of his life as result of his experiences in war, she said.
Mrs. Owen urged the crowd to keep in mind the “walking wounded” — the homeless men walking the streets and others suffering in invisible ways from their experiences while serving their country.
Longtime Aspen resident Marcia Goshorn was asked to help with the candle-lighting ceremony. She spoke briefly about her dad, who was a B24 Liberator Bomber pilot who spent nine months in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. He died last month.
“It’s one of those things where he’s up there smiling down, no longer in pain and with people he wanted to be with,” she said.
Veterans Dick Merritt and Dan Glidden organized and coordinated the ceremony, as they have since it was started 31 years ago. The event will return next year to the Roaring Fork Veterans Memorial Park, which looks “stunning” after changes made in conjunction to the reconstruction of the Pitkin County Courthouse Annex, according to Glidden.
A rededication ceremony for the memorial park will be made on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
scondon@aspentimes.com
Demon boys hold on for rivalry win at Rifle
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Festival Pass: Los Angeles lands a new music…
Festival Pass: Los Angeles lands a new music festival for 2020
Kamaiyah, shown here performing onstage at the 2019 BET Experience in Los Angeles, is one of the artists on the bill for the Rolling Loud festival at Band of California Stadium this weekend. (File photo by Roger Kisby/Getty Images for BET)
By Vanessa Franko | vfranko@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise
Festival Pass is a weekly newsletter that lands in your inbox weekly. But during prime festival season you get bonus editions, too! Subscribe now.
Festival Pass for Thursday, Dec. 12
This is a magical week for music festivals everywhere BUT Southern California. My inbox is stuffed with news of Pearl Jam playing Lollapalooza in Stockholm and Paris. And Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water just announced its lineup this morning, with the Foo Fighters, Usher, Tyler, the Creator and the fest’s founder on the bill.
But in Southern California, with the exceptions of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival and part of BeachLife, we don’t really see the release of lineups until after the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival comes out. (For those of you keeping score at home, we typically see that in early January, although signs already point to Rage Against the Machine playing.)
However, we did get news that another new festival is coming to Los Angeles in 2020 and it’s from a group that’s no stranger to the music business. And we have a festival happening this weekend you should know about. Read on.
Megan Thee Stallion, shown here performing at the Astroworld Festival at NRG Stadium in Houston in November, hit big with “Hot Girl Summer.” She is one of the artists performing at Rolling Loud at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles this weekend. (File photo by Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)
Rolling into LA
Rolling Loud returns to Los Angeles this weekend and while it’s a male-dominated lineup, here are 7 women performing at the fest you won’t want to miss.
Sign up for our Festival Pass newsletter. Whether you are a Coachella lifer or prefer to watch from afar, get weekly dispatches during the Southern California music festival season. Subscribe here.
Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, will launch Virgin Fest in L.A. on June 6-7. (File Photo, Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
New year, new fest
Richard Branson’s international conglomerate the Virgin Group is jumping onto the music festival bandwagon, again, with the new Virgin Fest, scheduled for Banc of California Stadium and Exposition Park June 6-7. Here’s what we know so far.
Jason Mraz performs at the BeachLife Festival at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach on Saturday, May 4, 2019.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
He’s not yours
Jason Mraz is suing MillerCoors beer company, arguing copyright infringement for using video of performance from the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach earlier this year.
And now for a little something extra…Here are three must-reads on entertainment, culture and events we think you might like.
Lisa May talks leaving radio, her ouster from KROQ’s Kevin & Bean show and joining KLOS’ Frosty, Heidi and Frank
These are the 12 worst Christmas and holiday songs
25+ ideas for going out for Christmas dinner
Get Festival Pass delivered to your inbox weekly.
The annual Doheny Blues Festival has been postponed for 2020
Festival Pass: Who’s playing BeachLife, Newport Beach Jazz Festival
BeachLife 2020: Festival lineup includes Steve Miller Band, Counting Crows, Fitz and the Tantrums and more
Newport Beach Jazz Festival celebrates 25th anniversary with Tower of Power, Anthony Hamilton and more
How the musical spirit of Hawaii will take over Redondo Beach this weekend
Hemet man admits to ID theft scheme
Professing faith: What’s the meaning of the plagues in the Bible?
Pepsi truck topples off 15 Freeway in Fontana spilling cans of soda across roadway
Vanessa Franko
Vanessa Franko is the Digital Director of Entertainment for the Southern California News Group. The lure of palm trees and covering pop culture brought her to The Press-Enterprise in Riverside in 2006. Vanessa has reported on everything from the Palm Springs International Film Festival to the MLB All-Star Game as a reporter, photographer, videographer and on-camera personality. She's won awards for her coverage of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and for crime reporting in her home state of Maryland. Vanessa studied multimedia storytelling as a Knight Digital Media Center fellow in Dec. 2011 and has taught college courses in digital journalism. She's seen shows at every major concert venue in Southern California, but most special was when Paul McCartney played the high-desert roadhouse Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown for a couple hundred fans in Oct. 2016. Her album collection numbers in the thousands (including a couple hundred on vinyl) and when she isn't hunting for records, she and her husband like to check out the best in Southern California craft beer and watch sports. She also had a cameo in the 1992 Atlanta Braves highlight film, Lightning Strikes Twice!
Follow Vanessa Franko @vanessafranko
More in Music + Concerts
NAMM 2020: Dave Grohl, members of Anthrax, Stone Sour and more honor Pantera guitarist ‘Dimebag’ Darrell with Dimebash
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Flop Sweat Builds As It Sure Looks Like the Barr-Durham Probe Is Now a Criminal Investigation
Posted at 1:00 pm on October 21, 2019 by Bonchie
CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2016, before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Islamic State. Brennan said that the Islamic State remains “formidable” and “resilient,” is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks on the West and will rely more on guerrilla-style tactics to compensate for its territorial losses in the Middle East. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Yesterday, RedState via Elizabeth Vaughn shared the news that Durham had further expanded his investigation to include James Clapper and John Brennan. This, of course, left Brennan flailing about wildly, wondering why the DOJ would even be interested in him.
John Brennan told NBC that Durham’s investigation is “bizarre” and said, “I don’t know what the legal basis for this is.” He doesn’t? Let me refresh his memory.
Brennan’s obsessive fear that Donald Trump might win the presidency may have instigated the whole collusion narrative. He didn’t have to twist many arms to bring others on board, but his exhaustive search for “dirt” on Trump and his insistence that the FBI open a counterintelligence investigation was key.
That news came on the heels of another report I wrote on a week earlier in which it was confirmed that Barr had expanded his reach past just FISA abuse.
However, based on what he has been finding, Durham has expanded his investigation adding agents and resources, the senior administration officials said. The timeline has grown from the beginning of the probe through the election and now has included a post-election timeline through the spring of 2017, up to when Robert Mueller was named special counsel.
With the latest report, there are a few things happening that make me think this isn’t just window dressing. In fact, I think it has morphed into a full blown criminal investigation.
Note that they’ve moved past looking at process arguments involving FISA and are now targeting specific people. Brennan and Clapper are both going to be interviewed, along with the other analysts involved in Brennan’s much-ballyhooed report on Russian interference. It always appeared that the Obama administration threw that report together, lacking much of any evidence, to throw Trump’s presidency into chaos.
Further, officials within these agencies are now scrambling to lawyer up and that’s never a sign things are going well for those involved.
Durham has also requested to talk to CIA analysts involved in the intelligence assessment of Russia’s activities, prompting some of them to hire lawyers, according to three former CIA officials familiar with the matter. And there is tension between the CIA and the Justice Department over what classified documents Durham can examine, two people familiar with the matter said.
It certainly appears that Barr has progressed this into a full blown criminal investigation and that has the media scrambling.
A review launched by AG William Barr into the origins of the Russia investigation has expanded significantly amid concerns about whether the probe has any legal or factual basis. @KenDilanianNBC @Tom_Winter @JuliaEAinsley https://t.co/A00qZoPC0S
— NBC Investigations (@NBCInvestigates) October 19, 2019
Oh, now they are concerned with whether there’s a factual basis for an investigation? I’m sure Donald Trump would be interested in the genesis of this new rule. It’s amazing to behold the lack of self-awareness some of these outlets lack. They spent over two years rattling about Russian collusion, something we found out held no basis in fact, but now they question with a straight face whether an investigation of that process is legitimate?
And here’s Brennan’s MSNBC buddy (Brennan is a paid contributor at the network) feeling a sudden tightening on his backside.
The investigation of William Barr after Donald Trump leaves the White House will unearth reamarkably damning material. He is foolishly acting like Trump will be president forever. He won’t.
In fact, he will be voted out a year from now. Barr better lawyer up. https://t.co/FFQ0d28RG8
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 21, 2019
That’s called projection boys and girls.
The idea that Bill Barr, who has shown himself to be an incredibly smart and tough figure while Attorney General, is going to be thrown in jail once he leaves office is laughable. You can bet he’s not letting one single detail slip here and the DOJ has an absolute right to investigate corruption within their ranks. It’s not Barr who needs to lawyer up and that’s shown by the fact that it’s those he’s investigating who are running to K Street right now.
Ed Morrissey notes this over at HotAir.
The point about hiring lawyers is especially interesting. The DoJ made sure to note at the beginning that Durham was conducting an internal review, not a criminal investigation, although there was nothing to prevent it from developing into one. The DoJ does not comment on the existence of criminal investigations until they either close one or get an indictment — with a couple of notable James Comey-related exceptions — and they’re not talking now, either. These developments, however, make it look like Durham has turned the corner from review to full-blown criminal investigation.
We’ve always known the IG report from Horowitz was going to be toothless. He can’t even interview people who’ve already left government, so how exactly was he going to get to the bottom of what Brennan, Clapper, Comey, etc. did? But Barr has the power of the judicial system behind him. He can force these people to all sit for interviews, and while Comey may be sly enough to avoid trouble, Brennan is basically a stump with legs.
We’ll see where all this goes. The fact that Barr and Durham are not wrapping this up but are continuing to expand and target specific people is a bad sign for those who helped perpetrate the Russian collusion hoax.
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Tags: 2016 election Bill Barr corruption DOJ Donald Trump FBI FISA james clapper James Comey Joe Scarborough John Brennan john durham Lawyer Up Russia
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Renouf backs Walker brothers for NRL coaching gig
Joel Gould NRL.com Reporter
Wed 1 Aug 2018, 10:03 AM
Steve Renouf insists it is time for his former Broncos teammates Ben and Shane Walker to get a start as NRL coaches after eight successful seasons at the helm of the Ipswich Jets.
In this week's NRL Podcast, Renouf analyses the Walker brothers' winning strike rate of 57.8% in the Intrust Super Cup through 191 games, comparable with Des Hasler's 58.1% record at Manly and Canterbury and well ahead of Ivan Cleary's overall win rate in the NRL of 46.7%.
The brothers, who were close to getting the Titans job this year, have achieved sustained success at one of the state league's poorest clubs and without NRL-affiliated players coming back to them on a regular basis.
"I'd love them to get a run at a club like Parramatta or Canterbury and see what they can do with a lot more resourcing," Renouf says. "They are good coaches and the way they man manage is very important."
The former Brisbane centre also discusses why the Broncos' 12-10 win over the Sharks enhanced their finals credentials and points to why Titans five-eighth AJ Brimson's defensive technique is proving so effective close to the line.
He hits out at critics of Johnathan Thurston who believe he has played a season too long and explains why he believes St George Illawarra will bounce back from their mini-slump against the Warriors.
Walters ramps up preparation for sustained Maroons success
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Virgtel Ltd & Anor v Zabusky & Ors
[2011] QSC 269
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Unreported Judgment
Appeal Determined (QCA)
Virgtel Ltd v Zabusky
SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND
Virgtel Ltd & Anor v Zabusky & Ors [2011] QSC 269
PARTIES:
VIRGTEL LIMITED
(first applicant)
VIRGTEL GLOBAL NETWORKS NV
(second applicant)
HARVEY ZABUSKY
(first respondent)
AMALIA ZABUSKY
(second respondent)
EREZ ZABUSKY
(third respondent)
COMMSLOGIC PTY LTD (ACN 109 057 543)
(fourth respondent)
SOFTQUEST SOLUTIONS PTY LTD (ACN 057 679 599)
(fifth respondent)
VIRGIN TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED
(sixth respondent)
FILE NO/S:
BS 6547 of 2005
Trial Division
PROCEEDING:
ORIGINATING COURT:
DELIVERED ON:
DELIVERED AT:
14 and 15 February 2011
Further written submissions
Daubney J
1.The parties shall bring in an order providing for the joinder nunc pro tunc as applicants of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla, with the costs of the joinder application to be reserved;
2.The respondents’ application for a temporary stay is dismissed with costs.
CATCHWORDS:
PROCEDURE – SUPREME COURT PROCEDURE – QUEENSLAND – PROCEDURE UNDER UNIFORM CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES AND PREDECESSORS – PARTIES – OTHER MATTERS – where the applicants seek to join two other companies as applicants in the proceeding under rule 69(1)(b) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) – whether it is appropriate for the companies to be joined
PROCEDURE – SUPREME COURT PROCEDURE – QUEENSLAND – PROCEDURE UNDER UNIFORM CIVIL PROCEDURE RULES AND PREDECESSORS – STAYING PROCEEDINGS – where the respondents apply for a temporary stay of proceedings – where the respondents submit that the present proceeding mirrors issues in proceedings in other jurisdictions – whether the Court should exercise its inherent jurisdiction to temporarily stay the proceedings
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 236(3)
Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), r 69(1)(b)
Angas Law Services Pty Ltd (in liq) v Carabelas (2005) 226 CLR 507, cited
Biala Pty Ltd v Mallina Holdings Ltd (No 4) (1993) 13 WAR 11, cited
Foss v Harbottle (1843) 2 HARE 461; 67 ER 189
OZ-US Film Products Pty Ltd (in liq) v Heath [2000] NSWSC 967, cited
Virgtel Ltd v Zabusky [2006] 2 Qd R 81, considered
Voth v Manildra Flour Mills Pty Ltd (1990) 171 CLR 538, cited
COUNSEL:
G C Newton SC with S S Monks for the applicants
D R Cooper SC with C Wilson for the first, second, third and fifth respondents
SOLICITORS:
James Conomos Lawyers for the applicants
Tucker & Cowen for the first, second, third and fifth respondents
The background to this litigation has been essayed in a number of previous judgments. At its most basic, it is a contest between Mr van Leeuwen and Mr Zabusky. The van Leeuwen side of the record contends that Mr Zabusky wrongly caused large sums of money which were supposed to have been paid to Virgin Technologies Ltd (“VTL”), a Nigerian company in which Mr van Leeuwen and Mr Zabusky indirectly had interests, to be diverted to the benefit of Mr Zabusky, other members of the Zabusky family and other companies associated with him.
As these proceedings are presently constituted, the applicants are Virgtel Ltd (“Virgtel”) and Virgtel Global Networks NV (“Global”), the first to fifth respondents are the various Zabusky entities, and the sixth respondent is VTL.
In this proceeding, there are presently two applications for disposition:
(a)An application by the van Leeuwen side of the record to join two other companies associated with Mr van Leeuwen as applicants in the proceeding, and
(b)An application by the Zabusky side for a temporary stay of the proceeding.
Before dealing with the merits of those applications, it is appropriate to recall that in 2006, de Jersey CJ granted leave nunc pro tunc to Virgtel and Global to commence and continue this proceeding as a derivative proceeding on behalf of VTL. In his judgment,[1] the Chief Justice gave the following brief summary of the background facts:
“[1] This proceeding concerns alleged misdealing in the property of the sixth respondent (VTL). VTL is a Nigerian based company which conducted a business of providing satellite based telephone services in that country. A secured creditor Afribank Nigeria plc placed VTL into receivership on 8 March 2004. By December of that year, Afribank’s debt had been fully discharged. The receivership has not yet however been formally terminated. (The receiver has yet to render his accounts of the receivership.)
[2] The proceeding is promoted by Mr van Leeuwen, who became involved in VTL in October 2000, at the invitation of the party prominent on the other side of the present ledger, the first respondent Mr Zabusky. Mr Zabusky lived in Nigeria and was actively involved in the day-to-day management of VTL, although the applicants deny that Mr Zabusky was an employee of that company.
[3] Before the involvement in VTL of Mr van Leeuwen, 85 per cent of the shares in VTL were owned by the first applicant (Virgtel). Virgtel had three shareholders: Amalia Investments Ltd, a company associated with Mr Zabusky; White Owl Ltd, associated with a Mr Gazal; and BZ Investments Ltd, a company associated with a Mr Shaibu, and latterly, his widow. In October 2000, Mr van Leeuwen caused his company, Viscaya Armadora SA, to acquire the shares in VTL held by White Owl. That gave Viscaya a majority holding in, and control of, VTL.
[4] The second applicant (Virgtel Global) was incorporated in August 2001 by Mr van Leeuwen. Virgtel Global remains under this control. The applicants contend that Virgtel Global was incorporated in order to act as a general agent for VTL in relation to VTL’s dealings with multinational customers and suppliers. On the other hand, the respondents say that Virgtel Global was incorporated with a view to becoming the sole shareholder in VTL. That is said to emerge from a “Protocol of Understanding and Undertaking” dated 20 October 2000 between Amalia and Viscaya. While accepting that the protocol was agreed upon, Mr van Leuwen’s position is that it was terminated or disbanded because of Mr Zabusky’s alleged failure to secure a transfer of other shares as contemplated by it.
[5] Whatever the ultimate significance of that, disputes about shareholdings in VTL came to a head at VTL’s Annual General Meeting in London in February 2004. That led to proceedings in the High Court of Nigeria, concerning the shareholdings in VTL, involving those recorded by the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission, through its registration of a “form CO2” on 15 November 2000. That form dated 14 November 2000 was lodged purportedly pursuant to a resolution, but one which the van Leeuwen interests deny was ever passed. Those proceedings are extant. (I return later to some detail of them.)
[6] The vast bulk of the affidavit material filed by Mr van Leeuwen and other deponents for the applicants, if accepted, establishes a prima facie circumstantial, and in some respects direct, case in support of the following allegations:
1.that Mr Zabusky used his position as a director of VTL, and through his day-to-day involvement in its management, improperly to divert substantial sums of money from VTL to himself, and to his wife and son (the second and third respondents), and to entities associated with him and them (the fourth and fifth respondents);
2.that Mr Zabusky and his son Erez improperly sold VTL assets and retained the proceeds for themselves; and
3.that Mr Zabusky and Erez improperly removed and retained computers, information storage devices, information and records belonging to VTL, and brought them to Queensland, where the Zabusky family now resides.
[7] The applicants contend that the misappropriated monies referred to in paras one and two above, found their way into the substantial real estate holdings in the Gold Coast region now owned by Mr and Mrs Zabusky, Erez and their companies; and into the companies Commslogic (the fourth respondent) and Softquest (the fifth respondent). The applicants assert an entitlement to declarations of the consequent existence of constructive trusts affecting that property, and invoke a tracing remedy.
[8] The respondents comprehensively deny those various factual allegations.”
The Chief Justice then canvassed the circumstances by which the proceeding had been commenced by way of an application for Mareva and Anton Piller orders against the Zabusky interests, before turning to deal with the application for leave to commence and continue the proceeding as a derivative action on behalf of VTL against the first to fifth respondents. His Honour also dealt with an application by the Zabusky interests for the proceedings to be summarily dismissed or stayed; the Zabusky interests relied on four major grounds in support of that application, namely:
(a)the law of Nigeria precluded this derivative proceeding;
(b)because of the intervening receivership of VTL, the proceeding was incompetent in the absence of the receiver’s consent or the leave of the Nigerian Court;
(c)the proceeding could not succeed factually;
(d)the principle of forum non conveniens.
As to whether the proceeding was factually untenable, the Chief Justice did not consider this basis for the respondents’ application could be sustained, noting that there was “plainly a host of matters warranting determination, as necessary, by way of trial”.[2]
In rejecting the respondents’ argument concerning the lack of receiver’s consent, de Jersey CJ accepted that, notwithstanding the appointment of a receiver pursuant to a debenture, the residual right of a shareholder to commence a derivative proceeding is preserved, provided its pursuit will not jeopardise the charged assets.
As to the argument that Nigerian law precluded the derivative action, the Chief Justice, by reference to significant authority on the point, held that the setting up of the present proceeding involved a procedural, not substantive, question and accordingly the law of Queensland applied. Additionally, his Honour noted[3] that there “is authority that Australian law will apply to both the substantive and procedural aspects of any proceeding here for fraud, alleging constructive trusts or seeking the remedy of tracing”. He cited particularly the judgment of Young J in OZ-US Film Products Pty Ltd (in liq) v Heath.[4]
The Chief Justice then turned to consider the factors relevant to granting leave to a shareholder to bring a derivative action. This needed to be adjudged under the common law, not the facultative provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) because VTL, Virgtel and Global were all unregistered foreign corporations. His Honour accepted that there were tenable, substantive claims to be urged on behalf of VTL against the respondents, then turned to consider whether VTL had an effective means of progressing the claims. He referred to the (then) state of multiplicity of litigation about the identity of VTL’s directors and shareholders, and the existence of certain injunctions in Nigeria at that time, all of which led to a conclusion as to the difficulty, if not impossibility, of convening a meeting of the board of VTL to consider the motions necessary to commence or continue recovery proceedings against the Zabusky parties.
The Chief Justice concluded that if the applicants were not permitted to proceed by way of a derivative action, then it was “unlikely that these apparently not insubstantial claims will ever be ventilated effectively through court proceedings”.[5]
His Honour then dealt with three matters which had been particularly relied on by the Zabusky parties to oppose the application:
(a)that Virgtel was not a shareholder of VTL;
(b)that Global was contravening injunctions issued by the Nigerian Court;
(c)that the subject complaints could be dealt with in Nigeria.
As to the first of these submissions, the Chief Justice noted that the applicants’ contention was that, notwithstanding the Form CO2 registered with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission on 15 November 2000 which recorded Global as a 99 per cent shareholder in VTL, Virgtel had always held an 85 per cent stake in VTL. Alternatively, the applicants relied on Global’s registered 99 per cent interest as giving it standing to bring the proceeding. The Chief Justice rejected a submission that Virgtel’s claim to 85 per cent was “merely equitable”, noting that Virgtel had claimed full legal ownership of that shareholding. He held that Virgtel’s ownership in law of its 85 per cent shareholding in VTL was not affected by registration of the form CO2, saying:[6]
“It is important to note that that was not a registration entered upon the share register of VTL; it was a ‘registration’ by a statutory Government authority. (And it is a registration which Virgtel has said misrepresented the true position.)”
The Chief Justice rejected the argument that, in bringing the proceeding, Global was contravening the terms of certain Nigerian injunctions, and also observed:
“[82]Virgtel Global was included as applicant to address a contention – made by the respondents – that because of the “registration” of the CO2 document, Virgtel lacked the standing it could otherwise assert. Because of the relevance of the shareholding issue, it was probably always necessary to have Virgtel Global as a party in this proceeding – as was accepted at the hearing. It is without practical consequence whether it be applicant or respondent: it is an arguably interested and necessary party on whichever side of the proceeding. At an earlier stage in the matter, counsel for the applicants said that Virgtel Global was not an ‘ideal applicant’, and that may be, but it would seem to be a necessary party, and there is in my view no likely adverse practical consequence in now confirming the legitimacy of its presence in the proceeding.” (Underlining added)
The question of the availability of alternative proceedings in Nigeria was dealt with by the Chief Justice under the question of forum non conveniens. He considered the numerous factors which the parties had submitted made Queensland or Nigeria appropriate (or inappropriate), but concluded that it had not been demonstrated that Queensland was a “clearly inappropriate forum” (applying in that regard the tests stated in Voth v Manildra Flour Mills Pty Ltd).[7] The Chief Justice held that there was manifest convenience in proceeding in Queensland “and it could not sensibly be suggested doing so would be oppressive or vexatious”.[8] In respect of the application for leave to bring the proceeding as a derivative action, his Honour referred particularly to what has come to be regarded in the authorities as the “fifth exception” to the rule in Foss v Harbottle.[9] That rule is to the effect that in proceedings to address a wrong done to a company, it is the company itself, and not any individual member or members, which is the proper plaintiff. A number of exceptions to that rule have been identified. In particular, the cases (identified at length by the Chief Justice in the course of his judgment) establish a so-called “fifth exception”, namely that a member or members may bring an action to vindicate the rights of a company where the justice of the case warrant the proceeding. The Chief Justice held that, in the present case, this exception was “plainly established to the point where it should regulate the outcome of these applications”,[10] and held that it was just to permit the proceeding to go forward. He also noted that the “fifth exception” was not limited to a situation where the applicant is a minority shareholder.[11]
The Chief Justice therefore ordered, inter alia, that the applicants were entitled to commence, and may continue this proceeding, as a derivative action on behalf of the sixth respondent (VTL) as against the first to fifth respondents.
There was no appeal against this judgment of the Chief Justice, and the proceeding has continued since then as a derivative action brought by the applicants on behalf of VTL.
The joinder application
The van Leeuwen interests have now applied for the joinder as applicants of two other companies associated with Mr van Leeuwen. Each is called Viscaya Armadora SA. One is incorporated in Panama and the other in Anguilla. For convenience, they are identified as “Viscaya Panama” and “Viscaya Anguilla”.
The application for joinder is made under UCPR r 69(1)(b), which relevantly provides that the Court may order that any of the following be included as a party:
“(i)a person whose presence before the court is necessary to enable the Court to adjudicate effectually and completely on all matters in dispute in the proceeding;
(ii)a person whose presence before the court would be desirable, just and convenient to enable the court to adjudicate effectually and completely on all matters in dispute connected with the proceeding.”
The van Leeuwen interests contend that the joinder of these companies is appropriate because:
(a)Viscaya Anguilla, or alternatively Viscaya Panama, is a shareholder in VTL and is a proper applicant in the derivative action;
(b)the presence of these parties is appropriate for the purpose of resolving the
so-called “retainer issue”.
To say that there is a dispute between the van Leeuwen and the Zabusky interests as to the extent and identity of the shareholders in VTL and Virgtel is somewhat of an understatement. That dispute is now being litigated in numerous courts in several jurisdictions.
At the very least, however, it appears common ground that as at 1 October 2000, the shareholding in VTL was:
Virgtel 85 per cent
Shehu Malami 5 per cent
Ray Wilson Enterprises Ltd 5 per cent
Air Virgo Ltd 5 per cent
At that time, Virgtel’s shares were held as follows:
White Owl Ltd50.0002 per cent
Amalia Investments Ltd39.9998 per cent
BZ Investments Ltd10 per cent
It is to be noted in passing that Amalia Investments Ltd is a company associated with the Zabusky interests.
There is great disputation between the parties as to how shares in these companies were subsequently dealt with, and the terms of those dealings. The following contested positions emerge:
The van Leeuwen interests say that on 15 August 2002, Viscaya Panama purchased Malami’s interest in VTL. It is conceded that the Zabusky interests, through Amalia Investments, provided 50 per cent of the funds to purchase those shares, and may therefore be entitled to half of the Malami shares. As a consequence, the shareholding in VTL became:
Viscaya Panama 2.5 per cent
Amalia Investments 2.5 per cent
In November 2000, a Form CO2 was lodged with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission purporting to record VTL shareholders as:
Virgtel Global 99 per cent
Viscaya Panama 1 per cent
This is the form to which the Chief Justice referred in his judgment. The court in Nigeria subsequently (and for reasons that do not presently need to be traversed) ordered the Form CO2 be set aside and directed a substitute form be filed. In 2004, however, other proceedings had been commenced by Amalia Investments in Nigeria seeking, inter alia, declarations for a new share structure for VTL, namely:
Viscaya Panama41.85 per cent
Amalia Investments41.85 per cent
BZ Investments 6.7 per cent
Air Virgo 5 per cent
Both sides, therefore, have advanced the proposition that Viscaya Panama was, or was entitled to be, a shareholder in VTL, although the extent of that shareholding is obviously a matter of dispute.
Virgtel
The identity and extent of the shareholdings in Virgtel is also in issue. The van Leeuwen interests contend that in October 2000, White Owl’s shares in Virgtel were transferred to Viscaya Panama. The Zabusky interests contend, however, that the single share (which gave White Owl the 0.0002 per cent majority) was held by White Owl on constructive trust for Amalia Investments, and that Viscaya Panama was bound by that same trust. In 2001, Viscaya Panama purchased 18,000 of BZ Investments’ shares in Virgtel (equal to 3 per cent of the issued capital); the Zabusky interests say that this was a purchase by Viscaya Panama and Amalia Investments jointly.
In summary, the position with the shareholding of Virgtel, depending on whose case is accepted, is that Virgtel’s shares were held as follows:
Viscaya Panama – on the Zabusky case, 50 per cent, increasing to 51.5 per cent after purchase of the BZ Investment shares; on the van Leeuwen case, 53.002 per cent, after purchase of the BZ Investments shares
Amalia Investments – on the Zabusky case, 40 per cent increasing to 41.5 per cent after purchase of the BZ Investment shares
BZ Investments – 10 per cent, reduced after sale to 7 per cent
For completeness, I will note that Global was incorporated in the Netherlands in August 2001. All of its issued capital was held by Mrs van Leeuwen (since deceased. Its current directors are associates of Mr van Leeuwen. It is a van Leeuwen entity. The Zabusky interests contend, however, that Global was supposed to have been established as an “umbrella” entity through which the van Leeuwen interests and the Zabusky interest would hold their interests in VTL, but the van Leeuwen interest wrongfully presumed that Global was effectively owned by the late Mrs van Leeuwen.
The two Viscaya companies
From 1998, Mr van Leeuwen held a power of attorney to act generally on behalf of Viscaya Panama, a company in which he held all of the issued capital. He alleges that in 2009, Mr Zabusky caused the Panamanian law firm which acted as Viscaya Panama’s registered agent in that country to cease acting for Mr van Leeuwen so far as Virgtel was concerned. It is unnecessary for present purposes to descend into the detail of that dispute. It is sufficient to note that Mr van Leeuwen says that, as a consequence, he retained another firm in Anguilla (British West Indies) and on 7 August 2009 Viscaya Anguilla was incorporated. The van Leeuwen interests contend that Viscaya Panama’s shares in Virgtel were transferred to Viscaya Anguilla on that same day. I note in passing that the Zabusky interests assert that such a transfer was prohibited by Virgtel’s constitution and that the shares in Virgtel are still owned by Viscaya Panama. The van Leeuwen interests also contend that Viscaya Panama’s five per cent interest in VTL was transferred to Viscaya Anguilla on 10 August 2009.
Should Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla be joined?
I have given only the barest summary of the competing contentions on the identity and extent of the shareholdings in VTL and Virgtel because, as the matter was argued before me, the fact of these competing contentions was not in issue.
The applicants contend that Viscaya Anguilla, or at the very least, Viscaya Panama, is on any view of the matter a shareholder in VTL and is therefore a proper applicant in this derivative action.
The applicants’ further reason for joining these parties is by reason of the Zabusky interests having raised the question of the ability of the van Leeuwen interests to bring the present proceedings in the name of Virgtel and Global. It is necessary to explain a little more about that issue.
In April 2009, some three years after the Chief Justice gave leave nunc pro tunc for Virgtel and Global to bring these derivative proceedings, counsel for the Zabusky interests asserted for the first time in the course of a review hearing that Virgtel and Global had never had authority to retain solicitors to bring and prosecute this action. Directions were made to enable the respondents to pursue that argument fully, but that application was never brought on. It is, however, a point that is expressly pleaded on behalf of the respondents in defence to the present proceeding. As a consequence, the respondents have put in issue in this proceeding the question as to who had authority to act on behalf of Virgtel and Global. This will require determination of who was, or was entitled to be, directors of those companies, whether those persons had authority to instruct solicitors on behalf of those companies, and will also require determination of the identity and interests of the companies’ shareholders and which of those have the power to control the composition of the boards of the companies. At least so far as Virgtel is concerned, it is apparent from the summary of the disputed shareholding positions set out above that the extent of the shareholding of Viscaya Panama is a matter of dispute between the parties, as is the question whether the shares were transferred from Viscaya Panama to Viscaya Anguilla or whether such a transfer was prohibited.
In my opinion, each of these points weighs considerably in favour of the joinder of each of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla as applicants – whichever one of those companies is held to be a member of VTL is clearly an appropriate party to join in pursuit of the derivative action on behalf of VTL, and in any event I consider it desirable, just and convenient to have those parties before the Court for the purposes of determining the retainer issue.
The respondents, however, raised a number of issues which they argued ought persuade me not to exercise the discretion to permit the joinder of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla.
First, the respondents argued that this derivative action had never been properly constituted and pleaded. The bases for this argument were that the plaintiff in a derivative action can only sue if the company itself can sue, and that a derivative action against directors who are alleged to be guilty of a breach of their fiduciary duties to the company can only be prosecuted by a member if the directors control the company in general meeting or are otherwise able to prevent the company suing in its own name.
This argument, however, founders on the fact that this action has for years now been constituted as a derivative action pursuant to the orders made by the Chief Justice in 2006 and for the reasons articulated at length by the Chief Justice in his judgment. That judgment has never been challenged by the respondents. If the Zabusky parties contended that the Chief Justice erred in that decision, the appropriate avenue of challenge was to appeal that judgment rather than seeking to unwind the history of this proceeding at this stage.
Secondly, it was submitted that the joinder of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla ought be refused because the applicable limitation periods have expired. Significant argument was addressed to making good the proposition that the proper law of the claims against Mr Zabusky for breach of fiduciary duty is the law of Nigeria, and that the Nigerian limitation provisions ought be given effect. It was argued that the limitation period in Nigeria for claims for breach of fiduciary obligations is six years.
This argument is, however, misconceived because it ignores the fact that the causes of action pursued in this proceeding are VTL’s, and have always been pleaded on behalf of VTL.
Thirdly, it was argued that orders joining Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla should not be made because neither has standing. It was argued that because each of those entities is a foreign company, neither of which carries on business in Australia, the provisions of s 236(3) of the Corporations Act abolishing the right of a person at general law to bring proceedings on behalf of a “company” do not apply to these two entities insofar as they seek to bring proceedings in this Court on behalf of VTL. This very point was identified by the Chief Justice in relation to Virgtel and Global, as a consequence of which, as I have already noted, his Honour applied the common law tests relating to derivative actions. The same tests apply in relation to the proposed joinder of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla.
Next, the respondents sought to argue that neither Viscaya Panama nor Viscaya Anguilla was a necessary or proper party under Nigerian law. In this regard, counsel for the respondents sought to argue that the question whether a derivative action is available is a question of substantive law, governed by the law of Nigeria where VTL is incorporated, and that I should not follow the judgment of the Chief Justice. Whatever the merits of the arguments advanced by the respondents might be, the judgment of the Chief Justice stands and governs the constitution and disposition of this proceeding. The respondents, as I have already noted several times, did not appeal against the judgment of the Chief Justice. There is no proper basis for me now to go behind that judgment and revisit arguments which were dealt with by the Chief Justice in 2006.
The respondents further argued that even if Queensland law applies, then neither Viscaya Panama nor Viscaya Anguilla are necessary or proper parties. Significant argument was focused in this regard on whether the evidence establishes conclusively whether Viscaya Panama or Viscaya Anguilla are shareholders of VTL under the law of Nigeria. This argument is, to some degree, illusory. I have already summarised above the competing positions advanced by the parties in various extant pieces of litigation as to the identity and extent of the shareholdings in VTL. There is, in fact, no issue between the parties that Viscaya Panama has a claim in law to be recognised as a shareholder of VTL. The extent of that shareholding is to be determined by the courts. It is also for the courts to determine whether Viscaya Anguilla has a sustainable claim at law to be recognised as a shareholder in VTL by reason of the transfer to it of Viscaya Panama’s shares in VTL. The Chief Justice determined in 2006 that this was an appropriate case under the “fifth exception” to the rule in Foss v Harbottle for a derivative action to be brought and prosecuted on behalf of VTL. The joinder of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla in their claimed capacities as members (or lawfully entitled to be members) of VTL does not in any way derogate from that decision of the Chief Justice. In any event, I have already expressed the view that it is desirable for Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla to be joined in the proceeding for the purpose of resolving the “retainer issue” which has been raised in the proceeding by the respondent.
The respondents argued faintly that the order should be refused because the merits of the case after joinder were wanting. That assessment clearly cannot be made on an interlocutory application such as this, particularly in light of the fact that proceedings involving the issues on which the respondents assert the applicants have little merit are the subject of proceedings in other jurisdictions.
The respondents also contended that the applicants have not explained the delay in making the application to join Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla. In fact, the explanation is apparent on the material, and can clearly be sheeted home to being in significant part, at least, a response to the respondents raising the “retainer issue”.
This is not a case, as was argued at some length before me by counsel for the respondents, where the parties are sought to be joined in their capacity as shareholders of a shareholder of VTL. Rather, as I have sought to make clear above, Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla claim alternatively for an entitlement at law to a shareholding in VTL, the company for whose benefit the derivative action is brought.
Conclusion on the joinder application
The respondents have not persuaded me that I should not exercise the discretion conferred by r 69(1) for the joinder of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla. On the contrary, I am quite satisfied that it is appropriate for those parties to be joined. The joinder of each of those companies as applicants should, however, be subject to the following conditions, namely:
(a)that each of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla is bound by the previous orders made in this proceeding for the giving of security for costs;
(b)that each of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla is liable in respect of costs orders that have already been made against the existing applicants in this proceeding or which may be made in the future in relation to orders previously made reserving costs; and
(c)the provision of an undertaking as to damages that relates back to the commencement of the proceedings.
Subject to the parties bringing in a form of order which incorporates these conditions, there will be an order for the joinder nunc pro tunc of each of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla as applicants in the proceeding.
The respondents’ application for a stay
The Zabusky interests applied for a temporary stay of this proceeding, fundamentally on the basis that the present proceeding mirrors issues which are being ventilated in proceedings being conducted in other jurisdictions.
The pending foreign proceedings are:
(a)A suit in the Nigerian Federal High Court by Amalia Investment and Mr Zabusky against Global, Viscaya Panama, BZ, VTL and the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission. This is the proceeding to which I referred above by which the Zabusky interests seek, relevantly, declarations as to the shareholdings in VTL;
(b)Proceedings by Viscaya Anguilla and PMP Anguilla Ltd against Virgtel and Mr Zabusky in the High Court of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of the British Virgin Islands. This suit concerns the ownership and control of shares in Virgtel;
(c)A further suit in the High Court of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of the British Virgin Islands by Amalia Investment and Mr Zabusky against Virgtel, Viscaya Anguilla, Viscaya Panama, Mr van Leeuwen, PMP, BZ and White Owl.
For the purposes of the present application, the Zabusky interests relied particularly on the pendency of the proceedings in Nigeria, the outcome of which is supposed to settle the identity of the shareholders of VTL and the extent of their respective shareholdings. Counsel for the Zabusky interests submitted:
“7.The fundamental reason why the Queensland proceedings must be stayed is obvious. Once the true shareholdings in VTL are established in Nigeria, the conduct of the affairs of VTL will, relevantly, revert to the shareholders in general meeting.
A general meeting may ratify director’s acts despite an abuse of power, and any resulting transaction may be validated and the directors are absolved from liability to the company whether for breach of contract or fiduciary duty.
In other words, VTL will be able to sue in its own name for the wrongs alleged in the Queensland proceedings if it so desires because neither the Respondents nor the van Leeuwen interests will control the company in general meeting due to the existence of other shareholders. A majority decision is achievable in that context. Once VTL is able to pursue all claims in its own name in Nigeria, the other international proceedings necessarily become otiose.”
These submissions do not, however, fully state the applicable law. In particular, it omits reference to the well accepted qualification to the capacity of shareholders to ratify or excuse directors’ breaches of duty, namely that shareholders cannot sanction improper expropriation of a company’s property by the directors.[12] This is precisely the claim which is sought to be advanced on behalf of VTL in the present proceeding, namely a claim that Mr Zabusky unlawfully caused the misappropriation of the property of VTL, or at the very least perpetrated a fraud on the minority.
It is also not to the point that there are proceedings pending in other jurisdictions which are concerned with determining the identity and extent of the shareholdings of the various companies with which the parties have been associated. The proceeding in this Court is the only proceeding in which the claim of misappropriation is sought to be ventilated on behalf of VTL. The claims made in this case in this Court are simply not part of any of the proceedings pending before other courts.
Significant argument was addressed to the timetabling of proceedings in this Court and the potential chronology of the proceeding being prosecuted before the Court in Nigeria. It is unnecessary to elaborate any further on those points because, as I have already said, the matter which is the subject of the present proceeding in this Court is not a matter in issue before the Court in Nigeria.
An alternative ground relied on by the Zabusky interests to seek a temporary stay was that the Queensland proceedings are “doomed to failure”. This assertion was founded on a submission that VTL does not own the cause of action that is litigated by the applicants derivatively, and the applicants cannot be in a better position than the company. The argument raised by the Zabusky interests in support of this contention turns on whether the choses of action on which the present proceedings are based fell within the ambit of a fixed and floating debenture dated 7 January 2002 granted by VTL in favour of Afribank Nigeria Plc, pursuant to which receivers were subsequently appointed to VTL. It is argued that on 30 August 2004, the receiver entered into a contract to sell VTL’s “Assets” to another company, VGC Communications Ltd, and that the assets sold included the causes of action which are now pursued in the present proceeding.
This argument, if established at trial, may well constitute a defence to the claims brought on behalf of VTL. The arguments do not, however, provide a basis for even a “temporary stay” as is sought by the Zabusky interests. The arguments sought to be raised in this regard are factually complex, and are not apt to be determined on a summary basis on an interlocutory application such as this.
A further alternative advanced on behalf of the Zabusky interests relied again on the assertion that the present proceedings were improperly constituted as a derivative action. As discussed above in the context of the joinder application, this argument is arid in view of the unchallenged judgment of de Jersey CJ in 2006.
The Zabusky interests have, in my view, not demonstrated any proper ground for the Court to exercise its inherent jurisdiction to temporarily stay the present proceedings. The application for a stay should therefore be dismissed with costs.
Accordingly, there will be the following orders:
The parties shall bring in an order providing for the joinder nunc pro tunc as applicants of Viscaya Panama and Viscaya Anguilla, with the costs of the joinder application to be reserved;
The respondents’ application for a temporary stay is dismissed with costs.
[1] Virgtel Ltd v Zabusky [2006] 2 Qd R 81.
[2] At [17].
[3] At [62]
[4] [2000] NSWSC 967.
[7] (1990) 171 CLR 538.
[8] At [105].
[9] (1843) 2 HARE 461; 67 ER 189.
[10] At [89].
[11] At [91]. See also Biala Pty Ltd v Mallina Holdings Ltd (No 4) (1993) 13 WAR 11.
[12] Angas Law Services Pty Ltd (in liq) v Carabelas (2005) 226 CLR 507 per Gleeson CJ and Heydon J at [24].
Published Case Name:
Shortened Case Name:
MNC:
Judge(s):
Litigation History
Citation or File
Primary Judgment [2011] QSC 269 09 Sep 2011 Daubney J.
Appeal Determined (QCA) [2012] QCA 107 [2013] 1 Qd R 285 20 Apr 2012 Appeal dismissed: Holmes and Chesterman JJA, and P Lyons J.
Appeal Status
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Home » Browse » Books » Book details, Intentions in Architecture
Intentions in Architecture
By Christian Norberg-Schulz
The present study has grown out of the concrete problems an architect encounters in his profession. We do not, in the first place, think of the technical difficulties which have to be surmounted in connection with any building task, but we rather have in mind the problem of defining the task, and of deciding whether a planned or completed solution is satisfactory. In both cases we have to take into consideration 'practical' and 'artistic' needs which concern the architect as well as society and the individual client. Today we lack a real basis for this procedure, and the result is a rather discouraging 'debate' where the parties talk at cross purposes without arriving at fruitful, mutually helpful approaches to the problem. In other words, we lack a satisfactory theory of architecture. Under the continual pressure of new demands, most professions have in our time had to develop comprehensive theoretical 'tools'. Our architectural solutions, however, are still the result of more or less accidental improvisations. The architects have shown themselves rather unwilling to work out a theoretical basis for their field, mostly because of the prejudice that theory kills the creative faculty. In the present study an attempt will be made to prove that this view is erroneous.
While our practical problems have to a certain degree been analyzed, architecture also comprises important 'environmental' problems which so far have by no means been adequately investigated. Therefore, I originally assigned myself the task of discussing 'the psychological background of architecture'. During this work, however, it became clear that this aspect cannot be separated from the practical side of the matter, and that architecture both as a problem and as ready solutions, must be considered as a whole, of which the individual parts are mutually interdependent. The present study has therefore developed into an attempt to present an ordered survey of all the 'dimensions' which may be imagined to enter a work . . .
Publisher: M.I.T. Press
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Christian Norberg-Schulz
I. Introduction 11
II. Background 25
1. Perception 27
2. Symbolization 53
III. Theory 83
1. Towards an Integrated Theory of Architecture 85
2. The Building Task 109
3. Form 131
4. Technics 161
5. Semantics 167
6. The Architectural Totality 179
IV. Outlook 191
1. Experience 195
2. Production 201
3. Analysis 209
4. Education 217
Illustrations 243
Architecture Today and Tomorrow By Cranston Jones McGraw-Hill, 1961
Understanding Architecture: An Introduction to Architecture and Architectural History By Hazel Conway; Rowan Roenisch Routledge, 1994
Architecture in Transition By Constantinos A. Doxiadis Oxford University Press, 1963
Enterprise Architecture Development Based on Enterprise Ontology By Rajabi, Zeinab Minaei, Behrouz Seyyedi, Mir Ali Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 8, No. 2, August 2013
Business Architecture Development for Integrated Agriculture Information System (Iais) Using Togaf Framework By Delima, Rosa Santoso, Halim Budi Purwadi, Joko Researchers World, Vol. 8, No. 2, April 2017
Multi-Architecture in Saudi Arabia: Representing the History of Women By Nugali, Salwa Journal of International Women's Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, January 2016
Architecture with a Snap: Photographer G.E. Kidder Smith Has Traveled the World to Help People 'See' Buildings By Sullivan, Thomas D. Insight on the News, Vol. 12, No. 23, June 17, 1996
Armchair Architecture: Building Design on the Web By McDermott, Irene E. Searcher, Vol. 18, No. 2, March 2010
The Importance of Architecture in ERM Software Selection By Gable, Julie Gemmer, Baron Information Management Journal, Vol. 42, No. 1, January/February 2008
Interior Architecture Done Well Catches the Eye By Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), December 6, 2015
Is American Indian Architecture Just Shelter? By Sands, Ellen The Washington Times (Washington, DC), November 29, 1998
What’s Hip-Hop Architecture? ‘Hip-Hop Culture in Built Form’ By Walsh, Jim MinnPost.com, April 11, 2019
FREE! architecture The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., 2018
FREE! Italian architecture The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., 2018
FREE! modern architecture The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed., 2018
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New Zealand Country
Proposal to introduce agriculture to emissions trading scheme by 2025
5:19 am on 17 July 2019
The Interim Climate Change Committee tasked by the government to investigate how New Zealand can reach net zero emissions by 2050 has proposed introducing the agricultural sector to the emissions trading scheme (ETS) by 2025.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The interim committee released two reports today on agricultural emissions and renewable electricity generation.
Within the Action on Agricultural Emissions report it stated over the past 25 years, farmers have become more efficient and have reduced emissions intensity by about 1 percent each year.
But it went on to say this was not enough.
Among the proposals laid out by the committee was to price livestock emissions at the farm level and price fertiliser emissions at the processor level from 2025.
It also proposed the following interim measures:
Farmers must pay for their emissions and can receive credit for reductions by 2025.
All farmers must report their emissions by 2024 and voluntarily report their emissions to the government from 2023.
Government reports in 2022 on further details of farm-level pricing and regulatory changes needed to implement it.
If subsequent reports show farm-level pricing by 2025 is unfeasible, emissions would be priced at processor level from 2025.
There were two options on how to achieve this, one of which would be pricing livestock and fertiliser emissions at processor level via the New Zealand emissions trading scheme with 95 percent free allocation.
An action plan would then set out steps for implementing farm-level pricing.
Funds raised - estimated to be approximately $47 million per annum - would then be recycled back to incentivise emissions reductions.
Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor said the cooperation and consensus between the farming sector and the government was an incredibly important shift on the need to tackle climate change compared to nearly 30 years ago.
"We are now agreed on the outcome: Government and farmers want emissions to be calculated at the farm level where farmers have the most control over how they can manage their own emissions on their property," he said.
Climate Minister James Shaw said there had been a huge shift in the agricultural sector in the past few years.
"The sector itself is now saying that farm level emissions pricing is part of the solution to reducing New Zealand's emissions from climate change and I don't think anybody can understate the significance of that."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said controlling agricultural emissions was very difficult - part of the reason it was so contentious - but the reality in New Zealand was it made up a huge part of emissions profile.
"If we're going to take action on climate change ultimately we have to find a way to reduce emissions with agriculture and with technological research and development there are ways we can do that including with farming practice," she said.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand chairman Andrew Morrison said both the primary sector and ICCC agreed that a farm-based pricing mechanism is the best way to get action on biological greenhouse gas emissions.
"Where we differ is that we think we can make faster progress by working with farmers from the get-go to help reduce on-farm emissions and prepare for farm-based pricing from 2025, rather than having an interim processor levy," he said.
Dairy NZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle had a similar response.
"Bringing agriculture into the ETS at the processor level amounts to little more than a broad-based tax on farmers before we have the knowledge, support and tools to drive the practice change that will reduce emissions," he said.
Dr Mackle said with New Zealand's primary sector contributing one fifth of GDP, the stakes are high.
"We want to avoid shocks like the '80s and make any changes in a stable and considered way," he said.
Public consultation is open until the 13 August, with public information sessions being held around the country from 22 July.
Next story in New Zealand
Several homes uninhabitable after gas explosion in Christchurch
Shane Jones slams farmers over Zero Carbon Bill response
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has accused farmers of exaggerating the impact of the government's climate change legislation and pouring "bile" on the plans. Audio
Greenhouse gas emissions: Govt opts for harsher penalties
The government has proposed further changes to the emissions trading scheme, including tougher penalties and higher costs for emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
James Shaw rejects change to forestry offset for CO2 emissions
Planting trees to offset carbon dioxide emissions is still the best short-term option while other strategies are worked out, the Climate Change Minister says.
Trees still best short term option on emissions - Climate Change Minister James Shaw
Farmers urged to act to reduce greenhouse gases
New Zealand farmers should act now to start reducing greenhouse gases instead of waiting for advice from the government, says an agribusiness consultant.
Govt unveils 30-year climate change plan
The Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill - which sets out a plan for the next 30 years - has been introduced to Parliament.
Climate change bill, independent commission announced
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British Roads FAQ
Motorway Database
Ringways
Bad Junctions
M65 Construction Photos
A46 Stoneleigh Junction 2 August 2018
Upgrade to the existing Stoneleigh Junction on the A46 between Coventry and Warwick to create a two-bridge grade separated roundabout interchange.
A45 Toll Bar End 5 June 2017
Replacement of the existing signalised roundabout with a new grade-separated two level junction, providing a free flowing route between the Coventry Southern and Eastern bypasses, A45 and A46. The A45 will also be widened to three lanes to the west as far as Stivichall Junction.
M40 - A46 - A429
Longbridge Island
A46 - A606
Widmerpool Interchange
A45 - A46
Toll Bar End
A1 - A17 - A46
Winthorpe Interchange
A46 Coventry Junctions 13 April 2016
Following the completion of the A45 Toll Bar End scheme, which will grade-separate the Tollbar End junction (A45/A46), two major flat roundabout junctions will remain on the eastern section of the Coventry Bypass.
This scheme will bring the Coventry Eastern Bypass up to "expressway" standards by grade-separating the Binley and Walsgrave roundabouts, and thereby provide continuous uninterrupted dual carriageway from the south of Coventry to the M69.
A46 Newark - Widmerpool Dualling 28 April 2012
Construction of a new dual-two lane route between the end of the improved section of the A46 north of Leicester and the Newark Northern Bypass. The route will be mostly, if not entirely, grade separated. The scheme will complete improvements to the A46 between the M1 at Leicester and Lincoln, but oddly leaves the already congested single-carriageway Newark Bypass in place.
A46 Lincoln Bypass Dualling 21 December 2011
This scheme will see a short section of the A46 Lincoln bypass dualled. The section lies to the west of the city, between the roundabout with the B1190 Doddington Road and the notorious staggered junction with Whisby Road.
The dual carriageway is largely intended to function as a safety improvement.
A46 Newark - Lincoln 26 October 2008
Dualling the A46 between the A1 Newark Bypass and the Lincoln City Bypass. The new road will be dual-two lane standard, though not entirely grade separated. The scheme includes a new bypass for the village of Brough.
The missing (M)
Highways England's flagship new road was, to great fanfare, supposed to be a motorway - but it opened as the A14.
The strange story of Ringway 4
The fourth and final of London's unbuilt ring roads is now back online in our Ringways pages.
A diamond on the rough
Nobody likes a concrete road. Promises have been made time and again to get rid of them all - but perhaps there’s another solution.
Driver Location Signs
If you're on the motorway (in England at least) you might have noticed some funny blue signs down the side of the road. What are they for?
Routes Tags Regions
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Original text, photographs and graphics © 2001-2020 Chris Marshall, except where stated.
This website contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Comments, questions, errors, omissions, cash donations... get in touch!
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Carte Reduite Du Canal De Mozambique et des Isles...
Jacques Nicolas Bellin
Carte Reduite Du Canal De Mozambique et des Isles de Madagascar de France de Bourbon, de Rodrigues et autres. Dressee au Depost des Cartes et Plans de Marine Pour Servir aux Vaisseau du Roy . . . Par order de M. Le Duc de Preslin. . . M DCC LXVII
Paris / 1767
34 x 23.5 inches
Fine early sea chart of the Mozambique Channel, published by the French Hydrographical Department.
Includes a detailed treatment of Madagascar and the contiguous coastline of Africa, from Swaziland to Somalia.
Includes 2 large inset maps of Port Secheyles.
This chart was produced by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772), France's preeminent maritime cartographer and the Premier Ingénieur of the Depot de la Marine (the French Hydrographical Office), as well as the Official Hydrographer of the King Louis XV, appearing in volume 2 of Bellin's Hydrographie Francoise, one of the most important compilations of Sea Charts published in the 18th Century.
Norwich, O.I. #280.
Jacques Nicolas Bellin Biography
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at age 18, he was appointed hydrographer (chief cartographer) to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Depot des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.
During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Depot was the single most active center for the production of sea charts and maps, including a large folio format sea-chart of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea-atlases of the world, e.g., the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame, distinction, and respect all over Europe and were republished throughout the 18th and even in the succeeding century.
Bellin also came out with smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely detailed charts. He also contributed many of the maps for Bellin and contributed a number of maps to the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost or simply known l'Abbe Prevost.
Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, thus gaining for France a leading role in European cartography and geography. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers of Europe.
Antique Maps / Africa / East Africa
Antique Maps / Africa / African Islands, including Madagascar
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Fighting for Love.
Rebecca Garifo Ph.D.
This post ain't gonna sit well with some people. Belieeeeeve me I already know that, but that being said, I'm writin' it anyways.
With what's going on for a lot of women right now, I feel like I'm just.. on the verge of writing a novel in a week. I will be discussing wounds of sexual trauma and going into detail about some instances, so please by all means, if this is not your speed for today, read no further. No hard feelins! I'll see ya next month!
And here we go-
When my group of friends and I would be standing on the playground as a child, I'd regularly count out five of us, then three including myself. I'd heard over and over during our counseling sessions before the trial that three out of five children are sexually abused. I'd count it out in my head thinking, "It's not just me. Someone else is hurting."
Those statistics of course are only the instances that have been reported and docummented. Checking them now in 2019 it seems the numbers have gone down, but i find that incredibly hard to believe. I think in fact it's being infiltrated into our culture in such a way that the lines of what is named abusive has become blurred. Take one look at what's sold to us as regular nightly entertainment and the state of mental health throughout the collective right now 'n tell me there ain't a cry for help screaming from behind it all.
Let's bust up this concrete floor yall. This is just me brain storming with what I've been feeling and witnessing throughout my life, so please feel free to agree or not, but this is how we learn, we just share what we feel.
Many people like to discredit our wisdom, downplay things and say, "Well that's only triggering you from your past trauma... It's just you. You're just being too sensitive." But trauma and pain isn't useless, it serves us if we allow it. If we can begin to witness our own inner workings with compassion and patience for our own unraveling, we can begin to see the incredible gift of our scars. Of experience. Of gained insight and knowledge. Just like a scent is added to natural gas so we can identify a leak when it would otherwise be completely invisible to our senses and cause us serious harm, experiences in life will associate and register with certain physical feelings, signs and red flags within us so it doesn't sneak past us again. Our very discomfort in fact allows us to recognize that same feeling, that same toxicity and know quickly that we're in an unsafe situation. Our discomfort, is trying to save our lives.
How many people do you think truly dive into their belief systems and learned patterns? Unafraid to dig up what's caused much of their struggles and addictions in life, taking responsiblity to iron out the kinks? How many families discuss and even joke about alcoholism and mental health issues running through generations, but when it comes to sexual abuse and incest...
Nobody wants to really discuss that one. And understandably so. It's the ultimate unforgivable act.
Statistics today believe 20% of girls and 8% of boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. (Again... I believe these statistics to be incredibly off simply from the stories brought to me and what I've heard over and over...and OVER throughout my life. There's nothing rare about it unfortunately.)
Countless articles and books teach parents to teach their children how to talk about unhealthy touch and keep open communication with their parents rather than books to help adults take responsiblity to heal themselves and the wounds that cause these actions. This is about as genius as making our teachers responsible for carrying firearms in the classroom to prevent attacks.
That's the whole point folks...children are WIRED to trust. To look for safety in adults. To forgive easily and to innocently trust in the goodness of people. To obey and believe as they're told. To receive love in whatever way they are given it or not. To do what is asked of them so they can receive love, acknowledgement, and praise. If we can be manipulated as grown adults, please just imagine our minds as children just looking for a strong bond with the people around us.
So yeah...ya get what I'm sayin? The responsiblity is passed off to children to understand extremely intricate and insideous psychological manipulations. The buck gets passed once again, rather than looking at what causes another adult to commit these acts, or why a parent may disregard the signs and turn away from acknowleding it, the child is taught how to keep an eye out for it instead. I hate to say it yall but... manipulative people are good at what they do. You cannot expect a child to mentally grasp horrific actions and insidious intentions no matter how many times you explain it.
Also according to recent statistics, (this one I agree with completely) 95% of sexually abused children will be abused by someone they know and trust. 73% do not tell anyone about the abuse for at least one year. 45% do not tell anyone for 5 years and some never disclose it at all, and 1 out of 3 adults will not believe their child when they do say something.
So how many grown adults are walking around with these wounds? How many people learned that this is just love, that this is the bond between human beings, that shame is part of life and so why not just embody it and call it strength and power? That control over our own bodies is overrated?
And so the cycle continues.
As a Massage Therapist I saw these unhealed scars in clients far too many times. Women repeatedly stating that they're so comfortable with nudity that they need no draping, all the while their shoulders would be curling forward, their voice racing and shaking and their body closing in on itself. Their eyes looking like that of a child in fear, holding a steady lock with mine as if calling out for reassurance that they are good. Upon entering the room their arms would be locked around the table in a cemented grip. I'd go to move limbs but they were frozen. I'd often end up doing these massages with them completely draped, trying to silently express to them that their being exposed isn't needed for them to receive compassion and care. I wanted to leave them notes saying, "Your deserving of compassion and saftey has NOTHING to do with your willingness to live without boundaries."
I saw it in myself over and over when during continuing education classes, we were told we'd be practicing undraped if we so wished so that we could completely connect with our partners and release our inner judgement and shame. (Mmhm... I've since realized of course that the instructor was enjoying ever minute of puppeteering adults like innocent children. Ripping open their wounds and assuring them only she could help them heal.) Just as we would've done in kindergarten, all of us followed one anothers lead, not wanting to be the "uptight and unhealed" student. I was partnered with an older male in class and I remember laying on a table face down with my ankles at the corners of the massage table thinking, "I can do this, just breathe. This is healing. Relax. Look at me being so calm and relaxed and strong... I'm so strong. I don't even care about being naked around complete strangers because I'm SO comfortable with my body." So comfortable that I was checked out of my body throughout the entire thing...
There's a lot of tears in these situations, and its so easy for a manipulative spiritual guru or instructor to get us to drop our boundaries by saying, "Don't fight it. Don't be afraid. Ya gotta let me in." And so we assure ourselves it's healing...it's working. This is us expanding and growing.
Not even a few hours before this exchange, we had all sat in a circle sharing stories. I brought up my sexual abuse as a child, and not a few but EVERY single adult in that room, men and women, slowly shook their head and said, "I did too..." Many had never spoken of it.
The cycle of abuse can look a lot like healing. It can be portrayed as overcoming and strength, when in reality repeating abuse is more of a becoming, an adapting. We can internalize the shame of what has been done to us to such depths that we take it on as our own and create it as part of our persona. We become extremely sexualized. Hammering the nail in over and over that it does not over power us because now we hold power over it. No one else will ever expose us again, because we'll do it ourselves. Just like self deprecating jokes, we'll beat em to the punch. No one else will ever take our power again because we'll give it away ourselves and call it freedom. It can't be taken against our will if it's our choice to give it right?
I see so much of this happening, translating in different ways but the pain is the same. Either completely locking down and isolating, or living without any boundaries whatsoever and imposing on everyone else.
I stood in our kitchen, taking long deep breathes and expressed to my husband what I was feeling as tears rolled down my cheeks. "I know it cause I've DONE it. I'm still healing from doing it... But it hurts SO BAD to see people I love, people I care about, cling to the very things that hurt them. Protest that the very things killing them are their right and their choice to live their life freely, when in reality, the only thing they're free from is making their own choices, their own responsibility, because they're handing it all over to someone else."
Our own wounds, show us the wounds of the collective. Our own lessons show us what needs to be learned in the collective. That identifying scent is added to the invisible toxins and we can no longer ignore it when we feel it and see it in the world around us, and so our hearts ache with the same pain. With the same symptoms of a poisonous intruder.
As far too many women are naming men in general as the enemy, the ultimate opressor, do we long for a true companion? A safe haven and place to express our sexuality, compassion, power and light with no fear? Whether male or female, the gift of connection, trust, safety, and love is something we each long for, it is part of the human experience, and if we feel it cannot be found or it's been taken from us, we may scream we never needed it in the first place. "Fuck em! Never needed em anway!"
I watch objectifying nudity and pornography become more and more mainstream. Todays protests and messages of feminine healing and strength are too often done by the very things used to opress us. Complete objectification and over sexualization of the feminine. I hear the statements over and over, "It's JUST boobs..." "It's JUST sex..." Removing all sacredness and power from our very bodies and source of creation does nothing to remove abuse and objectification, in fact it only cements it. It only reinstates the fact that, "It's nothing. It doesn't matter." All the while we're begging to be seen as anything BUT nothing. We're begging to be seen as more than JUST a body, JUST an object, JUST a woman. We're running ourselves in circles.
We teach people how to love us, by the way we love ourselves. Period. It has very little to do with what we write on poster boards or wear on t-shirts, and everything to do with how we love ourselves.
There's a lotta mixed messages goin' on yall. Sounds a lot like me laying spread eagle on a massage table telling myself, "It's JUST a body, this is fine. I don't feel overpowered at all, I CHOOSE to lay here exposed cause I'm past feeling like a victim!" as I dissociate and step aside so someone else can take control.
I saw abuse manifest and translate differently in both my parents. Complete shame and disgust in sex all together while simultaneously objectifying the opposite sex and constantly begging for acknowledgement in self-abusive ways. Even as a child I could tell that their selves were split, internally fighting against their own shame and then acting out the very things that wounded them trying to clumsily honor their inner dialogue and urges, but listening to the wrong side.
It doesn't require healing and acknowledgement of our divinty to dissociate, to expose ourselves constantly and drop all boundaries. That's the easiest way to just paint over our wounds, to avoid our pain, to appear untouched and unbothered.
We talk openly about mental illness but rarely discuss the possible sources. It just IS. It just runs in our family like cancer or high blood pressure. YET epigenetics is surpassing all prior beliefs held about disease in family lines so let's just put a pin in THAT ok... We pass along far more than DNA. If physical disease isn't even looked at as simply passed down anymore but something manifested by repeating experience and environmental patterns... I think it's time we see our emotional and mental health in the same way.
Just cause your Aunt Connie had type 2 Diabetes and ended up in the psych ward, doesn't mean you're doomed to the same fate. It does however probably hold some clues for you when you come upon your own struggles. It didn't start with you, but you might be the one to see your discomfort as a signal rather than a sentence, and so you can see an opportunity to take hold of your life.
Don't be afraid to learn, about yourself especially, because the more compassion and understanding we have for our own aspects we see as faults, the more our love expands, the more we can hold that same love and safe haven for others to do the same.
Our health is our responsiblity, and don't let that scare you, instead let it empower you. Let it remind you that you are not victim to circumstances or anyone else's limitations or beliefs. Be brave enough to observe all of it and see it's all in your power. It's people who've decided to turn their back on their own light and avoid their pain that inflict it on others.
Some people decide to completely dissociate, disconnect from human emotion and go through life unbothered and unworried about anyone else. They completely pussy out 'n call it strength. Then there's those of us who quickly become depressed, anxious, physically ill, and exhausted from ignoring subconcious messages. There's nothing weak or wrong with that, it's just that those who are disconnected don't wanna be reminded of what it is they're ignorning so they desperately need us to become disconnected as well.
So what happens when we judge what is "normal" what is "acceptable" and what is "healthy" by someone else's standards? And what if that someone else is completely disconnected from the human spirit and has lived their life by embodying shame and abusive actions to have power over everyone so they never have to feel their own pain?
We become sick. We feel we're malfunctioning. We're told something must be wrong with us if we can't thrive in the same environment. We believe we'll have to find a way to survive through life but never thrive.
How many of us instinctively turn away when someone around us starts making out or practicing heavy pda? Right? It's just a natural reaction. Most of us naturally respect boundaries and turn to give them privacy.
But how many times over and over are we told it's artistic expression as we sit through graphic scenes even involving rape? We're told its, "an important part of the storyline" (I cannot call bullshit ENOUGH.) Being told over and over, "If you have a problem with this, then you must be uncomfortable with sex. That's YOU'RE problem." Is it? IS it though? Is it normal to stop at your neighbors window on an evening walk if you see em having sex 'n just hang out 'n scroll through Instagram til they finish? Or is someone in power forcing on us what was forced on them so they can create an environment that matches their internal toxicity so it becomes the norm and they don't have to turn and face themselves?
So many times people like to defend the extreme oversexualization of society right now and say, "It's natural, it's a part of life. It should be expressed." Yes. I know, but so is takin' a shit 'n I don't see THAT comin' up in story lines constantly with every scene leading up to another bathroom stall moment.
Know why? Cause over exposure to bowel movements don't objectify and slowly dissociate us from ourselves. They might gross us out haha but they don't rob our power and split our personalities, slowly causing us to objectify other human beings and over time stop connecting through our hearts all together and solely see one another as a means to and end. Sex used as distraction can do that very well though.
There's a reason a side effect of constantly watching pornography is depression and erectile dysfunction. Which I mean, aint that a bitch, it's like how drinking too much coffee just leads to needing more and more caffeine. There's no way around it, self-responsiblity yall, I don't make the rules here.
Sex can create life, or rob it. It's never nothing y'all, even if we're just lookin' for a good orgasm, there's a transaction happenin one way or another. Just like eating foods can bring us closer to health, or closer to disease, it can be done in expansion, or repression. The word rape itself feels like a painful void, just as the word orgasm feels like a flower opening to the sun. One act can have completely opposite outcomes.
It's not until we become grown adults that many of us look back on things in our childhood and go, "Wait...that was a lil fucked up..." I was used to both parents inviting me into the room while wearing shear undergarments, positioning themselves in front of be awkwardly and I remember thinking, "Why didn't you just tell me to wait a second...?"
We are built to adapt to our environment, to find stability and keep going. Just like if we are around a rotten smell for long enough...we get used to it. That doesn't mean it's not there, we've just adapted. That doesn't mean it's healthy or normal. We've lost incredible singers and songwriters to suicide who were brave enough to speak up about experiencing molestation, being robbed of innocence far too young, and our hearts break for em. Yet here we are, projecting our own wounds on todays children already, expecting them to dive in and understand the things WE can't even make complete sense of yet, asking them to state and express their sexuality as young as elementary and middle school! Let em be fuckin' KIDS yall my God. I couldn't even decide on a career path in the sixth grade let alone my absolute gender specification and sexual expression. Let's not impose our own search for self-acceptance and sexuality on children when they should just be tryin to find Pokemon and eat bagel bites alright? They have the rest of their lives to get on TalkSpace and read self-help books. Let em enjoy life without so much noise for a minute.
Anyways-
The truth is, there's a lot of "adapted" adults walkin' around trying to create our environment for us. Trying to permenantly avoid their pain by putting themselves in roles of controlling media, entertainment and education, telling US what's acceptable and healthy.
Are we adapting to being objectified and dissociated and overpowerd by just...givin it up? Are we smellin' a gas leak and deciding to just stick it out, meanwhile developing multiple physical and mental illnesses the longer we wait? People are exposing themselves more and more, and yet seem to be feeling more and more isolated and unseen.
To put it real simple, I'm seein us expose our bodies, our sex lives, our wildest kinks, begging to be seen and accepted, when in reality our spirits are longing for us to expose our hearts and our wounds so we can finally TRULY feel seen and accepted...but that shit hurts. That shits painful... It's easier to call it all "kink" rather than admit:
"Something inside got twisted around at some point... I didn't receive love without it being connected to pain or feeling used and so that's the only way I know how to receive it... ehhh... yeah I'd rather just take my top off in public than go there."
"My first feelings of sexual arousal happend from a situation out of my control so I guess that's just the expression of who I am."
"I learned I'm not safe in expressing love unless it's done in complete domination and on my terms, removing someone else's power so I know I'm safe."
So we go about illustrating and reenacting things in ourselves,find people to reinforce our shame and share in our missery, and refill our antidepressants and wonder where it all went so wrong.
And let me be real clear, we don't have to experience sexual abuse for something to effect our sex lives and personal boundaries. ANY kind of miresprentation of love and connection can send us in the wrong direction at an impressionable age.
I know. I'm COMPLETELY steppin' on toes here, but again...I'm just thinkin' out loud as I usually do.
Yall the things is, shame ain't removed by just repeating it over...and over...and over, screaming acceptance of it louder until we just get used to it and overlook it. BELIEVE ME when I say, I get it. I really do. I understand. I woulnd't if I haven't felt the same way and done the same things. When people discuss incest kink I'm like, "Yep...unfortunately completely get it." I've had dreams I've woken up from and thought, "what the fuck is wrong with me!?" Does that mean it needs to be completely accepted and seen as a normal healthy urge and practice? Yeah no. It definitely came from somewhere and I was told it was normal. Yall, how often do ya think that happens? Cause if you asked some people in prison right meow, I bet they'd describe pedophilia and rape as an urge or a kink. Please just think about that for a second.
It's painful, its uncomfortable as all get out, and it feels dangerous to look at things in ourselves sometimes and simply be brave enough to ask, "Why?" I'm not bringing this up as a blanket statement for ALL practices, I'm just sayin, we cant keep discussing mental illness but circling the sources with our eyes shut.
So could we just talk about this please. In the midst of daddy fetish and rape culture... There's a line. And this is a time where love and understanding is being confused with seeing wrong in NOTHING and accepting EVERYTHING. People that are abusing us and using us LOVE to turn things back around on us and point to how much pain and shame we're making them feel if we object to something they've done to us. How awful of us...They want us to feel close minded and judgemental for recognizing something completely harmful.
The truth is, only we know where exchanges stop being expanding and start being oppressive and we owe it to ourselves to figure that out. To stop believing the advice given to us by people who they themeselves are reenacting their own disempowerment.
I'm not tryin' to call anybody out, but I read a book a few years ago about a woman hiking the pacific trail and reclaiming her power and I was excited to see the film when it came out. I didn't even make it through the movie because by the third unnecessarily graphic sex scene, I'd had it yall. The book neeeeever went into that much detail and did not spend so much time on that subject, it was simply another symptom of her state. The film however, hammered it in habitually. When it could've easily respectively eluded to this repeating pattern in the womans life, instead it played into her promiscuity objectifying her once again and reenacting the very moments in graphic detail.
There's this constant twisted message that by us reenacting sexual violence and graphic scenes in general, that it will help us heal move past it and remove stigma...by exposing ourselves to it over 'n over, to get used to it and give ourselves a voice by forcing ourselves to play it out and look at it repeatedly.
Let me be very clear, that doesn't give us a voice at all, that gives the act itself a voice. All we're doing is forcing ourselves to sit through it and feel it over and over and allowing it to infiltrate more and more into our lives until it's seen as something to adapt to...until it's seen as nothing.
Whether on film or in our own lives, how often has it healed us to relatiate in the same violence we experienced? To harm ourselves again in the very way we were harmed? To fight evil with evil? Yep...s'never worked. So what are we doin' to ourselves here?
I'd put money on the statistics that 100% of sexual assault is commited by someone who themselves have experienced some kind of violence or abuse, and they are also reenacting what was done to them.
So many times we hurt oursevles and one another, we're trying to wipe the shame off our shoe and we don't know how, so we keep doing what's gotten us by up until this point. We haven't learned yet that WE are in power of ourselves and our environment, we get to say what's healthy and acceptable and what's not. We don't have to toughen up or ignore elephants in the room by acting comfortable.
As I was working on a man's abdomen one daying during a massage he immediately saw it as a sexual invitation and pushed the sheet down. I calmly pulled it back up, unfortunately dissociating and going through the motions, explaining to him calmly, "I asked if you had gastrointestinal discomfort and would like abdominal massage because that's what I'm doing is assisting your bodys elimination process...To help you poop." "Oh..." he said.
A week later, Joe and I were walking through Walmart and I spotted this same man with his wife. Without even thinking about it, I bee lined toward him, smiling and patting his shoulder assuringly, "Hey! How ya doin!" His face went white. I didn't understand what was wrong and then I remembered, "Oh shit...I bet he thought I was gonna say something in front of his wife haha!!"
I share this because I wanna show what my natural reaction was to the situation. My natural reaction to adapt and overcome, to not only wipe it under the rug, but befriend this man and SHOW him just how unbothered and in my power I was.
It ain't just me that's gone about this the wrong way yall... It aint just me that's incorrectly learned to survive by emobodying the pattern of abuse.
I ain't sayin' it's everyone... but I'm just sayin.
Trauma bonding is no joke. Stockholme syndrome is a real thing.
Women are voting against the right to abortions, naming their very sisters as unclean and shameful, and reenforcing mysogonistic views because somewhere in themselves is still just looking for acceptance. For love. To belong. To be pat on the back and told, "I'm proud of you. I'll keep you safe." Women will continue embodying misogynistic views to receive love and men will keep living by them to feel powerful until we each heal this in ourselves and stop waiting for someone else to tell us what to do.
I confronted a male massage therapist I worked with years ago. After witnessing the body language of the women who came out of his room, all of them with shoulders curled forward and a look in their eyes very familiar to me, he'd have his arm wrapped a little too firm around their shoulders. I decided to ask if he'd work on me the following week to see what was going on. Sure enough as he went to work on my lower back he pushed my underwear down under the sheet.
Oh heeeeeeeell no.
I confronted him in person a week later outside a coffee shop downtown, letting him know under no circumstances do you remove someone's underwear. That's basic ethics in bodywork, they're WEARING IT for a reason... "But I'm a healer," he said. "But do you know how much you stop someones ability to open to healing when you cross those boundaries?" I calmly told him, trying to speak blunt but kind. He again just let me know he was a healer and knew what he was doing as he puffed away on his cigar.
Weeks later his anger with me built up to the point that he cussed me out in public and finished his rant with, "Namaste sister."
Yep...love 'n light Chester.
Yall...women FLOCKED to this man. He stayed booked solid. That's called trauma bonding. And so these ridiculous actions continue to be seen as completely normal, because these women are led to believe it's completely normal for them to cower, for their lines to be crossed because it's for their own good. They need to step aside for their own sake because someone else knows better about their own bodies. Aye yi yi...
(This same man later confessed when moving out of state years later, that he was in fact stealing sheets and face cradle covers the entire time he'd been employed, and boy did it make him feel better to say it. But he's a healer y'all.)
We have to learn to heal ourselves cause we can't heal anyone else, we can only show them the way we wish to be loved and respected and accept nothing less. Either that lights up realizations in them, or they'll have to go the other direction.
It ain't men against women yall. It's all of us together. ALL of us have been taught incorrect ways of love and connection many times over, and we're turning to face ourselves.
Disconnecting ourselves from anything and calling it nothing doesn't bring about healing, it brings certain death to the very thing we've seperating ourselves frm whether it be our bodies, our wounds, or the opposite sex.
We cannot heal what we're not willing to feel.
So please, my heart begs of you, love yourself enough to call bullshit on a sick society claiming itself to be healed and you to be too sensitive.
Now more than ever, our inner vision, our intuition, our wisdom is our truest compass. Our bodies have become increasingly ill and our mental state seems to be beyond grasp as messages of danger and toxicity scream from inside us as we're told by so many that we're mistaken, they see no sign of danger or deception.
I wish I could say I'm kidding when I say I've recently heard people refer to necrophilia and cannibalism as healthy self expression as long as it's between consenting adults... (How the hell you consent if ya dead!? A ouija board!? Anwyays...) But this is where we are right now...we are THAT afraid of offending someone and sayin, "Mmmm are ya sure everything is fine? Cause I feel like horror films are written about your healthy self expression..." That's not shaming someone...that's recognizing somethins wrong yall.
So we can either walk on eggshells so as not to offend anyone and just stay copacetic... Or we can turn to face ourselves and find where the leak's coming from. We can show people how to treat us by treating ourselves with respect, compassion, and love.
I know. It can be scary to realize no one's gonna save us but ourselves. It's far easier to pray for a magic bullet than to think about changing our entire lives. It's far easier to say there's no pain than to feel it. It's far easier to say evil doesn't exist than to face it. It's far easier to walk on eggshells everyday and follow popular opinion than to cause a ruckus, but man I hope you cause one hell of a ruckus.
Divine Message-
"Your feelings and emotions are not meant to be an inconvenience. Your discomfort is not meant to be a permanent state of living. You are meant to take action from these triggers, to interpret your inner dialogue and swim for the surface. Do not hold your breath believing it's what you must do to survive. You know how to swim, now kick those legs!"
All my love and joy-
PS- If you made it through this entire book I wrote today... Thank you. Whether you agree or not...thank you for hearing me.
Moving Into New Spaces
Good Enough To Be Great.
The Heart Is Not Helpless
Do Ya Really Need Me To Say It?
Right. That's what I said.
Wise Enough To Know
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I'm a Conservative Christian Mom, and I Stand With Kim Kardashian
Her naked selfie doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I think it sends a necessary message.
By Sarah Watts
Twitter/@KimKardashian
I'm what you might call a conservative person. I rarely post selfies. I never wear bikinis. I prefer to dress modestly and I believe in saving sex for the person you marry. In other words—I'm the opposite of Kim Kardashian.
But when Kim posted a nude selfie on social media this week, I couldn't help but admire her. My first thought? She looks incredible!
My selfies look like this. Uncontrollable nursing cleavage is about as risqué as I get!
Courtesy of Sarah Watts
My second thought? Here come the modesty police.
Sure enough, mere seconds after Kim's selfie, a barrage of angry comments started pouring in. Actress Bette Middler quipped, "Kim Kardashian tweeted a nude selfie today. If Kim wants us to see a part of her we've never seen, she's gonna have to swallow the camera." Pink penned a smug Twitter post slamming women who use their "tits and asses" for attention. And then Chloe Grace Moretz chimed in, addressing Kim directly: "I truly hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women," she said, "teaching them we have so much more to offer than our bodies."
Pause. How about the goal to lose her pregnancy weight, Chloe Grace? Because she seems to have knocked that one out of the park. What about the goal of having a successful business, a supportive marriage, two healthy kids, and a net worth in the multi-millions? Seems like she's doing pretty great in those departments as well. Meanwhile, a quick Google search of Moretz yields pictures of her in a skimpy, black swimsuit—showing about the same skin on a public beach as Kimmy K does in her bathroom selfie. A google search of Pink reveals dozens of topless photos. Hypocritical, much?
To tell you the truth, I'm sick of hearing people—celebrities or otherwise—body-shame Kim Kardashian. Whenever she shows off, I always hear a variety of criticisms, one of the most offensive being that mothers aren't supposed to be sexual—at all. Naya Rivera once said, "You're somebody's mother now."
Sure. Once you pop out a baby, everything sexual is supposed to disappear off your radar completely. Right? Newsflash: Moms get naked, too. Moms have sex. Motherhood and sex aren't at odds with each other—and in fact, you kind of can't have one without the other. I may have had two children, but I never signed away my rights as a sexual being—and neither did Kardashian.
But even more obnoxious is the assertion that Kim needs to put some clothes on—because she's a role model for young children, apparently. Let's take some responsibility, shall we? Kim Kardashian is not the role model of my child. She didn't sign up to raise my kid and teach her values—that's my job, not some celebrity's role.
Posting a nude selfie is not something I'm ever going to do. It's not something I'd encourage my daughter to do, either—we simply have different values. But Kim is obviously comfortable posing naked. She's having fun. She looks confident and happy. And she clearly doesn't need anybody's approval.
To tell the truth, that is something I'd like to model for my little girl: Be yourself. Love who you are. Own your choices. And to hell with anybody who tries to shame you into doing something different.
Modesty is one of those subjective, extremely personal choices that everyone has an opinion about. My standards are not Kim's standards, and vice versa. But how about we extend her the courtesy of deciding, for herself, how she would like to present her body— even if we would choose something different.
Sarah Watts Sarah Watts is a health and science journalist based in Chicago.
Kim Kardashian Is Officially Back On Instagram
What Kim Kardashian Is Like as a Mom
51 of Kim Kardashian's Very Best Outfits
Kim Kardashian Is Dealing With Serious Pregnancy Complications
Is Kim Kardashian Rubbing Off On Her Sister Kylie?
Kim Kardashian Has Most Epic Selfie Fail Of All Time
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This Video Should Put An End to The "Mom Wars" At Last
It's the ultimate rumble and it all goes down on the playground...naturally.
By Andrea Fowler
As the old adage goes, opinions are like...well, you know, and everyone has them. That statement is especially true when it comes to how best to parent a child.
In Similac's new ad, "The Mother 'Hood," moms (and dads) from every side of the parenting spectrum—working moms, stay-at-home moms, yogi moms, helicopter moms and so on—engage in a serious face-off, touting their differing views. But then something unexpected happens, and just like that, peace is restored and all the women in the mother 'hood forget what they were fighting about in the first place. Well played, Similac.
[H/T Distractify
Andrea Fowler Andrea is a writer and producer for Redbookmag.com.
This is the Last Thing You'll See When the World Ends
Is There a War on American Moms?
This Mom Put An Awesome Dr. Seuss Twist on Breastfeeding
Should Parents Put Their Kids on a Diet?
7 Things Gen X Moms Should Be Ashamed Of
Mom Posts Heartbreaking Last Video of Children Dancing Before They Were Killed
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sartorial
By Alice
This weekend, I was totally blindsided by one of those awful stomach viruses where you can't do anything but lie perfectly still and just hope hope hope you feel better. Anyway, on Saturday, as I was feeling awful (which was compounded by the fact that my landlord kept ringing my bell to show my apartment, since I'm moving in a few weeks) I was watching a lot of episodes of Tim Gunn's Guide to Style.
And I realized: in addition to my online profile getting a makeover, it's time for me to makeover (ugh, I'm not really a fan of that word!) my wardrobe. You know that saying, dress for the job you want, not the job you have? I think that also comes into play when it comes to dating. Do I necessarily want to date a guy who considers ripped jeans and faded Greatful Dead t-shirts first date material? Quite honestly, I don't, which means that maybe I shouldn't wear my black lace skirt from the Salvation Army that I cut to land mid-thigh, with my Lollapalooza '93 t-shirt under a ripped cardigan. (I'm only sort of kidding).
I used to call my style "bohemian wood nymph." Right now, we're going to consider "bohemian wood nymph" on par with "urban bunny" in terms of labels I don't want to use to define myself anymore. I used to dress like I didn't care because I didn't want to look like a girl who cared. I thought dressing up for a date meant that I wasn't being authentic. I wanted to be seen as this whimsical (and, yes, flighty) writer-girl-about-town . . . sort of like Holly Golightly Goes to Goodwill!
But, I realized, with full (and probably feverish) clarity—and with the help of Tim Gunn—that that look isn't working for me anymore. Namely, because that's not who I am. While I am totally fun (I hope!) and whimsical, I'm also incredibly disciplined, a hard worker, and someone who's anything BUT flighty in my goals for my life.
So, with that, on Sunday, I mustered a lot of energy and cleaned out my closet, ending up with 3+ trash bags to haul to the Salvation Army (including that black lace skirt, truly proving the adage what goes around comes around). While I'm not giving up my love of short(er) skirts and graphic t-shirts, it does mean that, at least for first dates, I want to look a little more classic, a little more traditional, a little less . . . disheveled. Because, ultimately, a first date, as cynical as it sounds, is like a warped version of a job interview—something that I've always taken extremely seriously
What about you? Do you/did you get dressed up before dates? And is there such a thing as trying too hard?
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Rutronik becomes Asian distribution partner for Samsung EM
As of now, Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH is also the distribution partner for Samsung EM in Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan). To date, the broadliner has been responsible for the Europe-wide distribution of the components. The new franchise agreement comprises the complete Samsung EM product portfolio of capacitors, inductors and resistors.
The reason behind the expansion of the distribution agreement was Rutronik’s successful global commitment and the long and close partnership in Europe. “Here we have already benefitted from the company’s technical expertise with many design-in activities specific to the automotive sector, its efficient distribution organisation and Rutronik’s strong market position. So it is hardly surprising that Rutronik has the largest Samsung EM MLCC warehouse in Europe,” explains Y.J. Park, LCR Strategic Marketing Team Leader at Samsung EM. “This is why we are now also delighted to have Rutronik as our distribution partner for Asia. We expect this to bring us mutual growth and expansion of our market shares in the automotive sector. For this reason, we are also expanding our product portfolio to include chip inductors and resistors.” Global supply is via Rutronik’s central warehouse in Europe and the logistics centre in China. Markus Zuehlke, Marketing Director for Passive Components at Rutronik adds: “The expansion of the franchise now enables us to serve and supply our existing customers in Asia while also targetting new customer groups and markets.”
Samsung EM is one of the most important and largest manufacturers of passive components. Its primary target markets for the components are the automotive, industrial, home appliance and lighting sectors – all of which are also focus markets for Rutronik. “The products are innovative and of outstanding quality; Samsung EM is playing a key role in the development of high cap MLCCs in particular,” says Zuehlke.
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RVC News
Royal Veterinary College Contributes to United Nations Report on the Environment
Published: 05 Jul 2016 | Last Updated: 13 Jul 2016 09:25:34
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has contributed to a publication from a multidisciplinary community of scientists assessing the state of the environment, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report identifies key changes in land, water and air, and also activities that impact upon ecosystems, including chemicals and waste in the environment. The GEO is published every five years and provides a marker for international policy in this arena.
This year’s report promotes the theme of ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’ and includes a chapter dedicated to health, showing how important environment is to the health of humans, as well as other animal species.
The publication emphasises how important it is to deal with environmental issues on a regional and global scale and illustrates that, as the mechanisms of environmental change are fundamentally transboundary, approaches to curtail impacts must also be so. Even with 60 years of European cooperation, the environment shows serious deterioration but, EU directives and their impact have been showing that the downslide is not inevitable.
Richard Kock, of the RVC’s Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology, is a veterinarian and expert on wildlife health, emerging diseases and conservation. He was coordinating lead author and lead author of the ‘Land’ and ‘Health’ chapters of the report respectively.
Professor Kock and RVC colleagues promote the ‘One Health’ message within the curriculum, through a One Health master’s degree programme, undergraduate courses and the College’s popular distance learning programmes.
The One Health approach recognises the relationship between health and disease at the human, animal and environment interfaces. It has become a key focus in both medical and veterinary science and promotes a systemic approach to tackling health and environmental hazards.
Pastoral livestock in eastern Africa. The RVC in involved in ongoing research into health and disease in traditional livestock systems to help sustain them, with all the associated biodiversity and environmental benefits
Uche Graves / Zoe White
E: uche.graves@plmr.co.uk / zoe.white@plmr.co.uk
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is the UK's largest and longest established independent veterinary school and is a constituent College of the University of London. The RVC offers undergraduate, postgraduate and CPD programmes in veterinary medicine, veterinary nursing and biological sciences, being ranked in the top 10 universities nationally for biosciences degrees. It is currently the only veterinary school in the world to hold full accreditation from AVMA, EAEVE, RCVS and AVBC. A research-led institution, in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) the RVC maintained its position as the top HEFCE funded veterinary focused research institution. The College also provides animal owners and the veterinary profession with access to expert veterinary care and advice through its teaching hospitals; the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital in central London, the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (Europe's largest small animal referral centre), the Equine Referral Hospital, and the Farm Animal Clinical Centre located at the Hertfordshire campus. http://www.rvc.ac.uk
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The kids are alright at St. John's all-ages show
Wendy Rose (wendyrose709@gmail.com)
Published: Jan 13 at 9 p.m.
Updated: Jan 14 at 3:18 p.m.
Last Cigar onstage. Julia Warren/Contributed photo
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. —
The new year started on a high note for young headbangers in St. John’s, with an all-ages rock show at Treble Lounge on Jan. 11.
Outside of the show, Ian (Bean) Phillips said he attends every all-ages show he hears about.
A gathered group of young people was quick to note that youth-friendly shows often take place less than once a month in the capital city.
“There’s a reason why there are so few all-ages shows – because the venues make most of their money selling alcohol, and obviously they can’t sell alcohol to kids,” Phillips said.
At a low, low price of only $5 a head, five bands on the bill and approximately 40-50 people popping in throughout the afternoon, it was obvious that despite the impressive midday turnout, the bar wasn’t going to be making much money – if any – that day, but it’s not about the money for bar owner Brad Tulk, it’s about giving kids a safe place to celebrate their shared love of rock ’n’ roll and heavy metal music.
"When I was a kid, (all-ages shows) were integral in providing a social setting to meet like-minded people,” Tulk said.
“It was probably the kindest and most accepting group of people I've ever come across in my life, and the scene helped to shape me into who I am today,” he added.
“I have the ability to pay it forward, and help another generation of kids express themselves and make music with their friends."
Fresh off the stage from his performance with opener heavy metal band Kaspam Cult, Bradley Dyke showed his gratitude for both the opportunity to attend and perform at the all-ages show.
The band, whose Facebook bio reads, “Local teenagers. We play heavy music. Please book us for your show,” played their second live set at the Jan. 11 show.
Dendron was second on the bill, the five-piece band playing their brand of prog rock/metal. With both harsh and clean vocals, this band put on an impressive show, mainly thanks to the frontman’s incredible stage presence.
Their songs generally untitled, the band finished off with “The Build Up Song,” – “it builds up, and then it’s gonna break down,” vocalist Peter Burton explained.
Last Cigar followed, this one-year-old three-piece band playing the stand-out set of the day.
The aggressive vocals, à la Metallica’s James Hetfield, Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmeister or Alexisonfire’s George Pettit, made me question if vocalist Nick Fagan had started smoking in utero.
Musically, the heavy/stoner metal band was tight, with much of their lyrical content focused on societal issues, showing wisdom beyond their years.
After playing originals like “Pitchforks,” and “Green Nicotine,” Last Cigar finished their set with Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” inspiring a singalong in the moshpit.
Thrash metal trio Pearl was fourth on the bill. These young musicians also show promise, easily impressing me with a drummer vocalist, rarely seen in the local metal scene.
A personal favourite was an instrumental jam, and the surf-rock medley that the band finished with. The thrashers paid homage to two heavy influences, covering Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”
Mantra closed the show, the grunge-rock band hitting the stage around 7 p.m. The clean vocals were somewhat inaudible over the wailing guitars, as the four-piece played a number of original songs from their debut album, “Lucid.”
The organizers of the show, Mantra boasts a lengthy list of accolades considering their young age, having put on their own skate park show, released an album and opened for Our Lady Peace during George Street Festival, all in 2018.
Like the rest of the bands on the bill, their age does place some limitations on their music careers, but thankfully, the all-ages scene seems to be alive and well in St. John’s.
“We owe our existence to the all-ages shows we played growing up, so it's extremely cool to see the new generation organize and pull off one of the more high-energy shows we've seen in a bit,” Dendron wrote on Facebook the following day.
“Keep doing what you're doing!”
wendyrose709@gmail.com
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Burien council candidates supportive of “sanctuary” policies gain lead
Posted on Nov 10, 2017 by Venice Buhain
Four Burien City Council candidates are coming out on top over four more conservative candidates running with the slogan “Burien Proud, Burien First.” (Photo via Elect Jimmy Matta for Burien Facebook page.)
Two city council races have taken a turn since election night in Burien, where a political battle over immigration heavily influenced its city council campaigns. The four candidates labeled as promoting more progressive policies have seen the greatest gains in recent returns.
Challenger Jimmy Matta, who trailed on election night, now leads incumbent Debi Wagner by 239 votes in the race for her Burien city council seat. Pedro Olguin, who was behind Joel Manning on election night, now has a lead of 150 votes.
In the other two races, Deputy Mayor Nancy Tosta and candidate Krystal Marx extended their leads from election night over their opponents Darla Green and Patsy Janssen.
Wagner, Manning, Green and Janssen all ran under the slogan “Burien Proud, Burien First,” with platforms that included opposition to the ordinance that blocks city officials from asking people about immigration status or religion.
The four also all had been endorsed by Respect Washington, a group founded by Craig Keller, the person who pushed the initiative for a ballot measure to revoke the city’s so-called sanctuary laws. Respect Washington sent a letter to voters a week before the election, also including a list of purported addresses of undocumented immigrants and linking those addresses to crimes. King County Sheriff John Urquhart (who is trailing in his bid for re-election) told Univision Seattle two weeks ago that the list contained inaccuracies.
While Wagner and Green signed the initiative to ask voters whether the city should keep the sanctuary ordinance, all four candidates listed on the the Respect Washington letter disavowed the mailing and said they had not sought the endorsement of the group.
Matta posted on his official Facebook page on Thursday, after he pulled ahead of Wagner in second-day returns: “We must elevate Burien to a different level, and that level is mutual respect for everyone in our community.”
Tags: Burien, Election 2017, politics, sanctuary city.
Venice Buhain
Venice Buhain is an online and print journalist whose work has appeared on TVW News, AOL/Patch, The Olympian and other news organizations. She is also the former Editorial Director at The Seattle Globalist. Venice has covered diversity, education, local news and politics. She also is a past Seattle chapter president of the Asian American Journalists Association.
Methal says:
It is surprise me when reading this type of propaganda, WHAT IS WRONG FOR A LEADER OF A COUNTRY TRY TO PROTECT THEIR OWN NATIONAL AND STRAIGHT UP THE IMMIGRATION SYSTEM..IF ALL OF YOU ARE LEGAL STAYING HERE..WHY YOU SHOULD BE WORRY…think about your own country..would you b e happy if lots of illegal coming to yours and take away some of the benefit that should be given to your own..it seems you try to put propaganda that is very bias..you should be ashamed…!!!!!!
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Rant & Rave: Bring Tokitae home
(Gabriel Campanario / The Seattle Times)
Submitted by Seattle Times readers
RAVE To the Lummi Nation, Orca Network and others who are working hard to bring our orca Tokitae (aka Lolita) home to the Salish Sea from her almost 50-year imprisonment in a Miami aquarium. Countless people around the world are rallying to help her and to stop cetacean captivity everywhere. Tokitae deserves to spend her final years home, in a safe net pen if need be, where she can be reunited with her family.
RANT Would all TV news stations please stop showing people with needles in their arms! I don’t care if it’s a vaccination or a junkie shooting up, it’s gross and uncalled for. Enough already.
RANT & RAVE Rant to ferry users who race through our little gateway town. The seconds you save probably won’t get you on the boat, and make traffic a nightmare for us residents. Rave to ferry users who understand they’re always in someone’s neighborhood and drive accordingly.
RAVE & RANT Rave to restaurant servers who regularly serve cranky, difficult and thoughtless customers with grace and a smile. Rant to customers who leave an insulting tip or no tip at all. If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to eat out.
RANT To the lion at the zoo who gobbled up 12 little ducklings in front of the window while dozens of children and adults screamed in horror, and to the zoo office who tried to blame the mother duck for nesting there. Couldn’t they have moved the nesting mama duck out of the exhibit to stop the possibility of traumatizing little kids?
RAVE To local media for their coverage of the Major League Rugby championships, and to the Seawolves for the most thrilling finish I’ve ever seen in any sport! If you haven’t checked out Seawolves games, you should; they’re fast-paced, exciting, great for all ages, and you can visit with the players on the field after the game.
RANT For the Washington State Patrol officer who issued me a speeding ticket for driving nine miles an hour over the speed limit on a deserted stretch of highway in eastern Washington. The assumption that I couldn’t afford the time to travel back to Grant County to contest the ticket makes me wonder who in this case was being served and protected.
RAVE To the kindness of the great team at a Belltown coffee shop who welcome everyone who steps through their door. Our walkers group has coffee at the big table in the back every morning and we watch the staff take extra care of each and every customer.
RANT To having to reserve movie-theater seats. It isn’t always feasible to buy group tickets in advance because everyone’s plans aren’t certain, but reserving seats individually means there’s no guarantee group members can sit together. It’s OK to have us buy tickets in advance, but let’s get rid of reserved seating.
Submitted by Seattle Times readers The Seattle Times publishes reader rants and raves on a space-available basis. We reserve the right to edit for length or content. Send yours to rantandrave@seattletimes.com.
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by VirusCarnage » Wed Jul 23, 2014 11:58 am
Sabrblade wrote: The Cybertron parts take place after WFC but before FOC, with Megatron in the wrong body.
The Movie parts take place in an alternate version of the movie that isn't the same as but still based on the movie itself, just like all of the other Movie video games.
Wasn't DOTM considered a prequel to the movie?
by Sabrblade » Wed Jul 23, 2014 12:12 pm
VirusCarnage wrote:
If it was, that could be the sole exception.
by VirusCarnage » Wed Jul 23, 2014 12:19 pm
I just looked, it doesn't specifically say it's a prequel but says the story takes place before the movie and 3 years after ROTF.
by Deadput » Wed Jul 23, 2014 12:56 pm
Motto: "Let's kick the tires and light the fires!"
Weapon: Fusion Blaster Cannon
Which means its a prequel.
Anyways the only thing i need is Stinger so i went and bought a $25.00 xbox card even though i only needed $2.00
I know this game is lacking a lot compared to other tf games but it is worth it once the price comes down i would say its worth $30.00 at most.
Escalation is improved and you can choose any character you want along new movie tfs if you wanted to.
The cybertron story is fun for what it was and i found some dialogue funny.
the enemies are harder which could be seen as both a good thing and a bad thing.
Of course this is coming from someone who loves all things transformers except for kiss players so i am kinda bias.
Va'al wrote:
Deadput wrote: Actually I don't know my mother's name is Valerie so is Va'al actually my mother?
Yes. Now go to your room and don't play with yourself.
Deadput
Faction Commander
Location: Alberta,Canada
Alt Mode: A mec suit for redundancy.
TF: RotDS
by hehe » Mon Aug 04, 2014 6:28 pm
When does Rise of the Dark Spark take place? And what I don't get is that Lockdown dies at the end but he also dies in TF4.. Explain plz.
by xyl360 » Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:12 pm
I just finished the campaign mode today and I gotta say I really enjoyed this game. It was every bit as good as WfC and FoC as far as the gameplay goes because it was identical, and since the gameplay of those games was my favorite aspect and why I kept playing them even after I'd beaten them several times (I don't do multiplayer) and already knew the entire story and virtually all the dialog by heart. I'll probably end up doing the same with this one. I just really wish there were at least a single level where you got to play as Stinger. I really like his model and was hoping to get to use him. I tried Escalation mode once but it sucked balls (I kept getting my ass handed to me even though I seemed to be kicking butt, even with all sorts of heals and stuff on which I couldn't understand so I just called it quits).
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I am that which is, which was, and is yet to come.
And you will know my name is MEGATRON when I lay my vengeance upon you!
xyl360
by Henry921 » Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:50 pm
Motto: "All I have to be is exceptional."
Weapon: Battle Blades
xyl360 wrote: I just finished the campaign mode today and I gotta say I really enjoyed this game. It was every bit as good as WfC and FoC as far as the gameplay goes because it was identical, and since the gameplay of those games was my favorite aspect and why I kept playing them even after I'd beaten them several times (I don't do multiplayer) and already knew the entire story and virtually all the dialog by heart. I'll probably end up doing the same with this one. I just really wish there were at least a single level where you got to play as Stinger. I really like his model and was hoping to get to use him. I tried Escalation mode once but it sucked balls (I kept getting my ass handed to me even though I seemed to be kicking butt, even with all sorts of heals and stuff on which I couldn't understand so I just called it quits).
Glad I'm not the only one who actually enjoyed this game. Definitely agree that I wish Stinger (and Lockdown) had a level. The Decepticons just stop being playable at the halfway point, and that feels like a big missed opportunity, especially on the Movie Decepticons/Mercenaries. The Decepticon levels added tons of characterization to both the playable characters and the universe.
Though my campaign experience was occasionally bogged down by technical issues on the 360 version, I did enjoy it as a whole, and liked completing the small challenges each level had to offer, and though some levels got repetitive, I appreciated how there was much less overlap between character abilities than in FOC.
And I enjoyed Escalation, which has more maps and variety than ever... it's once again possible to solo and power your way through with your abilities and loadout (use the Energon Harvester to restore health when downed!), but I highly recommend playing it with friends rather than random server denizens, who seem suicidally determined to transform into glitched spaces and end up leaving you to die while they camp from the sky.
Henry921
Brainmaster
Courage: 10+
by Smokescreen » Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:49 pm
Motto: "A look can be deceiving, a touch can be lethal."
Weapon: Electro-Disruptor
Got this game for PS3, except sadly my PS3 got the YLOD. I didn't even get a chance to open up the game and play. So I just have to wonder if the game is any good. I liked the Cybertron series, but didn't care much for the movie series. Since its a cross between the two, I can only wonder..
Smokescreen
by It Is Him » Mon Dec 15, 2014 4:59 pm
Is anyone else having problems with dropped connections on PS3. Getting some of the healing trophies, and completing escalation is going to be impossible without people to play with after finishing a few waves. (I just got this game, so it's not neceoposting if we're still playing it)
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Rajasthan – the Land of Spectacular Monuments of Worship & Peace
Lifestyle Experts
By atulyarajasthan
See all Articles by Mahesh JhalaniGet Updates on TravelGet Updates on Mahesh Jhalani
A mere idea of vacationing in Rajasthan is fascinating. Enticed by Rajasthan’s intriguing history, exuberant hospitality, distinct architecture, art & unique culture, millions of holiday-makers visit this beautiful & ancient Land of Kings every year.
Rajasthan, also lauded as the Royal State of India, promises a unique & remarkable travel & holidaying experience to its visitors. It is a home to myriad of grand & magnificent forts, palaces, castles, havelis, lakes, ancient temples & so much more! Rajasthan merits a visit any time of the year. A tour to Rajasthan is all that it takes to explore the magnificence & enthralling beauty of Rajasthan.
If you are planning for a wonderful holidaying trip with your family, probably, Rajasthan is the perfect destination for you. Contact a Rajasthan Tour operator today & select the best from an extensive range of Rajasthan holidays packages.
Temples of Rajasthan – the Splendid Monuments of Worship for all religions
The architectural wealth of Rajasthan is acclaimed globally. The magnificence of architectural beauty is associated with forts, palaces, opulent hotels & ancient temples.
Rajasthan is a home to a plethora of majestic temples that are renowned for their beauty & rituals. One of the finest ways to cherish the culture of this regal land is visiting temples during the festivals & savoring from Rajasthan’s scrumptious culinary segment.
We have hand-picked renowned ancient temples of Rajasthan that you shouldn’t miss visiting on a Royal Rajasthan tour:
1). Birla Mandir, Jaipur: Constructed by the Birla Family in 20th Century, Birla Mandir ranks amongst one of the most visited temples in Rajasthan. It is situated at the foothills of Moti Doongri of Temple & dedicated Lord Vishnu & Goddess Lakshmi. This temple is also referred to as “Laxmi Narayan” temple.
The entire temple is constructed with white marble & considered as one of the most revered places of worship for Hindus.
The magnificent architecture, sculptures on various mythological themes, images of saints, statues of deities of various religions & philosophers catch the attention of the visitors. The temple has the images of Lord Ganesh, Socrates, Zarathustra, Christ, Buddha & Confucius.
2). Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Ajmer: Ajmer Sharif Dargah ranks amongst the renowned places of worship for Muslim devotees. Located in Ajmer district of Rajasthan, this dargah is considered as the final resting place for Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. Thousands of Islamic followers & people from other communities visit this serene place of worship every year.
The pious Persian Saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti reached Ajmer via Lahore in year 1192. It is believed that the shrine of Moinuddin Chisti was built by Mughal Emperor Humayun on his request.
A series of massive silver doors with beautiful carvings lead to the courtyard of the Dargah, which consists of tomb of Moinuddin Chisti, carved out of marble. The magnificent tomb consists of gold plating on the top & is surrounded by a silver railing.
The dargah complex consists of several mosques that were built by Mughal Emperors Akbar & Shah Jahan. These serene mosques merit a visit at least once on a year. Immerse in the peacefulness offered by this architectural marvel with Royal Rajasthan tours.
3). Brahma Temple, Pushkar: The Hindu Mythology states that the creator of the world, Lord Brahma, was cursed that he shall not have any temple or place of worship on Earth. Therefore, temples that are entirely dedicated to Lord Brahma are hard to find.
One of the finest temples amongst the handful temples of Lord Brahma in the world is the Brahma Temple of Pushkar. Located beside the sacred Pushkar Lake, this Brahma temple is also known as “Jagatpita Brahma Temple”.
It is believed that this temple was constructed nearly 2000 years ago. Marble & stone slabs were used to construct this beautiful temple. The red pinnacle of the temple & a hamsa bird motif are the distinct highlights of the temple.
The sanctum of the temple holds marble statue of four-headed Brahma & Goddess Gayatri. It is managed & governed by the Hindu sect priesthood, Sanyasis.
Visitors to this temple take a dip in the holy Pushkar Lake & offer prayers in the temple, especially on Kartik Poornima.
4). Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra, Ajmer: Located in the religious city of Ajmer, Adhai Din ka Jhonpra is considered as one of the oldest mosques in India that was constructed in 1199 CE. The name of the mosque suggests that it was made in two & half days only. The construction of the mosque was carried out by Qutub Ud Din Aibek on the orders of Mohammed Ghori.
Renowned as the oldest monument in Ajmer, it is also one of the major attractions of Rajasthan after Ajmer Sharif Dargah.
It is one of the astounding examples of the Indo-Islamic architecture, which was designed by Abu Bakr of Herat- the architect who accompanied Mohammed Ghori to India. It was built with yellow limestone that has inscriptions from the Holy Quran & floral designs inspired by the Arabic Architecture.
The two entrances (south & east) of the mosque lead to main prayer area, which is located in the west & has 10 domes & 124 pillars. The entire mosque consists of around 344 pillars, out of which only 70 pillars could manage to stand still.
The architectural marvel of Rajasthan, however, is not limited to these places of worship. Other renowned temples of Rajasthan include- Govind Dev Ji Temple, Akshardham temple, Karni Mata Temple, Galtaji Temple, Mehandipur Balaji Temple, Rani Sati Temple & so much more.
Add this charming state of India to your bucket-list & discover its magnificence with heritage Rajasthan tours. Contact Rajasthan tour operator today to get Rajasthan tours materialized for your family.
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HomeAudiobooksFiction & Literature
Written by John Milton
Narrated by LibriVox Community
LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Adam and Eve (From “Paradise Lost,” Fourth Book) by John Milton. This was the Weekly Poetry project for
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 (though written nearly ten years earlier) in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; most of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him.
Milton first presents Adam and Eve in Book IV with impartiality. The relationship between Adam and Eve is one of "mutual dependence, not a relation of domination or hierarchy." While the author does place Adam above Eve in regard to his intellectual knowledge, and in turn his relation to God, he also grants Eve the benefit of knowledge through experience. ( Summary from Wikipedia)
Publisher: LibriVox AudioReleased: Aug 25, 2014ISBN: Format: audiobook
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HomeBooksContemporary Fiction
The Queen of Blood: Book One of The Queens of Renthia
by Sarah Beth Durst
Winner of a 2017 ALA Alex Award!
A Tor.com Best of 2016 pick!
Set in the magical world of Renthia, The Queen of Blood is Sarah Beth Durst’s ambitious entry into adult epic fantasy. With the danger of Peter Brett’s The Warded Man, heart of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, and lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, this is the first chapter in a series destined to be a classic.
But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms.
With the position so precarious, young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . . before it’s bathed in blood.
Publisher: HarperCollinsReleased: Sep 20, 2016ISBN: 9780062413369Format: book
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The Queen of Blood - Sarah Beth Durst
FOR RICK KEULER
Don’t trust the fire, for it will burn you.
Don’t trust the ice, for it will freeze you.
Don’t trust the water, for it will drown you.
Don’t trust the air, for it will choke you.
Don’t trust the earth, for it will bury you.
Don’t trust the trees, for they will rip you,
rend you, tear you, kill you dead.
It’s a child’s chant. You jump over a rope, faster and faster, as you name the spirits. Trip on the rope, and that is the spirit that someday will kill you. Fire, ice, water, air, earth, or wood.
Clutching her rope, six-year-old Daleina slipped out her window and ran along the branches toward the grove, drawn to the torchlight. Her parents had said no, absolutely not, go to bed and stay there, but even then, even when she was still so young and eager to please, Daleina would not be kept from her fate. She’d run toward it, arms open, and kick fate in the face.
All the other children were already gathered on the forest floor, under the watch of the local hedgewitch. Dropping from the branches onto the moss, Daleina joined them. Her cheeks pink from her run and her hair wild from the wind, she swung her rope and began the chant. "Don’t trust the fire . . ."
Ribbons fluttered around them, bright colors to represent each of the six spirits. Buried beneath the ribbon poles and dangling around them and between the torches were charms. The children’s chant and the ribbons would tempt the spirits, but the charms would repel them. It was as safe as the hedgewitch knew how to make it, and she smiled at the children as she circled counterclockwise and spoke the words of protection as she’d been taught.
The children jumped faster, repeating the chant. At least two dozen girls and boys, the youngest six years old and the oldest twelve, had come to the grove to prophesy their future. Some were dressed in their finest, with lace in their hair and starch in their shirts, blessed with their parents’ approval. Others, like Daleina, wore their nightshirts and dresses and had uncombed hair and bare feet.
As she skipped, Daleina saw the first tree spirit poke its sharp nose between the leaves. It scurried over the branches and hung upside down to watch them, its shadow large in the torchlight. "Don’t trust the water . . ." Another wood spirit separated from the trunk of a tree, its bulbous body covered in a thick mat of moss and leaves. Teasing the edges of the charms, an earth spirit, hairless and brown, bared its rocklike teeth. Don’t trust the air . . .
One child faltered.
Another fell.
Like Daleina, they’d seen the spirits emerge from the dark forest and encircle the grove. Don’t trust the earth . . . Her bare feet squished on the soft ground. It had rained a few hours before, and mud stained her toes. She imagined an earth spirit reaching up through the muck to grab her ankle, and an air spirit swooping her into the air and dropping her from high above. Squeezing her eyes shut, she kept jumping. Don’t trust the trees . . .
Because her eyes were closed, she didn’t see when the tiny tree spirit launched itself off its branch and over the charms, or when the other children stumbled and fell, every one of them, tripping on their ropes. ". . . rip you, rend you, tear you . . ."
Hers was the only voice, until the screaming began.
She opened her eyes as the hedgewitch shouted and the children shrieked. Blood stained the woman’s bodice, and the gnarled, leaf-coated creature clung to her shoulder. Daleina’s foot stuck in the mud and she forgot to jump as the rope swung down.
Her parents ran toward her—her mother first, with a knife—and sliced the rope as it swung toward Daleina’s motionless feet. The two halves of the rope fell on either side of her.
Other villagers poured into the grove. Swarming past Daleina and her parents, the others scooped up their own children. Several hurried to help the hedgewitch. Still clutching the ends of the limp rope, Daleina saw the spirit, blood on its shriveled, leafy face, flee up the trunk of an oak and then disappear into the night.
Wood will not take you, her mother murmured into her hair. "Nor fire, nor ice, nor water, nor earth, nor air. You will live, my child. You must live."
I’m fine, Mama, Daleina said.
You were stupid. Lifting Daleina’s chin, Mama forced her to meet her eyes. Just because something is a tradition doesn’t mean it’s smart to do, or necessary. Promise me you won’t ever endanger yourself again.
I’ll try, Daleina said, her cherubic face solemn, but, Mama, I can’t promise.
DALEINA WAS TEN YEARS OLD WHEN THE CHILDREN’S PROPHECIES came true. She’d grown into a miniature of her mother: hair streaked with autumn-leaf colors—oranges, golds, reds, and browns—and calloused hands tan from the sun and roughened from days spent climbing through the village. She’d been charged with taking care of her younger sister, Arin, who was four.
On that afternoon, Daleina was leading her sister home from school. The sun filtered through the leaves and laid a patchwork of green and yellow shadows across the tree trunks and the huts and over Daleina’s bare arms and legs as she clambered up the branches.
Come on, Arin, keep up! she called.
"When I’m older than you, I’m going to tell you what to do." Arin hooked her harness clips over a branch and scrambled her pudgy legs on top of it. Her cheeks puffed with the effort.
You can’t be older than me.
Can too. Got a birthday and then another and another, and I’m going to catch up. And then I’ll be bigger than you, Mama said so, because I eat my oatmeal.
Reaching down, Daleina helped her sister hook onto the next branch. All of the routes through the village were marked with anchors and hooks, to help the very young and the elderly travel between the trees. You might get bigger, but I’ll still be older. I’ll always be older. That’s how it works. She thought she sounded very reasonable.
Not fair!
Oh no, she thought, tantrum coming. Mama said that Arin had honed her tantrums to artistic perfection: First, she’d twist her lips into a perfect rainbowlike frown, then she’d pool tears on her lashes. Her face would flush pink, with darker rose staining her plump cheeks. As the pink deepened, she’d begin on the whimpers. She wouldn’t scream, not outside—it wasn’t safe—but she’d bleat, like a beaten lamb, until whatever neighbor was closest came out to see who was torturing the poor, innocent, angelic Arin. If you cry, I’ll feed you to the wood spirits, Daleina told her. It was the most terrible threat she could think of.
Arin’s eyes grew round, her mouth dropped open, and her lower lip quivered.
Wonderful. I made it worse.
I won’t, Daleina said quickly. I didn’t mean it. But please don’t cry, Arin.
She spotted the wood spirit then, above Arin, a few trees over. It was a small one, with pale leaves poking out of its skin and berries ripening in its hair. Its eyes looked like walnuts, and its long, twiglike fingers curled around the branch it perched upon. It was watching them.
Come on, let’s get home. She eyed the spirit—it didn’t seem to be moving any closer, but she didn’t like that it had noticed them. Mama always said to be careful never to catch their attention. When Daleina was five, her uncle had caught the eye of an unstable spirit and been torn apart in his own orchard. The rogue spirit had been caught and sent to the queen for punishment, but that didn’t mean other spirits were to be trusted. This far from the capital, a lot of spirits liked to test the strength of the queen’s do-no-harm command, or so people said whenever someone died unexpectedly. I’ll stay with you, but you have to try to climb a little faster, okay?
She helped her sister shimmy up the trunk of a thick oak, boosting her so that she could wiggle onto the bridge. Backpack bouncing, Arin flopped onto it, and Daleina crawled up after her and stood. Almost home. Inhaling deeply, she breathed in the smell of pine, of mildewed leaves, of fresh laundry, and . . . ah, there it was: gingerbread! Mama had baked today, as she’d promised.
The laundry smell was from their neighbor. Near the base of the village tree, old Mistress Hamby straddled two branches as she hung out her wash. Her husband was on their roof, tucking new charms in between the shingles. He waved as Daleina and Arin passed. Daleina waved back, and Arin inexplicably wiggled her elbows.
Don’t be rude, Daleina told her.
Don’t be boring, Arin shot back.
Higher up in the tree, a few of Daleina’s friends called to her to come play—Juju, Sarbin, and Mina. She waved at them and pointed toward her sister. She’d have to play later, after Arin was delivered safely home. Using the rope ladders, Daleina and Arin climbed up past Mr. Yillit, who was pounding nuts to make nut flour. The fine dust coated his arms and clung to his arm hairs. He smiled and nodded at them. Arin did wave back at him. Daleina knew her sister liked Mr. Yillit because he was missing a front tooth, like Arin herself. Higher and to the left, they saw their second cousin Rosasi, who was stretched out in the crook of a branch, her bare feet stuck in a patch of sunlight, high above their house. She had a pile of knitting on her lap, though she wasn’t working on it. Mama often said that Rosasi was allergic to work. But she told excellent stories, about queens and heirs and their champions. When she tucked Arin in at night, as she did sometimes when Mama had late-night whittling to do, Daleina liked to listen in from her bed in the loft.
Like the other village houses, Daleina and Arin’s house was woven into the branches. Its floors and walls were living parts of the tree itself. Village history said that two generations ago, a queen had commanded the spirits to grow their village from a handful of acorns. Daleina wished she could have seen that. The only power she’d ever seen up close was the local hedgewitch, and her skill was mostly with charms, not commands. To make a tree like theirs . . . Their tree housed twenty families, in homes that budded from thick branches above and below Daleina’s family’s, spiraling up the massive trunk. Ladders, pulleys, and bridges connected them. In the day, it was swarmed with people, going about their business and living their lives, and at night, jars full of firemoss were lit everywhere, making the tree look like it were covered in lightning bugs. Mama liked to say there was something to love about their tree during the day and night, as well as every season. In fall, the leaves changed to red and gold, and in winter, it was laced in ice. In spring, the villagers coaxed flowers to grow in buckets and troughs of earth, spilling out of every window and covering every roof. And in summer, now, it was fat and green and heavy with swelling, unripe fruit. Mama said there were hundreds of trees like theirs in the forests of Aratay, but Daleina had never left their village. Someday, she promised herself, I’ll leave and see other villages, maybe a city, maybe the capital, maybe even beyond. Up north, near the mountains of Semo, the trees were said to stand like sentinels, with white limbs that stretched straight like raised arms. And in the west, where the forest touched the untamed lands, it was said that the trees were a wild tangle so thick that nothing grew on the floor below. There were even areas of Aratay that had been abandoned to the wolves, bears, and spirits, and were full of sights that no one had seen and sounds that no one had heard for years.
I want to see it all!
Mama waited for them on their front porch. Seeing her, Arin sped across the bridge and scurried up the ladder without any help at all. Daleina followed behind.
Any trouble? Mama asked.
Daleina glanced back, but she didn’t see the small tree spirit, only the thick mat of leaves and the west bridge. None, except Arin’s teacher said that Arin didn’t eat her lunch.
Tattler. Arin stuck out her tongue at Daleina.
Arin, that’s not polite. Also, you’ll catch flies on that if you stick it out too long. Mama wiggled a finger, flylike, toward Arin’s tongue, and Arin quickly pulled it in. I packed your favorite lunch. Why didn’t you—
A drop of red splatted on Arin’s cheek. Her fingers touched it, and she pulled her hand away and stared at her bloodstained fingertips.
For a split second, all three of them stared at it, and then Mama said, Inside. Now.
Mama, I’m bleeding! I’m hurt! Mama!
She wasn’t. It wasn’t her blood. It was from above. The tree was raining blood. Daleina ran for the house as Mama caught Arin in her arms and ran inside. Where’s Daddy?
Mama didn’t answer. She slammed the door behind them, drove the bolt across it, and then ran to each of the windows and locked them. Daleina, the charms, quick!
Daleina hurried to each window, shoving charms into the crevices. She pushed them in so hard that her fingers hurt.
Mama, where’s Daddy? Arin was crying, full out sobs.
Hush, Mama ordered. I don’t know. He’s fine. He’s hiding. We have to stay inside too. Quietly. She dropped to her knees. Please, baby, be a good, strong girl for me. Arin gulped, trying to swallow her sobs, but they burst out of her. Mama crushed her close to her breast, stroking her hair. Shh, shh . . . Calm down, baby, calm down.
Daleina shoved charms under the door and into the fireplace, filling it, until she ran out of them; then she ran back to her mother, who wrapped her arm around Daleina too. The house began to rattle and shake.
Your papa is hiding. Don’t worry. It will all be fine, Mama said. The spirits won’t hurt us. They won’t dare. The queen won’t let them. ‘Do no harm,’ remember? It’s her command. Her promise. Her duty. Trust in her. Believe in her. She rocked back and forth as Daleina and Arin clung to her. Arin sniffled against her blouse, and Daleina buried her face in her mother’s hair. Outside, the screams sounded like the cries of a wounded hawk that Daleina had once heard, but louder and multiplied by a dozen. The leaves in the walls shook, and the wood in the floor cracked.
Mama held them tighter.
Daleina watched the cracks appear in the wood, chasing one another up the walls, fracturing like an eggshell as the house shuddered. The windows rattled, and Daleina saw shadows pass in front of them. Arin was shaking as hard as the walls, but she was too frightened to cry anymore.
Something pounded at the door, and Arin whimpered and burrowed deeper into their mother’s lap, pushing Daleina out. She thought she heard her father’s voice.
Daddy? Daleina whispered.
Stay here, Mama commanded.
Daleina began to pull away. He was calling. Wasn’t he? It was difficult to hear a single voice within the screams and the cries and the crashes and the thuds. Listening, she focused, trying to separate the strands of sounds—there, Daddy! She heard more pounding at the door. He was here, out there, trying to get in! Wrenching herself away from her mother, Daleina ran toward the door.
Daleina, no! Mama cried, her voice a rough whisper.
It’s Daddy! She yanked at the bolt, pulling it back.
Behind her, she heard Mama push to her feet, but she was slowed by Arin, who stuck to her like a pricker bush. A weight on the door shoved it inward, and a shape fell inside, hard on his knees—Daddy!
A squirrel-size tree spirit clung to his shoulder, its teeth dug deep into his flesh. Daddy’s face was slicked with streaks of red, and blood speckled his hair. He surged to his feet, and the spirit gripped him harder.
Get off him! Daleina screamed. She grabbed at the spirit’s waist while Daddy pushed at its face. Its claws tore his shirt and chest. One claw sliced the back of Daleina’s arm, and a thin bead of blood popped onto her skin. Leave him alone!
It hissed and spat.
And then Mama was there, a rolling pin in her hand. She bashed at the spirit’s head and back. Get out! Out of my house! Away from my home!
It twisted its head and fixed its eyes beyond them.
Arin.
Releasing Daddy, it ran toward Arin, faster than any of them could grab it.
Scrambling underneath the kitchen table, Arin screamed, high and shrill.
No! Don’t hurt my sister! Daleina felt as if her whole mind and body were screaming the words, as if they were ripped away from her and thrust outward. Stop!
And, amazingly, it did.
The spirit halted, mid-run. It pivoted its head to look directly at Daleina. Its eyes were red with veins that spread outward from its red pupil. It shifted from foot to thorny foot, hissing.
Go away! Daleina said. Leave us alone.
Again, Daleina, Mama said, her voice low, strangely calm. It’s listening to you.
Leave us alone, she repeated.
Leave us alone, leave us alone, leave us alone. Leave!
The spirit tore its gaze away to look again at Arin. Its spindly fingers reached toward her, but its feet didn’t move, as if it were rooted to the wood of the floor.
Leave us alone! Daleina shouted, and she shoved every bit of fear and anger inside her into those three words, driving it all out through her body. She felt as if something were shattering inside her from the force of her shout.
As if the words were physically shoving it, the spirit ran, skittering and shaking out the door—and Daleina caught a glimpse of outside. The bridges were broken, swinging from the upper branches, and the nearest house had collapsed. A man in green raced from branch to branch, a sword in his hand. Before Daleina could ask what was happening and who he was, Daddy slammed the door shut, and Mama slid the bolt.
The house began to shake harder, and Daleina heard scraping at the roof, as if something were tearing the shingles and shredding the wood. Mama and Daddy dragged the cupboard in front of the door, and they upended the table and pushed it against a window.
Command them, Mama ordered Daleina.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Daleina repeated, Leave us alone, leave us alone, leave us alone. Thrusting the words out of her, Daleina sank to her knees. The cries outside drew back. Arin whimpered, and Mama and Daddy shushed her, and still Daleina kept chanting. The scraping on the roof stopped.
Outside, through the walls, she still heard terrible sounds, but they were more distant now.
At last—at very long last—it was quiet.
Daleina pried open her eyes. Her eyelids felt gummy, as if they’d been glued together. In the corner of the room, she saw her family. Her father was slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. Her mother was pressing a cloth hard on his arm. The cloth was soaked red. Arin was curled in a ball underneath one of the chairs. Tears had stained her cheeks so they looked slick. Daddy? Daleina asked.
Did they hurt you, Ingara? Daddy asked, pausing between each word to suck in air. Daleina? Arin? He winced as he tried to sit, and he clutched his side.
They’re all right, and you aren’t dead, and I want to keep us all that way. Tell me how badly you’re hurt, Mama commanded.
I’ll be fine. He puffed.
Daleina rose shakily to her feet. She looked at the door. A crack ran, jagged, through it. Her legs felt as trembly as a newborn deer’s as she walked toward the door. She pressed her face to the crack, trying to see through, and saw a sliver: sunlight and green but that was all.
She pressed her ear to the door, listening.
She didn’t hear screaming anymore. Or anything. Just silence. Horrible silence that was somehow worse than all the noise. Stepping back, Daleina stared at the door.
Daddy’s breathing was the loudest sound.
You need a healer, Mama said to Daddy.
Don’t, he said.
It’s quiet, Mama said, standing. Daleina thought she’d never seen her mother look like that, so fierce and frightened at the same time, and in that instant, she decided she wanted to be exactly like Mama when she grew up. Whatever the spirits were doing, they’re done.
Grabbing her wrist, he stopped her. Or they’re waiting for us to feel safe.
Mama removed his hand. I’ll never feel safe again. She took a rolling pin in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other, the long knife that she always kept sharp enough for meat. Open it, Daleina, slowly.
Taking a breath, Daleina slid the bolt and cracked the door open. She braced herself, ready to shove it shut with all the strength in her ten-year-old body, but nothing pushed against the door. She inched it open more and peeked outside.
What she saw didn’t make sense.
Widening the door, she stared out and tried to understand. All she saw was trees, just the unclaimed forest, thick with trunks. No bridges. No houses. Leaning out, she looked up—all the higher branches had been shorn off the tree. Only their house was still attached. She looked down, down, straight down to the forest floor. A mass of broken boards lay tangled on the forest floor. She saw a chair and a table, upturned. Clothes were strewn between the branches, like ribbons leftover from a birthday party.
Are they out there? Arin asked, still under the table.
No, Daleina said. Her mouth felt dry, as if she hadn’t swallowed water in a very long time. No one’s out there.
What do you mean, ‘no one’s out there’? Mama asked, nudging Daleina aside so she could fit in the doorway. Side by side, they looked out at the pristine forest, above the wreckage. Sunset was coming, and the shadows stretched long between the trees. The wind was still, and nothing moved. No spirits. No animals. No people.
Fetch the healing kit.
Daleina didn’t move.
Hurrying, Daleina ran to the cabinet over the sink. She pulled out a basket filled with bandages, tonics, and dried roots and herbs. Sunlight slid through the cracks in the closed window over the sink, as if it were a beautiful, ordinary day outside. Daleina didn’t want to open the window.
Mama? Arin asked. What are we going to do?
First, we fix up your father. Returning to Daddy, Mama opened his vest and peeled his shirt away from blood-sticky skin. And then we go out and see.
See what?
If there’s anyone left, Mama said.
Arin began to cry again.
Wordless, Daleina helped Mama, fetching water from the kitchen sink, as well as bandages and herbs as instructed. Mama washed out the wounds—there were many—on Daddy’s neck, legs, arm. His thick clothes had blocked some of the bites, making them bruises instead of punctures, but there were still so many that his once-white shirt was speckled red all over. While Mama worked, Daleina listened for the sounds of their neighbors—surely someone had seen Daddy rush in, injured—but no one came to check on them or help them. She thought of the man in green she’d seen, or imagined.
Spirits aren’t supposed to hurt people, Arin said, her eyes glued to the bandages and Daddy’s shirt. The queen won’t let them.
I know, baby, Mama said.
Why did she let them? Arin asked.
Maybe she couldn’t stop them this time, Daleina said. Maybe she was sick or distracted. Maybe she didn’t know what they were doing. Maybe the spirits decided we’re too far from the capital for her to know. And maybe they’re right, she thought.
But she’s the queen, Arin said. She’s supposed to keep us all safe.
We aren’t safe here, Daddy said. We need to find the forest guards, before the spirits come back. Alert them to the danger. Tell them there may be villagers who need healers. The fact that Daddy was able to say so much without gasping for air made Daleina feel better. She had her parents, whole and safe, and they’d take care of her and Arin. Everything would be all right, and this would become one of those stories that Rosasi told at night.
After Mama bandaged Daddy up as well as she could, she rigged the basket on the pulley—the one they used to lift heavy supplies from the forest floor—and climbed in. Everyone, in. We stay together. Daleina . . . Mama hesitated. The spirits listened to you. Can you make them listen again, if you have to?
All three of them looked at Daleina, and she shrank back. No, their parents were supposed to take care of them, not the other way around! She’d just begun to feel safe. I . . . I don’t know. She didn’t know how she’d done it, or why it had worked. She’d never been able to command spirits before, and no one in her family had ever shown any affinity for them. Maybe it was a fluke. Or a coincidence. Maybe it wasn’t her at all.
You can do it, Mama said. You did it once; you can do it again.
Daddy smiled at her—a weak ghost of a smile, but Daleina saw it as she climbed into the basket, alongside Mama and Arin. We always knew you were special, he said.
Arin stuck out her lower lip. I’m special too.
Of course, Arin. He smiled at her, a real one this time, as he climbed in with them, and then as Mama lowered the basket, his smile faded.
From the basket, it was clear that of the twenty homes that used to fill the village’s tree, theirs was the only one left. All the others had been torn from their branches and then ripped apart and scattered on the forest floor. Kitchen tables, pantries, food, bowls, cups . . . beds, chests, toys, sheets, clothes . . . all the innards of two dozen homes were spilled below the trees and mixed together. Daleina saw the strand of laundry, clothes tangled in it, that belonged to old Mistress Hamby. And then she saw Mistress Hamby, her body twisted by what was once a door. Her eyes were open. She was missing her arm, and her chest . . . Daleina looked away. The basket jerked lower, and she saw more.
Legs. Arms. Faces. The faces were the worst.
Don’t look, Daddy said, but it was much too late.
Rosasi. Sweet, funny, work-averse Rosasi, who told such wonderful stories. Her throat looked like a red flower. Her hands still clutched her knitting.
She saw her friends: Juju, Sarbin . . . She didn’t see Mina. Didn’t want to. But she couldn’t stop looking, her eyes roaming over the tangle of their torn village, until she stopped on the figure of a man in dark green, alive, walking toward them.
He was flanked by two men and a woman, one in white and two in black—a healer and two guards. The man in green held a sword. His eyes swept the branches above them while the others poked through the debris.
Over here! Daddy called and waved.
When the strangers reached them, the man in the white healer cloak darted directly for Daddy and began checking his wounds. The two guards flanked them in protective stances while the man in green considered them and their intact house. Which of you has the affinity? he asked.
Mama and Daddy both gestured at Daleina. Our daughter, sir, Daddy said. But we didn’t know it until today.
The man in green looked at Daleina, and Daleina felt as if he were looking through her skin to study her bones. His eyes were pale water-blue, and his face was scarred beneath his black beard. He still held his sword, and Daleina saw it was thick with tree sap and specked with rustlike red. She must be trained. Without waiting for a response, he said to the guards, Take them with the other survivors.
Oh, thank the queen, there are others! Mama said.
The healer laid a hand on her arm. Only a few, I’m afraid.
Then we shouldn’t say thank you, Arin said, clutching Daleina’s hand. Her pudgy fingers were slick with sweat, but Daleina held on to them. The queen didn’t help us. We shouldn’t thank her.
Hush, Arin, Daddy said.
Daleina should be queen, Arin said. "She kept us safe."
Mother clapped a hand over Arin’s mouth. "Arin! Quiet! This is a champion!"
Daleina stared at the man in green—she’d never seen a champion before. There were only a few, charged with training the heirs and protecting the queen. She never imagined one would be in her village, or what was left of her village.
For a brief instant, she imagined him sweeping her away, taking her to the capital, and proclaiming her his chosen candidate. It happened that way in the tales: a champion would appear in a tiny village, test the children, and pluck one to be trained to become an heir, and the heirs became legends themselves, creating villages, securing the borders, and keeping the spirits in check, in conjunction with the queen. She imagined herself in the palace, a circle of golden leaves on her head, with her family beside her, safe because of her power. Never again huddling afraid in a hut in a tree.
Her story should have begun right then, in that moment. Fate had declared that her power would emerge in her village’s tragedy, and chance had put the champion in the nearby trees at the moment the spirits attacked, too late to save the village but in time to meet Daleina. It should have been the beginning of a legend, the moment he recognized her potential and she embraced her future with both arms.
The champion looked away, across the ruined village and the broken bodies. Only the best can become queen. And she is not the best. Daleina felt his words hit like slaps, and then he added the worst blow of all: If she were, these people would still be alive.
Champion Ven knelt in the ruins of the village. Sifting through the rubble, he lifted out a broken doll, its pink dress streaked with dirt and its pottery face cracked.
There was always a broken doll.
Why did there always have to be a damn doll?
Other stuff didn’t bother him—the broken dishes, the bedsheets, the clothes, all the evidence of lives lived and then cut off—but the dolls got him every time. He used to collect them, in the wake of whatever tragedy had struck this time, take them to a toymaker to be cleaned, and then give them to kids in nearby villages. After a while, though, he decided that was too morbid.
He tossed the doll aside. There weren’t many survivors. Two children. A handful of adults. They’d be taken to another village, given new homes and lives. The older girl would be trained and maybe become some village’s hedgewitch someday. If she was lucky, she wouldn’t see anything like this again. But she’d always have nightmares.
Ven knew the nightmares well. He hated sleep. A day like this, he wasn’t fond of being awake either. Straightening, he admitted that he wasn’t going to find any other survivors, and the spirits weren’t going to come back to let him beat on them more.
He wished he could track the ones responsible, make them pay, or at least make them understand. . . . But they’d never understand that what they’d done was wrong, and destroying the spirits would only hurt the forest and leave more people homeless.
Champion Ven? It was one of the guards. He’d forgotten her name. She favored an ax and left her right side open for a half second too long when she fought. She was decent with throwing knives and slept lightly, waking often to check their camp. He’d traveled with her for five days. Still didn’t remember her name. The survivors want to bury the dead.
He shook his head. The queen will take care of it. She’d have the earth spirits subsume the village and cleanse the entire area with water spirits.
The guard flipped a piece of wood with her toe. Underneath it was a hand, gray and bloodless, already stiffening. Like she took care of them when they were alive?
Ven raised both his eyebrows. He knew that look could quell most people. This guard, however, was made of sterner stuff, or else she too was unnerved by how thoroughly the spirits had decimated this village to care about his best fiery expression. This village—what had it been called? Greytree?—might have been on the outskirts, but it was within Aratay’s borders. It should have been safe.
The guard met Ven’s eyes steadily. Is she dead?
He flinched at the word, picturing the queen’s body broken, like one of these villagers, but it was a fair question—after a queen’s death, the spirits always went wild, until the heirs called for a coronation, suspending the spirits’ power. I heard no bells. Three tolls for the death of a queen, repeated across the forest. Even if she were, she has many capable heirs. If Queen Fara died, they would undergo the coronation ceremony, and one of them would reaffirm the queen’s commands. That was the entire point of heirs, and the purpose of champions. Champions found and trained potential heirs, to ensure that Aratay would always have a queen and that the spirits would always be controlled.
Except they hadn’t been controlled here, Ven thought, echoing the guard’s snark.
He swore under his breath, colorfully and thoroughly.
If he wanted to be sure this didn’t happen again, he had to find out why it had happened here, why the spirits had defied the queen, and he wasn’t going to find an explanation in the outer forest. He had to go back to the capital, talk to Fara, determine why her protections had failed. He was a champion. It was his responsibility. It was the only way to find the answers he needed, the answers that
heatherlincGo to heatherlinc's profile
What a terrific read "The Queen of Blood" was. Although a bit slow at the start, the pace quickly picked up and the climax was thrilling. I loved the world Durst created. Instead of the medieval type society often found in fantasy stories, Aratay was set in trees and people moved from place to place via bridges, ladders and zip lines. The people of Aratay also share their world with spirits who hate the humans and whose strength come from fire, ice, air, earth, wood or water.I thought Daleina was an interesting protagonist. Despite lacking natural magical power, she was intelligent, compassionate, determined and resourceful. I also liked the strong female friendships she developed at the academy and also the fact that she had a wolf, Bayne, as a loyal companion. It was also nice that her family was so loving and supportive of her decisions.This was the beginning of an excellent fantasy series and I can't wait to see what happens next to Deleina and the people of Aratay.
bdartnall_1Go to bdartnall_1's profile
Fantasy world with various kingdoms, rulers, a version of a medieval type society: (bakers, seamstresses, carvers, etc.) and then the magic world: "spirits" who manifest themselves as earth, fire, water, air, etc. Main character is Daleina, a young girl from outside the capital of Aratay, but travels there to go into training to be one of the "heirs", specially chosen young women who manifest a strong ability to "speak" to the spirits and control them. The entire world of this novel centers on the tension between the spirits -who are everywhere- and their need to both create and destroy. What they long to destroy most are humans. But the reigning Queen (the one heir who rises above all others) can suppress/control/direct them to provide ever growing tree canopies for the human dwellers, productive earth, water, etc. This book one centers on the emerging corruption - as always, she thinks she doing it for the good of her people- of the current Queen Fara, who's made a devil's bargain with the "owl woman", a spirit who negotiates limited acts of destruction in order to provide the queen with more power. Our heroine's mentor, a skilled champion named Ven, eventually discovers this. By the novel's end, Daleina becomes the new queen, "the Queen of Blood" - because of a climactic spirits v.s. heirs ceremony. Meh. Definitely a LOT of "telling" by the author (Queen Fara's musings, Ven's thoughts, Daleina's worries and thoughts,etc) lots of skirmishes, visits to family back home, heir academy training interactions with Daleina & other aspiring queens, etc etc.... as a result, lots of slooow parts. Spirits were strange and interesting? It also weighs in at over 350 pages, but teen readers who adore stories of fairies, warriors, queens and fanciful creatures/worlds will probably cheer on Daleina and her companions.
pwaites_1Go to pwaites_1's profile
The Queen of Blood is a strong start to a new fantasy series. Humanity exists in a careful balance with the bloodthirsty nature spirits, who compelled by their twin desires to create and destroy. Only a human queen gifted with power is able to hold them in balance. Daliena, a young woman with some ability to control the spirits, is determined to do what she can to protect humanity from the devastation periodically unleashed by capricious spirits. Ven is a disgraced champion who has been roaming the wilderness between villages, fighting an increasing number of spirit attacks. With the queen possibly loosing control over the spirits, Daliena and Ven will have to combine forces.One of The Queen of Blood‘s strongest assets is pacing. The story practically zips along, propelled by a constant and building tension. From an action packed beginning, to slower character moments, The Queen of Blood kept me reading the entire way through.While The Queen of Blood isn’t being marketed as YA, it has elements that could make it any easy cross over. For most of the story, Daliena is a teenager or young girl. While the narrative contains POVs of a number of different characters (mostly Daliena and Ven), I think she’s the clear protagonist of the story. The book also flirts with some common YA tropes – for instance, Daliena goes to a magical school to learn spirit binding – but it ultimately manages to make its own story out of these familiar elements.One of the most notable things about The Queen of Blood is that Daliena is not particularly special. She’s not the strongest or smartest student in the room. She’s not any kind of chosen one. She’s merely an extremely hard worker who will keep pushing herself long after everyone else has given up. I also appreciated that while she had a romance subplot, it wasn’t the focus of attention (and Ven wasn’t her love interest, thank goodness).The Queen of Blood also had friendships between its female characters, and never had Daliena go down the Not Like Other Girls route. Merecot in particular stood out to me. It would have been so easy for her to be Mean Girl stereotype – the backstabbing queen bee concerned about nothing but herself. While Merecot highly driven and sometimes contemptuous of the other students, she had enough ambiguities to prevent her from easily slotting into the character type. I hope to see more of her in the sequels.I had some worries as to how the nature spirit based world building would come across. It seemed like things could easily be ill thought out or perhaps too twee. But as it turned out, the spirits and the world felt entirely fitting and believable. And the architecture of the cities, towns and villages reflects the ability to command nature spirits – most human settlement is suspended or within trees.The Queen of Blood was one of the most enjoyable fantasy books I’ve read in a while, and I fully plan on reading the sequels.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
veeshee-1Go to veeshee-1's profile
4.5/5!
I've had my eye on this novel for a while. I really liked the premise of it, which reminded me a lot of the Queen of the Tearling series. I really like fantasy stories with strong female leads and this one showed a lot of promise.
Everything has a spirit, be it the wind or the stream or even a beautiful willow tree. But these spirits are malicious and they have only one desire: ridding the land of all humans. There is only one woman who can control these malevolent spirits, and it is the Queen. She alone has the power to bind the spirits and prevent them from harming or killing all of mankind. But even the queen is only human, and the threat of danger is ever-present. To protect the queen and safeguard the future of humanity, young women are chosen to train as heirs to the throne. These are women who are powerful, confident, and have an affinity for controlling the spirits. Daleina, is a quiet academy student, who simply wants to protect the weak - even as she knows she has no real claim to the throne. Ven is a disgraced Champion who has spent his time in exile fighting against the growing spirit attacks on villages in the outskirts. When these two join forces, they embark on a dangerous quest to find the source of the attacks. It is a journey that will test their courage and loyalty, as they make difficult decisions to protect their home... before it's bathed in blood.
I really enjoyed this book. No, seriously, I really loved it. I sat down in a really uncomfortable part of my bed, thinking I would only read a chapter or two and when I next looked up, the whole day had gone and I was pretty much done the novel. That's how good it was. I don't think I've had a reaction like this since Queen of the Tearling! If you liked that series, then this is definitely a novel for you!
I thought the magic system with these spirits and powers was really well developed and quite cool! It was out of the ordinary realm of fantasy novels, which made me pay more attention to it. The author gave the right amount of detail in every instance; I never felt the need to skim because it was too much information, and I also never felt like it was lacking! I loved the richness of the world this author created because it truly was unique!
Daleina is an awesome character. She isn't amazing at anything; she works hard to achieve her goals, and I really admire that. I've started to get bored of the stereotypical badass heroine - Daleina is definitely not stereotypical. She has her doubts and anxieties and she isn't the best at anything. What makes her special is her determination and drive, that she is inherently good and doesn't let difficulties get her down. In short, she is a character you can root for!
There were some instances where the plot sped up to cover a number of years. We cover pretty much all of Daleina's schooling through a series of time jumps. I wasn't a big fan of this as I felt that the transitions were a little choppy, but I can understand why the author decided to get through that in order to get to the really juicy parts of the story. I didn't mind too much, especially as the rest of the plot were worth it!
I liked how this story was not just about magic, but also survival and the fear of losing power and authority. I liked that the main character was someone who didn't really have ambition, and was someone you truly felt had her heart in the right place. I liked the supporting characters, even though they didn't really figure into the story too much. There were times when I wish the other characters had had more of a presence in the story instead of just going away but I'm hoping that the author will bring them back in some form in the second novel.
Overall, this book really impressed me with its intricate details and unique plot! I loved the main character, the action, and the overall power struggle. I cannot wait for the second book in this series! If you liked Queen of the Tearling, then definitely give this one a go!
jdifelice-1Go to jdifelice-1's profile
This was a really good book. It was written well, the character development was great, the book showcased great female friendships and our main character felt real.
I LOVED the setting of this novel, a society that lives in the trees? SO COOL! I really enjoyed the world building, and how the author set up this world. It was so interesting to read about. I really liked that Daleina was not "the chosen one" who overcomes all her flaws and is the perfect person by the end. She accepts who she is and that she is not the best, yet still tries hard and has a goal just to protect her family and others from the tragedy that has befallen her. I loved how romance took a back burner - it was there, but it was quiet and female friendships really took root. I found that the skipping of years separated me from really understanding these friendships and how close the girls were, but I still understood that feeling that Daleina has for her friends - trust, and fierce need to protect them.
This could have been a tropey mess that wasn't anything new, but the author delivered a fresh, new take and I loved reading it :)
quondameGo to quondame's profile
Her control of the ubiquitous and dangerous spirits manifested when Dalaina's village was attacked, but at 10 she was only able to save her immediate family, and was discouraged from trying to become a candidate for Queen and settle as a village hedge-witch. But her younger sister Arin insisted she was more and she is enrolled in the Northeast academy - as its least talented student.This book follows the less common of the girl with talents goes far story-line in that Dalania's talents are of application, cooperation, adaptation, and leadership rather than being the 'technical' standout.The writing is decent if not perfect, though perhaps it is my aged self that expects older conventions, the plot works well though there seem to small skips were I would expect development, and telling rather than showing occurs even if it is not overwhelming.A solid fantasy world that is interesting and well shown is really the highlight for me, and I will continue this series.
ladycatoGo to ladycato's profile
A received an ARC of this book from the publisher.Queen of Blood is one of my favorite reads for the year. It features powerful, diverse women, an innovative new approach to fae spirits, and TREES. Beautiful, massive trees that people live in. Hey, I live near Phoenix, Arizona. I thirst for greenery. If I could set a vacation in Renthia (when things weren't bound to kill me), I'd go in an instant. Plus, characters travel at top speed across long distances by zip-lining.Daleina is a relatable heroine who survives by grit and determination. She is not magically gifted. She is academically mediocre. As she attends a Hogwarts-esque school (that I would prefer to Hogwarts), she is repeatedly and gently told she would be better off settling as a hedge witch in some small village because she is simply not good enough to be a candidate for Queen. Yet she persists, because the Queen is the one who controls the spirits. Spirits like the ones who destroyed Daleina's village and almost killed her family when she was young. Daleina wants to save people, and her relentless drive to do so is beautiful and affirming.This book gripped me from page 1. I found every excuse I could to stop and read, because the tension just drove me crazy. And the ending...! I feel like I want the next book NOW, but it's probably best that I have to wait, because I might need therapy first. Egad.Queen of Blood is out September 20th. It should probably win some awards for one of the best covers of the year, too.
Jenny ChuaGo to Jenny Chua's profile
So exciting plot. Good holiday book. Highly recommended to all
Allison SalehGo to Allison Saleh's profile
Love this book. I️ wish scribd carried the sequel. Looking forward to the next I️ Stallone t.
jesus kunGo to jesus kun's profile
she's flawed. she still is. her journey is as real as an average being struggling and chasing after dreams. she isn't suddenly smart over night. some realities are hard to accept. but she braces it. she admits her short comings. I really love this aspect of the character. as mundane as she can be, her fears , her love, her resolution— they all make her up. she's lovable.
do give this book a try.
lisa beheraGo to lisa behera's profile
quite engaging. it's not the usual born natural and talented.
Alana ZakrzewskiGo to Alana Zakrzewski's profile
Good story, good pace, liked the characters, overall would read more
kmartin802_1Go to kmartin802_1's profile
Durst creates an epic fantasy world filled with spirits who are malevolent and treacherous and the people who control them. The main character of this story is Daleina who was raised in a small forest village far from the capitol and the Queen. One day the spirits attack and it is only because Daleina has the power to control them that her family survives. When Daleina gets a little older, she is sent to the Academy to be trained to use her powers to control the spirits in hopes that someday she will be an Heir or even possibly the Queen. Daleina isn't the best student at the Academy. She barely squeaked by in her entrance exams and is consistently in the lower part of her class. She doesn't feel that she will ever be chosen by a Champion for further training. But her heart is in the right place, she is determined to master her powers to keep her family and the people of Renthia safe.She is chosen by Champion Ven who is a former lover of the current queen and in disgrace. Together, the two of them and the healer Hamon travel into the far reaches of Renthia to protect the people and to further Daleina's training. When it is time for students to test to be heirs, Daleina manages to secure the last place - the fiftieth - among the Heirs. The problem in this story is that the Queen has become ambitious and determined to live forever. She has been making deals with the spirits to gain power in exchange for allowing them to destroy and kill. When Daleina and her friends find out, they come up with a plan that will have severe consequences for all of them and for Renthia.This was an excellent story with a well-developed world and an intriguing main character. I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy.
darkfaerietales_1Go to darkfaerietales_1's profile
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Dark, terrifying world ruled by spirits where one girl through her smarts and ingenuity learns how to control these deadly creatures. I recommend for fans of fantasy and young adult fantasy novels.Opening Sentence: Don’t trust the fire, for it will burn you.The Review:The Queen of Blood is the beginning of a new series by Sarah Beth Durst called The Queens of Renthia. The novel follows the story of Deleina as she learns to control the spirits that control the land around her. The Queen of Blood is billed as an adult story but it really did feel like a young adult novel. There are some themes that make it a bit edgier, especially the level of violence but I honestly feel it is no edgier than Sarah J. Maas’ novels. (I actually think those novels are a bit more edgy than this was.)First off, I feel like I should describe the world that the characters live in. This is a world where humans are not the top of the food chain. They think they are but they are not. There are six main spirits that make up the land. Fire, ice, water, air, earth and trees. In my mind, I see these spirits as looking more like faeries or pixies but in reality these spirits are humanoid to an extent. They vary in size and shape. Each one can look like the different animals found in nature. These spirits have only one driving desire: To kill humans. They hate humans with a passion. The only thing keeping the spirits in check is the Queen. There are five Queens that control the spirits within their lands’ borders. The Queen’s hold the ultimate power to control the spirits and keep them from killing the humans that live there. There are other humans that have power to control the spirits, these people also vary in power level but unfortunately most humans can’t control the spirits at all.There are three characters that the story follows in The Queen of Blood, each one gets their own POV’s as the story plays out. Deleina is the character the story mainly follows as she grows up learning how to control her powers over the spirits that make up the land that the humans live on. As a child, Deleina survived the slaughter of her town only because of the control she wielded to keep the spirits from killing her and her family. Deleina is not all-powerful. (Although we do meet the character who is during the course of this novel.) Deleina often struggles with her control over the spirits. She gets by because of her ingenuity and her smarts. She often doubts herself and her place in the world but then she remembers why she is doing it all for in the first place: To protect her family. Deleina is one character that I really respected. She comes from a good place and her reasons to become a candidate for Queen make her someone that other people should respect. I will say that she does do something pretty terrible but in the end it is a decision that she doesn’t take lightly as lives are at stake. The reasoning why I think this seems like such a young adult book is because the events take place when Deleina is ten years to eighteen years old.Ven is the badass Champion that ends up picking Deleina as his candidate to become Queen. As a Champion, Ven is a warrior that knows how to fight off the spirits. His first duty is to protect the Queen and then his second duty is to find someone who can take her place when she inevitably dies. He trains Deleina in all things practical so she knows how to deal with the spirits. Ven, Deleina and Queen Fara have a history that intertwines as the story goes on.There are two side characters that I want to mention because I really want to know what happens to one and the other was just an awesome side character. Merecot is another girl who goes through training with Deleina in a Harry Potter type school that is used to train the students in the ways of controlling spirits. This school is dangerous and often deadly because spirits are irrational and not easily controlled. There are quite a few people missing limbs. Merecot is extremely powerful and disappears halfway through the novel. One line let me know where she ended up but I really want to know how her story plays out. She was such a wild card. She was mean and terrible but then she’d stick up for others even saving lives while she played up the bitch card. The other character is loved was a wolf named Bayn. He has such a personality that he felt like another human character. He understood everything and was an awesome wolf. He is a great companion to Deleina.The Queen of Blood is a novel for fans of fantasy, young and old. The world is dangerous and crazy. It is a world I would not want to live in. The humans have gotten too comfortable that the Queen will protect them but what happens when the spirits decide they no longer need controlled. Queen of Blood is very much a novel about a girl learning how to deal with her powers and growing into a woman. As a reviewer, I can only speculate that each novel will be about a different woman in each of the five countries. I could be entirely wrong but I do know that I really want to read the sequel to find out what happens next.Notable Scene:“First Headmistress Hanna tried to convince me that I don’t want you, and now she wants to convince you that you don’t want me,” Ven said. Damn man sounded amused. “The fact is that you do get to decide, Daleina. It’s not only me choosing you; you must choose me as well.”“Is this what happened with all the candidates?” Deleina asked. “When they came to see you. Did you try to talk them out of it?”Her bright eyes were fixed on Hanna, and the headmistress shifted in her chair. She should lie, for the sake of the girl’s feelings, but under her gaze, it didn’t feel right. “This is an unusual case.”“Because I’m a mediocre student, and he’s a disgraced champion?” Deleina turned back to Ven, and Hanna couldn’t help admiring the thread of stubbornness that ran through her voice. That determination, she remembered, was why she’d allowed a barely qualified girl to enter the academy four years ago. “Do you think I can help protect the outer villages?”“Yes,” he said without hesitation.“Then I choose him,” Deleina said.Hanna looked from one to the other, at their identical mulish expressions. She sighed heavily. “Just tell me one thing, Ven: why her?”“Because she knows why she’s here,” he answered. “She knows who the enemy is.”FTC Advisory: Harper Voyager provided me with a copy of The Queen of Blood. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
jethplainGo to jethplain's profile
Don’t trust the fire, for it will burn you.Don’t trust the ice, for it will freeze you.Don’t trust the water, for it will drown you.Don’t trust the air, for it will choke you.Don’t trust the earth, for it will bury you.Don’t trust the trees, for they will rip you, Rend you, tear you, kill you dead.I started this book thinking that it might be a typical YA fantasy. Where the lead female and male characters love each other and save the world kind of YA. Well, I surely was mistaken, this story is definitely Delaina of Greytree's and no one else. I like how the author inserted scenes that showed that women have the freedom to pursue their sexuality if you're all for woman empowerment this is for you. Renthia's countries are ruled by Queens, chosen by the spirits from a number of heirs and female because they have the affinity to control them. I thought that Deleina would be the typical powerful girl from the woods or some not expect origin who actually has immense power, but no, if anything Deleina's power doesn't fit with what the society of Aratay deem as strong and powerful. To them, she's just so-so, but Delaina's no wimp. This is what I like about the lead character, she's relatable in a way she wasn't born with this huge secret power and that no one thinks she can do it but she struggles, improvises and looks for a way for her to pass and succeed; and in the end that is what saves her.It's a fast read, there's no dragging moments but not much world building but maybe in the next book?
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FAO areas | Ecosystem | Occurences | Point Map | SeaLifeBase
Rhynchozoon spicatum was reported from 1 countries/islands
Table 1: the species is currently present in 1 of them (endemic, native, introduced);
Table 2: possible in 0 of them (stray, questionable);
Table 3: absent from 0 of them (extirpated, not established, misidentification, error).
Table 4: all reports listed together.
Distribution: Western Central Atlantic: Colombia.
How to read map
How to read the map
The literature species report in a country is represented by an icon (a circle) in the middle of the country polygon.
Important: a report in the literature does not necessarily mean that the species is currently present in the country! There are errors in literature, misidentifications, and some species have been locally or globally extirpated or eradicated.
The patterns and colours of the icon give 4 additional indications (see the legend under the map for the signification of the different colours and patterns):
Presence status: the colour of the ring (green: Present; orange: Possible; red: Absent)
Introduction status: a white 'i' in the middle of the circle indicates that the species has been introduced, if the presence ring is green it means that the species established itself or that we don't know the current presence status, if the presence ring is red it means that the species did not established itself.
Threat status: the pattern of the ring (not dashed: not threatened or no information; dashed: any status indicating that the species has a national threatened).
Important: This is the national threatened status, not the global IUCN one.
Salinity status = milieu: the colours in the middle circle (blue: Marine; green: Brackish; light blue: freshwater; dark green: Land).
How to interpret the map
The icon in a country polygon indicates that the species has been reported at least once in the country, BUT NOT NECESSARILY that it is present IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.
It is particularly the case for large country such as Brazil, USA, Canada, Russia, China, India, Indonesia, Australia, etc.
For example, a number of freshwater species present in western European countries are also present in the western part of Russia, but not beyond the Ural mountains. Still the icon for Russia is placed in its Asian part.
The icon is placed approximately in the middle of the country, even for the species that are marine only.
For marine species, it does not mean either that the species is present in all oceanic coasts of the countries (e.g., Altlantic and Pacific for USA and Canada).
So the map needs to be interpreted carefully, but we think it helps to give a quick view of the distribution by country, in a better way than the textual list of countries when it is over a dozen countries.
Table 1: Present in 1 country/island (endemic, native, introduced)
Main Ref.
South America Colombia COL native 86508
Table 4: Reported from 1 countries/islands.
The map in this page was supported by BioFresh that has received funding from the
European Union's Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 226874
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Martin Luther King Blvd Baltimore Md
Join Chick-fil-A One™. Earn points with every purchase. Redeem available rewards of your choice. The Chick-fil-A app is not presently accepted at Chick-fil-A Express and Chick-fil-A licensed locations such as those in airports and college campuses. These locations are operated by professional third-party food contractors and their operating systems do not currently offer guests the ability.
A Baltimore City school bus collided with three vehicles. who went to the crash site at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Lombard Street to check on the children. He rode with some of them to the.
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Franklin Pierce University Dean’s List 2018 2018 Fall Dean’s List. SIUE is a nationally recognized university that educates and develops professional and community leaders through its excellent faculty and programs. Undergraduates who meet high academic standards are included in a Dean’s List issued each semester. The University uses the Franklin Pierce email account as an official means of communication with students.
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The Orange Route runs from Hollins Market to Harbor East. Stop Number: Stop Name: Stop Location : 201: President Street – Reginald F. Lewis Museum
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“This is a Baltimore City tradition. Instead of marching bands parading down Martin Luther King Boulevard, Pugh had said she planned for bands to compete at Morgan State University in a battle of.
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The Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts will hold the annual event that kicks off at noon today at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Eutaw Streets. The parade will then.
“Much of the nation’s history, including civil rights history, is rooted right here in Baltimore,” said Alvin Gillard, Office of Civil Rights. The parade steps off at Eutaw and Martin Luther King Jr.
Baltimore, MD Arson at Rite Aid Pharmacy, 300 N. Martin Luther King Blvd, Baltimore, MD Arson at Mary Harkins Senior Center, 1600 N. Chester Street, Baltimore, MD Burglary at Westside Pharmacy, 2021 W.
(Photo by Briahnna Brown) The procession marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Eutaw Street to Baltimore Street. Many in attendance said they were thankful that it was not as cold as it.
Washington Business Park – 4601 Forbes Blvd, Lanham, MD. This Office is for lease on LoopNet.com. 5/7/08: BECO Management, Inc. purchased this property from the pr
Persistent brisk southwest winds and temperatures hovering in the low 40s failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the spirited crowd that gathered at noon Monday in downtown Baltimore. reviewing stand.
Baltimore police have arrested two so-called squeegee kids who are accused of spraying window cleaner in a driver’s face and throwing rocks toward her.According to the police report, the woman was.
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BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Eighty-five years ago. And the mood is definitely one of a celebration, as thousands of people lined Martin Luther King Blvd. for a parade to honor the life and legacy of the civil.
and will head SOUTH along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to Baltimore Street where it will disband. The following streets will be CLOSED and parking prohibited: – Franklin Street between Greene.
Chesapeake & Potomac Region of NA Meeting List for April/May 2019 (last updated 5/11/2019 11:36 pm) For more info, go to www.cprna.org 1-800-543-4670 or 202-399-5316
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This year organizers are expecting 30,000 people to gather and line the streets of downtown Baltimore. “It really has [become] the people’s parade,” Gillard said. The parade will start right at Martin.
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Mayor Catherine Pugh, who announced Thursday that she was resigning, is not the first Baltimore mayor to take that path.
. Luther King Jr. BALTIMORE, Md. (WJZ)– Anne Arundel County Police arrested a man named Martin Luther King Jr. Saturday for domestic assault and a shooting. Around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, officers.
Our mission here at Boston Market is to create awesome rotisserie meals using fresh ingredients everyday, so read all about us and our restaurant revolution.
Five-year-old Amir Atkins sat on a high brick wall alongside Martin Luther. frigid King holidays of years past. Thousands of people — young and old, black and white, local residents and visitors —.
From the North (I-83, Towson, York, Harrisburg) I-83 (Jones Falls Expressway) south to St. Paul Street exit. Follow St. Paul St for 3 blocks. Make a right turn onto Chase Street, which becomes Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Follow MLK Blvd to Lombard Street and turn right.
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. Emergency Management:- Paca Street between Lombard and Baltimore streets- Penn Street between Lombard and Redwood streets- Lombard Street between Paca Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard-.
and Eutaw St., proceeds south on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and disbands at Baltimore St. For more information, call 410-752-8632 or visit promotionandarts.org. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of.
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Four Interstate 95 ramps in Baltimore are scheduled to close temporarily. Interstate 395, then on to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, to Lee Street, to Russell Street. » The ramp from northbound.
Which Of The Following Pairs Of Documents Influenced The Declaration Of Independence?
Citypass Statue Of Liberty
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CISAC Report: Creators’ royalties reach a record $14.2 billion worldwide
Story by SOCAN | November 7, 2019
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors (CISAC) has announced that creators’ royalties have hit a new record high of $14.2 billion (all figures Canadian dollars) worldwide in 2018. Music creators – songwriters, lyricists, composers and music publishers – saw their global royalty collections grow by 1.8 per cent to $12.4 billion, helped by a 29.6 percent increase in digital revenues.
According to the organization’s annual Global Collections Report, revenues from digital sources – largely driven by streaming subscription services – have nearly tripled since 2014, and now account for 17 percent of all collections, as compared to 7.5 percent in 2014.
The increase in major markets’ digital collections – notably the U.S., France, and Japan – are the biggest drivers of global growth. This growth is helped by new and extended licensing deals between societies and digital platforms, from dedicated content services like Spotify, to social media platforms such as Facebook, to video-on-demand platforms like Netflix and Amazon.
Over the five years since 2014, global collections by CISAC societies are up 25.4%. Digital growth, combined with resilience in the two other major uses (TV/radio and live/background), are continuing to offset declining income from physical media.
CISAC Director General Gadi Oron said, “This report provides many reasons for optimism about our sector. Digital revenues show an impressive increase, have nearly tripled in the last five years, and have enormous potential for further growth. More markets are seeing digital income taking the top position of all revenue streams, which is an extremely positive sign. In a landscape of fragmenting income sources, the role of authors’ societies in generating monetary value for millions of creators has never been more vital.”
For more highlights from CISAC’s 2019 Global Collections Report (for 2018 data), visit www.CISAC.org.
Digital Technology Music Industry Music Industry/Entrepreneurs Music Publishing
SOCAN delivers record royalties to members
Many 2018 financial results outperform, but CEO calls for more equitable share from streaming
SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste meets with UN Secretary-General
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Gathering draws 200-plus SOCAN members in Vancouver
Dataclef, Indian Performing Right Society sign landmark contract
Dataclef – part of the SOCAN Group of companies – and the Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRS) are significantly expanding their services agreement, from claiming and reports processing to comprehensive back-office and rights management services, including tariff administration, member self-service tools, and brand support.
As one of the world’s fastest-growing music economies, India is attracting attention and product launches from national and global music brands. The rapid expansion of music and technology use in India means that rights holders require modern, scalable music identification and royalty administration solutions. IPRS has determined that Dataclef Suite, a fully-configurable agreements-based platform, is perfect for the forward-thinking music rights organization.
“The commencement of this deal will re-structure IPRS into a world-class, technology-driven copyright society focused on transparency and efficiency,” said IPRS Chairman Javed Akhtar. “The Dataclef team’s deep industry and technology expertise makes Dataclef Suite the obvious choice for building the future of Indian copyright management.”
IPRS is India’s only registered copyright society for music composers, lyricists, and music publishers, committed to instituting technology-driven processes that improve member engagement, licensing, and transparency in the distribution of royalties.
On average, Indian music users consume 21.58 hours of music per week, surpassing the global average of 17.89 hours. With this usage, and unique Indian musical intellectual property, expected to grow in coming years, IPRS is uniquely positioned to support India’s music economy growth and lead the way in auditable, data-focused rights management.
Dataclef Suite, with its flexible APIs (Application Program Interfaces), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) backbone, and massive rights database, will ensure this growth is achieved with maximum payouts and minimum overhead. Dataclef’s exclusive matching technologies and ground-breaking agreements structure are purpose-built for the complex, high-scale challenges that IPRS is solving.
“IPRS is fundamentally changing how music usage is processed and paid in the Indian music market,” said SOCAN Group CEO Eric Baptiste. “We are thrilled to be bringing the power of Dataclef Suite to IPRS, the Indian music economy, and the music creators and rights holders who make it an exciting and vibrant market.”
IPRS and Dataclef will immediately begin collaborative efforts to deploy and operate the new IPRS back office. The services being planned and assessed include functions, processes, and technologies required to launch a world-class copyright society using Dataclef Suite.
“With Dataclef Suite, we can manage the scale and complexity of licensing and payment agreements in the Indian music marketplace like no other partner,” said Dataclef COO Janice Scott. “Combined with IPRS’s focus on improving efficiency and transparency through technology, this is the beginning of significant positive financial and operational outcomes for Indian songwriters, musicians, and rightsholders.”
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Canada’s largest music organization expands into music reproduction rights
Photo by SOCAN. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Lisa Lorenz, Brendan McCarney, Jana Cleland, Kevin Black, Kirty, Jennifer Mitchell, Matthew Angus, Nick McKinlay.
SOCAN honours Red Brick, Tenille Townes, Fast Romantics with No. 1 Song Awards
Story by Howard Druckman | November 6, 2019
SOCAN honoured Jennifer Mitchell and Jana Cleland of Red Brick Songs; Tenille Townes; and Matthew Angus and Kirty of Fast Romantics, with SOCAN No. 1 Song Awards for Townes’ “Somebody’s Daughter” and the band’s “Do No Wrong,” each of which topped the charts earlier this year.
“Somebody’s Daughter,” co-written by Townes, Larry Laird (GMR), and Barry Dean (BMI), and performed by Townes, topped the Nielsen BDS Country Chart on Jan. 28 2019. “Do No Wrong,” performed by fast Romantics, and co-written by band members Angus and Kirty, scaled the peak of the CBC Music Top 20 on Aug. 8, 2019. Both hits are co-published by Red Brick Songs.
SOCAN’s Rodney Murphy, Kathryn Hamilton, and Aidan D’Aoust presented the awards to the honourees during a luncheon at the La Carnita restaurant in mid-town Toronto, at noon on Nov. 4, 2019. Also in attendance were the other Fast Romantics members Kevin Black, Nick McKinlay, and Lisa Lorenz, as well as Brendan McCarney of Double Denim MGMT.
SOCAN congratulates all the co-writers, and co-publishers, on these great achievements!
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Tenille Townes wins four major prizes at 2019 Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards
SOCAN presents CCMA Gala Dinner & Awards, awards No. 1 Song honours to Townes, James Barker, Tim Hicks
Tenille Townes signs with Columbia Nashville in the U.S.
Releases debut EP, set to tour with Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town
In Concert Photo Gallery: Fast Romantics & Begonia
Nov. 15, 2019, in Toronto
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Dashcam footage shows moment 'appalling' motorist who tried to outrun police at 100mph crashed
The attempt to outrun officers came to a swift halt
Jack ColwillTrainee Digital Reporter
A dashcam video released by police shows the reason a motorist was jailed for ten months - and its dramatic conclusion.
The "appalling piece of driving" was captured on film on the A436 in Gloucestershire after Lee Wilkes tried to outrun police at more than 100mph.
Mr Wilkes, 34 of Mill Road, Waterlooville, Portsmouth, was spotted by a police patrol officer at around 4.30am on May 1 this year on the A417 at Birdlip.
Gloucestershire Constabulary released dashcam footage of the early morning pursuit, which shows Wilkes crossing the central white line, hitting 106mph, and eventually spinning into a hedgerow in a crash which ended the chase.
Lee Wilkes was jailed for 10 months (Image: Gloucestershire Constabulary)
He then ran off, leaving a female passenger, but was found by a police dog about 100 yards away, reports Gloucestershire Live.
Prosecutor Nicholas Lee told Gloucester Crown Court earlier this month: “The officer thought there was something suspicious about the vehicle when the automatic number plate reader flagged up that it was not taxed.
"He followed the car, which was being driven sensibly behind two lorries, onto the A436 after the Air Balloon Roundabout, when he put on the blue lights to indicate to the driver to pull over into a layby.
"However the driver decided instead to speed away, overtaking the two HGVs, and this began a police pursuit in which he broke speed limits and drove on the wrong side of the road on blind corners.
"The two-minute chase exceeded 100 mph in places and came to an end when Wilkes lost control of the vehicle and stopped."
Wlikes tried to overtake two lorries (Image: Gloucestershire Constabulary)
The court was told that the police vehicle stopped in front of it to prevent it being driven away but the driver ran off into the night leaving his passenger behind.
"Additional police officers and a dog handler arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and found Wilkes about 100 yards away," said Mr Lee.
"He was given a roadside breath test in which he tested positive for excess alcohol. He was taken to Gloucestershire Police’s custody suite but failed to give any further samples for analysis."
Police release descriptions of thieves who stole purse
The court was told that Wilkes was bailed to appear before Cheltenham Magistrates Court later in May but failed to turn up.
He eventually pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and other offences on October 9 and the magistrates sent the case to the crown court for sentencing.
The dashcam indicates speeds in excess of 100mph (Image: Gloucestershire Constabulary)
Wilkes admitted dangerous driving, driving without insurance and while disqualified and refusing to give a breath sample.
James Haskell, defending said: "He acknowledges that he will be receiving a prison sentence for what he describes himself as an appalling piece of dangerous driving.
"He had a bad record for driving offences, but is genuinely remorseful about his latest offence."
Wilkes then spun off the road and into a hedgerow (Image: Gloucestershire Constabulary)
The Judge, Recorder Richard Mawhinney, told Wilkes: "You’ve pleaded guilty to five motoring offences and failed to appear at the magistrates court.
"You accelerated away from police officers during a pursuit and increased your speed to over 100mph.
"It took a police dog handler to find you a short distance from your abandoned car after an episode of dangerous driving in the police pursuit.
"You chose to drive knowing that you were already banned from driving and under the influence of alcohol.
"You drove at particularly high speeds considering they were country lanes."
The judge sentenced Wilkes to 10 months in jail and suspended him from driving for three years and five months. He ordered that Wilkes should take an extended driving test to get his licence back.
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SherborneTown centre road closed by police as firefighters tackle underground fire - RECAPIt is not known when the road will reopen
Shepton MalletA361 ice warning issued by police as sub-zero temperatures hit Somerset - live updatesThe Met Office and Public Health England have also issued warnings
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SPAMfighters: 173,192
Internet users: 6.8 million (2005)
Internet hosts: 2,958,435 (2006)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 29 (2000)
Internet country code: .se
Telephones - main lines in use: 6.447 million (2004)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 8.436 million (2005)
Telephone system: general assessment: excellent domestic and international facilities; automatic system
domestic: coaxial and multiconductor cables carry most of the voice traffic; parallel microwave radio relay systems carry some additional telephone channels
international: country code - 46; 5 submarine coaxial cables; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions); note - Sweden shares the Inmarsat earth station with the other Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 265, shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios: 8.25 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 169 (plus 1,299 repeaters) (1995)
Televisions: 4.6 million (1997)
Location: Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, Kattegat, and Skagerrak, between Finland and Norway
Map references: Europe
water: 39,030 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than California
border countries: Finland 614 km, Norway 1,619 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm (adjustments made to return a portion of straits to high seas)
exclusive economic zone: agreed boundaries or midlines
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate: temperate in south with cold, cloudy winters and cool, partly cloudy summers; subarctic in north
Terrain: mostly flat or gently rolling lowlands; mountains in west
Elevation extremes: lowest point: reclaimed bay of Lake Hammarsjon, near Kristianstad -2.41 m
highest point: Kebnekaise 2,111 m
Natural resources: iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, tungsten, uranium, arsenic, feldspar, timber, hydropower
other: 94.06% (2005)
Natural hazards: ice floes in the surrounding waters, especially in the Gulf of Bothnia, can interfere with maritime traffic
Environment - current issues: acid rain damage to soils and lakes; pollution of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea
Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
Geography - note: strategic location along Danish Straits linking Baltic and North Seas
15-64 years: 65.7% (male 3,001,928/female 2,918,242)
65 years and over: 17.6% (male 689,756/female 898,464) (2006 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 2.76 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 2.92 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 2.59 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 100 (2003 est.)
Nationality: noun: Swede(s)
adjective: Swedish
Ethnic groups: indigenous population: Swedes with Finnish and Sami minorities; foreign-born or first-generation immigrants: Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks
Religions: Lutheran 87%, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist
Languages: Swedish, small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)
Country name: conventional long form: Kingdom of Sweden
conventional short form: Sweden
local long form: Konungariket Sverige
local short form: Sverige
Government type: constitutional monarchy
Capital: name: Stockholm
Administrative divisions: 21 counties (lan, singular and plural); Blekinge, Dalarnas, Gavleborgs, Gotlands, Hallands, Jamtlands, Jonkopings, Kalmar, Kronobergs, Norrbottens, Orebro, Ostergotlands, Skane, Sodermanlands, Stockholms, Uppsala, Varmlands, Vasterbottens, Vasternorrlands, Vastmanlands, Vastra Gotalands
Independence: 6 June 1523 (Gustav VASA elected king)
National holiday: Flag Day, 6 June
Constitution: 1 January 1975
Legal system: civil law system influenced by customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Executive branch: chief of state: King CARL XVI GUSTAF (since 19 September 1973); Heir Apparent Princess VICTORIA Ingrid Alice Desiree, daughter of the monarch (born 14 July 1977)
head of government: Prime Minister Fredrik REINFELDT (since 5 October 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
elections: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the prime minister is elected by the parliament; election last held 17 September 2006 (next to be held in September 2010)
election results: Fredrik REINFELDT elected prime minister with 175 out of 349 votes
Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament or Riksdag (349 seats; members are elected by popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 17 September 2006 (next to be held September 2010)
election results: percent of vote by party - Social Democrats 37.2%, Moderates 27.8%, Center Party 8.3%, People´s Party 8.0%, Christian Democrats 6.9%, Left Party 6.3%, Greens 5.4%; seats by party - Social Democrats 130, Moderates 97, Center Party 29, People´s Party 28, Christian Democrats 24, Left Party 22, Greens 19
Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Hogsta Domstolen (judges are appointed by the prime minister and the cabinet)
Political parties and leaders: Center Party [Maud OLOFSSON]; Christian Democratic Party [Goran HAGGLUND]; Environment Party the Greens [no formal leader but party spokespersons are Maria WETTERSTRAND and Peter ERIKSSON]; Left Party or V (formerly Communist) [Lars OHLY]; Moderate Party (conservative) [Fredrik REINFELDT]; People´s Party [Lars LEIJONBORG]; Social Democratic Party [Goran PERSSON]
International organization participation: AfDB, Arctic Council, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CBSS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA, EU, FAO, G- 6, G- 9, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM (guest), NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Paris Club, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMOGIP, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNTSO, UPU, WCO, WEU (observer), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Gunnar LUND
chancery: 902 30th Street NW, Washington, DC 20007
consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Michael M. WOOD
embassy: Dag Hammarskjolds VAG 31, SE-11589 Stockholm
mailing address: American Embassy Stockholm, United States Department of State, 5750 Stockholm Place, Washington, DC 20521-5750 (pouch)
telephone: [46] (08) 783 53 00
FAX: [46] (08) 661 19 64
Flag description: blue with a golden yellow cross extending to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog (Danish flag)
Economy - overview: Aided by peace and neutrality for the whole of the 20th century, Sweden has achieved an enviable standard of living under a mixed system of high-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. It has a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilled labor force. Timber, hydropower, and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade. Privately owned firms account for about 90% of industrial output, of which the engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. Agriculture accounts for only 2% of GDP and of jobs. The government´s commitment to fiscal discipline resulted in a substantial budgetary surplus in 2001, which was cut by more than half in 2002, due to the global economic slowdown, declining revenue, and increased spending. The Swedish central bank (the Riksbank) focuses on price stability with its inflation target of 2%. Growth remained sluggish in 2003, but picked up in 2004 and 2005. Presumably because of generous sick-leave benefits, Swedish workers report in sick more often than other Europeans. In September 2003, Swedish voters turned down entry into the euro system, concerned about the impact on democracy and sovereignty.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $268.3 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $29,800 (2005 est.)
Labor force: 4.49 million (2005 est.)
Unemployment rate: 5.8% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Budget: revenues: $210.5 billion
expenditures: $205.9 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2005 est.)
Agriculture - products: barley, wheat, sugar beets; meat, milk
Industries: iron and steel, precision equipment (bearings, radio and telephone parts, armaments), wood pulp and paper products, processed foods, motor vehicles
Electricity - production: 127.9 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 4%
hydro: 50.8%
nuclear: 43%
other: 2.3% (2001)
Electricity - consumption: 131.8 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - exports: 11.5 billion kWh (2003)
Electricity - imports: 24.3 billion kWh (2003)
Oil - production: 2,441 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - consumption: 346,100 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - exports: 203,700 bbl/day (2001)
Oil - imports: 553,100 bbl/day (2001)
Natural gas - consumption: 980 million cu m (2003 est.)
Current account balance: $25.62 billion (2005 est.)
Exports: $126.6 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - commodities: machinery 35%, motor vehicles, paper products, pulp and wood, iron and steel products, chemicals
Exports - partners: US 10.6%, Germany 10.2%, Norway 8.7%, UK 7.3%, Denmark 6.5%, Finland 5.7%, France 4.9%, Netherlands 4.5%, Belgium 4.3% (2005)
Imports: $104.4 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel; foodstuffs, clothing
Imports - partners: Germany 17.5%, Denmark 8.9%, Norway 7.8%, UK 6.6%, Netherlands 6.2%, Finland 5.8%, France 5% (2005)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $22.33 billion (2005 est.)
Debt - external: $516.1 billion (30 June 2005)
Currency (code): Swedish krona (SEK)
Currency code: SEK
Exchange rates: Swedish kronor per United States dollar - 7.4731 (2005), 7.3489 (2004), 8.0863 (2003), 9.7371 (2002), 10.3291 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 155
914 to 1,523 m: 9
Pipelines: gas 798 km (2006)
Railways: total: 11,481 km
standard gauge: 11,481 km 1.435-m gauge (9,400 km electrified) (2005)
Roadways: total: 424,981 km
paved: 132,339 km (including 1,544 km of expressways)
Merchant marine: total: 198 ships (1000 GRT or over) 3,703,834 GRT/2,382,754 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 8, cargo 28, chemical tanker 47, container 5, passenger 3, passenger/cargo 36, petroleum tanker 15, roll on/roll off 31, specialized tanker 4, vehicle carrier 21
foreign-owned: 37 (Belgium 2, Denmark 4, Finland 11, Germany 3, Italy 7, Japan 2, Norway 7, United States 1)
registered in other countries: 161 (Bahamas 6, Bermuda 14, Cayman Islands 9, Cook Islands 3, Cyprus 3, Denmark 1, France 2, French Southern and Antarctic Lands 9, Gibraltar 5, Isle of Man 1, Liberia 8, Malta 3, Netherlands 26, Netherlands Antilles 5, Norway 28, Panama 5, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1, Singapore 12, UK 15, United States 5) (2006)
Ports and terminals: Goteborg, Helsingborg, Karlshamn, Lulea, Malmo, Oxelosund, Stenungsund, Stockholm, Trelleborg
Military branches: Swedish Armed Forces (Forsvarsmakten): Army (Armen), Royal Swedish Navy (Marinen), Swedish Air Force (Svenska Flygvapnet) (2006)
Military service age and obligation: 19 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation - 7-17 months depending on conscript role; after completing initial service, soldiers have a reserve commitment until age of 47 (2004)
Manpower available for military service: males age 19-49: 1,838,427
females age 19-49: 1,774,659 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service: males age 19-49: 1,493,668
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males age 18-49: 58,724
females age 19-49: 55,954 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $5.51 billion (2005 est.)
173,192 citizens of Sweden are already SPAMfighters - are you?
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The AOO team had to react fast to a venue change--and came through for a successful event.
David E. Merrell | Dec 18, 2019
It was Monday and elements were in motion for a Thursday evening event, the fourth annual Rebels with a Cause--a fundraiser for the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute of Transformative Medicine, to which 450 high-profile guests were expected.
Visionaries in medicine, philanthropy, tech, entertainment and education had RSVP’d. Celebrity host James Corden was polishing his presentation as the emcee. Musical director David Foster and Pia Toscana were headliners, along with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Expectations were high. The buzz was great as it always has been each year for this high-end fundraising event.
And this year AOO Events was the event designer and producer. We were rebels with a cause, which in this case was to not only produce a showstopping gala, but also give sponsors, donors and the media a sneak peek of the opening of the new Ellison Institute, a visionary facility aimed at pushing cancer research forward.
Photo courtesy AOO Events
Our team had just started phase one of our four-day load in for the Thursday night event. At 8:30 a.m., the first creative partners had started setting up lighting, and our trucks filled with custom, made-to-measure decor elements were en route to the site--the parking garage of the new Ellison Institute for the fundraiser and grand opening. What better place for a sneak peek?
Almost as soon as we arrived about 10:30 that morning, we got word that the location had become unavailable through a series of unforeseeable circumstances. Everything came to a halt as our team began to search for a replacement venue for the event happening three days later.
Thanks to quick work by our team, by 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning I was standing with everyone in the new location.
The new venue was the Water Gardens in Santa Monica, Calif.--an open-air site with a completely different configuration than the parking structure.
The entire set was already built, so we had to use everything we had and reconfigure it for the new site. And because we went from a covered site to one that was outdoors, the infrastructure necessary for the same live event and show had to be increased. And, as if all this wasn’t enough, strong Santa Ana wind conditions were in effect--which meant further engineering changes to the entertainment stage to withstand any disturbance. And this is all happening two days before the show!
Final diagrams were created by Wednesday morning and distributed to all the creative partners to finish loading in the event. All the guests were contacted of the change by the Ellison Institute team. Our team continued to address all changes on the fly.
THURSDAY.
Final touches were made to the new layout. Last-minute, day-of rehearsals in the new site. Daytime light checks because the design was still in flux on Wednesday. Constant design tweaks where every piece was designed for somewhere else.
Disaster was always possible, and yet it never happened. There was barely a broken nail. It was amazing. Everyone was so on point. All the vendors were incredible and instrumental in helping us pull this off.
Looking back on it, the final event was almost more beautiful than what we had planned. That’s due in large part to an outdoor event as opposed to a parking garage but it’s amazing how all the elements were just so easily reconfigured for the Water Gardens which added its own beauty.
The aftermath of this epic effort was extremely positive, raising $12.1 million in support of lifesaving medical research. Our team was tired, but happy, as was the team led by Lisa Flashner, COO of the Ellison Institute, who was with us every step of the way.
Photo by Steve Cohn
James Corden takes the stage.
“Against insane odds and a million small and big hurdles, we all didn’t just pull it off, we rocked it!” Flashner recalls. “From that first moment when we told AOO Events we were changing venues, we never heard anyone on their extended team say, ‘I’m out.’ Instead, I witnessed the best of creativity, human ingenuity and passion for extraordinary work.”
The phrase “all-out-epic-effort” doesn’t come up too much in our day-to-day lives as event designers and producers. In fact, in our 30 years as one of the nation’s top live event agencies, it might have come up once a decade. But when it does, we know our team is up for the challenge.
The AOO team.
David E. Merrell is CEO and creative director of Los Angeles-based AOO Events. He has won prestigious awards including the Crystal SITE Award, the 2017 Klaus Inkamp Lifetime Achievement Award pressented by the International Live Events Association, and the 2019 Steve Kemble Leadership Award, presented at The Special Event 2019 global conference by the Steve Kemble Leadership Foundation.
TAGS: Venues The Special Event Show
What You're Reading: Top Special Events Stories for September 2019
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Establishments, enterprises and accounts >
/en/virksomheter-foretak-og-regnskap/statistikker/naringer/forelopige-tall
Establishments, enterprises and accounts;Construction, housing and property;Transport and tourism;Nature and the environment;Energy and manufacturing;Wholesale and retail trade and service activities
naringer, Business statisticsService activities , Wholesale and retail trade , Water and waste water , Tourism , Sea transport , Establishments and enterprises , Energy , Construction , Manufacturing, mining and quarrying , Land transport , Aviation , Construction, housing and property, Transport and tourism, Establishments, enterprises and accounts, Nature and the environment, Energy and manufacturing, Wholesale and retail trade and service activities
Variants of the statistics:
Annually, preliminary figures (selected)
Annually, final figures
Next update
Not yet determined
increase in employment in the construction industry since 2017
Structural Business Statistics. Enterprises. Preliminary figures. Per cent changePublished 5 November 2019
1Figures in the table are final figures for 2015 and 2017, and prelimiary figures for 2018. The exception is mining and quarrying where all the numbers are preliminary. This is due to the final figures including extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas.
Mining and quarrying1
1.2 5.0 -8.1 0.6
Water supply, sewerage, waste
-1.2 6.4 6.1 25.2
Wholesale and retail trade: repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
1.4 5.5 2.8 13.9
Transportation and storage
0.1 -0.4 -4.4 0.4
Accommodation and food service activities
-3.3 0.0 -0.6 15.7
Professional, scientific and technical activities
3.7 10.1 3.9 12.9
Administrative and support service activities
Other service activities
Source: Statistics Norway
Explanation of symbolsDownload table in ExcelDownload as CSV-file
See all figures from this statistics
12817:Preliminary figures for number of enterprises, employed persons and turnover, by industry (SIC2007)
See all figures in Statbank ( 3 )
About the statistics
The business statistics provide detailed information on the activity in the Norwegian business sector. The statistics are based on register data from income statements and ‘a-ordningen’, which is a coordinated service used by employers to report information about income and employees, as well as surveys and other sources such as annual accounts. The statistics are published at enterprise and establishment level for the main industry classifications B-J, L-N and S. The figures are forwarded to Eurostat and are also used as a basis for input in the national accounts.
A number of statistics have been merged to form the new ‘business statistics’. As a result, some of the information related to specific industry classifications may not be detailed in ‘About the statistics’. The web pages of the old statistics may contain more detailed information in each classification: manufacturing, mining and quarrying, water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities, information and communication, accommodation and food service activities, transportation and storage, construction, wholesale and retail trade, administrative and support service activities, and other service activities.
Definitions of the main concepts and variables
In the statistics, the enterprise is the legal entity.
Local kind-of-activity unit (LKAU)
Defined as a locally delimited functional unit that mainly performs activities within a specific industry group.
The location is in accordance with the municipal divisions as of 1 January in the reference year. In some industries, an enterprise can operate in several municipalities or counties without being divided into several KAUs. In such cases, the enterprise’s collective activity is registered under the enterprise’s business address.
Owners without fixed salary who work in the enterprise daily
Owners include owners of sole proprietorships, general partnerships and shared liability companies, as well as family members without a fixed salary who work in the enterprise on a daily basis and such like. Co-owners in shareholder groups and cooperatives who are paid to work in the enterprise are not included. Neither are family members of owners of sole proprietorships, general partnerships or shared liability companies if they have a fixed salary.
The number of employees is taken from ‘a-ordningen’ dating back to 2015. An employee is someone who works for an employer and earns a wage/salary or other remuneration. The employer has an obligation to submit monthly reporting figures for all employees. Exceptions apply to certain types of employment where the employer does not have the usual authority to issue instructions vis-à-vis an employee. In the figures on employees, all employment in a unit during the year is included. Checks are made to ensure that each person can have only one job in the same enterprise, but can be registered as an employee in several enterprises at the same time.
The number of employees shown in the business statistics represents an annual average.
The employment figure is made up of owners and employees. Those with more than one job may be counted in more than one industry. The employment figures in the business statistics show an annual average of the number in employment.
In the register-based employment statistics, each person is only counted in their main job. However, in the business statistics, the same person can have more than one job at the same time. The register-based employment statistics are based on persons employed, while the business statistics provide information on the KAUs and enterprises that make up the population. The number of persons employed in the business statistics will therefore not be directly comparable with the number of persons employed in other statistics.
Contracted workers from temporary employment agencies are not included in the employment figures. Contracted construction workers from temporary employment agencies in Norway are included in the figures for industry group 78.200 – Temporary employment agency activities. Contracted workers from foreign employment agencies are not included in the statistics.
Part-time employee
Part-time employees are employees who work less than 30 hours per week.
Full-time equivalent (FTE)
FTE refers to the unit of measurement equivalent to a full-time employee, and the figures show the annual FTE in the enterprise. This figure corresponds to the number of employees converted to the number of FTEs.
The turnover is defined as an enterprise’s annual sales revenue net of all government grants and profits from the sale of assets. Special government taxes on sales, and other taxes and duties are included in the turnover, but VAT is not.
Operating revenue
Total income from the business’s ordinary activities, with the exception of financial income. Operating revenue includes: income from the sale of goods and services, government grants, rental income and profits from the sale of fixed assets.
Total costs for the business’s ordinary activities, with the exception of financial costs.
The difference between operating revenue and operating expenses as a percentage of the operating revenue.
Purchase of goods for resale
The purchase of goods for resale is defined as the value of all goods purchased by the enterprise for resale without further processing.
Total purchase of goods and services
The total purchase of goods and services includes the value of all goods and services that are purchased during the course of the year for resale, for use in the enterprise’s own production process or for storage. The procurement of tangible fixed assets is not included in these figures.
Labour costs include wages, holiday pay, fees etc., employers’ National Insurance contributions, reportable pension costs and other personnel costs. Labour costs do not include remuneration to owners of sole proprietorships or general partnerships, or to family members without a fixed salary.
Includes salaries, holiday pay, fees etc. Employers’ National Insurance contributions, reportable pension costs and other personnel costs are not included.
Social security costs
Includes employers’ National Insurance contributions, reportable pension costs and other personnel costs.
Cost of temporary workers
Cost of temporary workers includes payments to temporary employment agencies and similar organisations for personnel provided by them. Only payments for personnel that are not related to the performance of a particular industrial or non-industrial service are included.
The production value is defined as turnover adjusted for changes in stocks of finished goods, goods in process and goods and services purchased for resale.
Intermediate goods
Intermediate goods are defined as goods and services used as inputs in the production of other goods, excluding depreciation.
Value added at market prices
Value added at market prices is defined as the sum of the production value minus the purchase of goods and services (for goods and services other than those purchased directly for resale) and special government taxes, and adjusted for changes in the stock of raw materials and consumer goods. Special government grants for manufactured/sold goods and other government grants/reimbursements are included.
Value added at factor prices
The value added at factor prices is equal to the value added at market prices plus government grants, excluding taxes, with the exception of VAT, investment tax and employer’s National Insurance contributions.
Gross operating profit
The gross operating profit is the sum of the value added (at factor prices) minus labour costs.
Total acquisitions of tangible fixed assets
Total acquisitions of tangible fixed assets are made up of acquisitions of buildings (excluding dwellings), plant and machinery, tools, fixtures and fittings and means of transport (excluding private use) – both new and used.
Gross capital formation
Gross capital formation includes acquisitions of tangible fixed assets such as buildings (excluding dwellings), plant and machinery, tools, fixtures and fittings and means of transport (excluding private use) – both new and used. Improvement costs are added, and sales of used fixed assets are deducted. Gross capital formation is specified without input VAT.
This includes acquisitions of newly acquired tangible fixed assets and capitalised improvement costs for own assets.
Acquisitions in newly acquired tangible fixed assets include all newly acquired tangible fixed assets that are acquired and completed in the course of the year, excluding investments in unimproved property. In assessing the value of the asset, cost price is used for purchases, while production cost is used for own production. Acquisitions through financial leasing are included when the asset is recognised as an asset in the balance sheet.
Capitalised improvement costs represent the value of all capitalised improvements and major repairs that are purchased and executed by others and/or undertaken by an enterprise’s own employees using the enterprise’s own assets. A precondition is that such improvements increase the efficiency/value of and/or prolong the life of the asset. Upon purchase, the expense is estimated at the cost of goods sold, and for own production, the cost of production is used.
The disposal of assets is estimated at the sales value (replacement value) upon realisation of used assets over the course of the year. The asset is regarded as sold when it is delivered.
Improvements to own assets
This includes the value of all capitalised improvements and major repairs that are purchased/executed by others and/or undertaken by an enterprise’s own employees using the enterprise’s own assets. A precondition is that such improvements increase the efficiency/value of and/or prolong the life of the asset. Upon purchase, the expense is estimated at the cost of goods sold, and for own production, the cost of production is used.
Standard classifications
The industry classification is in accordance with the Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification (SIC2007) used in Statistics Norway, which is based on the EU Standard NACE Rev. 2 and the United Nation’s International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC), Rev. 4.
See Statistics Norway’s Standard Industrial Classification for a description of the different industries.
Earlier time series with figures up to the end of 2008 are published in accordance with SIC2002 (based on the EU’s standard NACE Rev. 1.) Here you can find information on the transition to a new industry standard.
Name and topic
Name: Business statistics
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts
Responsible division
Division for Structural Business Statistics
Regional level
The figures are published at the national level. For final figures, some variables at county and regional level are also published.
Frequency and timeliness
The statistics are published annually. Preliminary figures are published approximately 10 months after the end of the statistical year, while final figures are published approximately 17 months after the end of the statistical year.
International reporting
The statistics are reported to Eurostat.
Microdata, information about sample units and population, is temporarily stored in the SAS programming language, and long-term storage is in the form of text files.
Background and purpose
The business statistics provide detailed information on the activity in industries based on accounting figures and questionnaires.
The statistics adhere to Regulation (EC) No 295/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics, as amended by regulations 251/2009, 517/2013 and 446/2014.
The main industry classifications B: Mining and quarrying (excluding industries 06 and 09.1) and C: Manufacturing were first published in 1876.
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, under classification G, was first published in 1956.
Construction statistics were first published in 1966.
Administrative and support service activities and real estate activities were first published in 1979.
Sewerage and remediation activities were first published in 1995, and water supply and materials recovery were included in 2008.
Other service activities were first published in 1995.
Figures on parts of the information and communication, transportation and storage sectors, as well as accommodation and food service activities, were published in 1998, and final figures at both enterprise and KAU level were first produced in 1999.
As of 5 November 2019, all the above statistics were merged to form the business statistics.
Users and applications
The business statistics are produced to meet the requirements of the EU’s regulation on structural statistics, based on the need for data in the national accounts. In addition, ministries and various trade associations request figures in this area. The business sector and other users also pay to receive specially adapted business statistics.
Equal treatment of users
No external users have access to the statistics before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. This is one of Statistics Norway’s key principles for ensuring that all users are treated equally.
Coherence with other statistics
The data collected for the business statistics includes information on employment. In these statistics, both full-time and part-time employees are counted as employed, and the figure represents an average for the year. Employment data is also found in the National Accounts and in other employment statistics.
While the business statistics can provide employment figures at a detailed industry level, and are consistent with other KAU-related variables, the National Accounts provide quarterly figures with a short production time. The Labour Market Survey and the register-based employment statistics also provide figures for personal identifiers such as age, sex, education and working hours. The register-based employment statistics also give figures down to municipality level.
In comparisons with other employment statistics, users should be aware that definitions and methods differ slightly between the various statistics, and that the figures will therefore vary. The business statistics apply the definitions stipulated in the EU’s regulation on structural statistics.
In addition to the business statistics, quarterly turnover statistics are also published.
The Statistics Act, sections 2-2, 2-3 and 3-2.
EEA reference
Regulation (EC) No 295/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics. In addition, Norway has, through the EEA agreement, undertaken to comply with Regulation (EC) No 1893/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the statistical classification of economic activities NACE Revision 2.
All enterprises in the main industry classifications B-J, L-N and S should normally be included in the statistics if they are registered with active business in Norway during the statistical year.
The EU’s regulation on structural statistics primarily requires statistics at the enterprise level. Statistics are compiled at the KAU level for the National Accounts and other Norwegian users. It is worth noting that the KAU-based figures show different values to the enterprise-based figures. This is because enterprises are placed in the industry subclassification that accounts for most of their activity, and can therefore be placed in a different industry to some of the activity in the enterprise.
The exception for inclusion in the statistics is enterprises within public administration and social security administration, county authorities and local authorities, i.e. enterprises with sector codes 6100 and 6500. (For industry classification 52.221 Operation of harbours of plants, it has been decided that units with sector code 6500 should be included in the statistics.)
These enterprises must not be confused with public incorporated and unincorporated enterprises owned by central government, and public incorporated and unincorporated enterprises owned by local government, i.e. enterprises with sector codes 1110, 1120, 1510 and 1520, which are included in the statistics if they operate in the relevant main industry classifications.
Main industry classification F
The statistics do not include the Norwegian Armed Forces’ own construction activities or construction activities carried out by enterprises belonging to other industries, for example, construction work carried out by manufacturing companies. Exceptions to this main rule are made for a few electric power plants where the power plant development is categorised as a separate KAU from the power supply.
The production of prefabricated houses and builders’ supplies, as well as the construction and repair of oil platforms and modules (except the production of concrete platforms, etc.) are classified as manufacturing according to the Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification (industry classification 20.30 and sub-classification 40.110).
In some cases, both the main contractor and subcontractors are involved in the same project, and both are often classified under construction. In such cases, both of the enterprises’ figures will be included in the statistics.
Data sources and sampling
The population consists of all active enterprises in the industry classifications during the statistical year. All multi-activity enterprises in the population are normally also included in the sample. In addition, the population is divided into levels by industry and number of employees. Based on these levels, a representative sample of single-activity enterprises is drawn for the sample. In practice, this may entail a full census count for some levels.
Where available, income statements, VAT data (VAT Register) and balance sheets are obtained from the tax authorities for the entire population, in addition to annual accounts from the Register of Company Accounts at Brønnøysund, and employment figures from ‘a-ordningen’. A questionnaire (often called a supplementary form) is also sent to the enterprises in the sample.
Collection of data, editing and estimations
The enterprises in the sample receive digital forms for reporting via Altinn before the summer. Enterprises that do not respond are subject to a compulsory fine. The forms provide detailed information on the enterprises’ finances, which together with the income statement, balance sheet and employment figures from ‘a-ordningen’ form a complete basis for the variables for which statistics are produced. Enterprises are asked to give a financial breakdown of their KAUs.
For enterprises that are not part of the sample, the turnover is retrieved from the income statement if available. If no income statement is available, the turnover is obtained from the VAT Register. Employment figures are still retrieved from ‘a-ordningen’, but are sometimes estimated based on turnover.
Editing and estimations
Data from forms and income statements is checked and edited. The annual accounts are an important source for this work. Other sources include the previous year’s figures, the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises and information from the enterprises themselves.
Turnover and employment are considered full-count variables and are used to estimate the remaining variables for the enterprises outside the sample. The method is based on finding units outside the sample with a corresponding industry code that is similar to a unit in the sample, for the two variables where we have a full count. These units are then allocated values for the other variables based on the given value in the sample. The ‘nearest neighbours’ method is used to select which units are similar to each other.
If fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or one or more units dominate, the figures will not be published because there is a risk that the figure can be traced back to the respondent. This particularly applies when publishing figures at a low geographical level. This is solved by suppressing these figures in the table.
Comparability over time and space
For comparisons with previously published figures, users should be aware that older data may have been altered in the revision of the previous year’s statistics. In addition, updates to industry codes in the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises may result in changes for some of the industries. Such changes will not be reflected in the figures for previous years.
Employment figures were previously retrieved from the State Register of Employers and Employees, but since 2015, they have been obtained through ‘a-ordningen’. The employment figures are not directly comparable with previous years. We have added three links that describe the differences between the two ways of obtaining employment figures: a page for register-based employment, details of the correlation between old and new statistics, and ‘a-ordningen’ – one data source for three agencies.
It should also be noted that the industry standard changed from SIC2002 to SIC2007 as of the statistics year 2008, which will affect comparability with previous years.
Accuracy and reliability
Sources of error and uncertainty
From 2015, the forms have been submitted via Altinn. Statistical survey results can, nevertheless, contain measurement and processing errors.
Measurement errors occur as a result of the respondent giving an incorrect answer either because they did not understand the question or they inadvertently gave the wrong information. A common example is numbers that are quoted in whole NOK instead of NOK 1000. Using familiar terms and providing easy access to guidance reduces this type of error.
Processing errors include coding errors and errors that occur during the transferring of information from the questionnaire or during editing.
Form-based surveys normally entail some level of non-response. Non-response by units can be due to conditions such as closure, bankruptcy, merger, demerger, holiday leave, submission errors etc. Partial non-response can be due to an oversight, missing data or other factors.
Non-response by critical units is followed up in the manual post-check. Other enterprises that do not return their forms are treated in the same way as enterprises that are not included in the sample. The use of compulsory fines reduces the non-response rate considerably, but not necessarily the uncertainty. For example, the respondents may choose to estimate figures just to avoid the fine.
About 95 per cent of the forms sent are normally returned. This means that the unit non-response rate is relatively low. However, the rate is somewhat higher in relation to answers to individual questions. This particularly applies to the breakdown of financial figures at the KAU level. This is addressed through contact with the enterprises and the use of estimates for smaller units in the sample.
Sampling errors are defined as the uncertainty that arises from producing the figures on the basis of a sample of units as opposed to the entire population. Sampling errors thus measure the expected deviation between the sample and what the result would have been if the entire population was included in the survey.
The variables included in the preliminary figures are based on a full census count. Sampling errors are therefore not relevant in this regard.
Several administrative registers are central to the work involved in producing statistics. The Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises is used both to define the population and to obtain identifiers and data. The Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities at Brønnøysund, the VAT Register and ‘a-ordningen’ are used to obtain data on the units. This provides the basis for two types of registry errors that can affect the uncertainty of the statistics.
The most common errors are due to delays in registration. Such delays may be due to late reporting to the registers or the fact that changes are normally registered some time after they occur. The consequence is that the registers are not fully up-to-date at all times, which can, for example, lead to a bias in the sample or that the statistics are based on outdated information.
Identifiers such as industry code etc. in the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises are also used when the sample is drawn. The quality of these identifiers will be crucial to the breakdown of the population into appropriate levels, and will therefore affect the quality of the basis from which the sample is drawn.
The business statistics are annual statistics, for which preliminary and final figures are published.
Preliminary figures are published approximately 10 months after the end of the statistical year. The only variables included in these figures are number of enterprises, turnover and employment. The statistical unit is ‘enterprise’.
Final figures are normally published 16 to 17 months after the end of the statistical year. These replace the preliminary figures for the statistical year, and also include far more variables. Figures for enterprises as well as KAUs are included.
Find more figures in Statbank
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Bowen Medalist joins Diggers Rest
by Tara Murray
RDFLDiggers Rest
Jaidyn Caruana has joined Diggers Rest. Picture Shawn Smits.
Bowen Medalist Jaidyn Caruana is on the move from Romsey, joining rivals Diggers Rest for next year’s Riddell District Football League season.
The Burras announced on Thursday morning that Caruana had made the switch, in a big bonus for the club.
Burras coach Jamie Lobb said they couldn’t be happier to get Caruana on board. Caruana trained with club for the first time on Wednesday.
“He works with our major sponsor Fireline Fire Protection and works with a few of the boys,” Lobb said. “We sort of had that connection there and it translated that he didn’t want to be at Romsey next season.
“We were able to work something out. It’s good for us.”
Lobb said Caruana would provide them with an x-factor in the middle of the ground.
New Diggers Rest recruit Jaidyn Caruana with coach Jamie Lobb. Picture Diggers Rest Facebook
Caruana had a break out year this year, winning the Bowen Medal by a massive 14 votes. He also won the player of the year award, voted by the coaches.
“We know what he did this year,” said Lobb. “He can slot into the midfield and be that missing piece of the puzzle.
“We’re not expecting him to do the same thing next year, but it would be nice if he could.”
Caruana is the third signing for Burras.
Premiership hero Jason Williams and another premiership player Chris Lawton are both returning to the club.
Lobb said it was good to get both of them back on board.
“They are both one point players that’s always a bonus,” he said.
“Everyone knows them and they fit straight back into the group.”
Lobb said they had room for one more recruit, but said they would be very selective if they added someone.
He said they had already filled the gaps that they needed to.
Mark Freeth, Tom Evans and Ryan Peters, who didn’t play a lot of senior football this year, have all put in clearances to leave the club.
While the Burras only started training this week, most have been working hard in the off season.
Lobb said the group was keen to atone for a disappointing end to this year, when they knocked out in the preliminary final after claiming the minor premiership.
He said the group felt this year was one that got away.
“We’ve come back earlier than we normally would,” he said.
“The boys wanted to come back, I think they were bored with footy training.
“We see it as a good chance to catch up and do it with a footy in hand.”
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Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Bulgaria 2011-2023
Published by Philipp Huhn, Mar 28, 2019
This statistic shows the revenue of the industry »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds and animal feeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2016, with a forecast to 2023. It is projected that the revenue of wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds and animal feeds in Bulgaria will amount to approximately 6.744,5 million U.S. Dollars by 2023.
This statistic was automatically created using the well-proven Statista forecast algorithm based on similarity parameters to existing analyst forecasts. The basis for the original forecasts is a combination of time series forecasts, driver forecasts (GDP, population etc.) from sources such as World Bank or the International Monetary Fund and business surveys.
Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2023 (in million U.S. Dollars)
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* Estimate - This also applies for past years as data provided by statistical institutions often is not available for more recent years.
Currency conversion factor: (EUR -> USD) = 1.186
The industry classification is based on the NACE Rev.2 - system in Bulgaria. The industry “wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds and animal feeds“ has the code “G4621“.
Details on the methodology can be found here.
Please visit here for more information on Statista market forecasts.
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Forecast: grain, seed and animal feed wholesale revenue Denmark 2008-2018
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Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Croatia 2011-20...
Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Latvia 2011-202...
Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Cyprus 2011-202...
Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Hungary 2011-20...
Industry revenue of “wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds“ in Austria 2011-20...
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Eurostat. (March 28, 2019). Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2023 (in million U.S. Dollars) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 18, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/forecasts/390011/wholesale-of-grain-unmanufactured-tobacco-seeds-revenue-in-bulgaria
Eurostat. "Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2023 (in million U.S. Dollars)." Chart. March 28, 2019. Statista. Accessed January 18, 2020. https://www.statista.com/forecasts/390011/wholesale-of-grain-unmanufactured-tobacco-seeds-revenue-in-bulgaria
Eurostat. (2019). Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2023 (in million U.S. Dollars). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 18, 2020. https://www.statista.com/forecasts/390011/wholesale-of-grain-unmanufactured-tobacco-seeds-revenue-in-bulgaria
Eurostat. "Industry Revenue of »wholesale of Grain, Unmanufactured Tobacco, Seeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2023 (in Million U.S. Dollars)." Statista, Statista Inc., 28 Mar 2019, https://www.statista.com/forecasts/390011/wholesale-of-grain-unmanufactured-tobacco-seeds-revenue-in-bulgaria
Eurostat, Industry revenue of »wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds« in Bulgaria from 2011 to 2023 (in million U.S. Dollars) Statista, https://www.statista.com/forecasts/390011/wholesale-of-grain-unmanufactured-tobacco-seeds-revenue-in-bulgaria (last visited January 18, 2020)
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August Reading
By Stephen August 30, 2019 September 28th, 2019 Reading
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August Reading is the second installment of my new monthly feature. I find interesting links on the internet and post them here with some light commentary.
This month, I started a new workflow that seems to be doing a-o-k. I’ll find links on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pocket, and Reddit and, as a logged-in Firefox user, send them to my iMac for inclusion and formatting.
It seems to be working pretty well — and, I’m now fully bought-in to the Firefox ecosystem. Their privacy-focused/privacy-first policies are just what I’m looking for. If you’ve been sleeping in Firefox for whatever reason, you should at least give it a try!
Photo by Susan Yin on Unsplash
View Monthly Reading Archive
I work with a lot of consultants, ranging from IT consulting through to user/customer research. Everything in this HBR article is true.
The U.S. Navy is abandoning touchscreen controls in favor of physical buttons, switches, knobs, et cetera. While I love CarPlay, when moving, hitting those 44px touch targets to switch between apps (Maps to Now Playing, for instance) is difficult and very prone to errors. I touched on this in my talk The Consequences of Bad Design, where I highlight the U.S.S. John McCain accident as a result of unclear controls.
The untold story of the vegetable peeler that changed the world takes a look at OXO and the iconic Good Grips peeler. The thesis of this article is all around inclusive design and how accessibility benefits everyone. I, for one, am glad that my fingers won’t be shredded when I’m using an OXO Good Grips product.
An Oral History of Revenge of the Nerds. I can’t tell you how much time I spent growing up watching Revenge of the Nerds. I really hated those goddamn Alpha Betas! Also, the film is 35 years old. Jesus Christ.
“If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he’d be pralines and dick.” Wayne’s World is another one of those infinitely quotable movies. The Ringer takes a look at how Wayne’s World kicked off a series of really funny movies.
A clean energy breakthrough could be buried deep beneath rural Utah. And it’s not just magic underpants.
The world’s largest EV never has to recharge. It’s brilliant — this monster dump truck never has to recharge because it moves uphill empty but downhill full, and regenerative braking with a full load provides enough electricity for it to go uphill again.
Economic justice is very important. And when you read headlines like “The World’s Wealthiest Family Gets $4 Million Richer Every Hour,” it really makes me want to download plans to build a guillotine.
WeWork is the latest example of a company failing up. If you’re not familiar, WeWork is an office subleasing company on steroids, subsidized mostly by VC funds – in other words, not super viable. This was made apparent in their IPO filing paperwork.
In short, everything about WeWork is utterly odd. It is a real estate company valued like a tech company. It is a young company with questionable economics that has committed to paying tens of billions of dollars in future years for office building leases. This is a company whose intricate relationships with its chief executive requires 10 pages of disclosures. And this may be the first time I’ve seen an IPO filing with a section titled “Expected Resilience in a Downturn.”
St. Louis Public Radio has an awesome story about a young African American entrepreneur who wants to inspire young black boys through business. It’s a really awesome story:
Last October, the 11-year-old turned his interest in cars into an air freshener and deodorizer business called Mr. Fresh. Joshua said his product can make anything fresh, including the inside of a car and fabrics at home. For $7 a pop, each portable glass spray bottle has its own unique scent and color from Black Ice and Cool Breeze to Yellow Rose and Baby Powder.
Maine is in trouble, and a harbinger of what’s to come across the United States. The Washington Post reports on the Elder Boom in Maine:
Across Maine, families like the Flahertys are being hammered by two slow-moving demographic forces — the growth of the retirement population and a simultaneous decline in young workers — that have been exacerbated by a national worker shortage pushing up the cost of labor.
No city government asked Lime / Bird / Jump / etc. to infect their city sidewalks with scooters, but now, with Hurricane Dorian bearing down on Miami, there’s now a fear that Dockless Scooters will be projectiles.
A scathing new Pentagon report blames Trump for the return of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. You can go ahead and file this one under No shit, Sherlock. Who knew that putting someone with zero foreign policy experience at the top of the chain of command would end like this?!
Texas Is Illegally Throwing Out Mail-In Ballots, Lawsuit Says. When the only way to win is to cheat, the GOP cheats to win. Disgusting.
Nadler: ‘This is formal impeachment proceedings.’ To paraphrase someone way dumber than most, “If it’s what you say, I love it.” 🙂
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said publicly for the first time on Thursday that his panel is conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, adding that the committee will decide by the end of the year whether to refer articles of impeachment to the House floor.
August readingbusinessclimatedesignequalityinclusionmonthly readingpoliticsresearchst. louisstartupsstluser experience
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The Parthenon December 30, 2019
December Reading December 28, 2019
New Year’s Resolution: Taking Control of My Data December 26, 2019
Garage Loops 01: In which I submit my first episode December 23, 2019
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Review: The Banner Saga 3
The game comes down to two rival parties blandly lumbering toward each other on largely identical stages.
Jed Pressgrove
Photo: Versus Evil
The games in The Banner Saga series have always monotonously focused on the grind of armies marching into battle. This final entry in Austin-based developer Stoic’s franchise takes its predecessors’ brand of torpid action to an extreme level as the player alternates between controlling two parties: one group that’s charged with defending the large city of Arberrang against a horde of demons, and one that sets out to destroy the root of “the darkness”—as the game, ad nauseam, describes it—that threatens all existence. After you slowly plow through anti-climactic skirmishes in Arberrang and observe multiple instances of treachery between various figures, the culmination of this tedious saga might be far more alleviating for the player than it is for the game’s characters.
With its concluding entry, The Banner Saga series fully reveals itself as the bastard child of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. The efforts of an army, led by your chosen protagonist, to withstand continuous attacks on Arberrang specifically recalls the heroes’ laborious stand against the Orcs in The Two Towers, while the trek to eliminate the core of “the darkness” echoes Frodo’s journey throughout the entirety of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And as the game’s two plots unfold, all the political bickering and backstabbing among and within multiple factions becomes inseparable from the goings-on of the Game of Thrones books.
The parallels to Tolkien and Martin’s work don’t just threaten The Banner Saga 3’s ability to stand apart as a distinct fantasy tale. The game’s overall messaging is also confused, as the story at once leans on Tolkien’s theme of hope in dire circumstances and Martin’s tendency to portray his characters as unrepentantly corrupt, morally dubious, or naïve. While The Banner Saga 3 does feature a few virtuous characters throughout, the game’s major factions—humans, horned giants, centaur-like creatures called horseborn, and monsters known as the Dredge—frequently seem driven toward one-upping or murdering one another, despite the fact that they’re all about to be eradicated by a greater evil. Of what use is any hope against such evil if there’s little hope against these groups subsequently killing one another?
Throughout, there’s a sense that these bitter conflicts extend less from the physical, emotional, and mental fatigue that plagues the game’s various characters than from a desire on Stoic’s part to echo the political disarray of our present-day world. The Banner Saga 3 also peddles a sort of superficial nihilism when it reveals that the different groups within its story were created by gods who despised each other, thus suggesting a demented form of predestined hatred. Sometimes the game doesn’t even care to articulate why certain individuals are at odds, as when two members of the horseborn race wind up in a fatal scuffle. In such moments, it’s hard to feel sympathy for or identify with the characters as they further invite doomsday.
It also doesn’t help that this series’s turn- and tile-based tactical combat is dreadfully outdated compared to that of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, XCOM 2, Fallout 2, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Whereas those games offer an array of battlegrounds and situations for players to strategically react to, almost every fight in The Banner Saga 3 comes down to two rival parties blandly lumbering toward each other on largely identical stages. The proceedings are so isomorphic that when I saw destructible ice stalagmites in the game’s final battle, I felt like thanking the gods, who, if they truly pitied us poor fools, would have considered intervening in the production of this plodding, unenlightening series.
Developer: Stoic Publisher: Versus Evil Platform: PlayStation 4 Release Date: July 27, 2018 ESRB: T ESRB Descriptions: Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language, Violence Buy: Game
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SELF rejects the power-building, level-gaining escapism that typifies the majority of pop games.
Photo: indienova
Developer doBell’s SELF employs a storytelling mode that defies easy categorization. For one, you must play the game and see multiple endings in order to truly understand the nature of a young boy’s search for his missing dad in a world that scarcely comprehends him. The text-based narrative is, for no immediately apparent reason, presented as subtitles on a monitor that will often be overwhelmed by static at certain points. The game’s terse writing places your playable character in a dream of sorts, where the people closest to him avoid answering his questions and where everyone in the city he calls home can disappear in the blink of an eye. The effect is nothing short of nerve-wracking.
By repeatedly showing an image of cracked glass, where the diverging lines of the crack are explicitly characterized by the narrative as different pathways and destinations in the story, SELF encourages the player to restart the game after arriving at one of many endings. The proceedings concern a child named John who wakes up from sleep only to enter an obfuscating nightmare of an existence in which he cannot find his father. The fractured narrative is consistently fascinating to put together as a puzzle, even if does occasionally lead to tedium. Even though a helpful checkpoint system allows the player to skip parts of the story, you may still have to retread sections of SELF’s narrative that you recently finished reading, depending on which ending you’re trying to discover on a subsequent playthrough.
A bigger drawback of SELF, though, is its occasional reliance on the “bullet avoidance” of Toby Fox’s acclaimed indie Undertale. This type of gameplay is one-dimensional by design, as the player simply controls a powerless icon within a box and attempts to avoid contact with objects that move into the space. The largely mindless routine of moving a bland avatar—a heart in Undertale, a crudely drawn face within a square in SELF—away from easy-to-dodge projectiles becomes stale, and the action is even more unsatisfying in SELF, as objects entering the box have even more predictable trajectories than those in Undertale.
Luckily, everything else about SELF largely works and adds up to an unsettling and revelatory experience. John’s mother absurdly evades the child’s questions about the new status quo. Eventually, he’s able to leave the house for answers, but visits to an arcade, school, hospital, and bus bring more confusion before the player is able to discern exactly what has happened to John’s family. And along the way, any sense of calm in the story is challenged by a variety of sharp sound effects, from balloons popping to the high-pitched dinging of bells.
The game goes in different directions based on whether John wishes to “face” the truth during crucial moments in the story, and the various endings often transpire out of nowhere and vary in their emotional impact. In an unexpectedly comic turn, one ending brilliantly comments on the tale’s general sense of fatalism: At the very start of SELF, the player can choose to keep going back to sleep rather than get out of bed—one of gaming’s oldest clichés—and this decision brings you to “The Happiest Ending,” in which John never has to wake up to the disturbing dreamscape that awaits him otherwise.
Other choices reveal curious reversals of seemingly established facts. If you’re able to trigger particular memories within the dreamlike narrative, the text will sometimes read as if it’s written more from the perspective of John’s father. And deeper into SELF, the script implies that perhaps you’re actually playing as the father who imagines himself as the son.
Although the story certainly suggests that dreams contain hard-to-define approximations of reality, the ultimate theme of SELF is that you are whom you love. In a mind-blowing twist on the game’s primary visual conceit of a monitor displaying text, SELF redefines the screen as a mirror with nails in its corners. If you remove the nails and then the mirror, another mirror appears with a silhouette of a kid. From there, one by one, mirrors can be pulled away to reveal a larger shadow of a person. The tragedy of life, as SELF sees it, is the older we get, the more we grow, but this growth is offset by a loss of self via the deaths of loved ones. Far from an orthodox release, SELF rejects the power-building, level-gaining escapism that typifies the majority of pop games that audiences so casually, unassumingly embrace.
The game was reviewed using a review code provided by indienova.
Developer: doBell Publisher: indienova Platform: Switch Release Date: January 16, 2020 ESRB: E10+ ESRB Descriptions: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language Buy: Game
It can’t step out of the silhouette of its most brilliant predecessor, Portal.
Aaron Riccio
Photo: Aspyr
At the start of the first-person puzzler Lightmatter, within the mined-out heart of a mountain, an arrogant scientist, Virgil, is experimenting with ways in which to efficiently turn light into an energy source. Things inevitably go wrong, and soon your blank slate of a protagonist is stranded in the depths of the mountain, trying to follow Virgil’s caustic directions in order to safely evacuate a facility overrun with killer shadows. It’s a concept that turns everyday objects, from an overhead ceiling fan to a conveyor belt, into deadly platforming challenges, as the shadows they cast must be avoided at all costs.
At one point, Virgil directly compares this situation to the classic childhood game “The Floor Is Lava.” It’s a too-winking nod that calls attention to the carefully constructed nature of Lightmatter’s puzzles, which are better encountered as a naturally occurring part of a given area’s background, like the way in which a cubicle farm’s haphazard arrangement of desks and chairs damningly form a river of shadows that must somehow be forded. In such moments, the game hews closer to The Witness than Portal, in that the puzzles feel like natural extensions of the environment as opposed to artificially engineered test chambers.
The correct paths through Lightmatter’s once-generic office and cavern areas are deliberately engineered to have a single, tricky solution. But the game generally does well to distract the player from this contrived construction, wherein the path to the exit is always blocked by a broken light source but the moveable klieg lights and beam-reflecting photon connectors you’ll use to literally shine some light on the problem are always conveniently within reach.
It’s not until the last third of the game that the puzzles become jarringly conspicuous in their design. Until this point, the various contraptions found within the facility—like conveyors and light-activated switches—have a practical purpose, whether that’s for transporting quarried rocks or for testing and containing the lightmatter. Only a few of these machines felt like they served no purpose other than creating a puzzle, like an elevator that doesn’t normally travel between floors, requiring instead that you send it back to the first floor so that you can ride atop it to the third. In these final experimental labs, though, the rooms give themselves over to needless brain-teaser padding, as they serve no purpose beyond stymying players.
On a visual level, the developers at Tunnel Vision Games have done a fine job of translating the complexities of lighting into a puzzle mechanism. Going with a clean, cel-shaded look, as opposed to a more photorealistic aesthetic, ensures that the spotlight effects operate predictably in each environment, just as the game’s muted palette makes it easier to distinguish between objects. Perhaps taking a cue from Mirror’s Edge, the rare splashes of color—green plants, orange machinery sparks, red warning lights—help make even clearer what can be interacted with. And, incidentally, this streamlined aesthetic doesn’t lead to dumbed-down puzzles, as the complexity of each area stems from clever design as opposed to an excessive number of obstacles or a misleading series of visual cues.
Would that the game’s mad-scientist-run-amok storyline weren’t so derivative. There’s not a single transmission from Virgil that doesn’t bring the comically sociopathic ribbing of Portal’s GLaDOS to mind. (There’s even a reference to Aperture Laboratory and its cake.) Those lines can do little else, because Virgil is ultimately as much of a cypher as your own “persistent, replaceable, and silent” player character, whom Virgil identifies as a tourist, a safety inspector, a journalist, and, finally, a spy, as if trying to establish what the developers won’t.
This is a game that tasks you with trying to escape the facility in one moment, then with helping to shut it down in the next. And because your motivations are so ill-defined, it’s impossible not to see your character as anything but a vehicle for solving puzzles, ensuring that Lightmatter is unable to step out of the silhouette of its most brilliant predecessor. And that’s a damning thing for a game that’s all about deadly shadows.
The game was reviewed using a review code provided by Zebra Partners.
Developer: Tunnel Vision Games Publisher: Aspyr Platform: PC Release Date: January 15, 2020 Buy: Game
Wherever the medium goes from here, these are the games that point the way forward.
Photo: Cardboard Computer
Comedian Kumail Nanjiani claimed some years back that video games are the only art form that got better solely because of technology. While that’s arguably been true for much of the medium’s history, it ceased to be the case in the 2010s. The decade in gaming didn’t lack for astounding technical achievements, but its arc was defined less by powerful technology than powerful ideas.
This was the decade that saw tiny studios, lone creators, and crazy concepts reign supreme. This was the decade that saw every platform become a viable place for ideas to sprout and bloom. The limits of the medium are seemingly bound only by the human imagination, and at every level, regardless of the horsepower needed, it now feels like anything is possible.
The decade’s best games took full advantage of that new freedom by pushing the envelope in every direction. Wherever the medium goes from here, these are the games that point the way forward. Justin Clark
100. BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite is a visceral experience about an irredeemable psychopath murdering a city of despicable fundamentalists. Booker Dewitt is tasked with saving a reality-tearing woman from a floating white-supremacist paradise, leading to the interactive slaughter of its inhabitants; so much was made of the game’s violence that many overlooked that the repugnant brutality was exactly the point. While most shooters shy away from grue or any consequences to the player’s actions, BioShock Infinite vividly depicts these rippling across universes, where a single choice can carry disastrous results. This is an astonishing game that philosophizes on the human condition—consider that the opponents of Columbia’s segregation aren’t interested in equality, only in suppressing their suppressors—while critiquing its entire genre, concluding that the protagonist of a first-person shooter shouldn’t be allowed to live in any universe. Ryan Aston
99. The Norwood Suite
The public is more aware than ever of the infallibilities of well-known artists, and Cosmo D’s The Norwood Suite evokes the discomfort that many of us often feel when the dirty secrets of an icon are put on display. The setting here is a hotel that houses the legacy of a bandleader named Peter Norwood, whose exploitative relationships with other musicians come to the player’s attention via surreal trips down hidden passageways. Yet this building also bears numerous odd pleasures to behold, not least of which is a soundtrack that seamlessly morphs as you move from room to room. The characters are literally riffs in Cosmo D’s stupendous orchestration; different instruments and notes accompany different lines of dialogue as they appear on screen. The more you explore this strange location, the more you see the threat of commercialization in the form of corporate employees aiming to turn the hotel into a greater moneymaking scheme. Cosmo D gives no easy answers on how capitalistic culture can reconcile the sins of artistic giants, and that ambiguity makes The Norwood Suite a complicated and essential illustration of contemporary concerns. Jed Pressgrove
98. Overcooked
To make it absolutely clear that Overcooked isn’t your traditional cooking game, developer Ghost Town Games opens mid-apocalypse. A giant, ravenous beast—imagine the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man made of spaghetti and meatballs—threatens to consume your rooftop kitchen. The Onion King, cheering from the sidelines, implores you to fend him off by hastily preparing a soothing selection of salads; after you’ve failed, he transports you back through time, so that you can be a more seasoned chef next time. The subsequent missions, then, are less about tapping out increasingly complex orders, as with Cooking Dash and its ilk, or the exquisite, Zen-like Cook, Serve, Delicious. Instead, Overcooked keeps the recipes simple and the kitchens about as unconventionally chaotic as they come. At times, the difficulty can make this party game feel like a lot of work, although in fairness, the same can be said for Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, another demandingly chaotic, but ultimately enjoyable, couch co-op title. The meat of the title—cooperative, chaotic cooking—is almost perfectly handled, as are the garnishes, from the catchy musical score to the delightful crew of unlockable animal chefs. By keeping the kitchens varied and the action constant, Ghost Town Games avoids the flavorless death known as repetition, and doesn’t overcook its premise. Aaron Riccio
97. Downwell
Downwell is a quarter-eater without the quarters, an arcade game from out of time. As your character tumbles down an enclosed space, collecting gems and shooting bullets from his feet, the game feels like something you play as much as you give yourself over to. Each run demands split-second decisions. Do you go back for more gems, as a cabal of monsters closes in behind you? Do you risk a stomp attack that demands more precision but will reward you with a badly needed reload? Do you break the block for gems at risk of losing space to maneuver? Each run showers you in game-changing upgrades that introduce still-more variables to consider at a moment’s notice, while you continue blasting your way into the abyss. Like the very best action games, Downwell becomes its own trance state. Steven Scaife
96. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Prepare to die a lot. The modern gaming landscape is one littered with checkpoints, save states, and wonky AI. 2K Games’s reimagining of the XCOM strategy series harkens back to the cult classic’s unsettling gameplay and punishing difficulty. The rewarding sensation one receives after successfully commanding a squad out of a heated skirmish with strange intergalactic warriors is unparalleled in modern games. These tense battles eventually lead the player to actually form an emotional bond with your team members, which makes their inevitable demise that much more crushing. These interactive elements lend XCOM’s tense action an atmosphere that’s engrossing and wholly addictive. It’s easy to treasure an old-school counter-offensive game that understands the motivating power of fear. Kyle Lemmon
95. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
In the not-so-distant future, large corporations and multinational firms have developed their operations beyond the control of national governments, and human biomechanical augmentation is simultaneously rising in popularity across the world and being demonized for its role in changing humanity. Like the very best sci-fi, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is about ethics and consequences; this is a game that asks what it is to be human. The game presents both the rise of biotechnology as a means to advance human ability and the human experience, and the subsequent consequences on the world. Its layered narrative matches its deep multifaceted gameplay, set in a rich and atmospheric universe that feels not too far away from our own. Despite a slow start and occasional missteps (the much maligned boss fights were “fixed” for DLC), Eidos Montreal has created an engaging, compelling experience that does justice to the critically acclaimed Deus Ex series. Aston
94. Death Stranding
Hideo Kojima’s first game away from Konami, Death Stranding, finds him tearing down the familiar structure of the open-world game and building it back up again as something weirder, more deliberate, and more honest about what it is. It transforms basic traversal into the entire conceit rather than more or less a time sink between story missions and side activities. It peels away the artifice of open-world structure, revealing the dressed-up delivery missions underneath while declaring that they’re a worthwhile pursuit in their own right. And once you’ve totally internalized that idea, the tools the game provides become enthralling revelations: You eventually build sprawling highways and ziplines that propel you across arduous terrain. You’ve worked for them. You’ve earned them. Death Stranding is an admirable experiment for big-budget game design, playing like one long, bizarre, and startlingly persuasive argument that the journey is fulfilling in its own right. Scaife
93. Iconoclasts
While Iconoclasts’s bright and imaginative 2D pixelated graphics would look right at home on a 16-bit console of yore, its themes and ideas are very much that of the modern day. The game’s silent protagonist, Robin, is trapped in a fascistic society ruled by fundamentalist dogma, where her skills as a mechanic are outlawed, positioning her as a criminal and counterforce in a setting that opposes scientific advancement and free-thinking. Robin’s journey to escape execution and expose the truth of her society’s dominating political organization aligns her with other well-crafted characters who oppose the tyrannical theocracy both in ideology and ability, and it’s through its characters’ unique facilities that Iconoclasts demonstrates a kind of Ludonarrative harmony, as the gameplay and themes are in lockstep, crafting an experience that tackles important issues of faith, religion, and totalitarianism. Throughout, Iconoclasts’s varied gameplay mechanics directly serve the narrative. Consider Robin’s special tool, an illegal wrench, and how it not only symbolizes suppression of science and personal freedoms, but is used as a weapon against enemies and a means of controlling technology and traversing obstacles, often directly modifying and rearranging objects in the world. It also pushes Robin toward her ultimate goal of fixing the broken world for good. Aston
This prequel faced the unenviable task of taking a decades-old abstruse Japanese series and making it accessible for the masses. Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, important underworld figures later in the series, are introduced to us as a low-level recruit and disgraced outcast, respectively, from different organized crime syndicates. They’re pulled into a conspiracy after Kazuma is framed for murder and Goro rejects an assassination job after finding out that the target is a defenseless blind girl. Their captivating narratives come together in a larger plot brimming with sociopolitical intrigue about property development and clan territory. Think of Yakuza 0 as noir through the lens of ‘80s Japan. Its gameplay simplifies the series’s complicated mechanics without limiting the player or compromising the variety in the details. One can take part in any manner of activities throughout the Tokyo and Osaka settings while progressing through the campaign, allowing the game to prove itself both as a compelling prequel to an ongoing series and as its own self-contained story. Aston
91. Dishonored
Arkane Studios’s Dishonored combines elements of other immersive sims, like BioShock and Thief, to create a mechanically enjoyable first-person stealth game that challenges your awareness and resourcefulness. While its narrative about betrayal and revenge is familiar, the game is enticing for the autonomy it offers players. Dishonored is very much a gamer’s game: It hands you a target—kill High Overseer Campbell, for example—before then turning you lose, giving you the freedom of the world and Corvo’s powers to deal with your target however you see fit. Though the end of every mission may resort to a binary lethal/non-lethal choice, the ways you can approach any mission are bountiful, making each run different enough to warrant multiple playthroughs. Jeremy Winslow
Living in America as a kid with brown skin has never been harder, or more frightening, and the game is a harsh primer in that fact.
Photo: Square Enix
Just as it looms heavy over every other aspect of America in real life, the 2016 election wreaks havoc in Life Is Strange 2. When we meet this sequel’s protagonist, a Latinx high schooler named Sean Diaz, it’s late 2015. The first presidential debates have already happened and those blowing up his social media feed and text messages are angry and fearful. Trump’s threats to everybody who looks like him and his nine-year-old brother, Daniel, feel like an approaching storm. Ten minutes into the game, that anger and fear is palpable.
But the storm hits Sean a lot earlier than the rest of us. An altercation with the school bully living next door turns violent, the cops are called, and when Sean’s father tries to calm the situation down, he’s shot when he doesn’t get on the ground fast enough. Naturally, you can guess where this could be going from here. But this is the world of Life Is Strange, and the cycle of grief turning to anger turning to acquittals turning to fury turning to resignation is stopped dead when Daniel starts to manifest a particularly powerful, albeit unfocused, form of telekinesis which saves him and Sean from a jail cell, but at the expense of a few dead cops.
The realities of classism were mostly color and texture to the first Life Is Strange’s central missing-girl mystery, but they’re the bold-faced text of the sequel. Sean and Daniel leave their hometown of Seattle to go on the run after the incident—rather pointedly, the plan is to cross the border wall into Mexico—and it’s all the more frightening and distressing that they’re two Latinx kids now at the mercy of America at its best and worst. For every woke travel-blogging road-tripper willing to give these kids new bags and a hotel room for the night, for every aging yuppie trying their damndest to make up for their conservative, authoritarian past by helping the brothers keep tabs on the nearby police presence, there are legions of townsfolk with nothing to give these kids except for the side-eye. It’s as if Sean and Daniel’s mere existence has an ulterior motive. And Life Is Strange 2 doesn’t relent on portraying how suffocating such a life can be. You’re never not fully aware of who might be looking, who’s asking questions, who’s tensed up just by these brown kids walking into a white space, and if that sounds more like a horror game than a languid, delicate, sun-bathed point-and-click adventure, imagine living it in a world where there are no super powers to get you out of such a situation.
The living is the key here. It almost feels like a bit of a cop-out, pun unintended, when the game goes for tense Stranger Things-style action set pieces involving the police and the F.B.I. or America First xenophobes, because the situation is tense enough in the disquieting scenes of Sean and Daniel simply attempting to live in America without any of its social safety nets. Much of the gameplay, just as in the first Life Is Strange, is spent in dialogue trees. At any given moment, the brothers are trying to hide Daniel’s powers and their status as fugitives, or just plain hiding. This sequel is still a bit more kinetic and proactive than this style of adventure title typically is, but the puzzle-solving smartly takes a backseat to the building and maintaining of relationships. Creating a bond with anyone in the game while in a pressure-cooker situation is a risk, and the payoff isn’t always worth it, especially because of what it could teach young Daniel, who’s also affected by Sean’s choices, and whose morality can shift fluidly during gameplay. He could become this universe’s Eleven, or he could become its Tetsuo, and it all hinges on what he sees and hears from his big brother at any time.
That bond is the most crucial one in Life Is Strange 2, and ultimately the most powerful thing about the game. This is, above all things, a story of brotherhood, and it’s just as emotionally honest about two kids at different pivotal stages of their lives making the decisions that will define them as men as it is about the reality of living in America as an “other.” The choices aren’t limited to some clearly-defined “good” option in the dialogue tree either, with many of the things that shape Sean and Daniel’s relationship coming down to a simple choice between scolding Daniel, deciding to tuck the kid in bed as opposed to hanging out with new friends, or teaching him what faith and forgiveness and grace actually mean.
Yes, the bigger choices in Life Is Strange 2—whether to lie to Daniel about what happened to their father, whether to tell the kid to kill a wild animal threatening them at their hideout, whether to plow through a police barricade—make the expected huge shifts in the narrative, but it’s the cumulative choices that are most impressive. In the middle episode, “Wastelands,” Daniel will choose to help a new friend carry out a major crime whether you think it’s a good idea or not. And how that mistake plays out when it goes wrong is dependent on every way that Sean has previously interacted with Daniel—whether he’s shown Daniel that mercy is a virtue, that Sean’s word is his bond when he promises never to lie to him, and whether he’s shown Daniel that he trusts his judgment. Neither Sean nor Daniel have all the answers, but what few answers Sean does provide his brother significantly matter.
It’s still a long, excruciating march toward the Mexican border, but what keeps Sean and Daniel going—and the player by proxy—are the grace notes of interpersonal kindness, those moments where the two brothers stop to appreciate the beauty of the country they’ll probably never get to see again, and the warmth of the places they call home along the way, temporary though they may be. Living in America as a kid with brown skin has never been harder, or more frightening, and Life Is Strange 2 is a harsh primer in that fact. Nevertheless, there’s light and beauty in this journey, as this is a game that values the boundless hope of the two young men at its center, and without invalidating America’s darkness.
The game was reviewed using a review code provided by Square Enix.
Developer: DONTNOD Entertainment Publisher: Square Enix Platform: PlayStation 4 Release Date: December 4, 2019 ESRB: M ESRB Descriptions: Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol, Violence Buy: Game
Wattam communicates a poignant, refreshing, and all-too-necessary joy in the face of adversity.
Photo: Annapurna Interactive
One of the characters you play in Wattam is the Mayor, a green cube with a little mustache. He wears a black bowler hat, and beneath it is some kind of regenerating bomb that sends him and anyone in his vicinity rocketing through the air with colored smoke trailing behind them. But this bomb isn’t a malicious weapon, as it acts as a sort of activity that the Wattam world’s denizens, an assortment of inanimate objects with faces and limbs, all crave, begging the Mayor to “kaboom” them into the air. Sometimes, after a particularly twisty kaboom, they’ll vomit little rainbows into the grass.
If everything I’ve described thus far sounds hopelessly weird and discombobulated, it gets even more so. But it also makes some measure of sense within the colorful, anarchic, kindergarten-evoking aesthetic of Keita Takahashi, who’s best known for creating the equally peculiar Katamari series. Wattam, though, is more free-form than those games, functioning like a playground for the various objects that the Mayor befriends through activities like kaboom-ing, climbing on top of characters to form a big precarious stack, or locking hands so their individual soundtrack themes layer on top of one another.
There’s almost a method to Wattam’s dream-logic madness, as the world has ended, and everything in it has been scattered to the void. The Mayor starts out alone on a grassy expanse, and across the game’s few hours you’ll rediscover that which was lost in a mysterious apocalypse. Sometimes the characters, like a tiny stone, simply appear as though they were there all along, but mainly groups of characters arrive through holes in the sky while riding on the backs of giant floating tables, chairs, and other things that latch onto the environment with their massive hands. A big table, for example, will drop off some sentient utensils, while a large toilet might arrive carrying another, smaller toilet. Everything is greeted with a “welcome back” message, in a little pop-up window for smaller objects (“Welcome back, fork”) and in huge, screen-filling font for big, flying transport entities (“Welcome back, table”).
With its themes of cooperation and putting the world back together, the game oddly treads similar thematic territory to Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, while its sprawling portrait of a universe at multiple sizes recalls David OReilly’s Everything. But as with Katamari, Takahashi’s gentle and simplistic style approaches these ideas in ways that are at once pleasantly straightforward and hilariously unexpected, providing missions that require you to harness the surprising abilities of the growing horde of people-objects who all have individual, mundane names like Charlie and Eric. Completing these missions prompts the arrival of more characters, who are attracted by the presence of the friends you’ve helped.
The missions divide Wattam into essentially a series of comedic vignettes, an assembly line of wildly differing abilities up through the end of the game. Though you’re free to, say, turn on the fan that blows away characters at any time after it’s introduced, many of the abilities are used once or twice before something new appears and the lovely, offbeat soundtrack changes according to the task. The whole experience is wildly unpredictable, with the occasional bits of repetition lulling you into a false sense that you’ve seen all of what Wattam has to offer. Every time the game seems close to running out of creative steam, it adds some ridiculous new wrinkle seemingly for the hell of it, like a bizarre cooperative boss battle or the disembodied mouth that transforms everything into sentient cartoon poop.
Though a lot of the comedy here is born out of how totally inscrutable the game is, with objects arriving according to no apparent hierarchy whatsoever (a camera, for one, might appear before an ice cream cone does), the themes of Wattam come through clearly. The game muses about how sad it is that we need some kind of catastrophe to appreciate what’s in front of us, asking the player to revel in the small pleasures of things that seem, at first, totally insignificant. Through deceptively simple mechanics, music, and art, Wattam communicates a poignant, refreshing, and all-too-necessary joy in the face of adversity.
Developer: Funomena Publisher: Annapurna Interactive Platform: PlayStation 4 Release Date: December 17, 2019 ESRB: E10+ ESRB Descriptions: Crude Humor, Mild Cartoon Violence Buy: Game
The 25 Best Video Games of 2019
In 2019, the best games took the industry’s standard operating procedure and punted it out the window.
Photo: Hempuli
Although it was released in the doldrums of March, one title on our list of the 25 Best Games of 2019 could serve as the anarchic manifesto of the entire year in gaming. The brainchild of Finnish indie developer Arvi Teikarti, a.k.a. Hempuli, Baba Is You is, ostensibly, a very simple pixel-art puzzle platformer. But it’s also one that doesn’t give players the rules to beat it, telling them that every single one of those rules aren’t just made to be broken, but must be broken in order to persevere.
The spirit of 2019 in gaming was one of disruption, one that took the industry’s standard operating procedure and punted it out the window. Logic says that only a certain level of production can make the games people love, that only by following the rules of what sells can a game find an audience, that only one company can own the ideas behind an IP, and that only by squeezing players dry through additional purchases can a game be made that people will keep coming back to. But that logic was always faulty, and this year, it failed.
This was a year where the best Castlevania game in a decade didn’t have Konami’s name on it, where Bethesda had nothing to do with the best Fallout title to come out in twice as many years, and where the best Star Wars game does the exact opposite of everything its publisher had been doing with the license for five years. And that’s just what was happening in the AAA arena. Indeed, those who ventured into the realm of indie games glimpsed developers taking wild, bold leaps of faith, subverting every genre imaginable, and doing so with great success. This was a year where the fearless side of the industry showed itself, and these 25 games are the greatest victors, the ones that dared the most, and won big. Justin Clark
25. Slay the Spire
Slay the Spire’s deck-building mechanic guarantees that every run will be an entirely new experience. You’re bound not only by the types of cards you gain in each run, but the literal luck of the draw in which you pull them in combat. As a result, even the simplest encounter is bespoke, and every decision is a finely tuned risk-reward gamble. The spire’s branching paths lead to events with their own branching decisions, the results of which determine whether you can, say, afford the merchant or if you can forgo a healing snooze in order to upgrade a card. Slay the Spire, the brainchild of Mega Crit Games, guarantees nothing other than your character’s starting set of attack and defense cards (and perhaps a modicum of fun), so each new run forces you to be maximally clever in wringing bloody synergies out of otherwise rocky randomness. But as brutal as Slay the Spire may be, these runs ultimately come down to smart luck. The game gleefully telegraphs what each foe is going to do in combat, so if you die, it’s because you haven’t prepared enough. Shuffle up and deal with it, because there’s always another—and another, and another—try. Aaron Riccio
24. Sunless Skies
Sunless Sea, from 2015, had players chart a vast and perilous ocean into which London fell. That game’s follow-up, Sunless Skies, delivers yet another intimidating journey into the unknown, only this time with the player slowly combing an airspace littered by the remains of destroyed ships. The sounds of this game vivify the “Britain of the heavens” setting, with the hissing of steam, the ever-creaking machinery, and the distant noise of cannons serving as constant reminders of a dangerous and overindustrialized world. As in Sunless Sea, greed and a thirst for exploration function as a double-edged sword, leading players to the darkest corners of the map or simply death. Developer Failbetter Games has proven itself again a skilled purveyor of Lovecraftian suspense, where our curiosities get the better of us in gradual fashion, as underlined by blunt and wry writing that’s deliciously typical of a traditional British mindset. Jed Pressgrove
23. Void Bastards
A transport spaceship bearing an assortment of freeze-dried prisoners is stranded in a nasty nebula. There, pirates roam, monsters devour ships, and all the unfortunate citizens have been bizarrely mutated into murderous, foul-mouthed horrors. Once rehydrated, prisoners are shooed out into this unforgiving corner of space to scavenge derelict ships for parts until their probable death, after which the next unfortunate soul indicted for a comedically pedantic crime continues the work. And so on. The gears of capitalism turn even in these ruins of bureaucratic failure. As setups go, it’s a cheeky, immaculate framing device for a roguelike, and the amount of forethought that Void Bastards affords you is rare for this genre of game. It imbues the experience with a greater sense of consequence since you’re not at the mercy of randomization so much as your ability to plan and execute, as well as knowing when to retreat or when to avoid a ship entirely. An ideal run of Void Bastards is about planning, going on a run, and then having your plans upended by any of the different variables at work, requiring you to quickly adapt while coming up with a new plan. Steven Scaife
22. Untitled Goose Game
There’s an old Steve Martin quote about how comedy can be art, but anyone who deliberately sets out to make art through comedy has already failed. To that same point, developers House House didn’t set out to make a game with near-universal appeal with Untitled Goose Game—famously, the premise alone was a private joke shared on a Slack channel at work—but they stumbled upon it nonetheless. Untitled Goose Game is one of those rare experiences where it’s hilarious just existing in the world of the game, and in no small part for the way it plays it 100% straight, aside from a playful context-sensitive piano underscoring the player’s chaos. Just giving players the ability to waddle around a neighborhood and honk in people’s faces could’ve been the game by itself, but instead, it’s all about finding new, innovative ways to pull of various annoyance crimes within very basic but innately understood mechanics, and the payoff is almost always worth the effort. This is a game about true banal evil. So many so-called mature artists have attempted to edgelord their way into relevancy and found only a niche audience waiting for them, while House House’s Goose has managed to become the purest agent of chaos of our time, and managed to win the hearts and minds of the world. Clark
21. The Outer Worlds
Obsidian doesn’t stray too far from their roots with The Outer Worlds, an open-world first-person RPG reminiscent of Fallout: New Vegas. The socio-political commentary isn’t subtle, as the player character awakens from cryosleep to a futuristic world on the edge of the galaxy run by megacorporations that own workers as property and will happily let colonies of people die if it benefits their bottom line. But The Outer Worlds deviates from the modern Fallout formula by including a Normandy-style ship that allows you to travel to different planets instead of just one large open area, with a crew who can be taken on missions. Helping the rebellious mercenary Ellie recover from a disastrous attempt to reunite with her disapproving upper-class parents lets the player embrace their humanity by offering her support—or take to darker instincts and just gleefully murder the elitist pricks. As for helping shy mechanic Pavarti, an asexual queer woman of a color, prepare for a date she’s nervous about, the whole enterprise is delightful in no small part for how it taps into our sense of belonging. The Outer Worlds might take players to far-away planets to fight battles that reshape societies, but it’s heart ultimately lies in its more interpersonal moments. Ryan Aston
Review: Mosaic Gets the Feel of Monotony, for Better and for Worse
Did you know that corporations are bad? That the drudgeries of adult life are soul-crushing?
Photo: Raw Fury
Did you know that corporations are bad? That the drudgeries of adult life are soul-crushing? That doing the same thing at work with little variation can make you feel like a cog in a machine, and that there’s nothing you can do about it because the numbing routine of work and sleep is simply what you must do to survive? If you’ve somehow made it this far in life without learning such basic truths—and without having seen them literalized as some sort of gray corporate haze in a commercial for toothpaste or erectile dysfunction pills or something—Mosaic may prove enlightening. For everyone else, though, the aesthetics of this brief game from Krillbite Studios will seem mighty familiar.
You play here as an anonymous corporate worker whose apartment, clothes, and every existence have a sort of drab, DMV-esque color palette. You drag him around the screen and click on things to complete basic tasks like brushing his teeth, grabbing an umbrella before heading out the door, or pulling out his smartphone so he can stare at in an elevator. Much of Mosaic consists of intermittent snapshots of his work commute, where there’s a sense that something is wrong with the all-consuming corporate career and a passive society. Everyone seems to be fueling some mysterious machine here. At work, he sits at a computer clicking around some obscure, infernal contraption until he wakes up the next morning to begin again.
Bright colors mark the things outside this malaise: a butterfly, a bit of grass, a street performer, a goldfish that speaks and tags along in the breast pocket of the rumpled shirt draped over your bloated, TV dinner-fed body. The monotony, see, causes the protagonist’s mind to wander. He’ll imagine himself perpetually drowning, shrunken down to be crushed by the shoes of his co-workers, and fed into a machine to be squashed into a cube. With a striking low-detail look and fixed camera angles that create a backdrop of vast societal routine, where people on escalators crisscross in the background like spiderwebs, Mosaic’s imagery is often evocative. But it’s too often in service of such ludicrously trite material.
To some degree, what the game gets right is the feel of monotony. It presents the same apartment day after day, intentionally filled with the same tasks to perform. Eventually, perhaps, you just stop doing them. There’s no reason to tidy your hair when there’s no one around to impress, no reason to check the mail because the only people who care about you are the companies sending “overdue” notices, and no reason to even turn on the lights because you can see what you need to see just fine in the dark. So you stop, acclimating to a routine and streamlining wherever possible. It’s even a little sad.
Mosaic was originally released as an Apple Arcade game, and it feels strange outside that context, where it would otherwise be a functional, fleeting experience among so many others, a small diversion. The game seems tailor-made for that environment, not just because the PC controls are a little clumsy, but because its sleek aesthetics and simulation of banal, interconnected smartphone activities—a vapid clicker game, a Bitcoin-esque tracker, a heteronormative dating app where everyone looks the same—seem to directly critique the overpowering Apple ecosystem. But to consider Mosaic’s original context only makes it seem more toothless, as the game is a pretty, polite, and ultimately limp act of protest you can conveniently prod at between bouts of scrolling through social media feeds.
The game was reviewed using a review code provided by Raw Fury.
Developer: Krillbite Studios Publisher: Raw Fury Platform: PC Release Date: December 5, 2019 ESRB: T ESRB Descriptions: Blood, violence Buy: Game
Review: Shenmue 3 Brings Philosophical Depth to Video Game Action
The game fulfills a vision of steadfast humanity within the framework of a martial arts revenge tale.
Photo: Deep Silver
Today’s most popular video games don’t lack for comprehensive in-game instructions, waypoint-ridden maps, and streamlined actions, all of which can make players feel at ease and in control. Ignoring such conventions, Shenmue 3 often avoids explicit detail about its functions—one amusing line of combat tutorial text simply reads, “Just hit the [face] buttons”—and encourages the player to talk to individuals to get directions. This stripped-down approach recalls, to some extent, the way video games used to be made in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the time period when the first two Shenmue entries graced the Sega Dreamcast. But it’s also representative of the artistic conviction of series creator Yu Suzuki, who uses deliberate pacing, down-to-earth character interactions, and mundane activities to fulfill a vision of steadfast humanity within the framework of a martial arts revenge tale.
Shenmue 3, which went through well more than a decade of planning and development, picks up where Shenmue 2 left off, with Ryo Hazuki, a young Japanese man hunting his father’s killer, joining forces with a Chinese woman named Shenhua Ling, whose own father is missing. In a departure from its predecessors, a large part of the game takes place in a rural area, specifically a Chinese village called Bailu. It’s there that Ryo and Shenhua learn how their fates are intertwined as they track down criminals responsible for attacks on the village.
It’s a straightforward setup, but it’s one that’s enriched by Suzuki’s unhurried style. As Ryo, the player very gradually visits every part of Bailu. A new section can only be accessed when the plot calls for it. In other games, this type of restraint on freedom of movement can be frustrating, but Suzuki’s laser-like focus on characterization and theme make the slow journey beautiful to undertake. Every aspect of the village is distinguished, from the settlement near a grove of sunflowers to the marketplace, and full of the most compellingly human-like NPCs since The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The villagers vary significantly by age, appearance, and personality, and the most notable include Mao Yuefang, a middle-aged woman who can be generally helpful but makes inappropriate suggestions about and to Ryo and Shenhua; Jiang Ming, an old man who sits on a bench and comically misinterprets what Ryo says; and Shen Wei, a driven young woman who pours out thanks to anyone who will spar with her.
Like prior entries in the series, as well as the open-world games they’ve inspired, Shenmue 3 utilizes a day-night cycle. But whereas some developers seem to include this feature in their games just to fit under a particular umbrella of realism, Suzuki also sees the passage of time as the key ingredient for deeper relationships. Every night before Ryo sleeps, the player may initiate revealing conversations with Shenhua. The two can trade histories, remarking about the disciplinary styles of their fathers, their different childhood games, and the absence of their mothers. A flute melody, both wistful and utterly sincere, accompanies these talks, reflecting the scenes’ (and Suzuki’s) emotional maturity and unassuming B-movie sensibility.
Thematically, Shenmue 3 is fixated on the significance of patience and dignity, both in its mechanics and its story. Fighting as Ryo isn’t easy and can be quite awkward, so the game nudges the player to keep going to the dojo to build strength and technique through stances, timed attacks, and sparring. There’s a marked sense that Ryo feels shame when he loses a battle, as the people around him, including his opponents, will bluntly suggest he needs more discipline. In a rejection of popular video-game norms, Shenmue 3 doesn’t allow Ryo to barge into homes with closed front doors. It’s telling that Ryo refuses to even walk into Shenhua’s open room, and the game’s emphasis on respect is so great that when Ryo, in a moment of frustration, uses the mild profanity “hell,” you may find the moment genuinely surprising.
Just as Ryo is rewarded in the story for applying himself, your commitment to Shenmue 3’s mechanics over a period of time can bring greater appreciation for their design, as well as the philosophical relevance of those mechanics to the game’s narrative. In an understated masterstroke that prevents you from rushing through the game, Suzuki combines the protagonist’s health and stamina into one bar that can be refilled if Ryo eats. But food requires money, which means Ryo has to take work to get cash. One might sneer at the idea of having to split wood to subsist, but Suzuki turns the activity into its own spectacle of timing and judgment, with an upward-facing camera on the ground to emphasize Ryo’s crushing swings of the axe. An ode to the idea of careful diligence, this mini-game demands one to closely observe Ryo’s eyes so that the wood can be perfectly halved.
Anything Ryo does in Shenmue 3 entails hardship of a sort. In most 3D games of this vein, items can be grabbed with a quick touch of a button. In Shenmue 3, picking a plant requires a conscious change to first-person perspective before Ryo can be commanded to gather the resource. Clunky, perhaps, but in Suzuki’s hands, this layered action more effectively simulates the minor toil of having to bend down in real life in order to pick something up, further amplifying our perception of Ryo as a human being. Like the monks who urge Ryo to take his time developing his talents as a martial artist, Shenmue 3 asks a modern audience accustomed to instant gratification to contemplate the virtues of humbleness and persistence, regardless of whether Ryo’s task at hand is crucial or incidental to his ultimate quest for justice.
The game was reviewed using a review code provided by Tinsley PR.
Developer: Ys Net Publisher: Deep Silver Platform: PlayStation 4 Release Date: November 19, 2019 ESRB: T ESRB Descriptions: Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
Review: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Successfully Channels Dark Souls
Fallen Order is powerful in ways that Star Wars hasn’t been in video game form in over a decade.
Photo: Electronic Arts
Just by virtue of being a single-player game, with no multiplayer, no online component, no microtransactions, and no planned DLC, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order feels like a relic from a more civilized age. The game hearkens back to the weird old days when former publisher LucasArts would just throw wild game concepts to the wall to see what sticks, often ending up with “It’s [blank] but with Star Wars” mash-ups of wildly varying quality.
In this case, the reductive elevator pitch is “Dark Souls but Star Wars.” And like most blatant Souls-likes, it’s fairly successful at aping the mechanics of FromSoftware’s titles. Death has consequences, and unless you can land a single strike against the enemy that kills you, your experience points are gone forever. Combat requires patience, and players must be smarter about how and when to strike at all times. Yet none of that is a surprise here. The surprise is that the game is often able to match up tonally with FromSoftware’s strongest efforts.
On the surface, Fallen Order is a glorified MacGuffin chase. The game takes place a few years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and our hero, Cal Kestis (Gotham and Shameless’s Cameron Monaghan) is a former Padawan who managed to escape the Empire during the Jedi Purge, cut off his connection to the Force, and now makes a quiet living stripping downed spaceships for parts. When Cal pops back on the Empire’s radar after using his powers to save a friend during a site accident, he’s picked up by Cere Junda (Debra Wilson), a former Jedi Master who’s also suppressed her connection to the Force for much more dire reasons, and Greez, an ornery pilot mostly looking to avoid some serious gambling debts by staying on the run. Cere tells Cal her plan to rebuild the Jedi Order with the help of an old artifact, called a holocron, which can locate Force-sensitive children across the galaxy.
It’s a relatively straightforward experience early on, with Cal slowly regaining basic Force proficiency, sneaking his way into grandiose temples across beautifully rendered, Empire-occupied alien planetscapes using feats of acrobatics, and solving large-scale physics puzzles akin to those in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series. There’s more platforming involved, and developer Respawn’s endless, albeit welcome, obsession with wall-running has managed to wedge its way in here, but this is a game that has far more in common with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice than Titanfall. Landing blows requires a deliberate balance of parrying, relentless attacks at every opening, and careful utilizing the limited pool of Force powers.
That’s all rather tense and exciting when you’re fighting people and droids, less so against the various creatures of each planet, who excel at cheap hits and tend to attack in numbers. For much of its first third, it seems that Fallen Order might fall into an appreciable but basic rut of plotting and gameplay, and it’s right around that moment that the game narratively lowers the boom. The search for the holocron is, in fact, the weakest element in a much more intimate and melancholic tale of loss, and all the varying traumas that stem from it.
The Jedi Purge, which officially began with Order 66, has always been, essentially, the Star Wars universe’s thinly veiled Kristallnacht allegory, but no other piece of work in the franchise, not even the grim Revenge of the Sith, has ever delved as intensely as Fallen Order does into what living through such a thing does to a person. Exemplified by an outright bravado sequence where a frightened Cal and his Jedi master must escape execution when Order 66 is called in, it’s made obvious that all of Cal’s early swagger and Cere’s stiff-upper-lip determination reveal themselves to be Band-Aids over still-bleeding emotional wounds.
Survivor’s guilt plays a major factor in how this story plays out over time, with the plot holes inherent to the search for the holocron being addressed as both characters over-rely on the Force for protection, and have no choice but to confront their memories, their failures, and the consequences of their actions. The main villains—all former Jedi turned Sith Inquisitors through torture and intimidation—represent a true Dark Side, the anger and guilt turned outward. No one still alive to witness the Empire’s rise to power is drawn without a level of emotional damage, and it’s fascinating to watch that aspect of the narrative live side by side with gameplay that asks players to wield their power so carefully going forward.
All of those character elements are, however, dissonant with gameplay that does still rely on rewarding the death of one’s enemies. And unlike Dark Souls or Bloodborne, the world of this game doesn’t necessarily stand in judgment of the protagonists for their failures in that regard. But there’s still immense emotional gratification in watching each character rise above their failures, to come together with other broken people, to heal properly, to face the varied atrocities of the world and find a chosen family at the end of it all.
Fallen Order tries to have its cake and eat it too, giving players the power trip of the best lightsaber combat of this generation of games, while still delivering a deeply introspective journey of forgiveness and recovery along the way, and the twain don’t always meet. Still, that the game is even attempting to thematically go where it does is nigh commendable, and powerful in ways that Star Wars hasn’t been in video game form in over a decade.
The game was reviewed using a review code provided by fortyseven communications.
Developer: Respawn Entertainment Publisher: Electronic Arts Platform: Xbox One Release Date: November 15, 2019 ESRB: T ESRB Descriptions: Mild Language, Violence Buy: Game
Review: Death Stranding Is a Surreal Elegy to the Work that Binds a Broken America
The most powerful statement the game winds up making is that work is worthwhile, even at the bitter end.
Photo: Sony Interactive Entertainment
“What does America mean to you?” It’s a question that comes somewhat late into Death Stranding, which spends its opening hours repeating that America is a fine place and worth fighting for. In context, it’s a question that emanates from a rather odd place, spoken as it is by a character, Fragile, who’s voiced by Léa Seydoux with her distinctive French lilt. And it’s asked of a man, Sam (Norman Reedus), who’s worshipped in much of the quote-unquote “real” America for his role in its most popular and unsubtly xenophobic television show on basic cable. Finally, it’s being asked in a game spearheaded by Hideo Kojima, that preeminent auteur game designer who will always come at such queries as an outsider. It’s a small, strange, and dissonant moment that would be off-putting and too on the nose if Death Stranding wasn’t a game that revels in strangeness and dissonance like absolutely nothing else in recent memory.
For this writer’s part, as a black man living in the America of the present, of all the complex thoughts I have about my country—good, bad, and indifferent—there’s one obvious and urgent image that instantly came to mind while playing Death Stranding: the moment, precisely three years before the day I loaded up the game, that Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States. It isn’t all the nauseating factors, psychosocial and otherwise, that played into the country’s decision that most sticks in my mind. It’s not even my wife’s midnight anxiety attack at the idea of what was to come. It’s the map, specifically CNN’s map of election results by district. It’s about how every major metropolitan area showed up as a deep vein of blue pockmarking a vast, sparse, but undeniable ocean of red. Especially for a black man raised in urban areas, whose blood pressure rises when he’s the only brown face in a room, let alone a town or state, that map was a manifestation of my deepest racial fears. When Fragile asks what America means, my recollection felt inevitable.
It’s with all that in mind that Death Stranding’s version of that map—all in futuristic, neon blue, dotted by white sparkles representing the last remnants of America—is the most frightening thing in the game. But the connective tissue of Death Stranding’s America was devastated by something much more bloodcurdling and coldly efficient than Trump. A dimensional cataclysm—the eponymous Death Stranding—has collided the land of the dead with the land of the living, demolishing the very physics of the world we know. The soil is rotten, the ground has gone black, the sun no longer provides warmth, and the rain ages and kills anything it touches.
Most chilling of all, the dead no longer move on, but become desperate, clawing ghouls whose attempts to reclaim their own flesh can cause atomic explosions called voidouts. Peoples’ main line of defense against them comes from stillborn and premature babies kept alive in pods only because they get fussy when an attack is imminent. Those people who remain alive have huddled into underground cities called Knots, with a few stray doomsday preppers and weird loners still trying to make it out there in the wasteland all on their own, across an American landscape that more closely resembles the alien marshes in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus than amber waves of grain. And it’s all brought to life with a photorealism unparalleled in the medium of games.
Death Stranding represents a rather powerful and unique display of apocalyptic world-building. And yet it’s hard not to get the vague sense of it as a convenient excuse for Kojima to not have to truly build or recognize an America resembling what it currently is, at least not in the way that a game like The Last of Us uses American iconography as its backdrop. But then, unlike most stories of its sort, Death Stranding isn’t really interested in the shorthand verisimilitude of America Without People than the damaged soul beneath. The cursed Earth between cities is truly cursed in this game, and Kojima and his band of developers have evoked rural America as a very real visual nightmare. This is a half-crazed tone poem about an isolated and hostile nation, clinging to concepts of what life means that should no longer matter in the wake of disaster.
To wit, it’s an appropriate, yet still bewildering, choice in the current gaming landscape that Death Stranding is, with all the subtextual flesh boiled off, a postal-service hiking simulator. You play as Sam, a taciturn delivery man, or porter, whose job it is to brave the wasteland on foot, carting supplies, communications, and creature comforts to and from cities and settlements. This is no Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture or Gone Home, though, and as breathtakingly detailed as everything in this game is, that detail is actively the enemy when it comes to the core gameplay. This is a game of constant, real-world concerns: How much can you carry while still being functional enough to walk miles across uneven, ragged terrain? How should you balance yourself? What supplies can you strap on? Will you be able to climb a steep cliff, or should you risk carrying a ladder?
All of those problems are just what players have to deal with in the best of conditions. When it’s less than ideal, the aforementioned rain problem can cause the packages you carry to rust and decay. The dead still float around waiting to take Sam under in chiral matter-heavy areas, and the game’s pedigree as the product of the Metal Gear Solid studio shows here in tense, effective little stretches where players must stealthily maneuver the territory of the dead, while overloaded with cargo, and avoiding the ghosts that scream for your flesh.
Death Stranding is built on complex systems designed to do the sort of simple things that are taken for granted in other games. Unlike something like Red Dead Redemption 2, however, those systems aren’t getting in the way of the action; they are the action. Death Stranding is less about creating a fun experience so much as a gratifying one, a meditative and repetitive proceeding where the satisfaction comes from finding ways to make the process more efficient. The game is never harder than in its first few hours, where Sam is essentially defenseless, and players have no idea how their next steps might affect their cargo.
The more Sam travels, the more he connects and opens up supply lines around the country, and the more comfortable the journey becomes. Scientists and engineers constantly work on ways to help Sam carry more, move faster, and defend himself against the dead. Death Stranding is also a game with a social contract. Taking it online allows players to build structures, leave helpful items, and pour collective resources into infrastructure allowing people to move safely and rapidly around the country. Even more than your average Civilization title, it’s easier here to notice and appreciate how many hands make for light work in America.
Still, if Sam being, essentially, a one-man FedEx wasn’t so deeply tied into the thematic structure of Death Stranding, the man who made his career on military stealth games making his magnum opus based around one-day delivery would feel like the ultimate troll, and it’s a known fact by now that Kojima isn’t above such a thing. But Death Stranding is also forcing players to truly think about the sheer logistical effort involved in a real-world task so commonplace and ubiquitous, something first-world people don’t do nearly often enough. Probably the closest Kojima truly gets to straight-up commentary is a tribe of NPCs made up of former postmen, put out of a job by automation, driven hostile and bitter as the human element of their jobs become suddenly relevant again and the government comes asking for their help. There are big deliveries that advance the story, of course: One city may need medicine and vaccines, while another may need experimental data about the dead things to maybe synthesize weapons. One of the biggest deliveries early on has you secretly delivering an extremely important corpse to an incinerator before it can cause a voidout.
It’s the smaller tasks that give Death Stranding its poignancy. The Stranding resets the hierarchy of needs for America in a hurry, and every delivery has a story—a history, a future, or an immediate deep-seated need. Sam’s journey brings him into contact with an America boiled down to its most basic desires, and they’re quite often heartbreakingly simplistic. It’s simultaneously depressing to posit that we’d need this enormous scale of loss to reach these moments of clarity, but there’s power in the simple human beauty of them.
But, of course, this is a Hideo Kojima game, as the credits are none too shy about reminding us. Dotted across Death Stranding’s every minute are the hallmarks of a director, writer, and designer who hasn’t met a wild urge he hasn’t moved heaven and Earth to indulge. This is, in execution, a game of dissociative identity, one that has a bleak, mournful, and spiritual allegory to tell, but also has a main character named Die-Hardman (Tommie Earl Jenkins) who wears a skull mask. Sam must drink branded Monster Energy to keep his stamina up. The entire story of Death Stranding is represented in his private room by a tiny diorama of army men. And every big-name director that Kojima admires has a role in the game. It’s absolutely corpulent with explanations, backstories, overlong cutscenes, and granular deep-dives into the science of it all. It’s hard not to stand in awe of the bravado involved in including all that ancillary material, but the game works perfectly fine without it.
As per usual, much of the optional reading material and winking references come across as endearingly nerdy, a sign of sheer passion and enthusiasm for these things than anything else. Much like Quentin Tarantino’s love of anachronistic film music and casting actors long past their heyday in major roles, Kojima has no interest in fully removing players from the mindset that Death Stranding is still a video game, despite couching its presentation in the entirety of cinema’s toolkit, including an impressive and singular collection of Hollywood faces from both sides of the camera in the cast. It’s a game that still includes space for fun and joy within that framework—there are several low-stakes tasks to take on, like delivering beer brewed by hops aged by the rain, and trips to meet comic-relief NPCs, among them Conan O’Brien’s otter cosplayer—and also like Tarantino, Kojima knows when it’s time to put away childish things to lampshade the mood.
But perhaps the most important question that ultimately matters here is what exactly does America mean to Kojima? Death Stranding has no interest in trying to replicate an American viewpoint on the end of America. His is inescapably a Japanese perspective on the matter, a point that becomes more and more blatant as the game’s true plot starts to resemble End of Evangelion more than a Cormac McCarthy novel. The America that Sam treks across is more of an abstract watercolor painting than a photograph, and throughout, Kojima draws on America’s fury. He has minor characters voice the idea that the government screwed it all up, that men need to provide for their families, the foreigners and the robots took our jobs, we lost it all because we lost Jesus, and so on and so forth. He draws on its infinite need for progress, that science is necessary, that marginalized populations matter, and may yet save us, as long as we empower everyone to succeed, without exception.
There are tiny, impactful allegories strewn all over the place in the game, particularly in a running plotline involving a former soldier, Cliff (Mads Mikkelsen), who’s forced to relive every American war in the afterlife. But Kojima’s interest in the minutiae of these things is small, something most egregious in his continued inability to write women outside of staid archetypes. But to his credit, the main female characters here are more nuanced and fascinating than usual for him—something no doubt hammered home by featuring massive talents like Lindsay Wagner, Léa Seydoux, and Margaret Qualley so prominently. But it’s still apparently difficult for Kojima to conceive of women having the same range of involvement in the fabric of America as men, and that weakness is more and more noticeable as the game starts to circle in on its ultimate thesis.
That thesis, as one might expect, is the idea that Americans have more that connects than divides them, which might ring alarm bells about the game possibly being a “both sides” narrative at the worst time in history for that mindset to be valid. But this isn’t a story willing to let everyone off that easily. Despite its problems, Death Stranding is ultimately a game about toil. (There’s a famous Scottish quote about working as if you live in the early days of a better nation that comes to mind here.) This is a game that values your work. It respects the people that each tiny sparkling dot on that cursed map represents, the need of those people to connect with others to survive, and the fact that that space between matters as well. It posits life as crucial and ultimately in service to other life, whether we want to be indebted to others or not. For all of Death Stranding’s surrealness, the most powerful statement it winds up making is that this work is worthwhile, even at the bitter end.
This game was reviewed using a retail PlayStation 4 copy purchased by the reviewer.
Developer: Kojima Productions Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Platform: PlayStation 4 Release Date: November 8, 2019 ESRB: M ESRB Descriptions: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language Buy: Game
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SLUCare Home » Newsroom » SLUCare Now Offers CoolSculpting
SLUCare Now Offers CoolSculpting
Pictured: Karen Gregory, CNS, delivers CoolSculpting treatment.
Body fat is a trait we all share, but some have a more fraught relationship with it than others. We need fat to insulate and protect our organs and tissues, but it can become a stubborn problem in certain areas of the body, and diet and exercise don’t always reduce it. SLUCare practitioners offer a procedure called CoolSculpting to combat unwanted fat from the chin to the knees, and they’re seeing positive results, says SLUCare advanced practice nurse Karen Gregory, CNS.
“CoolSculpting is not a weight loss procedure,” she explains. “It’s an FDA-cleared, noninvasive treatment that shapes areas of the body where unwanted fat hasn’t responded to diet and physical activity.” She says it works well in areas like the upper arm, abdomen, double chin, back, bra line, flanks, inner and outer thighs and knees. SLUCare performs the outpatient procedure at its University Tower offices in Richmond Heights, where physicians and advanced practice nurses customize treatment plans for each patient. The practice held an open house this month to introduce new patients to its services.
CoolSculpting involves the freezing of fat cells through a technique called cryolipolysis, which can reduce the number of fat cells in a treated area by 20 to 25 percent. Once the cells are frozen, the body’s lymphatic system clears them out over a few weeks following treatment, and optimal results usually are seen in two to three months.
There are many different tools to improve the look and shape of the body; the ‘holy grail’ is a procedure that is effective and painless. CoolSculpting fits that idea well.”
SLUCare plastic surgeon Dr. Christina Plikaitis
Gregory says the treatment doesn’t affect surrounding tissues; it only targets fat cells. “There is no downtime after the procedure, and no needles or incisions,” she says. “The patient feels a slight tugging when the CoolSculpting applicator contacts the body, but it’s not uncomfortable.” A vacuuming action gently pulls the skin and fat tissue into the applicator and cools it. Once the area has been treated, it is massaged to improve results even further, Gregory says. Some patients may experience minor numbness, redness, swelling or bruising afterward, but these side effects are temporary. “There are many different tools to improve the look and shape of the body; the ‘holy grail’ is a procedure that is effective and painless,” says SLUCare plastic surgeon Dr. Christina Plikaitis. “CoolSculpting fits that idea well. Some patients even relax and read while having it done.”
Gregory notes that the technology was developed in an interesting way. “Researchers in the 1970s realized that cold could have an effect on body fat,” she explains. “They noticed that kids who sucked on popsicles lost fat in their cheeks, and women who rode horseback in the winter saw a reduction in outer thigh fat.” Cold treatments to remove body fat began appearing in the 1990s; now, CoolSculpting features applicators of different sizes to fit each patient’s unique physique, Plikaitis says. “There are lots of different treatment patterns we can do,” she notes. “Each patient is evaluated by a plastic surgeon who can offer more than one way to achieve body shaping goals. CoolSculpting is one of the most effective tools we have, and we’re very excited about it.”
SLUCare Physician Group provides innovative plastic surgery and body shaping services at its University Tower office. For more information, call 314-977-6051 or visit slucare.edu/bodycontouring.
This article originally appeared in Town & Style.
By: Julia M. Johnson
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Home | Our People | Illinois | Anthony Curtis
Anthony Curtis
Office: 612-371-2176 Email: acurtis@slwip.com LinkedIn Vcard: Anthony-P-Curtis.vcf
Tony Curtis is a registered patent attorney at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner. His practice includes patent procurement, portfolio management and strategic counseling in a wide range of electrical, software, and mechanical technologies. Tony previously worked as senior counsel in patent operations and portfolio management in the communications field at Verizon and Motorola Solutions. He has worked on diverse technology, including various forms of short and long-range telecommunication devices, systems, and software (e.g., apps, internal and external network communications both network and IT), healthcare related software and devices, big data analysis and usage, internetrelated software including advertising, and business methods.
Tony received dual B.S. degrees in EE and Physics from MIT, MS’s in EE and Physics from Princeton and U of Illinois, respectively, a Ph.D. in EE from U of Illinois and a J.D. from Loyola Chicago. His Ph.D. focused on the determination of characteristics at native oxide-semiconductor interfaces for compound semiconductors using time resolved spectroscopy. In addition, Tony was honored as a recipient of the First Chair best in-house patent counsel and co-presented the ABA roundtable on patent exhaustion and strategies.
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Champaign, IL, Ph.D. Electrical Engineering
Princeton, NJ, M.S. Electrical Engineering
Champaign, IL, M.S. Physics
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In the Soup
Mr. Rosenberg: Alton Brown is messing with me. I know he's one of those snarky, know-it-all, smart ass kind of guys. How am I supposed to follow a recipe if he's doing his joking thing? The recipe says I should heat mirepoix and then 'sweat.' It's not even funny, even if it's accurate.
Me: 'Sweat' is an actual cooking term. When you 'sweat' an onion, you heat it until it starts to release moisture.
Mr. Rosenberg: If you say so. Okay, then what the heck are 'Grains of Paradise?'
Me: Yeah, I don't know about that. I'll Google it... looks like it's a type of peppercorn.
Mr. Rosenberg: Is it common?
Me: I've never heard of it.
Mr. Rosenberg: I knew he was messing with me.
Amanda Hill November 28, 2016 at 10:22 PM
Me and the kids sit around and listen to him berate us. "Stuffing is evil," he said before turkey day. "Don't you even think to open the oven." Miriam was like "DON'T OPEN THE OVEN." I told her it was just guidance and he wasn't Jesus. t don't know how or why we tolerate his abuse. Except that his advice is usually right and his incessant judgment reminds me of my mother, which is endearing and heartwarming somehow, like his tough cooking love is building us into better people.
Lisa Page Rosenberg November 29, 2016 at 9:07 PM
Ah hahaha! Perfect.
(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip, November 29, 2016 at 8:13 AM
I trust AB.
He has yet to steer me wrong.
He knows what he's doing. And what we should be doing too.
NOLA November 29, 2016 at 5:55 PM
If you find a source of grains of paradise, please let me know! My other favorite part of the world is the "Grain Coast" of West Africa, where those used to be a major commodity. (https://www.britannica.com/place/Grain-Coast). But despite years there, I've never actually had them. MOre MSG these days.
I've heard they have it at Whole Foods!
NOLA December 1, 2016 at 4:44 AM
Haven't ever seen them there when I've looked, but maybe someday my Grains will come!
Lisa Page Rosenberg December 1, 2016 at 9:16 PM
cheaplondonescorts.mobi August 1, 2017 at 5:11 AM
is it soup?
Smacksy Saturday Photo: Nice Day
Thanksgotten
Thanksgiving-ed
Thanksgiving Is My Favorite
You Are Getting Sleepy
Mr. Rosenberg of the future? Is that you?
Smacksy Saturday Photo: Retro Bob and Daisy
The Grandpas
A Night at the Opera
Introducing Den 16
Under the Super Moon
Smacksy Saturday Photo: Headed Into Playoffs
Thank a Veteran
We're Tired
Election-Free Zone
Smacksy Saturday Photo: Sin City
When You've Got Six Guys in the House
TMI? NBD.
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About Lindsay
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Disclosure of your information to third parties: only to the extent necessary to run our business, to our service providers, to fulfil any contracts we enter into with you, where required by law or to enforce our legal rights.
Do we sell your information to third parties (other than in the course of a business sale or purchase or similar event): No
How long we retain your information: for no longer than necessary, taking into account any legal obligations we have (e.g. to maintain records for tax purposes), any other legal basis we have for using your information (e.g. your consent, performance of a contract with you or our legitimate interests as a business). For specific retention periods in relation to certain information which we collect from you, please see the main section below entitled How long we retain your information.
How we secure your information: using appropriate technical and organisational measures such as [storing your information on secure servers,] [encrypting transfers of data to or from our servers using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology,] [encrypting payments you make on or via our website using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology,] only granting access to your information where necessary and routing DNS via Cloudflare.com, to take advantage of Cloudflare DDoS and Other Security Features, which can be seen at: https://www.cloudflare.com/products/security/.
Use of cookies: we use cookies and similar information-gathering technologies such as web beacons on our website including essential, functional, analytical and] targeting cookies. For more information, please visit our cookies policy here: [insert link to cookies policy]
Transfers of your information outside the European Economic Area: we will only transfer your information outside the European Economic Area if we are required to do so by law
Use of automated decision making and profiling: we use profiling in relation to your website e.g. use of web analytics, cookies, web beacons or server logs analysis tools (profiling) or use targeting cookies to display advertisements to your people who visit your website on other websites around the internet (e.g. using the Google AdSense network) (automated decision making).
not to have significant decisions made about you based solely on automated processing of your information, including profiling
Sensitive personal information: we do not knowingly or intentionally collect what is commonly referred to as ‘sensitive personal information’. Please do not submit sensitive personal information about you to us. For more information, please see the main section below entitled Sensitive Personal Information
The data controller in respect of our website is Take Puppy Steps of Trevithick Road, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 2JR . You can contact the data controller by writing to Trevithick Road, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 2JR or sending an email to [email protected]
Information we collect when you visit our website
We use a third party server to host our website Our third party email provider is located in (United Kingdom). Our website server automatically logs the IP address you use to access our website as well as other information about your visit such as; the pages accessed, information requested, the date and time of the request, the source of your access to our website (e.g. the website or URL (link) which referred you to our website), your browser version and operating system and device used, i.e. iPhone.
We and our third party hosting provider collect(s) and store(s) server logs to ensure network and IT security and so that the server and website remain uncompromised. This includes analysing log files to help identify and prevent unauthorised access to our network, the distribution of malicious code, denial of services attacks and other cyber-attacks, by detecting unusual or suspicious activity.
Unless we are investigating suspicious or potential criminal activity,] [We/we] do not make, nor do we allow our hosting provider to make, any attempt to identify you from the information collected via server logs
Legal basis for processing: our and [a third party’s] legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Legitimate interests: we [and our third party hosting provider] have a legitimate interest in using your information for the purposes of ensuring network and information security.
We use the information collected by our website server logs to analyse how our website users interact with our website and its features. For example, we analyse the number of visits and unique visitors we receive, the time and date of the visit, the location of the visit and the operating system and browser used and device used, i.e. iPhone.
Cookies are data files, which are sent from a website to a browser to record information about users for various purposes.
We use cookies and similar technologies on our website, including essential, functional, analytical and targeting cookies and web beacons. For further information on how we use cookies, please see our cookies policy, which is available here: www.takepuppysteps.co.uk/cookie-policy.html
You can reject some or all of the cookies we use on or via our website by changing your browser settings or [non-essential cookies] by using our cookie control tool, but doing so can impair your ability to use our website or some or all of its features. For further information about cookies, including how to change your browser settings, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org or see our cookies policy.
Information we collect when you contact us
We use a third party email provider to store emails you send us. Our third party email provider is located in United Kingdom
Emails you send us will be stored within the European Economic Area on our third party email provider’s servers in United Kingdom
When you contact us using our contact form, we collect name, email, company name, and phone. We also collect any other information you provide to us when you complete the contact for, including any optional information, such as: details relating to your enquiry.
If you do not supply the optional information required by our contact form, (such as phone number). we will not be able to respond to your enquiry by phone.
Messages you send us via our contact form will be stored within the European Economic Area on our third party email provider’s servers in United Kingdom
Information about your call, such as your phone number and the date and time of your call, is processed by our third party telephone service provider, which is located in United Kingdom. From time to time our telephone provide may transfer your personal information to its suppliers, service providers and other company offices based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) for the purposes described in their privacy policy. If they do this your personal information will continue to be subject to one or more appropriate safeguards set out in the law.
If our telephone provider does transfer information to our agents or advisers outside of the EEA, they will make sure that it is protected in the same way as if it was being used in the EEA. We’ll use one of these safeguards:
Transfer it to a non-EEA country with privacy laws that give the same protection as the EEA. Learn more on the European Commission Justice website.
They will put in place a contract with the recipient that means they must protect it to the same standards as the EEA. Read more about this here on the European Commission Justice website
Information we collect when you interact with our website
When you sign up for our e-newsletter on our website or opt to receive news, offers from us. by entering their name and email address and clicking subscribe or ticking a box at checkout indicating that they would like to receive your e-newsletter, we collect name and email address
Legal basis for processing: your consent (Article 6(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Consent: you give your consent to us sending you our e-newsletter by signing up to receive it using the steps described above.
We use a third party service to send out our e-newsletter and administer our mailing list, MailChimp. Their privacy policy is available here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
Information you submit to subscribe for our e-newsletter will be stored within and outside the European Economic Area on our third party mailing list provider’s servers in United States, and on our Third Party email Servers in United Kingdom
You need to state where your third party mailing list provider stores your subscribers’ information, and, in particular, whether it is stored inside or outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
Use of web beacons in emails
We use technologies such as [web beacons (small graphic files)] in the emails we send to allow us to assess the level of engagement our emails receive by measuring information such as the delivery rates, open rates and click through rates which our emails achieve.
For more information on how we use web beacons in our e-newsletter emails, see our cookies policy which is available here: www.takepuppysteps.co.uk/cookie-policy.html
For more information about our third party mailing list provider and they use web beacons, please see their privacy policy which is available here: www.takepuppysteps.co.uk/privacy-policy.html
When you register and create an account on our website, we collect the following information: name, email address, postal address, phone number, IP address and any other information you provide to us when you complete the registration form,
If you do not provide the mandatory information required by the registration form, you will not be able to register or create an account on our website.
Legal basis for processing: necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Reason why necessary to perform a contract: creating an account on our website is necessary to allow you to access the goods and services you have purchased from us
Legitimate interest: registering and administering accounts on our website to [insert purpose e.g. to provide access to content] [and facilitate the running and operation of our business.
Information you submit to us via the registration form on our website will be stored within the European Economic Area on our third party hosting provider’s servers in (United Kingdom).
Our use of automated decision-making and profiling
We use profiling on our website. We do not consider that this has any legal effect on you or similarly significantly affects you.
You have the right to object to our use of automated decision-making and profiling described in this section. You can do that by opting-out of cookies and similar technologies in accordance with the method described in the relevant section below. If you do not want us to process your actual IP address (usually the IP address assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider) when you visit our website, you can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or a free service such as Tor.
You can find out more about our use of cookies and similar technologies (including the legal basis on which we use them), and how to opt out from them in our cookies policy, which is available here: www.upshotmedia.co.uk/cookie-policy.html
Profiling is any form of automated processing of your information to evaluate personal aspects about you, in particular to analyse or predict things like your performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements.
Use of profiling for web analytics
Our web analytics service, Google Analytics uses collects information such as your location (based on your IP address) and your behaviour (based on cookies) when you access our website (such as the pages you visit and what you click on). We will only process information from cookies if you have consented to us setting cookies on your computer in accordance with our cookies policy (insert link to cookies policy). Information collected about you, once collected is anonymised and stored on an aggregate basis.
Logic involved: by automatically analysing and categorising information such as the location (based on IP address) as well as the behaviour and devices of visitors to our website (using cookies), we are able to gain a better understanding of what our website visitors want (in terms of the content of our website and our products), how to improve our website and how to advertise and market our services to them.
Significance and envisaged consequences: cookies will be used to track and store information about your behaviour and device on our website (unless you have opted out from receiving such cookies by using our cookie control tool) and your location will be analysed based on your IP address. We may target advertisements based on the level of interest we receive from certain visitors and their behaviour on our website.
Legitimate interest: we have a legitimate interest in getting to know our website visitors’ preferences and improving our website’s effectiveness.
Our web analytics service, Google Analytics uses collects information such as your location (based on your IP address) and your behaviour (based on cookies) when you access our website (such as the pages you visit and what you click on) [and] [insert any other behaviours which are analysed when a user visits your website. We will only process information from cookies if you have consented to us setting cookies on your computer in accordance with our cookies policy www.upshotmedia.co.uk/cookie-policy.html. Information collected about you, once collected is anonymised and stored on an aggregate basis.
Significance and envisaged consequences: cookies will be used to track and store information about your behaviour and device on our website (unless you have opted out from receiving such cookies by [insert method of opting out from analytical cookies used on your website]) and your location will be analysed based on your IP address. [We may target advertisements based on the level of interest we receive from certain visitors and their behaviour on our website.
Legal basis for processing: [insert legal basis for processing e.g. your legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Legitimate interest: [describe your legitimate interest in the relevant profiling activity (if you are relying on your legitimate interests as your legal basis for processing
Include this sentence if your analytics provider anonymises the data after it collects it and combines it with information from other website users to generate overall statistics that cannot be tied back to a particular user.
Information we collect when you place an order on our website
Information collected when you place an order
When you place an order for goods or services on our website, we collect your name, email address, billing address, shipping address, company name (if applicable), VAT number (if applicable), We also collect information from you, such as information about how you heard about us. Where applicable, we may ask questions about your lifestyle, work and your dog.
If you do not provide this information, you will not be able to purchase goods or services from us on our website or enter into a contract with us.
Legal basis for processing: necessary to perform a contract (Article 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Reason why necessary to perform a contract: we need the mandatory information collected by our checkout form to establish who the contract is with and to contact you to fulfil our obligations under the contract, including sending you receipts and order confirmations.
Legal basis for processing: compliance with a legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Legal obligation: we have a legal obligation to issue you with an invoice for the goods and services you purchase from us where you are VAT registered and we require the mandatory information collected by our checkout form for this purpose. We also have a legal obligation to keep accounting records, including records of transactions
Processing your payment
After you place an order on our website you will need to make payment for the goods or services you have ordered. In order to process your payment we use a third party payment processor, Stripe.
Stripe collects, uses and processes your information, including payment information, in accordance with their privacy policies. You can access their privacy policies via the following link(s): https://stripe.com/gb/privacy
Stripe is located in the EEA. Information relating to the processing of your payment may be transferred outside the European Economic Area, please see International Transfers on Stripes own polocy here: https://stripe.com/gb/privacy#international-data-transfers
Reason why necessary to perform a contract: to fulfil your contractual obligation to pay for the goods or services you have ordered from us.
At checkout you will have the option of receiving marketing communications from us by ticking an "unticked" box, to opt in.
Our similar goods and services
You can opt-out from receiving marketing communications in relation to our goods and which are similar to those which you purchase from us, by not ticking the box.
We will send you marketing communications in relation to similar goods and services if you do not opt out from receiving them.
Legitimate interests: direct marketing and advertising our products and services.
How we collect or obtain information about you from third parties
Generally, we do receive information about you from third parties. The third parties from which we receive information about you will generally include business partners.
Information we obtain from third parties will generally be your name and contact details, but will include any additional information about you which they provide to us.
In certain circumstances (for example, to verify the information we hold about you or obtain missing information we require to provide you with a service) we will obtain information about you from certain publicly accessible sources, both EU and non-EU, such as the electoral register, Companies House, online customer databases, business directories, media publications, social media, and websites (including your own website if you have one)
In certain circumstances will also obtain information about you from private sources, both EU and non-EU, such as data brokers
Reason why necessary to perform a contract: where you have entered into a contract or requested that we enter into a contract with you, in certain circumstances, we will obtain information about you from public sources in order to enable us to understand your business and provide services to you or services to a sufficient standard.
For example, we would obtain and/or verify your email address from your website or from a directory where you ask us to send you information by email but we do not possess the information or we need to confirm that we have recorded your email address correctly.
Legitimate interests: in certain circumstances, we will have a legitimate interest in obtaining information about you from public and private sources. For example, if you have infringed or we suspect that you have infringed any of our legal rights, we will have a legitimate interest in obtaining and processing information about you from such sources in order to investigate and pursue any suspected or potential infringement.
Consent: we may obtain information from third parties, such as data brokers, where you have consented to them sharing information with us by [insert method by which individual consent e.g. ticking a box stating that you would like your information to be share with us
We use a number of third parties to provide us with services which are necessary to run our business or to assist us with running our business and who process your information for us on our behalf. These include the following:
Our third party service providers are located in United Kingdom, apart from, Stripe and MaiChimp, which are located in the US.
We do not display the identities of all of our service providers publicly by name for security and competitive reasons. If you would like further information about the identities of our service providers, however, please contact us directly via our contact form or by email and we will provide you with such information where you have a legitimate reason for requesting it (where we have shared your information with such service providers, for example).
Disclosure of your information to other third parties
We disclose your information to other third parties in specific circumstances, as set out below.
Providing information to third parties such as Google Inc,. Google collects information through our use of Google Analytics on our website. Google uses this information, including IP addresses and information from cookies, for a number of purposes, such as improving its Google Analytics service. Information is shared with Google on an aggregated and anonymised basis. To find out more about what information Google collects, how it uses this information and how to control the information sent to Google, please see the following page: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/]
Legitimate interest(s): meeting our contractual obligations to Google under our Google Analytics Terms of Service (https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html)
You can opt out of Google Analytics by installing the browser plugin here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Information collected by Google Analytics is stored outside the European Economic Area on Google’s servers in the United States of America.
For further information about the safeguards used when your information is transferred outside the European Economic Area, see the section of this privacy policy below entitled Transfers of your information outside the European Economic Area.]
Sharing your information with third parties, which are either related to or associated with the running of our business, where it is necessary for us to do so. These third parties include our accountants, advisors, business partners, independent contractors, and insurers, CRM Provider. Further information on each of these third parties is set out below.
Legitimate interest: running and managing our business efficiently.
We share information with our accountants for tax purposes. For example, we share invoices we issue and receive with our accountants for the purpose of completing tax returns and our end of year accounts.
Our accountants are our accountants are located in United Kingdom.
Occasionally, we obtain advice from advisors, such as accountants, financial advisors, lawyers and public relations professionals. We will share your information with these third parties only where it is necessary to enable these third parties to be able to provide us with the relevant advice.
Our advisors are located in the United Kingdom
Business partners are businesses we work with which provide goods and services which are complementary to our own or which allow us to provide goods or services which we could not provide on our own. We share information with our business partners where you have requested services which they provide whether independently from, or in connection with or own services.
Our business partners are located in the United Kingdom.
Occasionally, we use independent contractors in our business. Your information will be shared with independent contractors only where it is necessary for them to perform the function we have hired them perform in relation to our business.
Our independent contractors are located in the United Kingdom.
We will share your information with our insurers where it is necessary to do so, for example in relation to a claim or potential claim we receive or make or under our general disclosure obligations under our insurance contract with them.
Our insurers are located in the United Kingdom.
Legal basis for processing: necessary to perform a contract [or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract] (Article 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Reason why necessary to perform a contract: we need to share your information with other companies in order to be able to meet our contractual obligations to you [or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract.], for example because of the services or information, you have requested.
We do not display the identities of [all of] the other third parties we may share information with by name for security and competitive reasons. If you would like further information about the identities of such third parties, however, please contact, us directly via our contact form or by email and we will provide you with such information where you have a legitimate reason for requesting it (where we have shared your information with such third parties, for example).
Sharing your information with a prospective or actual purchaser or seller in the context of a business or asset sale or acquisition by us, a merger or similar business combination event, whether actual or potential.
Legitimate interest(s): sharing your information with a prospective purchaser, seller or similar person in order to allow such a transaction to take place.
If we suspect that criminal or potential criminal conduct has been occurred, we will in certain circumstances need to contact an appropriate authority, such as the police. This could be the case, for instance, if we suspect that a fraud or a cyber crime has been committed or if we receive threats or malicious communications towards us or third parties.
For ongoing compliance with laws, regulations and other legal requirements
We will use and process your information in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject. For example, we may need to disclose your information pursuant to a court order or subpoena if we receive one or to the National Crime Agency.
Legal obligation(s): legal obligations to disclose information which are part of the laws of [England and Wales] or if they have been integrated into the United Kingdom’s legal framework (for example in the form of an international agreement which the United Kingdom has signed).
Legitimate interest: where the legal obligations are part of the laws of another country and have not been integrated into the United Kingdom’s legal framework, we have a legitimate interest in complying with these obligations.
Server log information: we retain information on our server logs for 30 days.
Order information: when you place an order for goods and services, we retain that information for six years following the end of the financial year in which you placed your order, in accordance with our legal obligation to keep records for tax purposes.
Correspondence and enquiries: when you make an enquiry or correspond with us for any reason, whether by email or via our contact form or by phone, we will retain your information for as long as it takes to respond to and resolve your enquiry, and for 36 further month(s), after which point we will delete your information.
E-Newsletter: we retain the information you used to sign up for our e-newsletter for as long as you remain subscribed (i.e. you do not unsubscribe) or if we decide to cancel our e-newsletter service, whichever comes earlier.
Measures taken to secure your information
using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software to encrypt [any information you submit to us via any forms on our website and any payment transactions you make on or via our website;
Your information will be transferred and stored outside the European Economic Area (EEA) in the circumstances set out below.
We will also transfer your information outside the EEA or to an international organisation in the unlikely event that we are required to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject (compliance with a court order, for example). Where we are required to do so, we will ensure appropriate safeguards and protections are in place.
Information you submit to us when you sign up for our newsletter (your email address) is transferred outside the EEA and stored on our third party mailing list provider’s servers. Our third party mailing list provider is MailChimp. You can access their privacy policy here
Country of storage: United States of America. This country is not subject to an adequacy decision by the European Commission.
Safeguard(s) used: MailChimp has self-certified its compliance with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield which is available here. The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield is an approved certification mechanism under Article 42 of the General Data Protection Regulation, which is permitted under Article 46(2)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation. You can access the European Commission decision on the adequacy of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield here
When you pay for goods and services on your site via PayPal, information about your order and the processing of your order may be transferred outside the European Economic Area.
When you pay for goods and services on your site via Stripe, information about your order and the processing of your order may be transferred outside the European Economic Area.
You can access Stripe's Privacy policy Here
Information collected by Google Analytics (your IP address and actions you take in relation to our website) is transferred outside the EEA and stored on Google’s servers. You can access Google’s privacy policy here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/
Safeguard(s) used: Google has self-certified its compliance with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield which is available here: https://www.privacyshield.gov/welcome. The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield is an approved certification mechanism under Article 42 of the General Data Protection Regulation, which is permitted under Article 46(2)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation. You can access the European Commission decision on the adequacy of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/international-transfers/adequacy/index_en.htm
Subject to certain limitations on certain rights, you have the following rights in relation to your information, which you can exercise by writing to Trevithick Road, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 2JR or sending an email to [email protected]
to receive information which you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g. a CSV file) and the right to have that information transferred to another data controller (including a third party data controller);
to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes (for further information, see the section below entitled Your right to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes); and
In accordance with Article 77 of the General Data Protection Regulation, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or of an alleged infringement of the General Data Protection Regulation. For the purposes of the UK, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the contact details of which are available here: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
The above rights are provided in summary form only and certain limitations apply to many of these rights. For further information about your rights in relation to your information, including any limitations which apply, please visit the following pages on the ICO’s website:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/ ; and
https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/
You can also find out further information about your rights, as well as information on any limitations which apply to those rights, by reading the underlying legislation contained in Articles 12 to 22 and 34 of the General Data Protection Regulation, which is available here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/reform/files/regulation_oj_en.pdf
Your right to object to the processing of your information for certain purposes
You have the following rights in relation to your information, which you may exercise in the same way as you may exercise by writing to Trevithick Road, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 2JR or sending an email to [email protected]
to object to us using or processing your information where we use or process it in order to carry out a task in the public interest or for our legitimate interests, including ‘profiling’ (i.e. analysing or predicting your behaviour based on your information) based on any of these purposes; and
to object to us using or processing your information for direct marketing purposes (including any profiling we engage in that is related to such direct marketing).
sending an email to [email protected], asking that we stop sending you marketing communications or by including the words “OPT OUT”.
For more information on how to object to our use of information collected from cookies and similar technologies, please see the section entitled How to accept or reject cookies in our cookies policy, which is available here: www.takepuppysteps.co.uk/cookie-policy.html
What is sensative personal information
Our policy on sensative personal information
We do not knowingly or intentionally collect sensitive personal information from individuals, and you must not submit sensitive personal information to us.
If, however, you inadvertently or intentionally transmit sensitive personal information to us, you will be considered to have explicitly consented to us processing that sensitive personal information under Article 9(2)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation. We will use and process your sensitive personal information for the purposes of deleting it.
California Do Not Track Disclosures
“Do Not Track” is a privacy preference that users can set in their web browsers. When a user turns on a Do Not Track signal in their browser, the browser sends a message to websites requesting that they do not track the user. For information about Do Not Track, please visit www.allaboutdnt.org
At this time, we do not respond to Do Not Track browser settings or signals. [In addition, we use other technology that is standard to the internet, such as pixel tags, web beacons, and other similar technologies, to track visitors to the website. Those tools may be used by us and by third parties to collect information about you and your internet activity, even if you have turned on the Do Not Track signal. For information on how to opt out from tracking technologies used on our website, see our cookies policy which is available here: [insert link to cookies policy
It is possible that we could receive information pertaining to persons under the age of 18 by the fraud or deception of a third party. If we are notified of this, as soon as we verify the information, we will, where required by law to do so, immediately obtain the appropriate parental consent to use that information or, if we are unable to obtain such parental consent, we will delete the information from our servers. If you would like to notify us of our receipt of information about persons under the age of 18, please do so by sending an email to [email protected]
Copyright, credit and logo
This Privacy Policy is based on a General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/769) (GDPR) compliant template provided by GDPR Privacy Policy. For further information, please visit https://gdprprivacypolicy.org
The copyright in this Privacy Policy is either owned by, or licensed to, us and is protected by copyright laws around the world and copyright protection software. All intellectual property rights in this document are reserved.
Where we display the GDPR Privacy Policy logo on our website, this is used to indicate that we have adopted a privacy policy template provided by GDPR Privacy Policy as the basis for this Privacy Policy.
We are very pleased to recommend Lindsay as a highly professional and competent trainer who has shown us how to give Tyke the life he needs to live as a dog, but at the same time, within our domestic environment. Tyke is growing into a well behaved, gentle and friendly dog who is loved by all; as Lindsay usefully pointed out at our first meeting, Tyke doesn’t speak English, but we guess he too would recommend Lindsay very highly if he could: his wagging tail says it all.
Nick & “Tyke” Working Cocker Spaniel
Cannot recommend highly enough. We learn just as much as our Labrador Bess does it seems. We attended the puppy class and have now moved on to obedience classes. Cannot believe how much of a difference it makes each week.
Rob & Aeyesha & “Bess” Labrador
Puppy Steps has been a perfect learning journey for our labradoodle Agnes. Lindsay has been; clear, understanding and patient with both Agnes and us. We always feel like no question is a silly question and always look forward to going each week, as it always has such a friendly, calm atmosphere. Highly recommend for both puppies and junior dogs.
Jessica & Sam, & “Agnes” Labradoodle
Really enjoyed Puppy Steps puppy classes with our mini schnauzer puppy. Lindsay is very friendly and knowledgable, and the class was small and inclusive. She did a really good job of including my primary-aged children in the sessions and they learnt a lot too!
Della & “Tazzie” Mini Schnauzer
© Puppy Steps Dog Training | Terms and Conditions for Services | Website Terms Of Use | Cookie Policy | Privacy Policy
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Visiting Author for Schools: Dylan Thuras
Dylan Thuras
Thursday, October 11. (Dylan will be visiting two schools: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Please indicate your DATE and TIME OF DAY preference.)
DYLAN THURAS is the cofounder and creative director of AtlasObscura.com. His pursuit of the unusual began as a teenager exploring abandoned buildings in the Midwest and eventually took him to Budapest for a year, where he explored Eastern Europe’s obscure and wondrous locales.
ABOUT THE BOOK: The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid
A passport to the world’s most mesmerizing and mysterious wonders, presented in a stunning full-color illustrated expedition to 100 real destinations in 47 countries on every continent. Between these covers, kids will journey around the world to visit the weirdest, coolest, and most off-the-beaten-path destinations proving that the world is vast and there are marvelous treasures behind every corner or even right under your feet. For kids ages 8 and up who love history, science, travel, and the wonders of the world—including those who loved the original Atlas Obscura.
PRAISE FOR: The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid
“Fair warning: It's addictive.” —NPR, “Cosmos & Culture”
“In this gorgeous collection, the celebrated Atlas Obscura website is condensed into 480 pages of awe-inspiring destinations. For lovers of history and exploration, the striking color photographs will spark immediate wanderlust.” —Entertainment Weekly
“This book is PACKED with wonderful, amazing, fascinating places all around the world. This is the perfect gift for the person who thinks they’ve done it all and seen it all because this shows that there’s so much more in the world to explore. It’s a wonderful, wonderful coffee table book.” —NBC, “TODAY”
“Atlas Obscura may be the only thing that can still inspire me to leave my apartment. . . . This resource is essential for exploring the world and engaging adventure with wit and style (often from the comfort of my bed).”—LENA DUNHAM, creator of Girls and author of Not That Kind of Girl
“Odds are you won’t get past three pages without being amazed at something truly strange that you didn’t know existed.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Richly illustrated, delightfully strange, this compendium of off-beat destinations should spark many adventures, both terrestrial and imaginary.” —Boston Globe
“This is the fun way, a deep dive (sometimes literally) into places you’d never find otherwise, the weird and wild wonders of the world.” —WIRED
“I thought I had seen most of the interesting bits of the world. Atlas Obscura showed me that I was wrong. It's the kind of book that makes you want to pack in your workaday life and head out to places you'd never have dreamed of going, to see things you could not even have imagined. A joy to read and to reread.” —NEIL GAIMAN, author of Sandman and American Gods
“A perfect tome for the armchair explorer and the actual traveler alike.” —Austin American Statesman
“Atlas Obscura is a joyful antidote to the creeping suspicion that travel these days is little more than a homogenized corporate shopping opportunity. Here are hundreds of surprising, perplexing, mind-blowing, inspiring reasons to travel a day longer and farther off the path. . . . Bestest travel guide ever.” —MARY ROACH, author of Stiff and Gulp
TBD from publisher
Upper Elementary, Lower Middle Schools; grades 3-7
As many as possible!
Dylan will have his own computer and an HDMI cable. He'll be presenting a PowerPoint and will need a projector/TV with audio capabilities to possibly show a video. The PowerPoint will also be on a USB, in case schools have a computer to connect to. And, a bottle of water.
#atlasobsura, #tatteredcover
Link to share with students and their families to order Dylan's book: www.tatteredcover.com/book-list-dylan-thuras Please make sure anyone ordering online includes the name of your school in the Notes section of the order and if they'd like to pick up the book from you at the school. Please DO NOT give a book to someone who says they ordered online unless they have the printed confirmation. PLEASE KEEP THIS! You'll need to include these confirmations when returning the leftover books so you won't be charged for them! If they do ask you for a book without a confirmation, just email us the name of the student and parent's name and we can check. DEADLINE: Online orders with SCHOOL PICK UP will only be available for one week after the school visit. Orders placed after that time will need to be picked up at one of our locations, or shipped.
The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid (Hardcover)
By Dylan Thuras, Rosemary Mosco, Joy Ang (Illustrator)
Published: Workman Publishing Company - September 18th, 2018
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Chapter 10 Class 12 Vector Algebra
Misc 16 - Chapter 10 Class 12 Vector Algebra
Last updated at Jan. 3, 2020 by Teachoo
Next: Misc 17→
Misc 16 Important You are here
Supplementary examples and questions from CBSE →
Misc 16 If is the angle between two vectors and , then 0 only when (A) 0 < < 2 (B) 0 2 (C) 0 < < (D) 0 . = | | | | cos where is the angle between and Given, . 0 cos 0 Assuming 0 and 0 cos 0 cos 0 0 2 So, (B) is the correct answer
Ex 10.1
Ex 10.5 (Supplementary NCERT)
Supplementary examples and questions from CBSE
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Home » » University of Bristol reviews
University of Bristol reviews
University of Bristol review
Firstly be prepeared to pay a lot of money for just about everything, prices aren't quite london, but it's close and there's no extra loan. The halls here are fine, no better or worse than anywhere else, but I'd suggest living the Clifton halls (Clifton Hill House, Goldney, and I can't remember the other), as they're much closer to uni than the stoke bishop halls which are about 3/4 hour walk away. The Student union isn't the best, but the bar is cheap, again it's in Clifton. There are loads of clubs in the union, everything for everybody. The sports clubs are particually good, with healthly competion from UWE.
The night life in Bristol is superb. There's far too many clubs to name. No matter what you type of night out your after you'll find it in Bistol. From heavy metal to hard core dance to shady little pubs with regulars. All close together around the city center.
As a biochemist my work load isn't too much, the only people who work their socks off are medics (but that's the same anywhere), and engineers.
Bristol is quite a rich university with lots of rich students driving around in new cars from mummy and daddy, this isn't all that bad, just get them to buy you drinks!
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Aussie hockey’s bold move
Julian King
Hockey OnehockeyroosKookaburras
Hockey One General Manager Tony Dodemaide has described the inception of the new domestic competition as a bold move for the sport as they prepare to kick off this weekend.
Speaking on Nights with Julian King, Dodemaide admitted replacing the former Australian Hockey League with Hockey One is a big move.
“It’s a really bold move for the sport”, he said.
Dodemaide conceded most Australians only follow the hockey during the Olympics and Commonwealth Games but he is hoping the new league, which will include a men’s and women’s double header every game will get the visibility the players deserve.
“We’ve got some of the best players in the world here…they deserve more visibility”
Hockey One has men’s and women’s teams under the same umbrella from Adelaide, Brisbane. Canberra, Melbourne, NSW, Perth, and Tasmania.
It all begins this Sunday with the NSW Pride taking on the Adelaide Fire.
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Jenny Craig Pavilion
Fitness Center Open
Ticket Information Open
Policies and Procedures Open
Facilities Usage and Guidelines
Operation Procedures
Event Building Policies
Welcome to the Jenny Craig Pavilion
The Jenny Craig Pavilion opened its doors on Thursday, October 5, 2000 to the USD community. Over 2,000 faculty, staff, and students attended the grand opening ceremony, which included a live band, tours, and food on the Eagan Plaza. Jenny and Sid Craig were present to open the Pavilion to the campus community.
The dedication included a drawing where one lucky student - senior Boyd McGowan. a crew team member - won a $10,000 tuition credit, and the unveiling of the redesigned USD mascot, a 10-foot-tall inflatable Torero designed by Shawn McEachern '95, owner of Inflatable Design Group.
Other activities during the opening week included the Chet and Marguerite Pagni Family Hall of Fame Dedication and Induction Ceremonies on Friday night and USD's annual Homecoming Celebration for tours and dinner on Saturday. USD is thrilled to have the best facility in the West Coast Conference for intercollegiate basketball and volleyball games as well as a cultural and intramural center for the whole campus community
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2006 Award: Behindertensport Oberwallis
A great honour and recognition was bestowed on Behindertensport Oberwallis (BSOW):
In 2006, Behindertensport Oberwallis – an association for sport for the disabled – became the first award winner to experience the generosity of the Sepp Blatter Foundation. Foundation founder Sepp Blatter, Foundation President René Imoberdorf and members of the Board of Management Corinne Blatter Andenmatten and Jean-Paul Brigger presented Behindertensport Oberwallis with a cheque for CHF 25,000.
The aims of the foundation were realised to the full, namely supporting humanitarian projects and institutions in the canton of Valais, philanthropy and social responsibility – goals that foundation founder Sepp Blatter feels very passionately about. The winner of the award is a sports club, where sporting activity, independence and quality of life are at the core. Over the years, the BSOW has been enabling people with disabilities to achieve greater integration and recognition in society.
The donation from the Sepp Blatter Foundation is a stimulus and motivation for future sport-related projects for people with special needs. This generous gesture enabled the BSOW to set up its own football team.
Behindertensport Oberwallis (BSOW)
Sepp Blatter Foundation
CH-3930 Visp
info@sb-foundation.org
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